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Bobby Jindal governor of Louisiana
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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Page 4: Opinion
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Man Kicked, Beat Toddler Because He's 'Not a Morning Person'
EASTON, Pa. — A man who admitted he beat his girlfriend's 2-year-old son offered an excuse that angered a judge: He said he's not a morning person.
"Oh. Well. Then that's okay. Case dismissed. You can go."
Juan Arreola, 20, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts each of endangering the welfare of a child, reckless endangerment and simple assault. Prosecutors said while moving into a new apartment with his girlfriend on June 7, Arreola kicked her son out of the way, then squeezed the toddler's face. While looking after the boy three days later, he punched the boy twice, prosecutors said. Arreola's girlfriend brought the child to a hospital later that day, where he was diagnosed with bleeding around the brain. Photos show the boy with severe bruising on his face and back.

When Northampton County Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden asked Arreola Friday if that's how he regularly treated 2-year-olds, he replied: "I was working till midnight. I'm not a morning person."

McFadden said she was almost speechless. "You're going to look at me straight in the face and say 'I'm not a morning person,'?" she asked. The judge ordered Arreola to undergo psychological and psychiatric evaluations and set sentencing for Dec. 14. The maximum penalty is a state prison term of more than 20 years.
I don't suppose she can have him shot?
Bet he doesn't get more than five years ...
Posted by: Fred || 10/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bet he doesn't get more than five years ...

Fortunately, it doesn't take five years to get shanked. There's got to be a lifer family-man in there somewhere who can step up to the plate.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/22/2007 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Here's hoping he's bunked with Bubba, the morning person....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/22/2007 1:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Here's hoping he's bunked with Bubba, the morning person....

... and noon person, and afternoon person, and evening person, and night person, and late-night person, and midnight person, and early morning person.
Posted by: gorb || 10/22/2007 2:40 Comments || Top||

#4  So hang him at straight-up midnight.
Posted by: Glinerong Guelph8969 || 10/22/2007 3:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Here's hoping he's bunked with Bubba, the morning person....

At Morningwood Penitentiary?
Posted by: Zenster || 10/22/2007 3:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Who is Bubba?
Posted by: JFM || 10/22/2007 6:23 Comments || Top||

#7  Bubba - alpha male [color, race, creed optional - though as implied by the name, not of high intellectual capacity in prison situations who displays his dominance and marks his territory, to include your body parts, with his body part.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/22/2007 8:56 Comments || Top||

#8  Oh, and "Bitch" - part of Bubba's territory, after he marks it.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/22/2007 9:00 Comments || Top||

#9  "Hey Juan, ya gotta purty mouth"
Posted by: Bubba || 10/22/2007 9:13 Comments || Top||

#10  I wish I could say that I'm shocked, but I'm not.

If you ask any veterinarian, they will tell you that it is not safe to leave the offspring of a female with a male that is not their father, but is now mating with the female, unless you do it very slowly and carefully over time, with constant supervision. The rule applies to the vast majority of mammals and even non-mammals.

Of course, most people are shocked that you would ever compare animal behavior with human behavior, at least at first.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/22/2007 9:18 Comments || Top||

#11  oh, I think the animal behavior comparison is very appropriate
Posted by: Frank G || 10/22/2007 9:26 Comments || Top||

#12  Some people are animals, and not humans.
Posted by: Mike || 10/22/2007 9:27 Comments || Top||

#13  I'm not a morning person either.
Posted by: danking70 || 10/22/2007 10:16 Comments || Top||

#14  If you ask any veterinarian, they will tell you that it is not safe to leave the offspring of a female with a male that is not their father..

This is getting to the 'hate' male dialog. Check the number of women who off their own kids. It's not a monopoly by either gender. What is surprising is that we trade off death. Rather than removing the predatory from our presence, we allow them to remove other citizens. Guess who has the real power in society? In the Old Days[tm], the gentleman would be on a quick path to unquestionable harsh punishment. Instead we sacrifice other human beings, tolerating and excuse making the base behavior as demonstrated by "The judge ordered Arreola to undergo psychological and psychiatric evaluations". We need to find any excuse not to do what we know needs to be done. What we need to do is make sure that society as a whole clearly understands it is not and will not be accepted, regardless of color, race, creed, gender, sexual preference, etc. of the offender. Everyone has a syndrome of some sort as an excuse for bad behavior. I'm sure the hand wringers will find an excuse here.
Posted by: Lumpy Thuper4799 || 10/22/2007 10:45 Comments || Top||

#15  Hit the button too fast. Lumpy is moi.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 10/22/2007 10:46 Comments || Top||

#16  If you ask any veterinarian, they will tell you that it is not safe to leave the offspring of a female with a male that is not their father.

Procopius, your point is well taken, but I also remember learning from BSA Youth Protection that the most statistically likely child abuser within a household is a single mom's live-in boyfriend who is not the father of the child.
Posted by: Mike || 10/22/2007 11:57 Comments || Top||

#17  Some people are animals, and not humans.

Don't tar animals like that.

For the opposite of human is not the animal.
The opposite of the human is the demonic.


— Rabbi Heschel —
Posted by: Zenster || 10/22/2007 13:53 Comments || Top||

#18  Being aware of the problem lends itself to a solution, that single mothers be cautious about having their children around "new" adult males they are developing a relationship with. It's a lot harder for an animalistic brute to behave like a civilized man, than for a civilized man to behave like an animalistic brute.

Especially when the kid has soiled his diapers, is crying and screaming uncontrollably, and doing so during the playoffs after having broken stepdaddy's bong.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/22/2007 18:25 Comments || Top||

#19  Bet his name is Abbe.
Posted by: Icerigger || 10/22/2007 19:56 Comments || Top||

#20  Well, hell - I'm not a morning person either, and I don't do kids, BUT it would never cross my mind to do to a child what this clown did.

To do it to the clown, however.... >:-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 10/22/2007 22:31 Comments || Top||


Liberty County Veteran's Grave Vandalized
HOUSTON -- The family of a fallen Marine is dealing with another shock -- their son's new grave was vandalized. Lance Cpl. Jeremy Burris, 22, of Liberty, died in Iraq and was buried at Cook Memorial Cemetery earlier this week. The cemetery has a locked gate at the front and a fence around the perimeter, but vandals managed to get in sometime between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, less than two days after the Liberty marine was buried, officials said.

Bill Offutt, a Vietnam veteran, was one of the people who helped clean up the mess before anyone could see it. "It was trashed," said Offutt, "The wreaths that had been around the grave -- they ripped them apart and stuff was strewn everywhere."

Burris was laid to rest on Tuesday. Huge crowds lined the streets to bid him a final farewell. The community is now in shock. Tom Smathers, a Liberty resident said, "It's terrible. You can't believe someone would do something like that."

"They're doing their best to keep us safe. It's horrible," said resident William Dozer.

Liberty police said they have no leads and no idea who would do this or why, but even the chief is outraged. "This is a despicable act. In 30 years of policing, it's probably the lowest event I have witnessed," said Chief Mike Cummings.

He stressed that vandalizing a grave is a crime, and asked for the public's help in figuring out the culprits.
This country is full of people who think that anarchist blackshirts have First Amendment protection when they swarm down the street assaulting passersby, defecating on the sidewalk, vandalizing property, and threatening all who oppose them. It is not much of a step from that to this, especially if the media culture gives it the stamp of righteous rebellion.
Posted by: Lord Piltdown || 10/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  No, they do not have any right to do this Piltdown. None at all. I have had enough of it.Have not the rest of us?
Posted by: newc || 10/22/2007 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: gorb || 10/22/2007 2:55 Comments || Top||

#3  If a person was to encounter an act of vandalism like this, and shoot and kill the perpetrator, would a jury convict? Likely not in Houston. Likely so in San Franscisco. That would be a good question for distinguishing 'true' America from false America. Sadly, I fear true America is fast becoming the minority.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/22/2007 7:22 Comments || Top||

#4  You only have to shoot a few and the rest get the message. The sad thing about our current impasse is how little force is necessary now to stop events from coming to a head. Our inaction encourages our enemies and later comes the fire.
Posted by: Excalibur || 10/22/2007 9:10 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
Vincent DeDomenico, Rice-A-Roni co-inventor, dies at 92
Vincent DeDomenico, co-inventor of Rice-A-Roni, whose catchy TV jingle paid homage to San Francisco and made the pasta dish known to every baby boomer, has died. He was 92.

DeDomenico died Thursday with his wife, Mildred, by his side; he had kept working until the day before his death, his family said.

Along with his brothers, DeDomenico, the son of Italian immigrants, created the packaged side dish of rice and pasta for their San Francisco-based family business. "The San Francisco treat" became known in the 1960s through TV commercials that featured the city's cable cars.

In the 1930s he and his brothers were running their parents' pasta business in San Francisco's Mission District. Over the years, they experimented with recipes combining long-grain white rice, broken pieces of vermicelli and chicken broth. The dishes were inspired by a recipe one of their wives had originally gotten from a landlady.

"It was a struggle," DeDomenico told the San Francisco Chronicle last year. "Times were hard and I knew if we were going to make any money, we were going to have to come up with something else."

Rice-A-Roni, as it came to be called, became a national brand in the 1960s. The brothers sold the Golden Grain Macaroni Co. to Quaker Oats in 1986 for $275 million. By then the company also included such products as Ghirardelli Chocolate.

In later years, DeDomenico bought 21 miles of railroad track in Napa Valley and several vintage passenger cars, creating a tourist attraction called the Napa Valley Wine Train.

"He was a dreamer," said Mildred DeDomenico, 87. "He always had all these plans. He'd write them down on pieces of paper. He was a man who could never retire."

Born in San Francisco in 1915, one of six children, DeDomenico went to work for his father's pasta company as a salesman while taking night business classes at Golden Gate College.

His daughter, Marla Bleecher, said while her father loved his work, he relished traveling abroad with his family and spending time at his Sacramento Valley cattle ranch.

"We would always laugh because he would ride around the ranch in his Cadillac," Bleecher said. "He drove that car like it was a Jeep. You wouldn't want to be in the car with him."

Along with his wife, Mildred, DeDomenico is survived by his four children, Michael DeDomenico, Vicki McManus, Marla Bleecher and Vincent DeDomenico Jr., and seven grandchildren.

A public memorial has been scheduled for Oct. 25 at the Napa Valley Wine Train station.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/22/2007 19:47 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Awwwww, one of my faaavorite "anytime, anywhere" products and a US marketing icon - RIP.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/22/2007 20:39 Comments || Top||

#2  "He was a dreamer," said Mildred DeDomenico, 87. "He always had all these plans. He'd write them down on pieces of paper. He was a man who could never retire."

My kind of guy.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/22/2007 20:53 Comments || Top||

#3  he sounds like a helluva guy and the kind of entrepreneur we need
Posted by: Frank G || 10/22/2007 21:29 Comments || Top||

#4  One of their best jingles, sung to the triumphant march from Aida:

Seventeen elephants loaded with Golden Grain -
Simply boil and drain,
Golden Grain, Golden Grain,
Who could abstain?

Heard it years and years ago & it still sticks in the mind.
Posted by: lotp || 10/22/2007 21:31 Comments || Top||

#5  "We would always laugh because he would ride around the ranch in his Cadillac," Bleecher said. "He drove that car like it was a Jeep. You wouldn't want to be in the car with him."

Sounds like someone who was fun to be with. His preservation of Southern Pacific's old Northern Railway Line alone will expiate any sins he ever may have committed. Now, if only someone could rehabilitate the entire The Pacific Railway & Navigation Co. rail-line that runs up the Oregon coast. The tourist trade would be worth billions.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/22/2007 21:41 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Lileks: adventures in local government
The Monster House debate isn’t entirely black and white. If someone is building large houses in a declining neighborhood, they deserve thanks and gratitude. If a developer ruins the character of a healthy neighborhood with an over-scaled home, they deserve scowls and protests – but if the developer is acting within the zoning laws, it’s not as if Snidely Whiplash stole in during the dead of night and forced the Widder Johnson to sign away the deed to the farm. . . .

That said, these people have every right to be concerned and irritated. Here’s the video the neighbors made to protest the effect on their block of the not-so-small house movement.

Video embedded at the link.

Here’s the City Council response. Behold, the dead smothering hand of procedure: eight priceless minutes of arguing about whether or not the rules permit them to watch a four-minute movie.
Posted by: Mike || 10/22/2007 16:17 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The McMansion or "starter castle" issue is a serious one. As someone who loves architecture, it is revolting to watch an unadorned two-story cracker box with single-pane windows spring up amongst Craftsman bungalows. While one cannot legislate taste, zoning councils can and do have the power to assure a certain degree of uniformity in appearance within a neighborhood or even a whole city.

As a capitalist, it is galling to consider how zoning councils impede development on so many ocassions. However, once these towering brick shithouses are built, a priceless arcitectural heritage is lost forever. Moreover, the newer construction techniques, however more energy efficient, rarely reflect the same use of materials or decorative embellishment. A perfect example are houses that use aluminum sash windows in a neighborhood of residences that employ double-hung wooden sash windows. The difference in appearance is so jarring as to be physically revolting.

If city councils cannot rise to the defense of their existing constituents, I anticipate a lot more vigilante action in the form of sabotage, arson and other untoward demonstrations of outrage. Not that I would ever condone such a thing, you understand. Far better is to VOTE OUT THESE WORTHLESS SACKS OF SHIT PARADING AS POLITICIANS.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/22/2007 21:17 Comments || Top||

#2  See also FREEREPUBLIC > VOTE NO AGZ BIG GOVERNMENT article.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/22/2007 23:53 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Wildfires Force Evacuations in Calif.
We do this every year, don't we?
The Alt-F7 macro, I believe.
Posted by: Fred || 10/22/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dozens of celebrities' homes endangered. They'd better get these fires under control soon or 100% of the nations news staffs will be there covering them, and we won't have access to what else is going on in the world.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/22/2007 7:24 Comments || Top||

#2  "Dozens of celebrities' homes endangered. They'd better get these fires under control soon or 100% of the nations news staffs will be there covering them, and we won't have access to what else is going on in the world."

Snark o' the day - and possibly of the week!
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 10/22/2007 7:44 Comments || Top||

#3  well....staying home today in case I need to evacuate the pet and valuables....it's bad news here in San Diego - 8 fires, I-15 is closed at Rancho Bernardo and most E-W highways have closures. Waiting to see what the Santa Ana winds do after sunrise..."luckily", most of the brush fuel on the hills near my abode burned in the Cedar Fire - had to evacuate then
Posted by: Frank G || 10/22/2007 7:55 Comments || Top||

#4  we had 3" total of rain last year (Al didn't visit - no Gore Effect) and the humidity's dropped to 10% with 90+ degree heat and high winds (gusts to 50-60 mph)...Santa Ana's suck, big time
Posted by: Frank G || 10/22/2007 8:07 Comments || Top||

#5  Best wishes and good luck, Frank and Left Coast 'Burgers.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/22/2007 11:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Would it help to bring Al in (on a private jet, of course) for a 'Live on the Scene' broadcast?
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/22/2007 12:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Camped in the desert this weekend. It was so dry we could just about feel the water being sucked out of our bodies almost as soon as we'd drink it. I didn't even sweat much. It was more like it was just evaporating right out of me. Drove home Sunday morning through Julian, Santa Ysabel and Ramona which is now under a mandatory evacuation order. The wind was hot, dry and violent blowing out of the ENE which is opposite of our usual onshore flow from the ocean. We could feel the gusts rocking the car. I didn't dare even think the word fire. I think it was about 2:30 p.m. when the first fire started in Santa Ysabel. All those places in the back country are dry as a bone. They are all like tinder just waiting for any kind of a spark. No way would I own a home out there.

Yes, we do this every year. You'd think we'd learn but we don't. Then the people get all upset with their insurance companies when they have trouble with their claims and renewing their policies.

I live at the beach so my only concern is all the smoke in the air. We have an air quality problem. But guys were out surfing this morning. The surf is up and I saw one guy catching a great wave. I predict he'll have trouble breathing for the rest of the day though because the smoke constricts the bronchial tubes. I can make that prediction because I've done it before myself.

Yes, Frank G, Santa Anas suck. Even if they don't start a fire the static electricity makes me uneasy, every time I touch anything metal I get zapped, and the air is do dry that my skin itches. It takes a special kind of idiot to live in California.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 10/22/2007 12:36 Comments || Top||

#8  And in other, dated but more positive cemetary news:

Dr Salaam Ismael’s return to Fallujah, Iraq

Dr Salaam Ismael

Dr Salaam Ismael wrote the exclusive report in Socialist Worker earlier this year that revealed shocking evidence of what happened in Fallujah when US forces stormed the city last November.

Since then Dr Salaam has been travelling around the Middle East exposing the brutal realities of the US occupation. He returned to Fallujah last month.

On the borders of Fallujah I found 5,000 people who were living on water drawn directly from the river.

Dr Shamael Ishawi is from the health clinic in this area. He told me that the unclean river water is leading to the spread of typhoid.

Inside the city the hospital which I had spent some time in earlier this year is in ruins. Refugees have returned to the city, but they are living in appalling conditions.

There is no evidence whatsoever of the reconstruction effort that the Iraqi government and the US claim is underway.

Residents have to pass through five checkpoints to get into the city. The Iraqi troops on the checkpoints humiliate the people, calling them “sons of bitches, sons of dogs”. They and their cars are searched. There can be no question of “foreign fighters” operating inside Fallujah.

But still you can hear occasional gunfire. There are acts of resistance by ordinary residents who remain deeply opposed to the occupation.

It’s not surprising when you consider that the water in the city itself is not clean. A doctor told me there was severe dysentery because there was no clean water.

I have a list from doctors in the city saying what they need. They have no anaesthetics or antibiotics. It is hell.

We went to the cemetery and there was a freshly dug trench. I asked one of my friends why it was there. He said it was because they expected another assault on the city and “we have to be ready” to bury bodies.

It’s also clear that the US army and their Iraqi puppets are repeating the kind of assault they launched on Fallujah on other cities.

I was part of a team trying to bring medical aid to people in western Iraq. We tried to get to a place called Ramana on the border of the city of al?Qaim on 6 June.

But the Americans blockaded the road and refused to let people enter. When we told them we were doctors, they still refused—and they took the tapes from the cameras we were using to film.

So we decided at least to stay in the clinic near Ramana. We stayed to help the clinic. We saw the families leaving the city as refugees. We saw about 300 families leaving to try and find a place to stay. They ended up having to stay in the desert.

By coincidence I saw one of my friends who had been working in the hospital. He went out through the desert to try and get some help for the clinic. We had a chat with him.

What he described was like what happened in Fallujah — it was a disaster. People were being prevented from going into the hospital.

All the time the US and Iraqi forces were sending troops into the hospital, saying they were looking for insurgents. Anyone who was young and had been shot was taken directly from inside the hospital.

After that they started bombing by aircraft all the houses on the border of al-Qaim.

They continued to prevent anyone going inside the city to help injured people. Because of that there were many people left trapped under collapsed buildings — mainly women and children. I have just received a phone call saying there are still bodies trapped under the rubble.

After that we entered Ramana and saw a grave of 13 members of one family who had been killed in one air attack. They were all in one grave. On the sign next to it it said the youngest of them was two years old.

They are attacking and seizing any young person. The west of Iraq is in medical and humanitarian crisis. I am passing on the desperate appeal from doctors in the area for immediate medical assistance.

The following should be read alongside this article:
» Voices from the Iraqi wilderness

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php4?article_id=6923


Posted by: Besoeker || 10/22/2007 12:40 Comments || Top||

#9  Minder... please delete the above, wrong article.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/22/2007 12:42 Comments || Top||

#10  Overheard on the Limbaugh program (from a caller): "Having the Sierra Club manage your forest is like having Michael Jackson babysit your kids."
Posted by: eLarson || 10/22/2007 13:21 Comments || Top||

#11  LOL, eLarson! That comment (and Glenmore's snark in #1) are "right on the money!"

Meanwhile, here in North GA (Metro Atlanta), we've been told we're now down to only 80 days of lake storage for drinking water. Two years ago, it was nuttin' but gloom and doom after Katrina/Rita/Wilma. What I'd give for a good tropical storm rain now!
Posted by: BA || 10/22/2007 14:38 Comments || Top||

#12  Interesting satellite shot showing the smoke from the fires going well out to sea.
Posted by: Gabby Cussworth || 10/22/2007 15:04 Comments || Top||

#13  over 250,000 evacuated so far. If the wind doesn't stop, it'll burn right to the ocean, just like the Cedar fire almost did
Posted by: Frank G || 10/22/2007 15:54 Comments || Top||

#14  Where do 250K refugees evacuees *go* in SoCal?
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/22/2007 16:29 Comments || Top||

#15  my Mom's? People are just helping people - sometimes even Californians measure up to the task. Craigslist has a section of people who are offering their yards for displaced pets and hotels are loosening no-pets rules and offering discounts for evacuees. Qualcomm stadium is opened up. Parkway Plaza Mall in El Cajon has opened their parking lot for cattle, horses, etc. - the Lakeside Rodeo grounds up the road from me are full.
Posted by: Frank G || 10/22/2007 16:45 Comments || Top||

#16  : my Mom's?

Yep. FTW. Set 48,000 extra plates (paper okay)

That's how.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 10/22/2007 16:51 Comments || Top||

#17  Santana High School down the street is nearly full of evacuees, several others are full. My sister's neighborhood in Scripps Ranch just had a mandatory evacuation. She and her family and dog are at my Mom's in Chula Vista. I don't think I'll have to evacuate this time unless there's a wind shift
Posted by: Frank G || 10/22/2007 16:52 Comments || Top||

#18  Yikes. I could end up with inlaws at my house.
Posted by: treo || 10/22/2007 16:55 Comments || Top||

#19  Good Luck Frank..

lived with Santa Anas down South back when.. Used to go in to LA from Twenty Nine Palms... They SUCK!

We have offshore winds up here today.. it is beautiful tho..
Posted by: Red Dawg || 10/22/2007 17:23 Comments || Top||

#20  It's burning well to the south of my parents in Valley Center above the Guijito. I just spoke to my mother; The area has been told to evacuate, and all the residents of the Skyline mobile-home development have been evacuated - lots of frail elderly there - but the deputies are not insisting on it with Mom and Dad and their close neighbors. It's clear as a bell at my parents' house. They can clearly see all the smoke is well to the south. Mom and Dad have the car and the pickup all packed, though. They lost their house in the Cedar/Valley Center fire in 2003, and just finished the last of the rebuilding this last year!
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 10/22/2007 17:49 Comments || Top||

#21  unless if the wind changes direction overnight looks like we're making it through OK here, and my sister's house is still standing
*crosses fingers*
Posted by: Frank G || 10/22/2007 21:42 Comments || Top||

#22  I hope you're safe, Frank. As someone who owns thousands of books and numerous guitars, fire is one of my greatest fears. Currently, I'm blessed with a nextdoor moron in my duplex who has set off her smoke alarm more times than all the other residents in the last two decades combined. I'm sure she thinks it is a kitchen timer or something.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/22/2007 22:02 Comments || Top||

#23  I heard they were using Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. Are the Bolts in town this week?
Posted by: eLarson || 10/22/2007 22:45 Comments || Top||

#24  Tomlinson and other Chargers have evacuated their homes, Rancho Santa Fe and Delmar etc areas. Glad I sold my house in Vista 5 years ago, mud season and fire seasons then the traffic was the last straw after 18 years...daughter is a County Sheriff Deputy, lives 5 miles south of Rancho Bernardo.
This is by far worse than the 2003 fire.
Posted by: Phinater Thraviger || 10/22/2007 23:23 Comments || Top||


Arabia
U.S. sailors shot dead in Bahrain
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (CNN) -- Two U.S. sailors were killed and one was critically wounded in a shooting inside their barracks early Monday at a U.S. Navy's base in Bahrain, the Navy said.

The shootings took place in the barracks on the U.S. Naval Support Activity Bahrain base around 5 a.m. local time, the Navy said in a statement, according to The Associated Press. There was no information on what caused the shootings, or if they were terror-related.

The two sailors pronounced dead at the scene, and the third was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, the statement said.

The base was closed for an hour after the incident. The Navy said the shootings were under investigation. No other details were immediately available.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/22/2007 04:50 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under:

#1  * -hhmmmmm.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/22/2007 5:28 Comments || Top||

#2  On base incident so there is no need to read too much into this. Although terrible, these things do happen.
Posted by: ArmyLife || 10/22/2007 6:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Ensign Hassan Akhbar?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/22/2007 8:00 Comments || Top||

#4  The two sailors who were killed were women; the shooter was a male sailor; it is not yet clear whether he shot himself or was shot by someone else.
Most likely a love triangle. Or quadrilateral.

See what happens when you let military personnel have firearms! Enforce gun control for everyone and we'll all be safe!
(Do I really need to say 'sarc'?)
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/22/2007 8:01 Comments || Top||

#5  CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — A U.S. Navy sailor allegedly shot and killed two female sailors early Monday in the barracks of a American military base in Bahrain, a Navy official said. The alleged shooter, a male, was critically wounded in the shooting at the U.S. Naval Support Activity Bahrain base, said the Navy official, who was not authorized to release the information to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The official did not say if the alleged shooter shot himself or if anyone else was involved, but the Navy said the shooting was not terror related and only involved U.S. military personnel. The shootings took place around 5 a.m., the Navy said. Officials closed the base temporarily and reopened it about an hour later.

No other details were immediately available, and the Navy said it was not releasing the names of those involved until their families were notified. "The incident is under investigation, and it would not be prudent to discuss details at this time," said Navy spokesman Lt. John Gay.
Posted by: Steve || 10/22/2007 8:26 Comments || Top||

#6  I wonder if they all worked in the naval base post office?
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 10/22/2007 9:28 Comments || Top||

#7  A male US sailor shot and killed two female US sailors.

I don't know any details of the shooting not otherwise reported here at RB, but I will say this: My spidey sense (intuition) tells me the shooter was acting in perfect accord and harmony with traditional islamic principles of one sort or another.

Therefore I echo the comment made by Frank G in comment #3.

We'll see. Time will tell.
Posted by: Mark Z || 10/22/2007 10:37 Comments || Top||

#8  Either that or he caught his girlfriend with her girlfriend & he flipped.
Posted by: Throger Thains8048 || 10/22/2007 12:05 Comments || Top||

#9  A weapon in the barracks, no further details? Something tells me this entire event may soon be shrouded much like the recent USN Capt Lisa Marie Nowak affair. Lets let nothing stand in the way of gender progress in the armed services, not even common sense.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/22/2007 13:00 Comments || Top||

#10  I dunno, TT8048. I'ma bettin' most guys would consider that a "twofer".
Posted by: BA || 10/22/2007 14:43 Comments || Top||

#11  You might think this is off-topic, but I'm gonna wander over to the Iraq Coalition Casualties list and see if this gets included. I've noticed before that aside from "accidents" and accidents in Iraq, they've included vehicular deaths from Bahrain and Dubai, IIRC. I suppose it's true enough that if we hadn't invaded Iraq those folks wouldn't have been there and the deaths wouldn't have occurred, but the lawyer in me argues they've extended the chain of causation a link or two too far.

Keep in mind, this is also the logical standard of the MSM, let alone the loyal opposition.

All that said, it's 99% either #3 or #8.
Posted by: Ulaising Jones3412 || 10/22/2007 19:49 Comments || Top||

#12  Sure enough, this is a lead item on the casualty list - also noted several other items including traffic accidents in Qatar, as well as deaths due to illness in the base hospitals in Germany. I suppose the illness is closely related to Iraqi duty, but would the illnesses differ that greatly from the normal statistical background from, say, American tourists in SE Asia, to pick a region out of nothing?

At least they show the causes, which makes for interesting comparison between the "hostile fire" vs. "non-hostile" ratios.
Posted by: Ulaising Jones3412 || 10/22/2007 19:56 Comments || Top||

#13  STARS-N-STRIPES/OTHER > USS HAMPTON SUB > One Officer, Five enlisted men disciplined for forging of [reactor] inspection records.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/22/2007 23:51 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Wounded soldier's children die in accident
Get out your hankies. This is not sarcasm.
Two children of a Fort Bliss soldier flown back from Iraq with combat injuries are dead and a third is on life support after a car accident on the way to visit their father in the hospital, Army officials said.

Army Spc. John Austin Johnson was waiting for his wife and three kids to visit him at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio Oct. 13 when another soldier told him his family's car had rolled over four times on Interstate 10 about 12 miles east of Ozona on the gusty West Texas plains.

"He said, 'Two of my children are dead?'" Army Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Schmidt told the Dallas Morning News. "And we started crying."
More at the link
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 10/22/2007 11:49 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So very tragic. No words on this one.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/22/2007 12:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Very sad, I hope the surviving kid will make it.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/22/2007 12:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Bless them.
Posted by: newc || 10/22/2007 15:42 Comments || Top||

#4  My heart goes out to him and his family. I'll be praying for a miracle for the third child.
Posted by: Swamp Blondie || 10/22/2007 16:08 Comments || Top||

#5  My first thoughts are damnit Gawd wot's rong with you! My 2nd thoughts are always of Job... and Gawds reply to his rightful lamentations... where were you when I created the world. It's a cold solice, put solid.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 10/22/2007 16:54 Comments || Top||

#6  When my stepdad had dementia, I asked a lot of whys. God doesn't answer why; but, as in Job's case, God gives us His presence.

That's been very helpful as I deal with a houseful of kids with learning issues.
Posted by: mom || 10/22/2007 19:59 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
University Sends Students To Work As Volunteers At Abortion Clinic
Students for Life of America has slammed Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh for sending first-year students to volunteer at abortion clinics in the area. Last Saturday about 30 first-year students from the university were sent to one of 15 abortion sites around the Pittsburgh area. Students were witnessed coming off buses at local Planned Parenthood facilities.

Students for Life suggests that some students were apparently unaware of where they were working, as one student left the building, called her mother and cried as the RMU faculty member demanded she return into the abortion clinic. "The student thankfully refused," said a Students for Life spokesman.

"A lot of colleges want to educate students on issues of community concern, and yet the Robert Morris administration is teaching how to destroy a community," Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director of Students for Life of America, said. "Planned Parenthood targets minorities and the poor, and now Robert Morris is showing students that view is acceptable and that the poor are worth less than the privileged who can attend their expensive private school."

Kyle Fisher, public relations officer at Robert Morris University was not available for comment on this story prior to press time.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/22/2007 19:12 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kyle Fisher, public relations officer at Robert Morris University was not available for comment on this story prior to press time

Or ever, I'll bet.
Posted by: lotp || 10/22/2007 21:33 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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In no particular order...
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2007-10-22
  Bobby Jindal governor of Louisiana
Sun 2007-10-21
  Four dozen Talibs banged in Musa Qala area
Sat 2007-10-20
  Waziristan to be pacified 'once and for all'
Fri 2007-10-19
  Binny's handler was incharge of Benazir's security
Thu 2007-10-18
  Benazir Bhutto survives bomb attack
Wed 2007-10-17
  Putin warns against military action on Iran
Tue 2007-10-16
  Time for Palestinian State: Rice
Mon 2007-10-15
  Six killed, 25 injured as terror strikes Indian town of Ludhiana
Sun 2007-10-14
  Khamenei urges Arabs to boycott Mideast meet
Sat 2007-10-13
  Wally accuses Hezbullies of planning to occupy Beirut
Fri 2007-10-12
  Sufi shrine kaboomed in India
Thu 2007-10-11
  Wazoo ceasefire
Wed 2007-10-10
  Gunmen kidnap director of Basra Int'l Airport
Tue 2007-10-09
  Al Qaeda deputy killed in Algeria: report
Mon 2007-10-08
  Tehran University student protest -- 'Death to the dictator'


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