#2
I believe there is a special place in hell for people that hurt kids. I have to believe this or I would be compelled to act.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/12/2009 11:06 Comments ||
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#3
Let's wait a bit to make sure the gentleman actually committed heinous crimes. Nowadays a teacher can be condemned for patting a child on the back instead of only on the shoulder... or is observed allowing a spontaneous hug. On the other hand, if he really did go beyond the pale, with multiple girls, hang him high following the jury's conviction.
#4
Agreed TW, I do believe in an honest trial, a tall tree, and a short rope!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/12/2009 15:32 Comments ||
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#5
People who molest children don't even rate hell. They're dumped into the areas between universes. There they spend all eternity in sensory deprivation - without the ability to go insane.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/12/2009 15:36 Comments ||
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#6
Was he on the horse at the time?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2009 15:45 Comments ||
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Police have accused a TV presenter in Brazil of being involved in organised drug trafficking and ordering killings to get rid of rivals and boost ratings.
Wallace Souza, who is also a state legislator, says the claims are an attempt by rivals to smear him and that there is no evidence to back them. But the police say he ordered killings in the state of Amazonas and alerted TV crews to get them to the scene first.
His TV show was halted late last year as police stepped up their inquiry. If what the police say is true, then this is the TV show that not only reported crime, but was actually behind it as well.
The authorities believe that Mr Souza commissioned at least five murders in order to get rid of drug trafficking rivals and to boost his programme ratings. They say he wanted to prove his claims that the region he represented in the state of Amazonas was plagued with crime.
A local police chief told the Associated Press that the order to execute always came from the presenter and his son, and that TV crews were alerted to get to the scene of the crime first.
State Security Secretary Francisco Cavalcanti says the truth has now become clear. "On several occasions they fabricated the facts, they fabricated news," Mr Cavalcanti said.
Wallace Souza faces a variety of charges, including drug trafficking and weapons possession, but remains free because for the moment his political role gives him immunity. His son Rafael, meanwhile, has been arrested on charges of murder, drug trafficking and illegally possessing guns.
Lawyers for Wallace Souza, a former policeman who was expelled from the force, say the accusations are an attempt to smear him and that there is not one piece of material proof to back the police claims.
#2
Tonight on the season premiere of Matlock/Columbo/Murder, She Wrote/Law & Order: Criminal Intent/Criminal Minds/CSI: Miami/The Closer/Monk/Perry Mason, a story ripped from the headlines--a TV news show has ratings to die for...
Posted by: Mike ||
08/12/2009 12:07 Comments ||
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(CNN) -- A Georgia man who spent a year in jail for nonpayment of child support -- despite the fact he has no children -- has been cleared of the debt, his attorney said Tuesday.
Frank Hatley, 50, spent 13 months in jail for being a deadbeat dad before his release last month. A judge ordered him jailed in June 2008 for failing to support his "son" -- a child who DNA tests proved was not fathered by Hatley. That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense. Of a kind...
Last week, Cook County Superior Court Judge Dane Perkins signed an order stating, "defendant is no longer responsible for paying any amount of child support." The order permits the state's Office of Child Support Services to close its file on Hatley. "We're satisfied with the result for Mr. Hatley, but still troubled by the state's monumental lapse of judgment in this case," attorney Sarah Geraghty with the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights told CNN in a written statement. Hatley did not immediately return a call from CNN Tuesday.
For 13 years, Hatley made payments to the state until learning in 2000 that the boy might not be his. A DNA test that year confirmed the child was not fathered by Hatley, court documents said.
His story dates back to 1986, when Hatley had a relationship with Essie Lee Morrison, who gave birth to a son. According to court documents, Morrison told Hatley the child was his, but the two ended their relationship shortly after the child was born. The couple never married and never lived together, the documents said. When the child turned 2, Morrison applied for public support for the child. Under Georgia law, the state, can recoup the cost of the assistance from a child's non-custodial parent.
For 13 years, Hatley made payments to the state until learning in 2000 that the boy might not be his. A DNA test that year confirmed the child was not fathered by Hatley, court documents said. He returned to court and was relieved of any future child support payments, but was ordered to pay more than $16,000 he owed the state before the ruling.
Since 2000, Hatley paid that debt down to about $10,000, Geraghty said. Court documents showed he was jailed for six months in 2006 for falling behind on payments during a period of unemployment, but afterward he resumed making payments, continuing to do so even after he lost another job and became homeless in 2008. But last year he became unable to make the payments and was jailed.
The argument for keeping Hatley liable for the back payments, according to the attorney who represented him in 2000, was that he signed a consent agreement with the Office of Child Support Services. Draco, sitting comfy in the afterlife, must be so proud...
The court agreed that Hatley had to comply with the consent agreement for the period he believed the child was his son, said attorney Latesha Bradley.
Hatley was released from jail last month after Perkins ruled he was indigent and should not be jailed for failing to make the payments.
But many, including Cook County Sheriff Johnny Daughtrey, didn't think Hatley's incarceration was fair, given that the child was not his. "I knew the gentleman's plight and didn't know how to help him," Daughtrey told CNN last month. When the Southern Center for Human Rights visited the jail earlier this year, Daughtrey told them about Hatley's case.
Hatley was released from jail last month after Perkins ruled he was indigent and should not be jailed for failing to make the payments.
The Georgia Department of Human Services, which includes the Office of Child Support Services, plans to propose legislation in the next session of the state Legislature that would prevent similar situations in the future, said agency spokeswoman Dena Smith.
Two things still remain to be cleared up for Hatley, Geraghty said -- lifting the child-support holds on his driver's license and his income tax. It remains unclear whether he will be reimbursed for the $6,000 in payments he made since 2000, she said -- so far, he has not been.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2009 00:00 ||
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...Okay...I see what the problem was here: It wasn't that he wasn't the father, but that the state told him he owed it money and he hadn't paid.
Debt to the state trumps all.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/12/2009 0:21 Comments ||
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#2
Actually, in American business law, if you give someone a substantial gift, repeatedly, and establish a dependency with that gift, the courts may decide that you must continue giving that gift.
This is frequently found in cases where a man is paying child support and discovers the child is not his. The courts use the logic that a parent-child relationship existed, even if it was not true. So child support must be continued.
But in this case, the twist was that he was jailed, even though he had no ability to pay. And that is a very different kettle of fish, hearkening back to debtors' prisons. It is also illogical, because they cannot earn money their way out of jail.
#4
Men being forced to support the children not their own but who are the children of women with whom the men have had relationships but to whom they were never married isn't a particularly uncommon thing.
Courts view the support of children as a social good and often look for any opening to land a financial hook into any convenient party who is able to pay. A few "standards" that I've seen used: any cohabitation, acceptance of responsibility for the child by the man (as in the instant case), recognition by the child of the man as the father, and even in one case money given to an ex-girlfriend on a couple of occasions allegedly to support her (but not his) child after the pair had split.
Once the payor is hooked by the system all of the normal rules apply and courts will almost never release a payor from this sort of obligation merely because it is later discovered that the child is not his. Note that here Hatley was released from jail because he was found to be indigent and unable to pay, *not* because the court determined that he was not responsible for making the court-mandated child support payments. I'm skeptical that any event other than the child reaching maturity will release him from his obligation to pay, such would be the norm with this sort of thing.
As egregious as Hatley being jailed is the way state social service attorneys go after men in these instances. Often as not it's essentially a railroading of someone who can't afford or doesn't want to waste money on an attorney to combat the legions of taxpayer-funded attorneys who represent women & children and as a result is an easy mark to be tagged with support payments because he just doesn't understand that in many cases it makes little difference to the courts whether the child in question is his or not.
#5
"Men being forced to support the children not their own but who are the children of women with whom the men have had relationships but to whom they were never married isn't a particularly uncommon thing."
Fixed it for ya - it's called the welfare state.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/12/2009 6:38 Comments ||
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#6
A clearer example of government abuse could not be found. I am not ligtigious, but I hope he sues and get a huge settlement. Whomever was in charge of this case should be demoted to gutter cleaner (you can't fire civil servants).
#7
And how many of the women have been prosecuted for filing false official statements/documents? What part of 'thou shall not bear false witness' don't they grasp. This undermines everything the women worked for in the 20th Century in obtaining equality before the law when 'exemptions' are granted which clearly destroys the principles of justices and fairness. It makes the whole effort nothing more than a play for power and privilege. It's not a game where one picks and chooses what gets applied to everyone and what is not. That the state plays along with this injustice for convenience in collecting resources only chips away further the legitimacy of the state's authority.
#9
Actually, in American business law, if you give someone a substantial gift, repeatedly, and establish a dependency with that gift, the courts may decide that you must continue giving that gift.
O rly?
Ima recall the strange case of Santa Claus vs. Kids Inc.
Very interesting, fairly long article from New Scientist. A taste:
WILL swine flu virus turn nasty as the northern hemisphere winter gets under way? All previous pandemic flu strains started off mild before becoming deadlier, so health authorities are taking the threat seriously. They know that if 2009 H1N1 flu does become more lethal over the next few months, we will be nearly defenceless: there are already signs of resistance to Tamiflu, and any vaccines will be in very short supply.
H1N1 flu is far from the only threat. A new pathogen could emerge at any time, as the SARS virus did in 2002, or a known virus such as that behind Lassa fever could become much better at passing from person to person and spread beyond Africa. Or a rogue scientist, or just a careless one, could release a deadly virus such as smallpox.
We have been relatively lucky so far. The nature of SARS allowed it to be contained, while H1N1 flu remains mild for now. But our luck could run out tomorrow. "Mother Nature is among the worst terrorists," says Michael Goldblatt, who once led the biodefence programme for the Pentagon's research arm, DARPA, and now heads Functional Genetics, a biotech company in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
How do you develop therapeutics for the unknown and unknowable, given that you won't have time to develop a vaccine for a new agent after it appears?" he asks.
Goldblatt and a few other researchers think they have the answer. They are working on an entirely new class of antiviral drugs that should do something seemingly impossible: work against a wide range of existing viruses and also be effective against viruses that have not even evolved yet. What's more, it should be extremely difficult for any virus to become resistant to these drugs.
This might sound too good to be true, but the first trials of these drugs are already producing encouraging early results. If just a few of them live up to their promise in full-scale human trials - no sure thing - they will be a medical breakthrough on a par with the discovery of penicillin. At last, doctors will be able to treat viral diseases as ably as they do bacterial ones.
Back in the late 1990s, when Goldblatt was at DARPA, he began to wonder whether there was another strategy, one that exploits the key weakness of all viruses: their utter dependence on their hosts. By themselves, viruses are more helpless than newborn babies. They can replicate only by tricking their host cells into making more copies of them, a process that can involve hundreds of host proteins.
What if, Goldblatt wondered, some host proteins are essential for viral replication but not for the survival of the host? If so, disabling these proteins should block viral replication without killing healthy cells.
After moving to Functional Genetics, Goldblatt began putting his idea to the test. He and his colleagues disabled one gene at a time in human cells before exposing them to viruses such as flu. This fishing expedition worked beautifully: they identified more than 100 different human proteins that flu viruses need to replicate but which cells can survive without. Only four were previously known to be involved in viral replication.
One especially promising target is TSG101, a protein involved in the transport of materials within cells that many viruses co-opt to break out of cells. Functional Genetics has developed a small-molecule drug that appears to block the interaction between viruses and TSG101. Dubbed FGI-104, the drug inhibits a wide range of viruses in cell culture, including hepatitis C and HIV, and has also been shown to protect mice against Ebola (American Journal of Translational Research, vol 1, p 87).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2009 18:29 ||
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Very cool, Barbara -- I forwarded it Mr. Wife. Thank you!
Val Kilmers New Global Warming Film Is Awful Despite Gratuitous Nudity
I saw Val Kilmers new feature the other day. Its called The Chaos Experiment, and its about a deranged scientists (Kilmer) who traps six sexy strangers (according to the plot synopsis on the back of the DVD) in a room and slowly turns up the heat to demonstrate the deleterious effects of global warming on the human condition. In a nutshell, the six sexy strangers get naked before they go crazy and start killing one another.
My girlfriend thought it was awful- she was put off by the nudity. That was the only part I enjoyed, in what was otherwise a real snoozer....
Posted by: Mike ||
08/12/2009 15:49 ||
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Val Kilmer, you say... isn't he the guy who bloated up just like Marlon Brando... except he couldn't act?
#2
It's kind of sad, really - Val Kilmer. He was absolutely hilarious in Top Secret and Real Genius, as well as being quite dishy, and he proved that he could sing, too ... so sad, really. A case of accelerated Marlon Brando Disease. They start out talented and gorgeous, then something happens, they begin believing all the hype ... and hey, presto, before a couple of decades have passed, there they are, talentless, fat, utterly humorous and has-been, suffocating all the projects they are involved with, with the horrendous weight of their presence.
#5
Kilmer (and Robt Downey Jr.) were awesome in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. In it he plays a gay P.I., go figure. Rent it if you want some laughs. I got it on DVD for father's day - loved it (note that he was an *actor* in it). As a politician or climate change guru or Director?...not so much
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/12/2009 21:12 Comments ||
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#6
Unfortunately/fortunately, he's given consideration to be the Donk to replace Bill Richardson as governor of New Mexico. It's not like we need someone playing Governor William J. Lepetomane at this time.
Computer translation from Spanish source, cleanup by me. All errors mine.
02:46 PM Bogotá.-The Army of Colombia captured 11 Ecuadorian soldiers in Colombian territory and then to returned them Sunday to Ecuador. The incident occurred in a moments of tension between both nations and Quito described the incident as a "logistic accident".
The soldiers -- an officer, a noncommissioned officer and 9 soldiers that were captured 300 meters inside Colombian territory, in the southern department of Putumayo -- were quickly returned to Quito, the Equator Defense minister said, Javier Ponce.
"There is no inconvenience. All is absolutely tranquil (..) they were not armed and already they are back in their country", detailed Ponce.
The Ecuadorian vice-chancellor, Lautaro Well, had explained previously that the soldiers "went to buy fish in the other side of the river Putumayo and in application of the handbook of security they will be returned, not deportees to the country".
In turn, Miguel Carvajal, minister of Interior Security and Outside of Equator, confirmed the "involuntary incident".
Colombia and Equator do not have diplomatic relations after in March 2008 the Colombian Air Force bombarded the camp of the leader of the FARC guerilla group, Raúl Kings, in Ecuadorian territory, and after accusations of Bogota that the Government of Ecuador has supported the insurgent group.
The situation intensified after the decision of Colombia to extend a military agreement with its ally, the United States, that would permit the latter to use Colombian naval and air bases. The president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, has said that those bases are an extension of the military cooperation that his country maintains with the United States to fight drug trafficking and terrorism.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2009 00:00 ||
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TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The de facto rulers of Honduras snubbed the head of the Organization of American States on Sunday and canceled a planned visit for talks on the crisis caused by a coup in June. The OAS, which suspended Honduras over the coup, had planned to send secretary-general Jose Miguel Insulza with a group of foreign ministers on Tuesday.
"The intransigence of the secretary general in insisting he be part of the mission ... has made it impossible that the visit go ahead," Honduras' foreign ministry said in a statement.
During a visit to Honduras days after soldiers forced President Manuel Zelaya out of the country, Insulza called for the president to be reinstated and did not meet directly with de facto leader Roberto Micheletti.
Honduras' de facto government said it was willing to reschedule the visit as long as it does not include Insulza, who it accused of "lacking objectivity, impartiality and professionalism."
Not to mention manners...
The Washington-based OAS is the Western Hemisphere's top diplomatic body and often mediates diplomatic and political crises in the region.
Honduras is expected to be discussed at U.S. President Barack Obama's first "three amigos" summit with the leaders of Mexico and Canada on Sunday and Monday in Mexico.
The administration headed by Micheletti, the former head of Congress, appears to be digging in and the country's elite say they will keep Honduras running even if Micheletti is not recognized by foreign governments.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2009 00:00 ||
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The de facto rulers of Honduras
Aren't they the de jure rulers? You know, supreme court decisions, constitutions, etc?
#3
Free Radical, the whole thing is written with extreme bias in favor of the dictator wanna-be. Facts just get in the way of the pro-communist narrative.
Who wrote this dreck - AP or Rooters? Or maybe the NYT?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2009 13:18 Comments ||
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QUITO (Reuters) - President Rafael Correa starts a second term on Monday promising "21st century socialism" for Ecuador, but his clashes with investors may jeopardize trade and deter financing he needs to reverse an oil output slump.
Correa, a popular former economy minister, was re-elected in April for a four-year term under a new constitution that expanded presidential powers. The first re-election of a president since democracy was restored 30 years ago is a sign of stability in a nation where three presidents were toppled in the last decade.
Or that the Chavez-style power-grab is on schedule, but don't expect Roooters to understand that ...
But Correa will struggle with falling oil revenues, the mainstay of government's finances, and fallout from a foreign debt default that shut Ecuador out of international capital markets. He has benefited from constitutional reform that put the central bank under his control, empowered him to redistribute idle farmland and widened his authority over key sectors like mining and oil.
Because only he's smart enough to handle all this. One couldn't possibly let the legislative branch or [gasp] the private sector make these things work ...
Correa's heavy social spending and frequent outbursts against business elites, who he blames for the OPEC country's sharp divide between rich and poor, have helped consolidate popular support, pollsters say.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2009 00:00 ||
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He has a few interesting challenges. First, the country gave up its own currency a while back, and now use the dollar, but with interesting local coinages - it's own dime, quarter, etc... Anyway, it eliminates the classic latin populist urge to debase the currency since they're stuck with the Fed. Hilariously ironic him being dependent on O for the time being.
Second, though in the second tier of latin countries, it's got huge advantages - very home grown and self sufficient, not the wild class swings of others, not really horrid third world conditions, great climate and resources and so on.
All told, it may be hard for him to get too far wildly left simply due to the national temperment.
Still a shame he's an Illini economics student, and not a former U Chicago alum. A rightist could take real advantage of Ecuador's strengths.
From the Sacramento Bee:
Consumer interest in the federal "cash for clunkers" car program is waning, according to Edmunds.com, the Santa Monica-based auto information site. Edmunds based its conclusion on decreased Internet traffic among consumers seeking car-buying information.
The clunkers program, which offers consumers credits of up to $4,500 for turning in old gas guzzlers for more fuel-efficient new cars, began July 27 and was so popular the Obama administration quickly sought additional funding.
However, Edmunds said Tuesday interest peaked July 29 and has since declined 15 percent. Edmunds' senior analyst Michelle Krebs said the original funding was "very low in relation to the size of the auto market," creating a "Gold Rush mentality where consumers hurried to take advantage."
The added funding has removed the sense of urgency and interest in the program is waning, Krebs said. Edmunds projected that car-purchase intent will be back to pre-"cash for clunkers" levels by Aug. 20.
Here's Edmunds' press release from last Aug. 6 (didn't see the one from yesterday this article refers to). My favorite line:
"And now, more than ever, it is important for car-buyers to do their research so that they pay a fair price for their new vehicles. . . . Our analysts have determined that dealers are enjoying a 20 percent increase in gross profit per sale involving a clunker trade-in since the program launched." Emphasis added.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2009 15:26 ||
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The milage determined for clunker cut off would grab millions of more cars if they raised it from 18/EPA (RED READJUSTED) MPH to 20.
18 really limits it.
#2
Whatever you think of the economics or industrial policy of it, the C4C requires that any car traded in have its engine deliberately destroyed.
Not dismantled for parts--destroyed.
What's the sense of destroying usable machinery so you can replace it with more expensive new machinery? That can't be good for the environment.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/12/2009 16:57 Comments ||
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#3
Having rebuilt quite a few engines, this almost makes me cry.
My biggest beef with this program would be that there are thousands of low-income folks who would be thrilled to get a decent vehicle to go to work in. What would have been the problem in taking the safe & operable 'gas guzzlers' in and re-selling them to these poor folks for say $1000-$1500 each? (SOME amount of ROI)
Oh wait, they wouldn't be taking the bus/light rail that goes no where near their place of employment (or potential employment) nor runs 24/7 when they actually could get second/third shift or weekend work.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
08/12/2009 17:14 Comments ||
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#4
Silly Richard - people don't matter (particularly the poor).
All that matters is the cognoscenti feel good about themselves.
*spit*
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2009 18:03 Comments ||
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#5
I still hope for a new Ford Transit Connect, if they ever arrive in local showrooms.
#6
Time to gear up the "Cash for Cuckolds (and Cockqueans)"
You have an old tired unreliable spouse? Now get Obamadollars to trade him/her in for a newer more efficient model. Ask for the John Edwards-Mark Stanford Special deal. /sarc off
#7
I looked into it, I discovered the dealers were hiking the prices about as much as the "Clunker" Money it's just helpimg dealerships, not people in need of a dependable ride.
No way in hell.I'll keep my old truck. (It gets 22 MPG anyway)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/12/2009 23:50 Comments ||
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A-pee, via Comcast, so go ye to the link to read the (sort-of) whole story and rev up the conspiracy theories.
LONDON First the ship reported it had been attacked in waters off Sweden. Then it sailed with no apparent problems through one of the world's busiest shipping lanes. And then it disappeared. The Arctic Sea, a Maltese-flagged cargo ship, was supposed to make port in Algeria with its cargo of timber on Aug. 4. More than a week later, there's no sign of the ship or its Russian crew.
"If this is a criminal act, it appears to be following a new business model," Marine intelligence expert Graeme Gibbon-Brooks told Sky News on Wednesday.
Nick Davis, the chief executive of the Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre, told the BBC that if anything had happened to the ship, cargo would have been found.
"I strongly suspect that this is probably a commercial dispute with its owner and a third party and they've decided to take matters into their own hands," he said Wednesday.
Put on your Kos Kiddies tinfoil hats, Rantburgers, and have at it! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2009 17:53 ||
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Has anyone checked the Arctic Sea? Maybe it's making a namesake port visit?
A Paris swimming pool has refused entry to a young Muslim woman wearing a "burqini," a swimsuit that covers most of the body, officials said Wednesday.
The pool ban came as French lawmakers conduct hearings on whether to ban the burqa after President Nicolas Sarkozy said the head-to-toe veil was "not welcome" in secular France.
Officials in the Paris suburb of Emerainville said they let the woman swim in the pool in July wearing the "burqini," designed for Muslim women who want to swim without revealing their bodies. But when she returned in August they decided to apply hygiene rules and told her she could not swim if she insisted on wearing the garment, which resembles a wetsuit with built-in hood.
Pool staff "reminded her of the rules that apply in all (public) swimming pools which forbid swimming while clothed," said Daniel Guillaume, an official with the pool management.
Le Parisien newspaper said the woman, identified by her first name Carole, was a French convert to Islam and that she was determined to go to the courts to challenge the decision.
"Quite simply, this is segregation," the paper quoted her as saying. "I will fight to try to change things. And if I see that the battle is lost, I cannot rule out leaving France."
The newspaper ran a photo of the woman sporting her three-piece "burqini" which she said she purchased in Dubai during a recent holiday. "I bought it thinking that I could enjoy swimming without having to uncover myself," she said.
Local mayor Alain Kelyor said "all this has nothing to do with Islam," adding that the "burqini" was "not an Islamic swimsuit, that type of suit does not exist in the Koran," the Muslim holy book.
Ooooh, that one's gonna hurt, infidels using the words of the Profit ...
France, home to Europe's biggest Muslim minority, has set up a special panel of 32 lawmakers to consider whether a law should be enacted to bar Muslim women from wearing the full veil, known as a burqa or niqab. The country has had a long-running debate on how far it is willing to go to accommodate Islam without undermining the tradition of separating church and state, enshrined in a flagship 1905 law.
The burqa debate in France has drawn chilling warnings from Al-Qaeda that it was ready to "take revenge for the honour of our daughters and sisters."
Communist MP Andre Gerin, who heads the National Assembly's burqa commission, called the "burqini" ridiculous and said pool administrators were right. "We can't allow this. This is proof that there is a political agenda behind such dress," Gerin told Le Parisien.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2009 13:36 ||
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Lemmee see - the purported purpose of the burqa is to cover the female body. But as soon she gets the suit wet, her every curve is outlined for all to see.
I grew up in a time and town where dressing modestly was expected, so I've got some experience with this. And that ain't modest.
But then, that's not really her intent. Her intent (and/or the intent of those behind her) is to impose her "culture" by stealth on the West, one country at at time.
"And if I see that the battle is lost, I cannot rule out leaving France."
Need some help packing, b*tch?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/12/2009 13:54 Comments ||
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I'm not sure where hygiene fits in, though. Safety, if someone gets tangled in the floating dress bit, but unless she is freely urinating in it like scuba divers are wont to do when they don't want to surface in the middle of a dive, how hygiene?
#3
A properly modest Islamic woman would never leave the house, much less go swimming, lest she be subjected to the leering, prurient gaze of the infidel. Especially if she has nice hooters.
This was the scene when I arrived at Stout Street Clinic in downtown Denver. Nancy Pelosi is to pay a visit to the clinic within the hour. About 200 people opposed to Obamas healthcare agenda braved the mile high Denver sun and high temperatures to show their opposition. Their signs indicate that they are well aware that they have been vilified and targeted in an Oval Office astroturfing campaign designed to discredit their opposition.
After I was on the scene for about 15 minutes I got a call from one of my location scouts. Hey, you gotta come down by the alley here. A bunch of Obama people just showed up. I walked over to the far corner of the clinic and sure enough, freshly minted Obama supporters had arrived on the scene.
An email circulated the day before by the local Democrat Party urged activists to come out to this event, and another one later that same day, claimed that rich special interests would be bussing Teabaggers there. Teabaggers is an obscure homocentric term that has been made a household word by the Democrat party. Tea Party participants are people who identify with that patriotic tax revolt of 1773. The Democrats reference to them as Teabaggers is a horribly crude example of how the left coarsens our public discourse.
Soon more astroturfazoids began insinuating themselves into my photographs. Here I asked people to pose for me and the zoids barged in. Like characters from Shawn of the dead they just kept appearing in my viewfinder.
This is the first time in my life that I can recall a government in North America organizing protests of one group of citizens against another. This is standard operating procedure in countries with left-wing governments.
This clinic is adjacent to Denvers day laborer pickup street, Park Avenue. Being fluent in Spanish, El Marco asked these guys ¿hablan ingles? casi nada was the reply from our amigo on the left. I asked him if he could tell me what the signs said. ¿Quien sabe? (who knows?) was all he said to me, with a big grin. Im kicking myself for not asking them how much they were getting paid to support the grassroots. Worth reading the whole thing. Lots of pics.
Posted by: ed ||
08/12/2009 09:42 ||
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#1
"Nancy and the Astroturfers" would be a good name for a shoegazer alt-rock band. It's a bad idea for a system of government.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/12/2009 14:16 Comments ||
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#2
It's a shame the rest of us have to suffer for the mistakes of San Francisco (election of Pelosi).
#3
Nancy's face is astroturf, and her mind, ( ).
Nancy is miss walk, and miss boxer is chew gum.
It really is a shame it has come to this. There is a depressing and urgent need to wrap this government up in their own red tape so tight they can't do anything at all anymore. And it is very needed.
Since the Majority of Americans (not acorns) are now considered fake, does that mean we can renounce our citizenship to get better benifits now?
PORTSMOUTH, New Hampshire (CNN) -- President Obama complained Tuesday about opposition scare tactics against a proposed health care overhaul, but said failing to fix problems in the current system would be the scariest outcome of all. Well, maybe more like the second scariest outcome.
"What is really scary ... is to do nothing," President Obama says Tuesday. Funny thing is, I think I'd prefer you in particular to do nothing.
Obama addressed a supportive town hall meeting in New Hampshire that contrasted with combative events held by Democratic Congress members that have generated heated and sometimes disruptive responses. Also Tuesday, hostile crowds shouted questions and made angry statements against proposed health care legislation at meetings in Pennsylvania and Missouri led by Democratic senators Arlen Specter and Claire McCaskill. Supportive? In NH?! What, did they hand pick the attendees or something?
It could be they were being respectful of the office of the president. However, even naive as I am, I'd bet on a hand-picked audience, balanced for the appearance of race, sex and class.
Obama and Democratic leaders have accused opponents of health care changes of organizing protests intended to drown out the debate, while Republicans respond the public anger is a genuine response to what they call excessive and misguided legislation.
In New Hampshire, Obama welcomed a "vigorous" debate as part of the democratic process, but said people should talk "with each other and not over each other." He criticized "wild misrepresentations" by special interests trying to undermine health care legislation before Congress. As long as at the end of the vigorous debate you get your way, right?
In particular, Obama rejected rumors that a health care bill passed by a House committee included setting up so-called "death panels" to decide if senior citizens get treatment. He called spreading such rumors a long-standing practice by opponents of health care reform, such as "those who profit under the status quo." There is no death panel. Instead they just have a few clueless young guys I've hired to decide when you aren't financially worth treatment. It's ... different. Somehow.
"What is truly scary, what is truly risky, is to do nothing," Obama said, noting that premiums paid for health care coverage were rising three times faster than wages and that the government-run Medicare program for senior citizens would run out of money within a decade. Instead, with your plan, we'll run out of seniors in less than a decade. Think of all the money we'll save!
In a new twist at such forums, Obama specifically asked for questions from opponents of health care legislation to address issues of concern.
He repeated past guarantees that a health care overhaul won't force anyone to give up health insurance they like and won't cut Medicare benefits, and he stood by his election pledge that he won't raise taxes on people making less than $250,000 a year. Soak the rich. After all, they're in the minority. Which makes me wonder if we shouldn't consider protected status for wealth.
At the same time, Obama defended his call for a government-funded public health insurance option to compete against private insurers. He said such an option would hold down rates, rejecting accusations it amounted to a government takeover of health care because private companies can't compete with a government-funded plan. A government-funded plan that will turn into a cash cow for someone. Any ideas? Look, if the private market can't do it, how can the government? Get rid of all the stupid laws restricting consumer rights and watch what happens. The government couldn't even run the Mustang Ranch.
"UPS and FedEx are doing just fine," Obama said, referring to private courier services that compete with the U.S. Postal Service. "It's the Post Office that's always having problems." Yet somehow they're still there. Ironic.
The atmosphere was different at Specter's morning event in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, where angry questioners made emotional statements against health care proposals that they likened to a socialist takeover of the country. One man who shouted an unsolicited comment was shoved by another, prompting Specter to intervene while warning that those disrupting the meeting would be thrown out. Like the goon squads?
Specter also faced a noisy crowd at a second event later in the day in Lewisburg, while McCaskill heard similar conservative arguments at her meeting in Hillsboro, Missouri, outside St. Louis. McCaskill kept the meeting running despite frequent shouts and booing, though a short scuffle in the crowd interrupted her. Apparently she's deaf.
"Take a deep breath and sit down," she told the crowd as security officers removed one woman. "I want everyone to remember we had prayers at the beginning."
Like Obama, she rejected claims by audience members that health care legislation would force people into a government-run public health insurance option, saying: "We're not going to force anybody. It's called an option for a reason." As long as it isn't subsidized by the government, fine.
McCaskill also noted that many of those opposing the public option like their coverage by Medicare, "a government-run program." Seniors. Fixed income. Paid their dues. Don't have enough money for some odd reason.
At his town-hall events, Specter was accompanied by United States Capitol Hill Police officers. After his event at the campus of Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Specter defended his decision to have Congress' special police force travel with him.
"I would say, that given the temper of the times, the fact that in some areas there have been fights breaking out and people hospitalized -- and one member's statue was hanged in effigy -- [safety] is a big challenge," said Specter. As is you getting a clue. In a room full of clues.
Despite his expressed need for special security, Specter said heated confrontation is part of the job.
"It's challenging. I've been part of some challenging situations and that's part of the pay grade," he said. I wonder what you'd have to say if you had no security around you.
Adding that he thought the rhetoric was "within acceptable limits," Specter told reporters that economic and political anxieties have created a "level of anger in the country" that has not been seen since the Great Depression. Get a clue.
Videos of other protests circulating on the Internet show raucous crowds heckling their representatives in Congress and carrying posters with devil horns drawn on lawmakers' heads, swastikas, or Obama with Adolf Hitler's mustache drawn on his face. Got one with him wearing a dunce cap yet?
The White House has launched what it calls a Health Insurance Reform Bull$hit Generator Reality Check Web site designed to combat what the administration considers misinformation about the issue. The Web page features Obama aides discussing various aspects of health care reform. Was this discussion held in a vacuum?
However, the Web site prompted Republican complaints that Obama's government would use it to compile a list of enemies. Obama rejected that accusation, too.
He called a health care overhaul essential for ensuring long-term economic stability while ensuring that virtually all Americans have access to health insurance.
"The status quo is not working for you," Obama said to applause. So we are obligated to eff it up even worse.
Congressional action on a health care overhaul has slowed because of strong Republican opposition. Neither chamber met Obama's goal of passing a bill before their August recess. Hope.
In particular, Republicans and some Democrats reject the proposed public option, which they believe will lead to a government takeover of the health care system and prove too costly. Like Social Security and Medicare?
#1
The radio said this morning there'd be town hall meetings for two local Reps August 25, and that some of them "had received calls from outside their districts, wanting to know where the meetings were going to be held."
Aha! The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy returns! But they were too busy with the 'news' that Karl Rove really was deeply involved in the Attorney Firings (four years ago?) to tell me where this alleged Town Hall Meeting which I might choose to go to was actually located.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/12/2009 6:06 Comments ||
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#2
Supportive? In NH?! What, did they hand pick the attendees or something?
Yes, all of the tickets were given to Democrat bigwigs who then distributed the tickets to the loyal followers of King 0bama I.
#3
The guy I work for, a lifelong Democrat, almost went over the edge yesterday. He spent over a half hour on the phone with the IRS to get a copy of a tax notice sent to a client. For 'technical reasons', the IRS wank could not directly confirm that the notice was resent to him or the client.
Finally, he gets off the phone and says "I can't even get a god-damned letter from the IRS, and we're supposed to expect them to run the entire US health care system? This is insane."
#10
"UPS and FedEx are doing just fine," Obama said "It's the Post Office that's always having problems."
OK, the President is promoting the creation of another mammoth government entitlement program. Were told that by keeping private business honest we can lower cost. Dont worry, were assured, the government-funded plan wont result in the ultimate demise of private business. But how can private companies compete against an entity with such an obvious advantage? Look at the Post Office, the President says, government struggles to do anything efficient.
"Wild misrepresentations" Indeed!
#11
Everyone has missed the bit where he said that the public/government program will not compete with the private sector because the p/g program will not use tax dollars to fund it. Happened right after his bit about the sweetie he was talking to (yeah right), the "Keep your hands off my medicare" ha ha true story.
Let's be clear - this was a town hall set. Decorations, the 'faces in the crowd' effect at every camera angle. Hand picked, you betchya. But not an audience - props.
Its Billy Zane with a million dollars to spend on the set.
#14
the government-run Medicare program for senior citizens would run out of money within a decade. About which, Obama has done & intends to do nothing. Instead he is attempting to create an even larger government-run program to run out of even more money.
#15
This is what's 'truly scary': the national & world economy has been collapsing for 2 years now. 3 questions need to be considered by our leadership:
1) What (if anything) was learned about root causes of the crisis?
2) What (if anything) was fixed in the way our economy is managed?
3) What (if anything) will be done to make sure we dont soon see a repeat of this situation in a slightly different form?
They have given these scant consideration. Instead they are going off on this wild tangent. Further stages of the financial crisis may render the whole 'health reform' plan moot.
#16
30 or 40 new gummit agencies and 650,000 new ACORN affirmative action Chicago style patronage employees created to handle Barry's program will take care of everything. Just give it TIME!
#17
Bobby, they are planing to nationalize your body. It does not matter what district they are from. Second point, did they accept money from outside their district to pay for their election?
Third question, What do they care if they do not require Photo ID's to vote?
Put these forward, and for some specification, a local here, John David Lewis picked through the plan. It may be interesting if you could take it to these tyrants from DC:
http://www.classicalideals.com/HR3200.htm
Do not let them get away with it, at all.
Fake compassion is good for true tyrannies.
#18
From the same government that wants to take over the country's health care, I bring you this: The Social Security Administration has agreed to pay more than $500 million in back benefits to more than 80,000 recipients whose benefits were unfairly denied after they were flagged by a federal computer program designed to catch serious criminals I must admit the program caught 'dozens' of criminals. By now many of those illegally denied benefits have died.
#19
The "Post Office" reference referes to the largest employer in the United States- the Unites States Postal Service, who employes
700,000 plus Americans, and for better or worse, is the "best practice" envy of of the world on a cost per delivered piece basis.
It would be nice if POTUS could at least get the name straight...since it subsidizes all that political mail at least.
Another "thrown under the bus" victim.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A Palestinian man who previously vowed to sue British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for presenting him as a "terrorist" in his hit movie Bruno has put his words to action and on Monday filed a lawsuit.
Ayman Abu Aita told Al Arabiya he was swindled when Cohen pretended to be a German journalist filming a documentary about Palestine.
Aita filed a lawsuit demanding that the scene in which he appears is removed because it stereotypes an entire people and that the movie is censored.
"This scene is not only about me. It concerns the entire Palestinian people. I also demand compensation because he insulted us."
"I met him at Everest Hotel in Beit Jala," Aita told Al Arabiya. "I asked the crew about the movie and they told me it aims at communicating the Palestinian cause to youths around the world. I trusted them and Cohen interviewed me for two hours and a half."
Aita added Cohen's questions were "normal" and did not indicate any foul play. However at the end of the interview Aita was taken by surprise when Cohen asks to be kidnapped.
During his interview with Abu Aita, Cohen asks to be kidnapped and suggests he and his colleagues shave their beards because "your king Osama looks like some king of dirty wizard or a homeless Santa," referring to Osama Bin Laden.
"I told him that we are a civilized people and not terrorists," Aita replied.
Aita decided to sue Cohen after a scene in the movie portrayed him as a leader of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, one Palestinian faction group. Cohen also said he has been coordinating with the CIA for three years to meet this "terrorist."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2009 00:00 ||
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During his interview with Abu Aita, Cohen asks to be kidnapped and suggests he and his colleagues shave their beards because "your king Osama looks like some king of dirty wizard or a homeless Santa," referring to Osama Bin Laden.
Thus proving, beyond doubt, that he did NOT consider Aita to be a real terrorist. Cohen's a jerk, but he's not suicidal.
Long, long piece in the NYT about the US Army's efforts to develop drones and robots that would be of use to regular line infantry. Some cool ideas are presented. Just don't connect them to Skynet: nothing good comes from that.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2009 13:35 ||
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I saw WalEE's ancestor.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/12/2009 23:44 Comments ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was yesterday handed another 18 months of house arrest, taking the Nobel laureate out of the picture for elections next year and sparking international outrage.
A court convicted the 64-year-old at the end of a marathon trial for breaching the terms of her detention by the ruling military junta, following a bizarre incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her home.
Judges sentenced Suu Kyi to three years of hard labour and imprisonment, but military ruler Than Shwe signed a special order commuting the sentence and ordering her to serve out a year-and-a-half under house arrest.
World leaders rounded on the regime after the verdict, with the European Union threatening fresh sanctions and top US diplomat Hillary Clinton condemning the trial and demanding the release of US national John Yettaw.
Suu Kyi looked alert but tired during the 90-minute court session. After the verdict was announced, she stood and thanked foreign diplomats for attending her trial.
"I hope we can all work for peace and prosperity of the country," Suu Kyi said in a soft voice to diplomats seated nearby. She then was led out of the courtroom.
"Thank you for the verdict," a grim-faced Suu Kyi, wearing pink and light grey traditional Burmese dress, said after the court at Yangon's notorious Insein Prison announced the judgement.
The 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has already been in detention for 14 of the last 20 years, mostly under house arrest, and the extension will remove her from the political scene while the country holds junta-organised elections next year.
The American, John Yettaw, 54, the epileptic former US military veteran who swam to her lakeside house in May, was sentenced to seven years of hard labour and imprisonment on three charges.
What odds Mr. Clinton will jet off to Burma to negotiate his rescue?
Two female aides who lived with Suu Kyi also had their sentences reduced to 18 months. The opposition leader and her assistants had both faced jail terms of up to five years.
Suu Kyi was later driven back to the house under tight security and the road outside the crumbling villa was sealed off, Myanmar officials said.
Home Affairs Minister Maung Oo had made a surprise entrance to the courtroom just minutes after the judgment was read out to announce Than Shwe's intervention in the case.
He said her time in house arrest could be shortened "if she lives well in the suspended sentence", saying that the move was "also for the peaceful security of the country and also to move towards democratisation".
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Police have accused a TV presenter in Brazil of being involved in organised drug trafficking and ordering killings to get rid of rivals and boost ratings.
A Paris swimming pool has refused entry to a young Muslim woman wearing a "burqini," a swimsuit that covers most of the body, officials said Wednesday.
