Woody Allen has a strange take on the democracy that allowed him to become rich and famous.
The "Scoop" director said it would be a cool idea for President Barack Obama to be dictator for for a few years. Why? So he could get things done without all the hassle of opposing views getting in the way.
In an interview published by Spanish language newspaper La Vanguardia (that we translated), Allen says I am pleased with Obama. I think he's brilliant. The Republican Party should get out of his way and stop trying to hurt him.'
Posted by: Mike ||
05/18/2010 15:57 ||
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#1
Of course, Allen has a famously strange relationship with reality. The director took nude photos of his lover Mia Farrow's teen-age adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, and then ended up marrying her after separating from Farrow.
Farrow also said he molested their seven-year-old adopted daugther, Dylan. A judge refused to act on the charges, but called his relationship with Soon-Yi "grossly inappropriate."
Perhaps that judge has an opinion on Allen's "dictator" comments?
this is a guy who married his lover's daughter and apparently molested his own 7-year old daughter.
A Nigerian politician has been arrested on suspicion of smuggling cocaine at Lagos airport. Nigerian drug enforcement officials say Eme Zuru Ayortor swallowed nearly two kilograms of cocaine (4.4 lbs) in order to fund his election campaign.
Police say body scanners revealed the contents of his stomach as he attempted to board a flight to Frankfurt.
Mr Ayortor, aged 52, is running in the election to the local House of Assembly in Edo state.
Officers from Nigeria's drug law enforcement agency say they recovered 100 parcels of cocaine from the politician's stomack at Lagos' Murtala Mohammed International Airport.
It is understood that Mr Ayortor told officers he needed the money - because his last election campaign, in 2007, bankrupted him. Politicians in Nigeria raise large amounts of money at election time: much of it goes on bribing election officials and paying gangs of young men to intimidate voters.
Last month, customs officers at the same airport seized a consignment of military uniforms which they linked to politicians preparing for elections next year.
Nigeria is a major transit route for drugs - from South America and Asia - to the US and Europe. More than 300 tonnes of narcotics were seized in the country last year.
#1
Keep him locked up until either the Coke passes, or the rubber breaks.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
05/18/2010 4:28 Comments ||
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#2
Greetings good friend:
I am Mrs. Eme Zuru Ayortor, wife of Eme Zuru Ayortor, a member of the House of Assembly in Edo state, Nigeria. I have on deposit ONE HUNDRED MILLION USD ($100,000,000) with a reputable and honest security company in Moncton, New Brunswick which I would like to invest in your country....
Posted by: Mike ||
05/18/2010 6:42 Comments ||
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CARACAS, Venezuela Venezuelan authorities temporarily halted the trading of government bonds on Tuesday and said they would seek to control Venezuela's currency exchange rates by setting a range of permitted prices in the bond market. The government is worried because the rising price of dollars on the parallel market increases the cost of consumer goods in Venezuela, which imports more than half the products it consumes despite Chavez's efforts to boost domestic production. Some things are beyond the reach of even the craftiest dictator. Maybe Chavez can consult Noam Chomsky on how to make Venezuelan currency more valuable.
#1
There was a report that Chavez was raiding currency exchange outlets and confiscating their forex.
Currency collapse is imminent.
Venezuelan authorities formally suspended trading in the unofficial "parallel" foreign exchange market yesterday. The move sparked fears that imports could grind to a halt, fuelling already high inflation and widespread shortages.
In a bid to stem the sharp depreciation in the bolivar this year, officials announced plans to introduce a new trading band for the hitherto unregulated value of the currency. Brokerages will be banned from trading altogether, with investigations into "irregularities" and "speculation" to continue after several raids of traders' offices and one man's arrest in recent days.
Jorge Giordani, finance minister, said the measures were to prevent a "financial avalanche" and to "clean up" the currency market, which would be put under the "absolute and total" control of the central bank when the market reopened.
At a ceremony honoring veterans and senior citizens who sent presents to soldiers overseas, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal (Democrat) of Connecticut rose and spoke of an earlier time in his life.
We have learned something important since the days that I served in Vietnam,' Mr. Blumenthal said to the group gathered in Norwalk in March 2008. And you exemplify it. Whatever we think about the war, whatever we call it Afghanistan or Iraq we owe our military men and women unconditional support.'
There was one problem: Mr. Blumenthal, a Democrat now running for the United States Senate, never served in Vietnam. He obtained at least five military deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to avoid going to war, according to records.
The deferments allowed Mr. Blumenthal to complete his studies at Harvard; pursue a graduate fellowship in England; serve as a special assistant to The Washington Post's publisher, Katharine Graham; and ultimately take a job in the Nixon White House.
In 1970, with his last deferment in jeopardy, he enlisted in the Marine Reserve, landing a coveted spot in a unit in Washington, which virtually guaranteed that he would not be sent to Vietnam. The unit conducted part-time drills and other exercises and focused on local projects, like fixing a campground and organizing a Toys for Tots drive.
Many politicians have faced questions over their decisions during the Vietnam War, and Mr. Blumenthal, who is seeking the seat being vacated by Senator Christopher J. Dodd, is not alone in staying out of the war.
But what is striking about Mr. Blumenthal's record is the contrast between the many steps he took that allowed him to avoid Vietnam, and the misleading way he often speaks about that period of his life now, especially when he is speaking at veterans' ceremonies or other patriotic events.
Sometimes his remarks have been plainly untrue, as in his speech to the group in Norwalk. At other times, he has used more ambiguous language, but the impression left on audiences can be similar.
In an interview on Monday, the attorney general said that he had misspoken about his service during the Norwalk event and might have misspoken on other occasions. My intention has always been to be completely clear and accurate and straightforward, out of respect to the veterans who served in Vietnam,' he said.
#2
"My intention has always been to be completely clear and accurate and straightforward"
obviously not; his intention was to deceive
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/18/2010 6:37 Comments ||
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#3
You're a loser blumenthal......a chicken shit loser......sorry, had to be said.....wish he would actually read this. He should be arrested for stolen valor.
#5
the left is already trying to cover his tracks. Marc Ambinder at the Atlantic says "the facts are not unambiguous". When you have to speak that doublespeak to try and cover for a clear lie, you are also a tool, Marc. F*ck you and lying Blumenthal
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/18/2010 8:38 Comments ||
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#6
A democrat who lies? Say it ain't so!
And that is what this is. Not 'misquoted' or 'misspoken' - the guy L-I-E-D.
#7
Remember it's how he feels not about facts for his real constituents. And that's why they'll still vote for him, because that's their standard to adjudge a person. He's just the poster child for their shallowness and be sure to watch them reaffirm that.
#9
IMHO he may have mis-spoke but intentionally did not correct himself. It was only after confronted with the facts that he "corrected" the statement.
#10
Facts, why should facts get in the way. Unless you want to be allowed to enter an auditorium where the President is speaking, then you have to show your papers. How ironic.
Posted by: Pearl Wheater8574 ||
05/18/2010 15:08 Comments ||
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AP - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, said in a letter obtained by The Associated Press that he is "toxic" to the Obama administration and that the president "threw me under the bus."
In his strongest language to date about the administration's 2-year-old rift with the Chicago pastor, Wright told a group raising money for African relief that his pleas to release frozen funds for use in earthquake-ravaged Haiti would likely be ignored.
"No one in the Obama administration will respond to me, listen to me, talk to me or read anything that I write to them. I am 'toxic' in terms of the Obama administration," Wright wrote the president of Africa 6000 International earlier this year.
"I am 'radioactive,' Sir. When Obama threw me under the bus, he threw me under the bus literally!" he wrote. "Any advice that I offer is going to be taken as something to be avoided. Please understand that!"
The White House didn't respond to requests for comment Monday about Wright's remarks. Several phone messages left by the AP for Wright at the Trinity United Church of Christ, where he is listed as a pastor emeritus, were not returned. Wright's spokeswoman, his daughter Jeri Wright, did not immediately comment on the substance of the letter.
Then-Sen. Obama cut ties with Wright when his more incendiary remarks became an Internet sensation in the spring of 2008. At a National Press Club appearance in April 2008, he claimed the U.S. government could plant AIDS in the black community, praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and suggested Obama was putting his pastor at arm's length for political purposes while privately agreeing with him.
Obama denounced Wright as "divisive and destructive" and later cut ties to the pastor altogether and left Wright's church.
The letter was sent Feb. 18 to Joseph Prischak, the president of Africa 6000 International in Erie, Pa. Wright subsequently agreed to write a letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the group's behalf to try to get access to millions of dollars.
Wright's original letter ranting against Obama's treatment of him surfaced in an appeal filed by federal inmate Arthur Morrison, boxing great Muhammad Ali's one-time manager, who was convicted of making phone threats.
Charles Lofton, Wright's executive assistant, told The Associated Press that he faxed a copy of the letter to Morrison's attorney as requested. A copy of the faxed letter signed by Wright showed that it was sent from the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago on March 31 to the fax number for Goodwin's law office in Tulsa, Okla.
Prischak, of Africa 6000 International, is a business partner of Morrison, who has been imprisoned for nearly 18 years after he was convicted of making phone threats between 1989 to 1992 to hospitals where an ex-girlfriend worked.
Prischak told Wright in a Feb. 11 letter that he was seeking the clergyman's help in reaching out to the U.S. Treasury Department. He said that Uday Hussein, the son of Saddam Hussein, had entrusted 87 million British pounds in 1990 to Morrison and Ali to buy pharmaceuticals, milk and food for the children of Iraq.
Prischak said the money was never spent because Morrison was imprisoned. He sought Wright's help in lobbying U.S. authorities to permit 25 million British pounds in interest from the money held in an overseas account to be allowed to be sent to faith-based groups for the children of Haiti.
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama's controversial ex-pastor, threw a hissy fit in a letter to an African aid group, claiming that the president "threw me under the bus" and the White House views him as "toxic," in a missive obtained by the Associated Press. Couldn't have happened to a finer demagogue. Speech may be free, but it has consequences, whether the speaker likes it or not. I wonder if Wright will ever figure that one out.
#4
The O-Team was cool with all the Rev's Marxist Anti-American rants. They were a little uncomfortable with the racist stuff but were still willing to spin it off. Wright wasn't cast aside until he spoke of the One as if he were a mere mortal.
It went down very simply. He's a politician, I'm a pastor. We speak to two different audiences. And he says what he has to say as a politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. But they're two different worlds. I do what I do. He does what politicians do.
The next day:
Watch out for the Drive shaft Jeremiah!
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.
