The victim has probably forgiven the woman who ran him down in a Northampton crosswalk. The police haven't.
Police say a Pittsfield woman has been cited for running down Lord Jesus Christ as he crossed the street in Northampton.
Officers responding to Tuesday's incident checked the 50-year-old Belchertown man's ID and discovered that, indeed, Lord Jesus Christ is his legal name.
He was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor facial injuries.
Police say 20-year-old Brittany Cantarella was cited for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. Jesus lives in Belchertown, doo-dah, doo-dah.
#1
Okay, beyond the quirky last name I would think it would be illegal to name your child (or have your name changed) to Lord since that is a title with some meaning in the UK.
#3
Massachusetts. The Pioneer Valley. Amherst, Northampton, etc...where all the clocks stopped in, like, 1969.
Belchertown used to have a state "hospital". But since the whole valley's pretty much an open air nuthouse, the state figured it was redundant and closed it down. Which is how you end up with Lord Jesus Christ getting hit by a car in Northampton.
#5
Northampton, MA, is also known as the stomping ground of a legion of lesbians, who converge there, like gay men do on Castro Street in San Francisco.
#6
Massachusetts. The Pioneer Valley. Amherst, Northampton, etc...where all the clocks stopped in, like, 1969. In some places the clocks stopped even before that. Legend is that some of Dan Shays' men are still hiding out in the Pelham Hills. Men like the oddly named Plough Jogger, who said "I have been greatly abused, have been obliged to do more than my part in the war; been loaded with class rates, town rates, province rates, Continental rates and all rates...been pulled and hauled by sheriffs, constables and collectors, and had my cattle sold for less than they were worth...The great men are going to get all we have and I think it is time for us to rise and put a stop to it, and have no more courts, nor sheriffs, nor collectors nor lawyers."
My father's "V-Mail" message to my grandmother:
Dear Mom & all:
Well today is V-E Day. I'll tell you how we took it here. The boys were playing cards & the C.O. walked in & said "The war's over." Nobody said anything. We just went right on playing. We expected it anytime so nothing wasn't important at all. But the only thing that mattered was that yesterday we were sweating two wars out and now we are sweating one out. Oh yes Mom tell that "hero" cousin of mine & his relations that I have personally taken prisoner more Krauts than he's seen and that includes pictures of Krauts also. Boy guys like him really burn me up. Oh yes I almost forgot I'm with the British 2nd Army. I never seen Hanover but was near there. Air mail to follow. Love, Leo.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/07/2010 06:43 ||
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#1
V-E Day was a bittersweet one for GIs in Europe (my father among them) who knew they would be transferred to the Pacific Theater of Operations, to take part in the invasion of the Japanese home islands.
#2
Dad and his buddies on Okinawa were pretty bitter about everyone going apesh*t in the states over at V-E day. There was still a lot of dying going on over there on the island.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/07/2010 23:48 Comments ||
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Ha! Let nobody mock me on this subject ever again! It only took me five tries the first time... and two when we moved back from Brussels because my American license had expired. But that's because in Cincinnati they don't like people who drive like Belgians -- or like Belgians were in the vicinity.
A South Korean woman who earned a driver's license after 960 tries is ready to buy a car and get behind the wheel. Yonhap news agency reported Thursday that 69-year-old Cha Sa-soon passed the driving part of the test last month on her 10th try. South Korea requires a written test first, and Cha took it nearly daily since April 2005 before passing last year.
Oh. But I'm still ahead on points. I always got the written part on the first try.
Yonhap quoted her as saying she wanted to buy a small secondhand car to visit her son and daughter and for her business selling vegetables.
Repeated calls seeking comment from her went unanswered.
Officials at the drivers' license agency in Jeonju, 130 miles (210 kilometers) south of Seoul, were not available for comment.
They probably miss her, now that she's not coming back.
#1
Let's see, 30 questions with four answers each, need 80% to pass, how many tries until 50% probability of passing test, factorial, power of four, carry the two . . . yep, 960 tries!
Proof that even the blind squirrel finds a nut from time to time!
It would have been easier to learn how to read, stubborn grandma! :-)
But hey, I can sympathize with her. Kindergarten was about the hardest four years of my life, too.
#3
...in Cincinnati they don't like people who drive like Belgians -- or like Belgians were in the vicinity.
Please elaborate. How do Belgians drive?
Posted by: Mike ||
05/07/2010 9:55 Comments ||
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#4
Please elaborate. How do Belgians drive?
It's like this, Mike. In Brussels, at least -- and I was being flip, I can't actually speak to how they drive beyond the Brussels-Antwerp area whose roads I traversed -- as far as I could tell I was the only unimportant person in all of the region. There's NATO, SEATO (whatever that is), the EU, national embassies to all of the above, NGO headquarters, etc and so forth. And they were all too important to learn the Belgian rules of the road. Plus Belgium has queer little rules, like the car turning from the side street to the main road has the right of way... and the city is so dirty that one can't read the street signs posted high on the walls of the buildings at each corner.
I lived on a tertiary side street in the village of Overijse outside of Brussels, and there'd be a major crash at the corner at least once a month, because neither driver would give way to the other making the turn. I was warned when I moved there to expect to total my car at least once a year -- I made it an extra week, the week we were transferred home, but even so there was only $40 of value in what was left of the vehicle.
So I learnt to check again before turning from parking lot to street, and from side street to main street, just in case. We don't do that in Cincinnati.
#4
Check with Al Gore. He's got a little place on the beach in California. I guess his place in Belle Meade might be at risk for flooding. Al
Gore and Al Franken. I'm sensing a theme here.
#5
Forecast for Denver, CO tonight, 28F. Don't plant your tomatoes until May 15.
Posted by: Flapper Scourge of the Algonquins4926 ||
05/07/2010 15:55 Comments ||
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#6
Lows in the "lower 30s" forecast for the Lakes region in NH Sunday and Monday nights. No precip, though. I guess that's the MN cold headed this way.
The first female U.S. Naval Academy graduates who will be able to serve as officers aboard submarines said Thursday they feel ecstatic, thankful and blessed by the chance to break one of the military's last gender barriers. So far, eleven female midshipmen have been accepted into the Navy's training program.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/07/2010 06:27 ||
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#1
"Mostly, I think we're excited about just serving in whatever role the Navy needs....
Navy needs? Yea right. Enjoy your semi-private head and shower oh privileged ones.
#2
I wouldn't be so quick to ridicule them, Besoeker.
Not because they're female. But because the time is rapidly coming when we will be grateful if anyone chooses to serve - at least, to really serve rather than hold a job with a funny uniform. I'm seeing good people plan their retirements, or get out early, all around me - people whose dedication has kept us safe. We will be very sorry when our military resembles that of Germany.
#3
Anyone who wants to live for extended periods of time several hundred feet under the water, male or female, has my respect.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2010 8:00 Comments ||
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#4
Remember that DARPA is developing a satellite capability to look through the oceans, to spot submarines. Once this is proven possible, every country that can buy a high altitude aircraft to do the same, will, to watch "its" ocean.
Then every submarine in "their" turf gets its own surface ship escort.
#5
The first female U.S. Naval Academy graduates who will be able to serve as officers aboard submarines said Thursday they feel ecstatic, thankful and blessed by the chance to break one of the military's last gender barriers</em>
No ridicule lotp, only disgust. How about being "blessed" to serve a grateful nation?
#8
Of course, the women will be only serving in the deoartments in the front end. They'll never serve in the engineering department because of all the zoomies (radiation). it has always been the hardest to man (no pun) fully because of the tighter restrictions.
#10
It has long been known that women in a group of women living together, their Menstrual cycles shortly go into "Lockstep' this alone should be a concern as the Navy now has a whole Subfull of women who will be on the rag at the same time, this means a whole sub full of Highly irratable sailors handling a nuke sub at the same time they're ALL hurting and Miserable.
NOT A GOOD IDEA.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/07/2010 12:22 Comments ||
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#11
Long ago and far away [1967 - 1969] I did several 90 day "rides" on the USS Blueback [SS-581]followed by a couple aboard the USS Shark [SS-591] ; from those experiences, I can only wonder how this is going to work out. Granted newer boats offer a bit more room and "privacy" in Officers Quarters however, an officer won't be spending all of her time in her "room."
#12
RE: menstrual cycles. Yes, a group of women will cycle together after a few months. The answer to that is to put them on birth control pills without a break for the duration of the cruise. No cycles, no PMS, no problem. I believe there are injections now, which means there's no worries about individuals forgetting to take their meds.
Long ago and far away [1967 - 1969] I did several 90 day "rides" on the USS Blueback [SS-581]followed by a couple aboard the USS Shark [SS-591]
Isn't the USS Blueback on display for tours at OMSI in Portland, Oregon now? I've been through it. It's a small diesel/electric sub. No fun being crammed in there for 90 days, even by yourself! Did you happen to notice there is very little headroom?
Granted newer boats offer a bit more room and "privacy" in Officers Quarters however, an officer won't be spending all of her time in her "room."
Yeah, she'll be renting it out for $100/hour. And there is plenty of headroom in the newer subs. :-)
#17
Well, gorb, it's enlightening to see that you consider female officers to be whores.
It says a great deal more about you than about them. But I'll pass along the sentiment next time I see some of my female friends and colleagues who've come home wounded.
#18
So abu, you are saying it is OK to force women to take birth control over religious objections when it has NO BEARING on their technical ability? Or are you saying that women during menses are irrational and incapable of serving?
Which is is you bigoted POS?
Posted by: No I am the other Beldar ||
05/07/2010 14:04 Comments ||
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#19
Same goes for you, Besoeker, you Afrikaner wannabe. Which kind of bigot are you?
Als, explain this, If Afrikaners were so superior warriors, why is "your" country is no more?
I have no patience when it comes to neanderthals.
Posted by: No I am the other Beldar ||
05/07/2010 14:15 Comments ||
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#20
And in case either of you knuckledraggers forget, these are USNA graduates we are talking about here, cream oif the crop, as well them passing a rigourous tech school. Additionally, they passed the same psych and other stress profiling the men passed to qualify for submarine duty, something I doubt either of you could do.
Posted by: No I am the other Beldar ||
05/07/2010 14:19 Comments ||
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#21
just sick of the nearly pansy-assed whining 'what about my groups special needs'
if a group of people are crammed in a can for 6 months and there is an issue with personnel dynamics that birth control pill remedy, then that is the end. your personal preferences are not nearly as important as the functioning of the crew. too many dip-$hits have an entitlement mentality. bottom line: serving is a privilege. you don't like the terms/conditions, hit the next queue.
plenty of places where a Roman Catholic can make a positive contribution. find another or not
Posted by: abu do you love ||
05/07/2010 14:27 Comments ||
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#22
Intentional use of the "pill" or all women that will serve on subs may be necessary. A fetus (or as a liberal would say 'biological mass') is very susceptible to damage from ionizing radiation and all our boats are nuclear, so, the requirements may be for the "ladies" be on the pill while underway. May even require administration by ship's corpsman. Because, you can still get a "little bit" pregnant by accident.
#24
The USN has over 5500 reactor years of experience with between 80 and 100 (depending on when you count) active nuclear powered ships. I am not aware of ionizing radiation issues for the crews under normal operations, apart from those working directly with the reactors, although I'll ask a friend of mine who's a sub officer to confirm that. If such a hazard existed it would have shown up as damaged sperm among male crewmen.
#26
Everybody seems a bit tense and confrontational today. Maybe it would be better to focus ire on the enemy than toward compatriots who don't share identical predilections. That said, some of the more seamy comments and snarks today are going beyond the bounds and resemble the rantings of spoiled brats. It seems to be a trend, and it's unfortunate.
As to the use of the pill by women serving in the Navy -- I'm not Catholic, but I doubt there would be any problem for a Catholic to use the pill (as long as it wasn't used as a contraception device). Since celibacy can be expected from these Navy women during deployment, I can't imagine the Church having any objection to the pill so long as it is discontinued sufficiently in advance of when sexual activity resumes.
Nonetheless, I doubt use of the pill would be necessary at all because I really doubt that menstrual cycling would adversely affect a ship -- unless all of the women had abnormal cycles with super heavy bleeding and massive pain. If the women had abnormal cycles, I would expect they would self-select out of submarine duty or, in any case, would not get medical clearance for that tour of duty.
#28
Well, gorb, it's enlightening to see that you consider female officers to be whores.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, lotp. You should know me better than that by now. If that's the way you want to read it go ahead. But maybe you want to take offense. It's going to be hard to argue with you if that's the way you are.
In the real world, the Navy is going to have to work hard to keep the men and the women celibate. Maybe if they made the whole submarine out of glass it might work. I know of a case at a place where I used to work where a couple crawled into the source cabinet of an ion implanter to have a little private time together. Not a lot of room there. They died because the source cabinet was nitrogen purged. Now if one of your friends has a private room, I guarantee it's going to be used by more than the intended occupant. And no, the intended occupant isn't going to be renting it out, it's just a joke.
#29
"Since celibacy can be expected from these Navy women during deployment"
-not to be snarky, but it's generally expected of both sexes during a war time float. I have a few sand-box tours w/co-ed units under my belt - to be frank, what you expect and what you inspect are generally two different things. We sent home a lot of females for pregnancy occuring in-country - obviously it takes two to tango so we also NJP'd the fathers. Also, my unit which was heavily female at the time was almost non-deployable due to the amount of preggos and post-partums. We had to send a few guys on back-to-back deployments. The system already has some issues that senior leadership is hesitant to address because many are pc scared - I see this as only adding to it. All the posts I've just read about menstrual cycles, sex in weird places, etc are the same shit some poor J.O. or Chief is going to deal with here shortly. Same shit we dealt with in iraq...my idiot jarheads fighting over females in the cans & vice-versa, desert love. The military is not a social experiment, women are more then capable of doing lots of different highly difficult jobs, I just tend to think that putting them on subs is further pc retardation.
#30
. . . what you expect and what you inspect are generally two different things. . . . I just tend to think that putting them on subs is further pc retardation.
Given human nature, I'd expect that. It seems that what is needed in a fighting unit is a group of capable same-sex hetrosexuals, all sublimating their energies into their work and focused on just getting the job done. Not trying to be snarky, but really wondering . . .
What's the likelihood of all female subs, and all male subs?
And is a co-ed military a bell that could or should be unrung?
#32
I think a same-sex unit that keeps their sexual pref's to themselves is the way to go. There's enough friction in an operational environment as it is even w/the most smooth functioning crew or company, you don't need to add any more variables to the mix or the sexual dynamic to 18-23 yr olds.
If you could plausibly resource a sub that's all female - fine by me. A co-ed mil is necessary today but IMHO it's more a matter of tactical environment then any job competency. I personally don't want them in the infantry, in tanks or even in some aircraft. Obviously they do lots of jobs very well and I've worked for some great female officers. The enlisted ones I observed also performed very well w/in cultural needs such as the Lioness program in Iraq and in MP situations along the same lines, but overall I'd rather they stay in CONUS billets where leaders are not playing the shell game of who to deploy because of family planning, etc, yes that makes me a neanderthal (of which I am according to the latest scientific reports :) I just don't see an added bennie by putting them on subs that are 99% men. This is not a slam on women as the men are 50% responsible for the situations that come down, I've just seen enough of the dry-land version of co-ed deployed units to want to keep it segregated.
#33
LOTP, all my officer subordinates were male. My reporting senior the second time around was female (excellent person to work for) and not an academy grad - you should've heard her bitch about this particular issue and tertiary problems related to male/female crap that went on in-country. There were several female SNCOs I couldn't take over seas for the aforementioned reason. USMC is less than 11% USNA grads last I checked. Army/USAF are much grad heavier - btw - being a USNA grad in the USMC is not some sort of huge pat on the back (though I highly respect their academic pedigree) & actually most of us don't care nor really get on about where we did our college yrs. Sure, we b.s. abt what we did in college but no one gets giddy over academy grads or ivy leaguers. I personally know a lot of USNA grads, Citadel grads, Norwich, VMI, etc - my reviews are mixed at best, I've ran an ROTC unit for 3 yrs w/the same types being commissioned and I've trained military academy folks in the summers between academic yrs. At the end of the day their leadership ability is on par w/those that access through ROTC or the OCS/PLC programs. Actually, I'd say the avg college ROTC kid is maybe a little more realistic and less arrogant then the A&M, VMI & citadel guys I trained.
Will female officers on subs be less susceptible to what I've mentioned - probably and I hope so, they're obviously held to a higher standard & have some college yrs under their belt - now, what will happen eventually is that they will put enlisted females on the boats - that will be the rub I see in 5-10 yrs (no pun intended).
#35
To my understanding the Captain is the only person on a sub to have a room to himself and his own shower and head. If you put a woman on a sub would she need her own room and shower/head? I would think she would. Since there is almost no wasted space on a nuclear submarine, where would these facilities be located, and how will the rest of the crew feel about special privileges for these women demanding 'equal' treatment?
#36
Broadhead, I've heard the same issues WRT enlisted women from my Army colleagues. And agreed re: the fact that the commissioning source doesn't prove anything.
That said, the first female Annapolis grads in these positions will be under a lot of self- and other-imposed pressure to excel and walk a straight line. An acquaintance of mine was one of the earlier female Annapolis grads. A pilot, she's now a reserve O6 and has had flying wing command.
Come fitness tests, she always goes last in her unit. And *always* does 1 more rep than the highest score on each test and runs *just* a little faster than the fastest time among her subordinates.
These days in addition to her reserve flying she's also a pilot for a major airline.
Oh, yeah: she's also married, Roman Catholic and has 3 kids, the youngest of whom was born last month.
#37
There seems to be some confusion about the term celibate. It means not married. Chaste means not having sexual relations. I hope these women do their jobs without any problems. I do have reservations, though.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
05/07/2010 18:02 Comments ||
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#38
Bigjim-CA, you time share, i.e. set aside time when the women use the showers. It's really not that difficult a solution - we used it in our dorms when I was an undergrad in the 70s.
Re: sexual tensions on the boats, especially the boomers with longer deployments -
what noone here has hinted at is a phenomenon my Navy boomer friend says is more common than you might think, namely opportunistic / temporary gay sex.
We'll see how this ends iff the USN, USDOD etc. has to decide iff to send ALL-FEMALE OR "MIXED" MIL UNITS-FORCES on MAHA-RUSHIAN "LEZ SERIEUZ-VOUZ" MAJOR = "AS ALWAYS, MR. PHELPS, SHOULD YOU OR ANY MEMBER OF YOUR TEAM BE CAPTURED OR KILLED, THE SECRETARY WILL DISAVOW/DENY ANY KNOWLEDGE OF YOUR ACTIONS" COVERT COMMANDO-SPECOPS MISSIONS, ALA SINO-US WAR INCLUD COLD WAR IN ASIA.
"YOU ARE THERE", AMERIKA, at PENN STATE when MADONNA-FAN ARMY COMMANDO meets the PRE-OWG BABE OF THE PRE-MMGW APOCALYPSE friend of a NAVY COMMANDO.
#40
Close enough to calling them whores to be deeply offensive, gorb, your disingenuous protest notwithstanding.
Disingenuous as in at first it wasn't a joke and now I'm backing down? See the smiley after the statement? That means joke. It is I who should be offended by your statement Well, gorb, it's enlightening to see that you consider female officers to be whores. I never suggested it and never intended it. You are reading it wrong. My comment was on basic human nature, which is that there is going to be sex between male and female crewmembers despite the Navy's best efforts. If there is a place where crewmembers will have sex, such as a private quarters, then others are going to take advantage of it and that is where it will happen. The joke is that that space could be worth money. It is ridiculous to even entertain the thought that it would actually be sold. I had no idea that anyone would even go there when I threw that post together.
You seem to be very touchy on this thread. I'm sorry if I offended you. I certainly didn't mean to. I hope it makes you feel better, but it doesn't change what I was or am thinking because I was not thinking what you thought I was thinking when I first thought it.
#41
Problem: Exposure of reproductive cells to radiation.
Problem: Pregnancy while at under sea.
Issue: Homosexuals wanting to be in the service.
Alleged problem: Homosexuals might be more concerned with their partner than the unit in stress situations.
Solution: Homosexual submarine crews. No reproduction issues. And no partner distraction issue (if the sub fails they all die.)
#42
Touchy? Perhaps I am - and thanks for the apology gorb.
If I'm touchy on the subject, in part it's because when I was younger I was both hit on for sex by more than one superior AND had to deal with snide sexual comments from coworkers every time I was promoted. And no, I never slept with those execs who pressured me to. But the men around me were all too eager to assume I had, or would.
The innuendos, outright crudity and presumption were not fun to handle while also doing demanding jobs. I'm not whining - I succeeded despite them. But as an older woman now I do speak up when I see it done wrt others.
#43
One last comment and then I'll put away my keyboard.
I've been graveside at the burials of female former students who were serving in uniform in combat theaters when they died. And I've said goodbye to others as they've deployed, wondering if they'd come back.
That they or other young women officers would be disrespected for their service just ... is not right IMO. None of them needed to serve, none of them needed to take on specialties that would put them in harms way. They did it out of a desire to serve. As did their male counterparts.
#44
I've been graveside at the burials of female former students who were serving in uniform in combat theaters when they died. lotp
A sad commentary on our society when we send our young ladies to die in battle while able bodied men squander thier youth on selfish pursuits. There is something dreadfully wrong in all of this. Dreadfully wrong. We must be nearing the end.
#45
what noone here has hinted at is a phenomenon my Navy boomer friend says is more common than you might think, namely opportunistic / temporary gay sex.
I can see what you're upset about, but please don't take these things out on me. I'd rather just see your comments about the situation directly instead of just getting blasted and nobody knowing what it was all about.
But so that you understand where I am coming from even better, let me say a couple more things, too.
That they or other young women officers would be disrespected for their service just ... is not right IMO.
My comments were not about women only. They were about both men and women. It takes two to tango. Maybe the women get the private quarters, but that is not related to my comments.
And I would hope that the guys would not be forcing themselves on the women in the sub. I had not thought of that and would be at the front of the line to stop it from happening. Hopefully the close quarters will prevent outright rapes. Sadly I believe there will be coercion. At the same time, these women want to serve in this environment, and they have weighed the risks and rewards. Some will be OK with it, and others will not. Some will have been realistic about it, and others not.
And coercion can be a two-way street that depends on attitude more than gender.
I think the Navy may have a problem here. Hopefully they will have the grace to back away from this decision if it goes poorly.
But I hope it goes well. For both goose and gander.
As for being hit on, I'm sorry you have to deal with that crap. But there is a silver lining. It means you're attractive! At least that's the way I think of it when it happens to me. Or, more accurately, I would think of it if it were to happen to me. ;-)
And - guys: Redneck Jim's crude language followed by comments about $100/hr and female officers? Well, I suspect I wouldn't be the only woman who would find those objectionable, especially the one after the other. Just sayin' ....
Anyway, a round of drinks on me in the Club for you all. Fred might have one of his pinups posted ....
Posted by: ed ||
05/07/2010 21:49 Comments ||
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#50
A sad commentary on our society when we send our young ladies to die in battle while able bodied men squander thier youth on selfish pursuits.
Bingo. To destroy a civilization forever, destroy the females half. The muslims understand and practice this to an art form.
Posted by: ed ||
05/07/2010 21:55 Comments ||
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#51
"Just don't mention cocktail wieners, ok?"
I'm with the guy that got arrested, ed - and I'm a girl.
The "supervisor" should have been fired. (In addition to having the crap beaten out of him for being a d*ck acting like a 6-year-old.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/07/2010 21:56 Comments ||
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#52
I'm thinking we need a bunch of septuagenarian to man people these subs. There might be a few eyesight and hearing problems--maybe a little constipation but not too many sexual problems. There are quite a few willing to go back to work at this time. Most also have the attitude that if they don't like most of the $hit that going on they won't have to put up with it for too long.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt's president warned opposition groups Thursday against fomenting "chaos" in the country and challenged them to outline plans to rival his for sustaining growth and development in the Arab world's most populous nation. The alternative to dictatorship is always "chaos," ain't it? Couldn't prove it in Athens this week ...
Given that the competition is that dear man, former head of the IAEA Dr. Mohammed El Baradei, challenging the competition to present a sample of his thinking is an legitimate point.
Hosni Mubarak's remarks are some of his sharpest yet since near-daily protests have taken hold in the Egyptian capital. The protesters -- a mix of reformists and workers -- have rallied for greater political freedoms and better wages, arguing that Mubarak's government has provided neither while coddling the wealthy.
Speaking to a gathering of trade unionists, Mubarak lauded the protests as "evidence of the vitality of our society." But he also struck a cautionary tone, saying he fears "that some might slip ... into chaos that would expose Egypt and its people to setbacks."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2010 00:00 ||
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KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait on Thursday announced the discovery of a mass grave for 55 Iraqi soldiers killed during the 1991 war in which a US-led coalition force evicted Saddam Hussein's forces from the Gulf emirate.
Interior ministry spokesman Brigadier Mohammed Al Saber said in a statement cited by the official KUNA agency that the grave was found in the north of the country near the border with Iraq. Saber said that representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, coalition forces, the Iraqi human rights ministry, Iraqi forensic experts and Kuwaiti interior ministry officials were present at the site.
He said the remains of the soldiers were identified from their uniforms, adding that the bodies also had Iraqi military IDs and death certificates issued by coalition forces. Saber did not elaborate on the original circumstances of their burial, or why the location of the grave site was not recorded.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
bodies also had Iraqi military IDs and death certificates issued by coalition forces
#3
I don't understand why the Coalition was issuing death certificates during the 1991 Gulf War. What could the death certificate say, anyway? Something like "Yep, this one's dead". Were their families supposed to come pick up the bodies and pull the death certificate out of their teeth or something? Did some Kuwaiti get all PO'd and just shove a truckload of them in a hole despite procedures? Were they unclaimed and therefore just buried because of the heat?
And why would Iraqi military forces from 1991 have Coalition IDs? Was it part of issuing a death certificate?
#4
"Yep, this one's dead" is pretty much what a death certificate says. Or "really most sinceeeeerely dead" if you're not in to the whole brevity thing.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A man dressed as a Muslim woman in all-enveloping burka and hijab robbed a jeweler shop in Bury, Greater Manchester Police said on Thursday.
"Show your face
Or stay outta this place."
Is that legal in Britain these days?
Two accomplices, one of whom had a shotgun, barged into the shop with the man on Wednesday, and stole bangles, rings and lockets before escaping in a waiting car.
Greater Manchester has a large Muslim community, mostly from South Asia, and traditional Muslim dress is common.
Police are appealing for information on the robbery.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] The opposition Conservative Party, led by David Cameron, has won Britain's general elections but without an absolute majority, exit poll says
The Conservatives have 307 seats, 19 short of an overall majority of 326, Labour has 255 and the Liberal Democrats 59, an exit poll compiled by British broadcasters suggested after polling stations closed on Thursday.
The exit poll result indicates that there would be a hung parliament in the UK.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
See, even the English are pi$$ed off by Obamacare!
#2
The headline is misleading. The Tories do have the most seats, but that doesn't translate into forming the next Government until the back-room deals are done. Lacking an outright majority, ie more than 50% of the seats, they could yet be sidelined by a Labour / Lib Dem coalition. We won't know who's in power in the UK until later today day, at the earliest.
#3
Reading through the Lib Dems' foreign policy positions, they seem far more anti-US and anti-NATO than Labour ever was/were.
If Labour+LibDems = ca. 55% or more of the vote, it would seem that British public opinion is pretty solidly opposed to supporting us in AfPak, or anywhere else around the world. Granted that many Labourites still support us, but a sizeable number of Tories doesn't, and the very high numbers for an anti-nuke, anti-US, anti-Israel peacenik party like LD is very disturbing.
It feels very much like the CND era before Thatcher. With no Thatcher on the horizon.
#4
lex, the Lib Dems' far-left foreign policies (including being de facto anti-US and very pro-Europe) were, IMO, a significant reason why they failed to do better than their usual third place this time, despite their inherent advantage of having arguably the most charismatic leader and of seeming to be the 'neither of the above' option following one of the most despised parliaments in British history. In fact, Brown (Labour) and Cameron (Tory) both accused the Lib Dem leader (Clegg) of being anti-American as a way of scoring points against him in the debates, which I was pleased to hear.
The British public is mostly against continued involvement in Afghanistan, as I understand the US population is too - what does that mean? They're also more anti-EU than they are anti-American. Labour and the Tories, both of which have supported the US over Afghanistan, Iraq and the war on terror in general, have 87% on the seats alone. That hardly supports your conclusion that it would seem that British public opinion is pretty solidly opposed to supporting us in AfPak, or anywhere else around the world. The big surprise of this election so far is just how little support at the polls the Lib Dems have achieved, in spite of the predictions.
#6
OK, thanks for correcting my ignorance, Bulldog. I didn't see the final #s for LD -- if they're as low as you say, that's definitely reassuring.
However, if Britain needs to be bailed out by the IMF (again), do you think it likely that Britain's defense budget will avoid huge cuts, and if so, will/can Britain maintain a significant forward presence alongside us in Afgh?
The Tories admitted in Sept 2009 that the ywould cut certain defence budgeting , namely
the £20billion Eurofighter/Typhoon project,
the £4billion project to build two aircraft carriers
the £2.7billion order for 25 A400 transport aircraft(to replace c-130s)
They are however very keen to increase the number of military personel on the ground in afghanistan , namely to train the ANF . They also understand the importance of rebuilding its economy and recognise that the international community should be there for many years to come in whatever capacity .
This is an extract from the shadow def minister, Liam Fox , taken from Al-Guardian in August last year
Asked if the Tories would support sending more troops, Fox said it would depend on the request, but added: "I said to General McChrystal that had we been the government and had we been asked for more troops to accelerate the training, we would have been much more sympathetic than the current government, and we maintain that view."
Hope that helps
Posted by: Oscar ||
05/07/2010 4:31 Comments ||
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#8
One rumour I have been hearing armed forces friends posted overseas is that they have been denied the right to vote in national elections , this could amount to thousands of people including those on operations at the moment . I find this extremely disturbing , and obviously points to nefarious underhand tactics by Labour, considering folk in the services usually vote Tory .
I truely hope this gets investigated seriously and transparently
Posted by: Oscar ||
05/07/2010 9:21 Comments ||
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#9
I saw a map the other day showing the UK color coded by which party won which areas. It was fascinating how Conservatives seemed to dominate in England and the Liberal Democrats in Scotland (Labor seemed to have urban areas from waht I could tell). That would make Scotland the height of anti-American sentiment. Why? Is it a biproduct of Scotland/England tensions and England's close alliance with the US?
#3
Meth precursors = pseudoephedrine and ephedrine? Where would such large quantities be obtained in Mexico? These are factory-sized quantities. Are these substances controlled in Mexico? We have methamphetamine precursor control acts in the states.
#5
Meth precursors = pseudoephedrine and ephedrine? Where would such large quantities be obtained in Mexico? These are factory-sized quantities. Are these substances controlled in Mexico? We have methamphetamine precursor control acts in the states.
The old non-drowsy Sudafed (pseudoephedrine HCl) was available over the counter stateside not too many years ago. It's still available that way in China, and possibly many other countries. It wouldn't surprise me to hear that these imports came from one of these countries, either directly from the plant or as a transfer point, to shake off suspicion.
#6
Pseudoephedrine is made in China and India. The Indians cracked down on illicit distribution some years ago. China, not so much.
Posted by: ed ||
05/07/2010 16:41 Comments ||
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#7
"The Indians cracked down on illicit distribution some years ago. China, not so much."
Imagine my surprise.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/07/2010 18:56 Comments ||
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#8
Also Thursday, authorities said they seized 88 tons (80 metric tons) of a precursor chemical used to make methamphetamines at a Mexican Pacific coast seaport.
"No, essay, I got this really bad sinus thing goin' on. It ain't no drugs, honest, essay".
#6
Damn the Army SDBs look ugly. Wish they'd go back to the 40's version.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/07/2010 14:09 Comments ||
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#7
"The 170th Infantry Brigade of the United States Army was reestablished 15 July 2009 at US Army Garrison Baumholder in Germany as part of the Grow the Army plan. The 170th Infantry Brigade was formed by reflagging the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division."
#8
IIRC NEWS KERALA > MEDVEDEV:SOVIET/RUSSIAN PEOPLE DEFEATED NAZI GERMANY, NOT STALIN. "Uncle Joe's" crimes agz his own Party-Govt-State vee GREAT PURGES, ETC. are unforgivable.
* WMF > SOVIET ARCHIVES' REVEALED SECRETS OF THE VIETNAM WAR: CHINA HAD SECRET AGREEMENT WITH NORTH VIETNAM TO SEND IN PLA COMBAT FORCES IFF THE US INVADED NORTH VIETNAM ABOVE THE 17TH PARALLEL. 1965-1970 CHINA SENT IN LARGE NUMBERS OF "DEFENSIVE" AIR DEFENSE, ENGINEERS, LOGISTICS, AND OTHER COMBAT SUPPORT TROOPS, ADVISORS IN SUPPORT OF NORTH VIETNAM.
ARTIC > denotes that THE US DID NOT BELIEVE THAT ITS VICTORY OR DEFEAT IN THE VIETNAM STRUGGLE WOULD'VE ENDED THE LARGER CONFLICT AGZ COMMUNISM IN SOUTHEAST ASIA.
* SAME > ATOMIC MYSTERY: THE CASE OF THE US' MISSING "KOKURA/NAGASAKI" THIRD ATOMIC BOMB. AFTER THE AUGUST 1945 SURRENDER OF JAPAN, DID THE BACKWARD USSR COVERTLY RECOVER AN UNEXPLODED OR FAILED US URANIUM BOMB FROM THE NAGASAKI B-29 ATOMIC STRIKE MISSION, WHICH LED TO DEV AND DETONATION OF THE FIRST SOVIET ATOMIC BOMB IN 1949???
ARTIC > Japanese witnesses-survivors at NAGASAKI claim to had seen TWO A-BOMBS being dropped from US B-29 Bombers.
World markets fell sharply Friday following a huge sell-off on Wall Street and amid fears that Europe's debt crisis could spread and derail the global economic recovery. At one stage, the Dow Jones industrial average was in freefall, trading 1,000 points lower.
Investors around the world are uneasy about the prospect of trouble in the euro zone from Greece's crisis. Many economists say Greece may be insolvent in the end despite an EU-IMF bailout, and there are fears that other countries will worsen their finances in a vicious spiral. That could undermine markets and consumer confidence just as Europe crawls out of recession.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/07/2010 05:50 ||
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#1
WaPo has an interesting review:Stock markets went haywire on Thursday. Shares were already falling over fears of fiscal problems in Europe when something, perhaps a structural flaw in U.S. markets, dragged prices into a historic and breathtaking plunge...more unrest may be in store for Friday as market officials and regulators try to sort through the aftermath.
Rumors about the cause of the chaos were rampant on Wall Street and in Washington. Some traders speculated about human error, such as an electronic trade of stocks entered with the wrong amount. Regulators offered little clarity, saying they would investigate...The NYSE has "circuit breakers" in place to pause the trading of stocks during a panic. But investors can also trade stocks on 10 electronic platforms that have sprung up in the shadows of the NYSE in recent years and generally do not stop unrestrained selling...new SEC rules [launched in 2007] toppled the dominance of NYSE. The trading of its own listed stocks dropped from 85 percent to 21 percent, said James Angel, a professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.
As a result, a single entity can no longer put a stop to panicked selling. The markets Thursday were a preview of what happens when other trading venues take over, he said.
"We are dangerously unprotected from a real-time meltdown," Angel said.
The country's in the very best of hands.
#2
My tin foil hat is on. The economy was tanking in '08 but why the crash on 9/15? One month before the election. No one really knows why. Now this. No one really knows why. No one speculating it could have been a cyber attack? Certainly seems possible to me. Get Soros on board, and you could really steamroller an event like this.
#3
A whole bunch of people got blown out of their stops yesterday. A number of names went to zero or one penny. For example, Boston Beer (Sam Adams, SAM) was trading in the high fifties and went to one penny briefly. Take a peek at the one minute chart.
Since the market recovered immediately, most of those people weren't able to get back in in time, and lost a bundle, depending on how tight their stops were set.
There's an old market manipulation that works like this: you (or your group of cronies) sell enough to drive the market into the stops people have set. When the stops are triggered, more selling results, which drives the market further, triggering more stop selling. You and the group buy back at the bottom of the artificial dip. Profit!
It also says that there's little deep liquidity. No size buy orders for Boston beer 30% below market, for example. Apparently no one wants to be in the market in a situation where a buy order like that was triggered?
Gibbs said Obama is waiting to hear the results of a review before ruling out what might have caused it, including the possibility of sabotage.
“I wouldn’t rule anything in or rule anything out,” Gibbs told reporters in his West Wing office Friday. “I think that’s, appropriately, why they’re reviewing what may or may not have happened.”
Gibbs said Obama thinks the “the circumstances around this is something that should be watched or should be reviewed and looked at.”
These people are geniuses, I tell you, geniuses.
Hey, bozos, how about looking into oil rig sabotage?
#4
If Germany left the EU, it would be better for them (less drag on their economy and money by the rest of the lesser states) and a quicker end to the EU.
#8
I've always felt that the end game if the EU continues is the disolution of the various nation states. At some point Bavaria will look at the rest of Germany the way the Germans are looking at the Greeks right now.
#14
CHINESE MIL FORUM > EURO WILL COLLAPSE LIKE "TOWER OF BABEL": ECONOMIST [Stephen Lewis].
ARTIC = POTENTIAL BAILOUT may be GREATER than the L8.4BILYUHN demanded in the present.Oreso than just GERMANY, "GUILTY MEN [responsible] ARE EURO-CRATS WHOM REFUSE TO RECOGNIZE/BELIEVE THAT THEIR FAMILIAR CONSTRUCTION IS COLLAPSING" [or that Someone(s) will always come around to save their single or collective butt ergo no need to change andor stop abusin', exploitin', manupulatin', convertin' and corruptin',
........@etc. PROFITEERING].
In a stunning turnaround, President Obama has lost roughly half of his support among Jewish voters. Overcame their suicidal tendencies, did they?
A poll by McLaughlin and Associates found that, while 78 percent of Jewish voters cast their ballots for Obama, only 42 percent of Jewish voters would vote to re-elect him. A plurality — 46 percent — would consider voting for anyone else. That compares with 21 percent who voted for John McCain.
Ever since he learned of Obama's ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, has been warning fellow Jews that Obama would be antithetical to Jewish interests, not only as they relate to Israel but also to issues that affect all Americans.
Before Obama was elected, Klein, whose organization of 30,000 members is the oldest pro-Israel group in the country, felt like a pariah. Now, as he speaks to Jewish audiences on a weekly basis, he has found that the climate has changed dramatically.
“As I speak at synagogues now around the country, I haven't had a single person during Q and A or after my talk ask how I could be so critical of Obama,' Klein tells Newsmax.
Klein tells his audiences they should not be surprised that Obama's left-leaning policies appear to tilt more toward the Palestinians than to Israelis. He cites the fact that Obama and his wife, Michelle, spent 20 years listening to Wright, who routinely denounced Israel as a racist state and America for allegedly having created the AIDS virus to kill off blacks.
Wright, whom Obama described as a mentor and sounding board, even gave an award for lifetime achievement to Louis Farrakhan.
“God damn America,' Wright shouted in one of his sermons.
Obama's speeches have been “inimical to Israel and supportive of the stream of false Palestinian Arab claims concerning Israel,' Klein says. “He is relentlessly pressuring Israel while applying virtually almost no pressure on the Palestinian Authority to fulfill its written obligations. He is worse than Jimmy Carter was when he was president. It was so obvious if you just looked at Obama's associations before he was elected. Jews simply ignored that.'
David Remnick's book “The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama' quotes an unidentified campaign aide to Hillary Clinton as saying that, if the stories about Wright's ties to Obama had appeared in January 2008, “it would have been over,' meaning Hillary would have won the Democratic nomination for president.
In fact, as outlined in the Newsmax story "The Media's Blackout on Rev. Wright," those stories on Wright were appearing as early as January 2008 — at Newsmax.com — but the mainstream media ignored them and would not pick them up until mid-March.
Before the election, Klein remembers, “If I talked about Reverend Wright in talks at synagogues, they would say I was using guilt by association. I would always explain you can't say that. He chose this church. He chose to have a friendship with Wright because this is a person he is comfortable with and because Wright espouses views he believes in.'
Klein notes, “If a Jew was a member of a synagogue where the rabbi preached hatred of blacks, it would be clear that that Jew would be comfortable with anti-black racism. I couldn't remain for a week at a synagogue where a rabbi made a hateful speech toward blacks. I'd quit immediately.'
But now the tide is turning, Klein says. As recently as last weekend, “At the synagogue where I spoke, two of my most left-wing lunatic friends were saying, ‘My God, Mort, you were right. I never should have voted for Obama.''
Several Jewish leaders have turned against Obama as well, Klein says, some openly and some behind the scenes because they do not want to cut off ties with a president. Klein quotes one of the most prominent Jewish leaders as having told him recently, “It's better if I'm on the inside than the outside. So there's no point in my publicly criticizing him because then I won't have influence.'
“What influence?' Klein asks rhetorically. “It felt so good to so many of liberals to be voting for the first black man to run for president that nothing else mattered,' Klein says. “They felt good proving that they are not racist.'
Only 17 percent of Orthodox Jews now would vote to re-elect Obama, according to the McLaughlin poll. Among conservative Jews, 38 percent would vote for him again. Fifty-two percent of reform Jews would re-elect him. Among Jews who have been to Israel, 36 percent now would cast their ballots for him. When polled, 12 percent responded they did not know or refused to answer.
“The majority of Jews now realize that this guy is bad for Israel, let alone bad for America,' Klein says.
#3
"It felt so good to so many of liberals to be voting for the first black man to run for president that nothing else mattered," Klein says. "They felt good proving that they are not racist."
It's pathetic that some many adults can be so easily manipulated.
#5
If you think they've "turned against" Barry now, wait until the shooting starts in Lebanan and or Iran and Barry denies Iraqi overflight, rearming/refueling, and lets Israel twist in the wind. If that happens and Israel is pushed into the Masada mode, the nukes will begin popping! But I suppose this is will be just another "crisis" that the adminstration will exploit.
#6
the nukes will begin popping! But I suppose this is will be just another "crisis" that the adminstration will exploit. Should that happen, world relationships, economies, food supplies, etc. will be redefined. 0's people can ride that all the way down, just like Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove.
#7
"prove they're not racist"?
Nobody knows how you vote but yourself. So you're only proving something to yourself. Which means you think it must need proving. Probably right.
This SURPRISE is all very well.
But at election time...no change.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
05/07/2010 7:54 Comments ||
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#8
Polls aren't votes. Lots of American Jews supported communism even when it was viciously persecuting Jews in the Soviet Union--and they knew it.
#9
Nearly all, well some 95% of the Bolsheviks and Menshevik Parties who overthrew the Tsar were Jewish, as were Lenin and Trotsky. Communism is not a new, political trend to some folks you see.
#10
Not true, Besoeker, and you're on thin ice with such a sweeping statement.
Jews in 1917 Russia were about 5% of the population. The Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and various SD's commanded the support of a substantial fraction of the Russian people: a fourth to a third, easily, at the time they took over. Your math is already out of whack.
The Jewish community in America has long been communalist: that is, their outlook has been one of looking after people in the community. That's partly their faith and partly the result of having been herded into ghettoes for a millennium or two. That's different than the usual notion of the founding American as a rugged individualist; and Democrats for a long time have been more communalist than Republicans. Jewish voters gravitated to the party that was more identified their their long-held beliefs.
I might also point out that at the time we had substantial Jewish immigration to the US, they were discriminated against by the power structure, particularly in academics and government. In that time, most of that power structure was Republican, and the Jews remember that.
So there are significant cultural reasons why Jewish Americans have tended to vote Democratic. Too bad Bambi doesn't get that; he's throwing away votes.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/07/2010 11:33 Comments ||
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#11
Many thanks for the course correction Dr. and explaining the millennial victims grudge factor. Damn those old racist Gentile history books anyway. If I hurry, I might be able to catch the postman in time to send a free will offering to Goldman Sachs to ward off the inevitable onslaught of guilt.
You call it "communalism" I call it collectivism. No matter, I have no problem paying retail for goods and services.
#12
I sure read something different out of that chart. In 1980 the Jewish vote was almost evenly split between Reagan and Carter, which I interpret as a reflection on arch-communalist Carter. Then the donk number climbs up. Why? I think it has less to do with their communalism than their fear of the evangelical ascendancy in the Republican party. If Huckabee ever got nominated, I'd bet he'd get less than 10% of the vote even against Obama.
#15
Whahahaa, no problem TW. Could it possibly be we have identified is part of the 'social justice' problem? Please ring me up will you, when these folks all become Methodists or Convert to Catholicism:
#16
Congratulations, Besoeker. You've noticed that Jews, whether religious or ethnic/cultural, get involved in issues that matter to them. We're overrepresented in everything -- go make a list of Jewish scientists, or businesspeople, or philanthropists... or members of the PTA. That's the difference between communalism and communism by the way: one is voluntary and starts at the grass roots, the other coerced.
Why don't you go see how many Jews are involved in the tea parties? I imagine that the number of names that show up at the leadership level is highly disproportionate to the raw numbers there, too.
#18
I don't know TW, other then Rod Carew you guys ain't exactly been holding up your end when it comes to sports...
speaking about weird social justice, I did enjoy in an embarrassing sort of way watching Carl Levin drop four letter words every other sentence at those bank execs last week on c-span...personally I think Levin sucks and I've tried voting him and Debbie 2-ton StabeCOW out as MI sens every election but at least the staged t.v. drama was entertaining.
#19
Interesting discussion. Communalism v collectivism. I can see that one can be a communalist without being a socialist. Hopefully more Jewish voters will come to that realization.
#21
Oh yes, more ethnic exceptionalism. Thank you for those lofty thoughts. Even as an average thinker I too can recognize medical, scientific, and scholarly achievement and excellence. I can also recognize ethnic and religious cabal. I'm not ready to send letters of apology to David Duke, but don't you see a common thread with the current economic and financial train wreck....ie, the current Administration, Congress, Wall Street? Tell me then, I must be as full of shit as a Christmas turkey.
#22
Broadhead6, once upon a time it was Jewish boys who ruled the basketball court, which was attributed to them being scrappier and quicker mentally than other groups. But organized crime and professional sports are the ways for the underclass to break in; American Jews haven't been underclass for quite some time -- our communal charities have made sure those who want an education can get it, that our poor are found jobs, and our widows and orphans are not left to starve.
#24
they largely got rubbed out of the organized crime syndicates by the Italians in the late 20's early 30's too...
i hate playing the 'us/them' thing... leaves a foul taste in my mouth... :S
Posted by: abu do you love ||
05/07/2010 16:02 Comments ||
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#25
Whahahaa, no problem TW. Could it possibly be we have identified is part of the 'social justice' problem? Please ring me up will you, when these folks all become Methodists or Convert to Catholicism:
Compared to the rest of the population, on a per capita basis, more Jews are left-wing and liberal. But how is that the fault of Jews who are not left-wing and liberal? More blacks are violent criminals on a per capita basis than non-blacks. Is that the fault of the blacks who are not violent criminals?
This is how the Western tradition works (quoting KJV): "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." If the sins of the father should not result in the son taking the fall, how does it make sense to blame some random person for the sins of a complete stranger, just because they happen to have a common skin color or religion?
I had no idea Jews were such a danger to the proper order of the world. So, help me out, these guys were/are hidden jews, as well?
Barack Obama
Nancy Pelosi
Harry Reid
Bill Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Al Gore
John Kerry
John Murtha
Michael Moore
Harry Belafonte
Cynthia McKinney
Cindy Sheehan
Jimmy Carter
Richard J. Durbin
John F. Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Margaret Sanger
Louis C. Fraina
#27
My interp on the difference between collectivist vs communalist is that the collectivist doesn't believe in property rights (American jews I know don't fall into this category - minus the group of big gov't dems Besoeker pointed out).
As far as communalist vs socialist I think it's a slippery slope - voting as a majority for the party that raises taxes, is anti-2nd amendment & pro-welfare is not exactly increasing the freedoms of your neighbors, you're only voting on their rights and giving more power to the gov't and hoping for its benevolence. You can be passionate all you want, but if you're voting 80% of the time for the big-gov't party which legislates contrary to the beliefs of most of us on here then it's prolly an issue and worthy of debate. Further, I often found it interesting that so many jews would vote dem, (if you look at their history as a people as Steve W pointed out wrt to ghetto confinement), dems over the last 25 yrs have been wingnut wrt anti-2nd amendment, I would think that a people w/a history such as the jews would be fervently pro-gun ownership, (or the blacks for that matter). I would also think they'd have a healthy mistrust of big gov't as owned by the current crop of dems -- or Steve - did you mean they mistrusted the nor-east state govt's when they first arrived that were repub lead? At any rate, interesting info from all posters here.
#28
I can also recognize ethnic and religious cabal.
So you think Larry Sommers is colluding with Harry Reid because they are both Jewish? I can't imagine you think there is a Jewish cabal to control physics or computer research... Has it occurred to you that the connections may be because of where people work rather than because of religion?
Besides, you didn't address our over-representation in the PTA. That's not a claim about being smarter, which it seems is your objection, but being more involved.
#29
I can also recognize ethnic and religious cabal.
NBA players are about 80% black (and probably majority Protestant). Is that an ethnic and religious cabal?
I think on average - relative to other ethnic groups on a per capita basis - blacks are born with better athletic abilities, and Jews are born with better cognitive abilities. Blacks and Jews are also more liberal, on average, than the rest of the population. This means that you will get more liberal black athletes and Jewish politicians (politics does require some intellectual horsepower, no matter how much we deride it).
#31
For historical reasons, Jews in this country are deeply suspicious of southern and rural evangelicals and baptists and will never embrace wholeheartedly a party whose current heartthrob asserts that "America is a Christian nation". Christianity is fundamental to our history, sure, but it is not fundamental to any US public institution.
Such talk scares most jews in this country and reminds them why they refuse to rip up their Dem voter registration cards. A majority of Jews may ultimately vote against a left-wing Israelophobic Democrat, but they will not be voting for his GOP opponent.
#32
Such talk scares most jews in this country and reminds them why they refuse to rip up their Dem voter registration cards. A majority of Jews may ultimately vote against a left-wing Israelophobic Democrat, but they will not be voting for his GOP opponent.
This makes no sense. Most European countries have Christianity as the official, state-sponsored religion. Do Jews in Europe not participate in the political process or try to get Christianity knocked off as the official religion there?
#33
For instance, have British Jews ever tried to get the crosses of St. George, St. Andrew and St. Patrick knocked off the Union Jack? Maybe they could come up with a new flag that incorporates the Union Jack's colors without any crosses involved. Maybe they could propose a new British flag that looks like this one:
#35
Most European countries have Christianity as the official, state-sponsored religion. Do Jews in Europe not participate in the political process or try to get Christianity knocked off as the official religion there?
Regardless of formal documents, in actual practice the current state religion of every European country save Poland is secularism. Ain't many jews left in Poland, or Germany, or France, or Italy, or the rest of Europe for that matter. They came here seeking to escape from political fanaticism that they and their children continue to associate more with Christian European anti-semitism chauvinists than with communist European anti-semitism.
Relatively few jews remaining in Europe do not participate in the political process to anything like the extent they do here. Those few jews ascending to senior political positions in Europe tend to be secular or left-wing and indifferent if not hostile toward Israel.
#36
Regardless of formal documents, in actual practice the current state religion of every European country save Poland is secularism.
In current practice, tax dollars support European churches. Not via tax deduction for donations to churches, but via direct stipends from the government.
#37
And there's no getting away from national flags with crucifixes on them, not to mention numerous national monuments with same that have been carefully tended at taxpayer expense for centuries.
#38
Harry Reid is a Mormon. He set a new high-water mark in the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. No other member of the LDS Church has served in a higher leadership position in Congress. His children are all active church members.
#39
#29 I can also recognize ethnic and religious cabal.
NBA players are about 80% black (and probably majority Protestant). Is that an ethnic and religious cabal? Zhang Fei
Sorry, I don't follow "pro" sports. Recommend you ask Stanford Heisman Trophy winning running back Toby Gerhart.
#41
If BO teed off the U.S. Jewish population because of his seeming favoritism towards muslims, his shabby treatment of Netanyahu, and his liking for a presidential dictatorship statism it might just translate into anti-Obama votes.
#42
I imagine the ones that count are the big donors of time (get-out-the-vote and fund raising) and money. Given the entire 1.8% of the American population that is Jewish, votes given or withheld aren't going to make that much difference, not even in New York City or Florida.* And at least some of the big donors are screaming bloody murder, which is why President Obama has gone on his offensive charm offensive. I would have written that earlier, had I not been side-tracked by Besoeker's stupid hot-button pushing.
*I imagine most will go into the voting booth, and just not pull the lever for any of the presidential candidates if President Obama is running for reelection. Voting is a duty of citizenship, after all.
#44
Given the entire 1.8% of the American population that is Jewish, votes given or withheld aren't going to make that much difference, not even in New York City or Florida.
I'd have to agree. NY's been too liberal to go GOP for a while. The only state where members of the tribe would have made a difference is in FL, where Jews are 3.7% of the population, and Obama won 50.9 to 48.4. McCain would still have lost, even if he had picked up FL, on the strength of every single Jew voting for him (and even if every single Jew nationwide had voted for him). The unfortunate reality is that while liberal Jews were at the forefront of the hope and change movement, they were only following the zeitgeist, personified by Obama.
#45
The attached chart does provide food for thought. If you look at the chart carefully, you'll note that more Jews supported the GOP in 2000, 2004 and 2008 than during the Clinton era. All this despite the fact that Obama was the first Democratic candidate to win a majority of the popular vote in decades. I suspect we will see a lot more members of the tribe speaking for and representing the GOP in the years ahead. The rest of America became more liberal. Jewish voters did not.
#46
"The rest of America became more liberal. Jewish voters did not."
That is a matter of opinion. Many Jewish folk are non-practicing Jews, intermarrying outside the faith and copulating outside the faith. Young Jews may be more liberal than their forebears, despite what many Jews will lead the casual observer to believe.
I don't remember seeing this, but it is three days old.
Outgoing U.N. climate chief Yvo de Boer shot down expectations of a comprehensive climate treaty this year, saying Monday that a major U.N. conference in December would yield only a first answer on curbing greenhouse gases. Lots more Five-Star dining required.
De Boer said the next major U.N. climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, in December will "not provide an answer that is good enough." He was speaking to reporters at an international climate meeting in Koenigswinter, near Bonn, the former German capital. Ooooohhhh. German five-star beer!
"A good outcome of Cancun will be an operational architecture on climate change," he said. "And then we can decide on a treaty." De Boer said he expects such an international climate treaty before the end of 2012, but even that will "not be the definitive answer to the climate change challenge."
Germany and other countries have said they have not given up on a deal in Cancun. Germany and Mexico are hosting the meeting in Koenigswinter of more than 40 ministers and high representatives, which is aimed at getting the U.N.'s negotiating process back on track.
German Environment Minister Norbert Roettgen said Monday evening the first full day of negotiations had seen some positive signals. "I think the general feeling was that international climate negotiations have again started moving ahead," he said.
Also, there is progress on some issues of the envisioned climate treaty such as the safeguarding of the Earth's forests, the exchange of technology and other valuable resources, including cash between wealthy and poor nations and the use of market mechanisms such as emission trading schemes, he said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
05/07/2010 07:17 ||
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...and the use of market mechanisms such as emission trading schemes
Uh-oh. Somebody screwed up and used the correct phrasing.
#2
With all the bonds and countries in debt going south, like Greece, with large debts in Italy, Spain, and Portugal, we may have all this climate change bravo sierra going on the back burner. Hell they may have to go for fish and chips take away.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/07/2010 21:01 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Three Mideast countries have become the first to get Internet addresses entirely in non-Latin characters. !#*%#?
Domain names in Arabic for Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were added to the Internet's master directories on Wednesday, following final approval last month by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN. It's the first major change to the Internet domain name system since its creation in the 1980s.
Registrations for websites to use those names are to begin soon. On Thursday, Egypt granted three companies approval to register names using the country's new Arabic suffix.
Until now, websites had to end their addresses with ".com" or another string using Latin characters. That meant businesses and government agencies still had to use Latin characters on billboards and advertisements, even if they were targeting populations with no familiarity with English or other languages that use the Latin script.
Non-Latin characters were sometimes permitted for the portions of the Internet address before the suffix. But Arabic websites generally haven't had that option because Arabic characters are written right to left, conflicting with Latin suffixes written left to right.
"Introducing Arabic domain names is a milestone in Internet history," Egyptian Communication and Information Technology Minister Tarek Kamel said in a statement.
"This great step will open up new horizons for e-services in Egypt" as well as boosting the number of online users and enabling Internet service providers to enter new markets by "eliminating language barriers."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2010 00:00 ||
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"eliminating language barriers."
Yeah, now all the jihadis can go watch the latest propaganda.
I wonder what their emoticons will look like.
I wonder if the will come up with stuff like ROFL, or if it will have a more jihadi feel like HROF (Head Rolling on Floor).
What really went on at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen? Secret recordings obtained by SPIEGEL reveal how China and India prevented an agreement on tackling climate change at the crucial meeting. The powerless Europeans were forced to look on as the agreement failed.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/07/2010 00:00 ||
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ION CHINESE MIL FORUM > CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR > MEGACITIES OF THE WORLD: A GLIMPSE OF HOW WE WILL LIVE TOMORROW | BILYUHN-MAN CITIES ARE THE FUTURE [e.g. INDIA].
#6
Funny how Obama managed to come off as both a patsy (of the Chinese) and a lying, faithless blowhard (to the Europeans). The net effect is that he has little leverage with China and is in no position to ask for any meaningful favors from Sarko or Merkel.
[Straits Times] MYANMAR democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's party, for two decades the symbol of resistance against the ruling junta, is to be dissolved at midnight on Thursday under laws laid down ahead of elections.
The National League for Democracy (NLD) refused to meet a May 6 deadline to re-register as a political party - a move that would have forced it to expel its own leader - and boycotted the vote scheduled for later this year.
At the party's ramshackle headquarters in Myanmar's former capital Yangon, the 'fighting peacock' flag was still flying but party workers were packing up files and mulling new plans to focus on social and development work.
'We have decided not to take down our party signboard and flags as Daw Suu has asked,' said prominent NLD member Phyu Phyu Thin, using a respectful form of address for the Nobel peace laureate. 'Although we have no legal headquarters, we will continue our movement. Our people have sacrificed their lives... many of our party members and activists are still in prison,' she said.
Along with Ms Suu Kyi's lakeside home, where she has been detained for 14 of the last 20 years, the shabby wooden headquarters has been the focus of efforts to end nearly half a century of military rule. The NLD was founded in 1988 after a popular uprising against the military junta that left thousands dead. Two years later the party won elections in a landslide but the results were never recognised by the regime.
The junta's new election laws, which forced the NLD into the difficult boycott decision and also officially nullified the 1990 poll results, have been roundly condemned by the international community.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/07/2010 00:00 ||
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H/T HotAir.com. Check out the picture at the site
A proposal to build a mosque steps from Ground Zero received the support of a downtown committee despite some loved ones of 9/11 victims finding it offensive. The 13-story mosque and Islamic cultural center was unanimously endorsed by the 12-member Community Board 1's financial district committee.
The $100 million project, called the Cordoba House, is proposed for the old Burlington Coat Factory building at Park Place and Broadway, just two blocks from the World Trade Center site.
"I think it will be a wonderful asset to the community," said committee Chairman Ro Sheffe.
Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, who helped found the Cordoba Initiative following the 9/11 attacks, said the project is intended to foster better relations between the West and Muslims. He said the glass-and-steel building would include a 500-seat performing arts venue, a swimming pool and a basketball court. "There's nothing like it," said Rauf, adding that facilities will be open to all New Yorkers.
Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and a member of the Cordoba Initiative's board, said donations are being sought to pay for the construction.
Khan said the project has received little opposition. "Whatever concerns anybody has, we have to make sure to educate them that we are an asset to the community," Khan said.
Khan said her group hopes construction on the project will begin by the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Once built, 1,000 to 2,000 Muslims are expected to pray at the mosque every Friday, she said.
No one at last night's meeting protested the project. But some 9/11 families said they found the proposal offensive because the terrorists who launched the attacks were Muslim.
"I realize it's not all of them, but I don't want to have to go down to a memorial where my son died on 9/11 and look at a mosque," said retired FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches - whose son Jim, a firefighter, was killed on 9/11.
"If you ask me, it's a religion of hate," said Riches, who did not attend last night's meeting.
Rosemary Cain of Massapequa, L.I., whose son, Firefighter George Cain, 35, was killed in the 2001 attacks, called the project a "slap in the face."
"I think it's despicable. That's sacred ground," said Cain, who also did not attend the meeting. "How could anybody give them permission to build a mosque there? It tarnishes the area."
#1
Khan said the project has received little opposition.
I believe that's because this is the first most people have heard of it. Be prepared, lady. This is like trying to get a statue of Hitler put up at Auschwitz.
"Whatever concerns anybody has, we have to make sure to educate them that we are an asset to the community," Khan said.
Yes, Islam is a religion of peace...stupid infidel! Pay no attention to that big hole a couple of blocks down.
#2
"Whatever concerns anybody has, we have to make sure to educate them that we are an asset to the community," Khan said.
We've already had something of a glimpse of what an "asset" you are to the community Mr. Khan. We've been watching London, Paris, Dearborn, and Gaza for decades now.
#3
I remember wild tales from the cold war in which superpowers put nuclear bomb inside their embassies to assure they could have at least one go off in the enemies capital. Not saying anyone would ever build a bomb or store weapons in a mosque, just saying.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
05/07/2010 14:33 Comments ||
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Cordoba Initiative
You gotta love it - under the guise of reconciliation, these mooks are naming the project after a Spanish Christian city once conquered by Muslims. And the local community board is approving the project. If this is an example of New York's sophistication, I'm content to be unsophisticated.
#14
I'd like to put up a large billboard with a drawing of Muhammad the Profit Prophet on it along every major freeway. Call it a Multi-culturalArt and Diverrrrrrrsity Project .
#16
Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, who helped found the Cordoba Initiative following the 9/11 attacks, said the project is intended to foster better relations between the West and Muslims
Would that be the dissembling Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf, along with Dr. Eric Ormsby, a Professor of Islamic Studies at McGill University, who are the subject of this post.
Tensions are rising at a California high school where five students were sent home for wearing American flag T-shirts on Cinco de Mayo.
More than 200 Hispanic students reportedly skipped class on Thursday and marched to school district headquarters while chanting "we want respect" and "si se puedes" -- "yes we can" -- the Morgan Hill Times reported.
"We did this to support the Latino/Hispanic community," Francine Roa, a 2005 Live Oak High School graduate, told the newspaper. How, exactly?
Ms Roa graduated in 2005. Doesn't she have college classes or a job that needs her presence?
At least six Morgan Hill police vehicles traveled alongside the students, many of whom carried Mexican flags. No arrests were made related to the march, the newspaper reported.
Police have been told to be on alert for gang-related retaliation against the boys, according to Ken Jones, whose stepson, Daniel Galli, was one of the students who refused to turn their T-shirts inside-out when asked by a vice principal on Wednesday.
"We just want this whole thing to die down," Jones told FoxNews.com. "We're not trying to keep these flames firing."
The five teens were sitting at a table outside Live Oak High School Wednesday morning when Assistant Principal Miguel Rodriguez asked two of them to remove their American flag bandannas, one of the boys' parents told FoxNews.com. The youths complied, but were asked to accompany Rodriguez to the principal's office.
The students were then told they must turn their T-shirts inside-out or be sent home, though it would not be considered a suspension. Rodriguez told the students he did not want any fights to break out between Mexican-American students celebrating their heritage and those wearing American flags, the parent said.
But Jones said the preemptive action was unnecessary, and that Rodriguez "overstepped his bounds."
"The issue was, there was nothing going on," Jones told Fox News on Friday. "There was no sense of violence at all amongst the students, there was no conversation, there was no bullying.
"We just feel like the vice principal overstepped his bounds. He jumped in too quickly. We can understand he might be concerned something would happen, but there was no indication that was going to happen at all."
Officials at the high school, a 1,300-student institution in Santa Clara County, near San Jose, have not returned several messages seeking comment.
As of late Thursday, Jones said the five boys' parents have no plans to sue the school or Morgan Hill Unified School District, which has characterized the incident as "extremely unfortunate" and is conducting an ongoing investigation. Several attorneys have contacted the families offering to represent them pro bono, Jones said.
"We're keeping an open mind," he said. "We want to stand up for our First Amendment rights."
He said the families are seeking an apology from school officials and want the students' unexcused absences for leaving school to be expunged.
Galli said he frequently wears the American flag T-shirt to school and that he wasn't trying to incite any tension. Asked if he wore the shirt to make a statement related to the ongoing immigration debate, Galli said, "No, it had absolutely nothing to do with that."
District officials, meanwhile, sent a voicemail message in English and Spanish to all parents late Thursday.
"The Morgan Hill Unified School District does not prohibit nor do we discourage wearing patriotic clothing," the message from Superintendent Wesley Smith said. "The incident on May 5 at Live Oak High School is extremely unfortunate. While campus safety is our primary concern and administrators made decisions yesterday in an attempt to ensure campus safety, students should not, and will not, be disciplined for wearing patriotic clothing. This situation and our response are under review."
Asked if the district will be taking any steps to quell rising tensions at the school, a district official told FoxNews.com in an e-mail, "Our focus for [Thursday] was student safety. Students are safe and administrators are continuing to work through the investigation."
Eugene Volokh, a professor of law at UCLA, said the students are protected under California Education Code 48950, which prohibits schools from enforcing a rule subjecting a high school student to disciplinary sanctions solely on the basis of conduct that, when engaged outside of campus, is protected by the First Amendment. If the school could point to previous incidents sparked by students who wore garments with American flags, they could argue that the flag is likely to lead to "substantial disruption," Volokh said.
"If, for example, there had been fights over similar things at past events, if there had been specific threats made. But if [school officials] just say, 'Well, we think it might be offensive to people,' that's generally speaking not enough."
Volokh said the students and their parents likely have a winning case on their hands if they decide to take the matter to court. "Oh yes, it's almost open and shut," he said.
#4
One wonders why a US high school was celebrating a holiday whose primary purpose is to promote Corona beer.
You must have missed yesterday's comments on this:
But to many Mexican American students at Live Oak, this was a big deal. They say they were offended by the five boys and others for wearing American colors on a Mexican holiday.
"I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, said. "We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July."
#5
Except it's not a Mexican holiday. It's a state holiday in Mexico, but not a national holiday of celebration or recognition. It's about division and rule here, created to fight assimilation. My tribe against your tribe.
Let's review Mexico's own law and Article 33 of their Constitution -
"The Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action.
Foreigners may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country."
#6
In a way I'm somewhat relieved that Hispanic kids in the US are as ignorant of the Mexican history they profess to celebrate as all kids here are of our own.
#9
I love the fact that they were afraid Mexican American students would be offended since it is a Mexican holiday.
The problem with that is that it's not a national holiday in Meh-heeee-co, just in the state of Puebla. The multi-culture crowd in US schools have co-opted it for their own idiotic indoctrination purposes. Take for example, people from other Hispanic nations whose kids are, in effect, Mexican-ized on May 5th. In the interests of multi-cultural correctness, all Hispanic kids are lumped into the Mexican category. In true Left Fashion, int's not about getting it right; it's only about feeeeeeeeeeeeeelings, which supplanted facts along time ago with this bunch.
I used to pull my kids out of school on May 5th and take a day-trip down to the San Jacinto Battleground Monument, drive over to the Alamo in San Antone or just hang out at the Texas History Museum in Austin.
Of course, in Texas schools, Texas Independence Day, March 2nd, or San Jacinto Day, April 21st, are no longer celebrated... for the same reason these kids in California got tossed out of class: people of Mexican descent might be offended. Oh, they never mention the great Texian hero, Juan Seguin, for some reason either...
Posted by: Dash Rip Van Winkle Rock ||
05/07/2010 18:58 Comments ||
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"I love the fact that they were afraid Mexican American students would be offended since it is a Mexican holiday."
There is no such thing as a Mexican-American. There are just Americans. They may be Americans of Mexican descent, but they're either Mexicans, or they're Americans. Period.
I don't call myself a German-American, or an Austrian-American, or an English-American, or a Welsh-American, or a Scots-American, or a Dutch-American, or an (American) Indian-American (I'm a mutt - so sue me.) I'm an AMERICAN, period.
If somebody wants to be a whatever-American, I'd suggest that he/she move to "whatever," since America obviously isn't good enough for him/her.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/07/2010 19:25 Comments ||
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#4
Bet that AZ law is looking pretty good to the folks in New Mex.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/07/2010 15:16 Comments ||
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#5
Police realized Juan Gonzalez is an illegal immigrant Tuesday night when they checked his ID which indicated he is a Mexican national. Gonzalez will first face charges for Tuesday's incident. He'll be sent back to Mexico when he gets out of jail or after he gets out of prison if he's convicted.
He better get out on bail and make himself a lil' anchor baby, fast!!
The other question is, are his parents illegal? If so, toss 'em all out.
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.
The first female U.S. Naval Academy graduates who will be able to serve as officers aboard submarines said Thursday they feel ecstatic, thankful and blessed by the chance to break one of the military's last gender barriers. So far, eleven female midshipmen have been accepted into the Navy's training program.
World markets fell sharply Friday following a huge sell-off on Wall Street and amid fears that Europe's debt crisis could spread and derail the global economic recovery. At one stage, the Dow Jones industrial average was in freefall, trading 1,000 points lower.
In a stunning turnaround, President Obama has lost roughly half of his support among Jewish voters.
Six Islamic scholars have promised to bring a revolution in Pakistan – one drug addict at a time.
