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Judge rules Padilla competent for trial
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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Page 1: WoT Operations
6 00:00 Abu do you love [7]
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2 00:00 anymouse [2]
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4 00:00 Old Patriot [4]
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Setting penis on fire nets four-year term
MONTREAL -- A Montreal woman who used fondue fuel to set her late boyfriend's penis on fire has been sentenced to four years in prison. The Crown says taking into account time already served, Andree Rene, 44, will have to remain incarcerated for another 30 months.
OK, let's get that fence built now before this idea spreads
In April 2001, Rene's boyfriend went to bed following a heated argument.
Prior to one that was even more heated...
1. Never, never go to bed angry.
2. Never close your eyes
As Guillaume Pungo snoozed, Rene doused the man's private parts with fuel and set them aflame.
"Flame on!"
The 52-year-old spent a month in hospital after suffering third-degree burns, before dying last year of unrelated causes.

Posted by: Steve || 03/01/2007 13:41 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There are easier ways to roast some nuts by an open fire.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 03/01/2007 14:36 Comments || Top||

#2  "In April 2001, Rene's boyfriend went to bed following a heated argument. "

Please tell me that line was snarked in place, and not from the reporter's pen........
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 03/01/2007 15:19 Comments || Top||

#3  She heard that it plumps when you cook it.
Posted by: ryuge || 03/01/2007 15:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Some girls will do anything to get a guy hot.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/01/2007 15:40 Comments || Top||

#5  When the radio started playing the Doors' "Light My Fire", her mind snapped, and . . . well, she tried to set the night on fire.
Posted by: Mike || 03/01/2007 16:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Third degree burns on the penis. That seems like a terrible way to go.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 03/01/2007 16:11 Comments || Top||

#7  I doubt it was "Light My Fire". More likely it was Elvis's "Hunk of Burnin' Love".
Posted by: Dave D. || 03/01/2007 16:18 Comments || Top||

#8  before dying last year of unrelated causes

Mortification, no doubt.
Posted by: KBK || 03/01/2007 16:21 Comments || Top||

#9  Pungu suffered first- and third-degree burns to his genital area and torso, and spent a week in the hospital, followed by a month of outpatient treatment, the prosecutor said. The attack also left psychological scars: insomnia, nightmares, fear of fire and problems in his relationships with women.

Yeah, I think I could see where these issues would probably come up...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/01/2007 16:34 Comments || Top||

#10  "issues would probably come up...

Or not.
Posted by: no mo uro || 03/01/2007 17:50 Comments || Top||

#11  Ouch ouch and ouch.
Posted by: JohnQC || 03/01/2007 21:33 Comments || Top||


96-Year-Old Gangster Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy Charges
It is certainly encouraging at my age to hear about yet another senior citizen who has remained active and productive into his golden years.
FORT LAUDERDALE — A 96-year-old gangster who oversaw robberies, money laundering, bank fraud and other crimes for one of the United States' largest Mafia families pleaded guilty Wednesday, but because of his age will likely be sentenced to house arrest.

Albert "The Old Man" Facchiano pleaded guilty to a Florida charge of racketeering conspiracy and a New York charge of conspiracy to tamper with a witness. From 1994 to 2006, Facchiano supervised associates of the Genovese crime family who committed robberies, money laundering, bank fraud and possessed stolen property, prosecutors said.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 30-years in prison and $500,000 in fines. But in his plea agreement, prosecutors recommended Facchiano serve house arrest.

Facchiano, who used a cane and needed a special headset to hear the proceedings, answered a series of questions from U.S. District Judge James Cohn. Prosecutors, defense lawyers and Mafia experts have said they cannot remember someone his age facing crimes committed so recently.

Facchiano, also called "Chinky," was indicted in Florida and New York last year. He was arrested in Florida along with six others, all of whom have entered guilty pleas. That includes Renaldi Ruggiero, 73, who acknowledged being a Genovese family "capo," or captain as part of his plea in early February. He has not yet been sentenced.

Facchiano, who will be 97 on March 10, also was named in a New York indictment accusing him of trying in to locate and intimidate a government witness in 2005. His guilty plea ends his involvement in the New York case, which accuses more than 30 other alleged Genovese members of a range of mob-related crimes.

Facchiano's lawyer in the Florida case, Brian McComb, said Facchiano goes to the doctor four times a week for back pain, arthritis and other health issues. "He couldn't have stood trials in both Florida and New York on this," McComb said.

A "made member" of the United States' largest and most powerful Mafia family for decades, Facchiano was a low-level figure, according to the FBI. Born in 1910, his arrest record dates back to 1932. He served eight years of a 25-year sentence on federal racketeering charges after being arrested in 1979 and was 79 when he was released.

If Facchiano goes to prison in the most recent case, he will be among the oldest inmates in the U.S. According to U.S. Bureau of Prisons records, there were 30 inmates 80 and older as of the end of 2003, the last year complete records are available.
Posted by: Cromoting Snolet6849 || 03/01/2007 04:22 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Not a bad idea go go to prison, after all, at his age, it can be considered assisted living.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/01/2007 22:42 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
IotD: Woman uses infant as down-payment for car
Warning: AP story; may be total fabrication
h/t: Autoblog

Three people were arrested on charges of swapping a 5-month-old boy for a down payment on a used Dodge Intrepid and cash, police said Tuesday.
I could see a new SRT8 or an S-class, but a used Intrepid?

Nicole Uribe, 23, is accused of trading the baby to Jose-Juan Lerma, 47, and his wife, Irene, 27, in exchange for the down payment and an unspecified amount of cash. All were arrested on suspicion of felony trafficking in children and were being held at the Pueblo jail under $50,000 bail each.

The baby was placed in a foster home, Police Sgt. Brett Wilson said. Wilson said he could not speculate on the motives for the alleged deal.

He said police found the child and arrested Uribe within hours of getting a tip on Monday. The Lermas were arrested on Tuesday.
Wilson said all three were Mexican nationals and federal officials had been asked to investigate their immigration status.
Assuming they're allowed to ask.
Posted by: Jackal || 03/01/2007 19:36 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


The "Flip" Ship
Posted by: Dar || 03/01/2007 16:17 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


Italian woman finds live grenade in potato bag
NAPLES, Italy – A 74-year-old Italian grandmother who bought a sack of potatoes at the her local market found a live grenade among the spuds. "I found a bomb in the potatoes," Olga Mauriello said in a telephone interview with Reuters. "I went to the market to buy some potatoes and that's where the bomb was. But this bomb was covered in dirt, and I put it in water and got all dirt off. And then I realised 'It's a bomb'!"

Police said the pine cone-shaped grenade, which had no pin and was still active, was the same type used by U.S. soldiers in Europe in World War Two. Authorities believe the mix-up happened at a farm in France, where the grenade was plucked from the ground along with potatoes.

To the woman's relief, police and explosives experts in the small town of San Giorgio a Cremano, near Naples, recovered the grenade and safely detonated it on Wednesday. But Mauriello was still shaking off her close brush with death. It didn't look like a potato and it was heavier than one. But what if she had cooked it? "If I hadn't felt its weight, I wouldn't even have realised that it was a bomb," she said.
Posted by: Fred || 03/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, Mr Carcione, there's a pineapple in my potato bag.
Posted by: GK || 03/01/2007 1:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes, it does sound like a Pat & Mike.
Posted by: Shipman || 03/01/2007 1:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't they dig up this kind of stuff all the time there?
Posted by: gorb || 03/01/2007 4:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey, you Irishmen over there, behave!
Posted by: Mike || 03/01/2007 6:13 Comments || Top||

#5  Good thing she didn't try to peel it - would have really messed up her knife.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/01/2007 7:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe someone took the term "Potato Masher" a little too literal.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 03/01/2007 8:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Ooooh...a prize!
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/01/2007 10:28 Comments || Top||

#8  Don't they dig up this kind of stuff all the time there?

In France, tons and tons and tons and tons and tons (see below), every year, and estimates on how long this will be going on is decades centuries. As a matter of fact, not only are explosives from WWI and WWII found daily, but shells from the 1870 war are still occasionally popping up.

See wikipedia :

In the Ardennes region of France, large-scale citizen evacuations were necessary during UXO removal operations in 2001. In the forests of Verdun French government "demineurs" working for the Department du Deminage still hunt for poisonous, volatile, explosive munitions and recover about 900 tons every year. The most feared are corroded artillery shells containing chemical warfare agents such as mustard gas. According to the film "Aftermath", these demineurs "have gathered more than twenty million shells but have lost six hundred demineurs. At the current speed, France will be fully cleared and safe - in seven hundred years." French farmers still find many UXOs when ploughing their fields; the so-called "iron harvest."
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 03/01/2007 12:14 Comments || Top||

#9  In the Ardennes region of France there remain dangerous stocks of buried WWI poisonous, volatile and explosive munitions that are similar to the left over WWII decaying nuclides in Japan but probally much more deadly.
Posted by: RD || 03/01/2007 13:35 Comments || Top||

#10  No snarky comments about a "hot potato" yet? I think you guys are slipping!
Posted by: Dar || 03/01/2007 17:39 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Strong undersea quake jolts Indonesia’s Aceh
JAKARTA - A strong 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian province of Aceh on Thursday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, a seismologist said. The undersea quake, which hit at 9:01 am (0201 GMT), was centred 170 kilometers (105.4 miles) under the seabed off the western coast of Aceh, a staff member at Indonesia’s meteorology agency said.

The quake occurred roughly 65 kilometers southwest of Sinabang, which lies on the island of Simeulue, and was felt in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, the agency said.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/01/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Volcanic haze in the skies, and shakin' on the ground here in Guam. AUSTRALIA > Russian Breeze-M missle trail??? sighted over region.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/01/2007 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  How about another?????
Haliburton? anybody?
Posted by: newc || 03/01/2007 1:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Message from the Holy Ghost: stop worshipping that Allah entity or you get more catastrophes. And cut out that damn be-heading; it's a nuissance to have to put humans back together.
Posted by: Sneaze || 03/01/2007 3:46 Comments || Top||

#4  People who live on low-elevation islands should remain on good terms with those who are most likely to help them after a natural disaster. Or not help after a man-made one. This may serve as a little reminder.
Posted by: gorb || 03/01/2007 4:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Memo for those who claim the US is the least generous nation on Earth (e.g. Djimmi Carter), just watch how much help disaster victims DON'T get from me and others like me NEXT time.

I suspect this 'little' earthquake is simply 'adjustment' to the big one a couple of years ago. Unless both it and the 'big' one are just foreshocks for a REALLY big one in the future. Now that's a scary thought.
Posted by: Glenmore || 03/01/2007 7:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Gorb said: People who live on low-elevation islands should remain on good terms with those who are most likely to help them after a natural disaster. Or not help after a man-made one. This may serve as a little reminder.

Cthulhu?

Dagon?

'Cause I sure as hell don't want it to be the US.

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 03/01/2007 15:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Any possibility a strong enough quake will make Aceh disappear?
Posted by: anonymous2u || 03/01/2007 15:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Man, the Jews sure are busy! Where do they find the time to steal body parts from Arab children, anyhow?
Posted by: Secret Master || 03/01/2007 16:09 Comments || Top||

#9  See, Georgie. Were putting your money to work already.
Posted by: Halliburton: Earthquake/Tsunami Division || 03/01/2007 16:43 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Breaking: Bomb Threat at Columbine High
Posted by: GK || 03/01/2007 13:49 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who had exams scheduled?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/01/2007 14:57 Comments || Top||

#2  You're probably right, NS.
"One student told 7NEWS that the calls were a prank and that there was another prank at the school Thursday morning when someone released a bunch of bees in the cafeteria."
Posted by: GK || 03/01/2007 16:03 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
YJCMTSU Grand Prize Winner
A man who was found dressed in latex and handcuffs brought a donkey to his room in a Galway city centre hotel, because he was advised "to get out and meet people," the local court heard last week.

Thomas Aloysius McCarney with an address in south Galway was charged with cruelty to animals, lewd and obscene behaviour, and with being a danger to himself when he appeared before the court on Friday. He was also charged with damage to a mini-bar in the room, but this charge was later dropped when the defendant said that it was the donkey who caused that damage.

Solicitor for the accused Ms Sharon Fitzhenry said that her client had been through a difficult time lately and that his wife had left him and that his life had become increasingly lonely.

"Mr McCarney has been attending counselling at which he was told that he would be advised to get out and meet people and do interesting things. It was this advice that saw him book into the city centre hotel with a donkey," she said. She added that Mr McCarney also suffered from a fixation with the Shrek movies and could constantly be heard at work talking to himself saying things like "Isn’t that right, Donkey?"

Supt John McBrearty told the court that Mr McCarney who had signed in as "Mr Shrek" had told hotel staff that the donkey was a family pet and that this was believed by the hotel receptionist who the supt said was "young and hadn't great English."

Receptionist Irina Legova said that Mr McCarney had told her that the donkey was a breed of "super rabbit" which he was bringing to a pet fair in the city. The court was told that the donkey went berserk in the middle of the night and ran amok in the hotel corridor, forcing hotel staff to call the gardai.

McCarney was found in the room wearing a latex suit and handcuffs, the key to which the donkey is believed to have swallowed. He was removed to Mill St station after which it is said he was the subject of much mirth among the lads next door in The Galway Arms.

He was fined €2,000 for bringing the donkey to the room under the Unlawful Accommodation of Donkeys Act 1837. Other charges were dropped due to lack of evidence.
There are no indications that this is satire, and it is on an otherwise serious website. If it is for real, I think the democrats have found their candidate.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/01/2007 13:10 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/01/2007 13:17 Comments || Top||

#2  ...but this charge was later dropped when the defendant said that it was the donkey who caused that damage.

Oh, yeah, always blame the donkey...

He was fined €2,000 for bringing the donkey to the room under the Unlawful Accommodation of Donkeys Act 1837.

Wow. They were so farsighted back in 1837...
Posted by: tu3031 || 03/01/2007 13:21 Comments || Top||

#3  > There are no indications that this is satire,

What??? Mrs "Legova" Leg-Over?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=leg+over
Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan || 03/01/2007 19:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Supt John McBrearty told the court that Mr McCarney who had signed in as "Mr Shrek" had told hotel staff that the donkey was a family pet and that this was believed by the hotel receptionist who the supt said was "young and hadn't great English."

I misread this as McCarney telling the clerk that the donkey was young and hadn't great English. I guess that couldn't be any weirder, really.

He was fined €2,000 for bringing the donkey to the room under the Unlawful Accommodation of Donkeys Act 1837.

Of course there's an Unlawful Accommodation of Donkeys Act. Why wouldn't there be?
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 03/01/2007 21:15 Comments || Top||


Food fanaticism gets out of control
Remember when the only food fight was vegetarians vs. the meat-eaters? That quaint and comical little war was set for decades in our college restaurants, where people wore plastic shoes and asked, practically every time they came to eat, if any animal flesh was cooked on the premises.

"I can't eat it if it's been cooked near a chicken," a fellow student once said, as I poured him a glass of iced tea to drink with his tofu-and-vegetable scramble with nutritional yeast and whole-wheat biscuits, in the earnest cafe where I worked. This guy -- he was the real vegetarian.

And yet, he was also exactly the kind of guy who would leave his dog on a rope in front of the library with no water for six hours in the hot sun, wearing a cute bandana tied around its neck, as if that made the cruelty all right. Or, who lived on cigarettes and Yoo-Hoo soda all day long, and did LSD all night.

Ah, those were the days. Vegetarianism was the refuge of pious hypocrites! But it was so blessedly easy to make yourself feel better about all the crap you ate (by simply attacking the eating habits of others).
Paging Prince Chuck!
Posted by: Spot || 03/01/2007 09:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
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Glenmore
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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2007-03-01
  Judge rules Padilla competent for trial
Wed 2007-02-28
  Somali police arrest four ship hijackers
Tue 2007-02-27
  Taliboomer tries for Cheney
Mon 2007-02-26
  3 French nationals murdered in Soddy ministry
Sun 2007-02-25
  Boomer tries for Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
Sat 2007-02-24
  3 Pak bad boyz dead when their package blows up
Fri 2007-02-23
  U.S. bangs five bad boyz in Iraq gunfight
Thu 2007-02-22
  Another poison gas attack in Iraq
Wed 2007-02-21
  Brits to begin withdrawing troops
Tue 2007-02-20
  USS Stennis Now On Station
Mon 2007-02-19
  64 killed in Delhi-Lahore train boom
Sun 2007-02-18
  Iraqi, Coalition forces detain 21 suspected terrs
Sat 2007-02-17
  Algeria: Police kill 26 bad boyz, arrest 35 after attacks
Fri 2007-02-16
  Attempt to hijack Maretanian plane painfully foiled
Thu 2007-02-15
  Al-Masri said wounded, aide killed


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