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Pa. man charged with trying to help al-Qaida attack refineries
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Georgia mom seeks Harry Potter ban
ATLANTA — A suburban county that sparked a public outcry when its libraries temporarily eliminated funding for Spanish-language fiction is now being asked to ban Harry Potter books from its schools. Laura Mallory, a mother of four, told a hearing officer for the Gwinnett County Board of Education on Tuesday that the popular fiction series are an "evil" attempt to indoctrinate children in the Wicca religion.

Board of Education attorney Victoria Sweeny said that if schools were to remove all books containing reference to witches, they would have to ban "Macbeth" and "Cinderella." "There's a mountain of evidence for keeping Harry Potter," she said, adding that the books don't support any particular religion but present instead universal themes of friendship and overcoming adversity.
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2006 09:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ban the Chronicles of Narnia while you are at it. It has a witch. And magic.

Freaken' asshats.
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/04/2006 10:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Lord knows we have to ban Harry Potter. After all it has inspired kids to actually open a book and read. God knows what will happen if they start to do that.

Ditto on the asshats
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 10/04/2006 10:41 Comments || Top||

#3  ...My ex - a rabidly fanatic christian - went off on the Harry Potter books once, claiming the same weird 'conspiracy' thingie. My attitude then was the same as it is now - ANYTHING that gets kids away from their PCs and video games is a good thing.
I just thought though that maybe the right graphic for this one is the 'Aw, not this S*it again!' guy...:)

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/04/2006 13:09 Comments || Top||

#4  I must be a bad Christian because I love all the Harry Potter books and my son will have the whole collection when he gets old enough to read. :)
Posted by: djohn66 || 10/04/2006 13:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Good points in the article. I'm gonna go rip the books from my kids' hands and sit them down in front of the TV right now.

Idiots. This sort of thing is just ammo for leftocrats to bash Christians.
Posted by: Iblis || 10/04/2006 13:39 Comments || Top||

#6  Well, Laura, I think they should ban houndstooth sportcoats for women.
Everybody knows THEY ARE THE MARK OF SATAN!!!
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/04/2006 13:41 Comments || Top||

#7  For phuechs sake, she's a mother of FOUR and has a right to petition the Board over anything she damn well pleases. I'll give her a hand for standing for what she believes in. It's oftentimes not popular but it's a bit of a southern tradition. She's got grit! Attacking Harry Potter (not reading), Wicca-wingnuts, Macbeth and Cindyrella are a damn site less harmful that the targets of many of these moonbats of late. What say you?
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/04/2006 13:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Okay. Sure. Why not.
It's not like I'll remember her name ten minutes from now...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/04/2006 13:57 Comments || Top||

#9  Laura is an idiot, but she has the right to be an idiot, and to be a public idiot ...
Posted by: Steve White || 10/04/2006 14:23 Comments || Top||

#10  Well said Dr. Steve. Man or woman, one has to be a bit jittery to raise four kids these days. Soccer mom duty in Gwinnett County is no picnic either.
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/04/2006 14:26 Comments || Top||

#11  There's grit and standing for what you believe in...and then there's just being plain stupid. This woman is just plain stupid.
Posted by: AllahHateMe || 10/04/2006 15:21 Comments || Top||

#12  Nothing wrong with the odd book burning banning. Somewhere in the Bible it allows one to snatch out an eye and use it as a football. It's all there, the pages are thin, but easily searched.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/04/2006 18:27 Comments || Top||

#13  Seems a little dumb to me, but she has the right to be heard. The board of ed probably wet themselves trying not to burst out in laughter.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 10/04/2006 18:32 Comments || Top||

#14  Yep, she has a right to her opinions no matter how dumb. Making an ass of oneself publicly has been a time honored tradition in these here great 50 states for a long time and I'm all for tradition. I never read any of the "Potter" stuff though I've seen the movies which I've enjoyed. I have read most of the C.S. Lewis stuff (who himself was a committed christian) and it speaks of magic, good vs. evil, etc. - a lot like the Potter themes.

Why she's at it, she should try to ban all the Star Wars movies because her kids might want to pursue becoming Dark Lords of the Sith or some shit. Although, I would definitely support her in banning Star Wars I: the phantom menace, because that movie did suck.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 10/04/2006 20:27 Comments || Top||

#15  LOL on the Phantom comment.
Posted by: lotp || 10/04/2006 20:31 Comments || Top||

#16  Forgive me for being a tax payer in Gwinnett County. This woman is a loon, she and the crazies protesting at funerals, are the reason that people like Rosie (pig) O'donnell feel comfortable equating Christian Fanatics to Muslim Fanatics. I recognize that our fanatics (Christian) are usually just annoying, but this is an example of blind religious fervor gone wild. I got to listen to an interview with her, and she made me wonder if we went to the same church !?! Everytime I think prayer in school is a good idea, one of these folks opens their mouth.
Posted by: Raider Ray || 10/04/2006 20:37 Comments || Top||

#17  Actually, living in Gwinnett County myself, I'm like Besoeker and find her grit inspiring. And, as a Christian, I may think the books are evil, but I haven't read them myself, so I'll withhold judgement. But, I suspect the timing in this, because she's already been before the Board earlier this year, and local news was reporting it as her going before the State Board of Ed. Could it be that the State Board "o.k.'d" a hearing at this time to slander the conservative Christians? Sorry, but I just question almost everything that's posted in the MSM within a month of the elections.
Posted by: BA || 10/04/2006 21:36 Comments || Top||

#18  Are Bibles allowed in said schools? If not, she has a point.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/04/2006 22:55 Comments || Top||

#19  she has no point - the witchcraft angle of Harry Potter provides a setting for real human qualities, like good and evil and teenage insecurities....same as Star Wars was a western set in space to demonstrate the same qualities westerns showed. Only a thinly-focussed mind would not get that enough to start a public brou-haha. She deserves ridicule and public estrangement. Future spot for her in Kansas
Posted by: Frank G || 10/04/2006 23:09 Comments || Top||

#20  Or do you want to argue that High Noon promotes capitulation to gangs?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/04/2006 23:10 Comments || Top||


Just feel the vibes! That'll be $20...
20 year old millionaire energy healer
Burnaby, B.C. -- Just a regular 20-year-old, that's how Adam describes himself. But this college student from Burnaby, B.C., who still lives at home with his parents, has become an international phenomenon in the world of alternative healers. "Well I was always seeing auras as a little kid,” says Adam. “It's just this light around living organisms."
And the year at the state hospital didn't help it any ...
Adam has always had a heightened intuition, but he didn't realize his power until he was 15, when he cured his mother of excruciating headaches.

Adam calls himself an energy healer. Thousands across North America are flocking to his sold out workshops. In this bizarre transformation Adam claims he can influence people’s brain waves, ultimately affecting their health. "Basically it's just images of these people I’m working with,” he says. “Intuitively I know how to change the image a certain way and I can see it influencing that person's health."

Adam claims he doesn't have to physically put his hands on someone to affect their health. In fact there are several people who claim he’s been able to heal them long distance. Adam doesn't need to see them or even talk to them. All he needs is a colour photograph.

Ontario resident Tina Norton says she's proof long distance healing works. Her pancreatic cancer is in remission. Canadian Rock and Roll legend Ronnie Hawkins also kicked pancreatic cancer - crediting his remission to Adam.

Then there's the story of the Canadian soldier in Afghanistan, who had his head split open with an axe after being ambushed by a teenaged militant. Trevor Green's wife believes her husband is alive because of Adam.
The trauma team had nuttin' to do with it, nuttin' at all ...
But does Adam truly have healing powers? Skeptics argue that the millions of dollars in workshops, books and DVD sales make up the real motivation behind the energy healing phenomenon. "They don't really cure anybody. It can make people feel better, but they are not necessarily getting better,” says SFU professor Barry Beyerstein. “That’s why these things need to be tested under properly controlled conditions."
Mebbe it's the Molson's, eh?
Posted by: .com || 10/04/2006 04:53 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  but he didn't realize his power until he was 15, when he cured his mother of excruciating headaches.

He left home.
Posted by: phil_b || 10/04/2006 5:18 Comments || Top||

#2  More likely he bought headphones for his stereo.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/04/2006 9:41 Comments || Top||

#3  I'll get interested in this kind of story when an amputated limb is re-grown.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/04/2006 23:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey, I'm into the idea of auras, not that I've seen one, but I was born in CA so it seems ..possible.. to me. But... um... I'm having a bit of a problem with this: All he needs is a colour photograph.

Sooooooo. you can see it in the photograph and I can not? pshaw..yeah right. Bringing me down man, brining me down.
Posted by: anon || 10/04/2006 23:56 Comments || Top||


Baby Sitter Gets Wrong Boy From School
Long Beach, CA (AP)— A 5-year-old boy spent Monday afternoon at a stranger's house after he was picked up from school by a baby sitter who, on her first day on the job, thought he was the boy she was hired to look after, police said.

Angel Guerrero was taken by mistake when the woman arrived at his elementary school and took him without knowing what the child she was to care for looked like, said Sgt. David Cannan.

The mix-up caused alarm when Angel's grandmother came to the school and was told someone had already picked him up. Police issued a missing child alert, and his name and picture were broadcast live on several TV stations.

Meanwhile, the baby sitter had no idea she picked up the wrong child until her employers returned home and did not recognize Angel.

"The baby sitter said 'This is your son,' and the parents said, 'No, this is not our son,'" Cannan said. When the parents saw Angel's picture plastered on their TV screen, they immediately called police.

School officials didn't notice the mix-up, Cannan said, because Angel willingly left with the woman. Meanwhile, the boy she was supposed to pick up waited for several hours until school staffers called an uncle to pick him up.

"There's a lesson here," Cannan said. "What an opportunity to tell parents to talk to their kids, and communicate with their caregivers. This young child was full of trust, and he sees an older, caring adult and just walked off with that person."
Oh, I think there are at least a couple more "lessons" here...
Posted by: .com || 10/04/2006 04:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ESL triumphs again.
Posted by: Andy Griffith || 10/04/2006 7:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Another weird-ass cookie malfunction. AG = me.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/04/2006 7:07 Comments || Top||

#3  So in California just anybody can go into any school and pick up a kid for the afternoon.

What could possibly go wrong?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/04/2006 9:09 Comments || Top||


Man, Dead For Years, Found In Bed
Austrian Landlord Finds Corpse After Rent Notices Went Unanswered
A landlord who unlocked an apartment after his letters announcing a rent increase went unanswered found the body of an elderly tenant Tuesday, and police believe the man may have died three or four years ago, an Austrian newspaper reported.

The remains of the 93-year-old man, a former university professor whose name was not released, were found in a bed after the housing management company obtained the keys to his flat and made a visit after he failed to respond to letters requesting more rent, authorities were quoted as saying by the Kurier newspaper.

Investigators believe the man may have died as long as four years ago, police Lt. Col. Georg Rabensteiner was quoted as saying.

He said police found only old Austrian schilling banknotes in the apartment, the report said. Austria, like many European Union nations, switched to the euro common currency on Jan. 1, 2002.

Neighbors described the man as a recluse, the report said, citing police.

Rabensteiner said no one noticed earlier that he had died because automatic rent payments had gone out regularly from his bank account, which was constantly replenished with automatic deposits from his pension fund, the report said.

Fellow residents of the apartment complex apparently did not find it unusual that junk mail was piling up outside the dead man's door, he added.
3 or 4 years between rent increases? Wow.
Posted by: .com || 10/04/2006 03:13 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Expect more of this as elderly are convinced to use direct payment into their financial accounts and automatic bill payments. That leaves only bulk junk mail which after it piles up after a couple days, the Post Office just stops delivering.
Posted by: Gleaque Shairong2690 || 10/04/2006 8:54 Comments || Top||

#2  "Neighbors described the man as a recluse"

Yeah, death will do that to ya.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/04/2006 10:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Dead bodies often generate odor and bug problems. This is really weird.
Posted by: DoDo || 10/04/2006 11:36 Comments || Top||

#4  A metaphore for aging, childless, sterile Europe? Dead, alone in his bed, with no relatives to care about his disappearance. By the way, this is most probably how I'll end, so please remind me not to keep any meat-eating pet at the time.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/04/2006 11:53 Comments || Top||

#5  . . . this is most probably how I'll end, so please remind me not to keep any meat-eating pet at the time.

Reminds me of my favorite Nick Lowe song:

Marie Provost did not look her best
The day the cops bust into her lonely nest
in the cheap hotel up on Hollywood west
July 29

She'd been lyin' there for two or three weeks
The neighbors said they never heard a squeak
While hungry eyes that could not speak
said he's a little dog, he's just gotta eat . . .
Posted by: Mike || 10/04/2006 12:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Anon5089 -
Some years ago some outfit did a study on 'survival predation' in pets - i.e.;, how long would it take after you died for Fluffy or Rover to get hungry enough to start gnawing on you. After studying a bunch of cases where this had happened, they deduced that a dog will go up to seven days before they just can't hold out any longer.

The average cat will give you 24 hours.

That would explain why my cat would always give me such a disappointed look upon my awakening every morning....

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/04/2006 13:15 Comments || Top||

#7  Mike, that explains why our cats keep trying to trip me down the stairs.
Posted by: Steve || 10/04/2006 14:12 Comments || Top||

#8  He was always a bit cold.
Posted by: Anna N Smith || 10/04/2006 17:44 Comments || Top||

#9  The average cat will give you 24 hours
My kitty Lizzie Borden is my best buddy, she'd give me 36 to 48 hours easily.








To allow the goldies to soften things up.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/04/2006 18:34 Comments || Top||

#10  If any Elder-Care humor can be gleaned from such an increasingly sad situation...I'd like to suggest watching the charming, Irish Oscar-nominated flick, "Waking Ned Devine". Not pretty; just pretty funny... (at)

Dear Heavenly Father, In Jesus' name, please Bless and Protect us All, Amen
Posted by: Asymmetrical Triangulation || 10/04/2006 21:36 Comments || Top||


S.F. strip club's hefty lady show sparks tempest
Where else but San Francisco could a flap about the heft of the nude dancers at a peep show wind up as a union grievance? That's just what's happened over at North Beach's Lusty Lady, the town's only employee-owned, employee-run, fully unionized flesh arcade.

“Someone booked an entire night of "BBW" entertainment -- big, beautiful women -- and the clientele reacted by walking out...”
Like a lot of San Francisco businesses, the Lusty Lady prides itself on diversity, offering up dancers in a variety of sizes, shapes, ethnicities, attitudes and tattoos. But like a lot of North Beach clubs, business at the Lusty -- while steady -- isn't what it was a few years back during the dot-com years, so every customer and dollar counts. That's why it was such a big deal in July, when someone booked an entire night of "BBW" entertainment -- big, beautiful women -- and the clientele reacted by walking out.

The counterman wrote up the customers' objections -- "I came for fantasies, not nightmares" being one of the more printable ones -- and sent them off in what he thought was a confidential e-mail to the club's board of directors.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  SF New Beauty Credo

Beauty can now be pressed from the eye of the beholder.

1) everyone must diversify their fantasies.
2) fantasies not a free thingy anymore.
3) everyone must posses a licence to fantasize.
4) random testing for proper lust inclusiveness.
5) fees licences and tests must be submitted 10 days before each actual fantasy.

this is in your best interest btw it will save the planet from global warming.
Posted by: SF Board of Supervisors || 10/04/2006 0:47 Comments || Top||

#2  While deployed in the early 90's we used to get news through message traffic because there was no internet. I remember reading a message that was summary of news acticals that included one story about a public official that tried to write up a California strip club for a violation of the Disabilities Act because the stage shower used in "shower dancing" couldn't accomodate a quadrapalegic stripper. I saved the UNCLAS message and will cherish it always. I think I laughed for about a week.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/04/2006 1:16 Comments || Top||

#3  While deployed in the early 90's we used to get news through message traffic because there was no internet. I remember reading a message that was summary of news acticals that included one story about a public official that tried to write up a California strip club for a violation of the Disabilities Act because the stage shower used in "shower dancing" couldn't accomodate a quadrapalegic stripper. I saved the UNCLAS message and will cherish it always. I think I laughed for about a week.

LOL! priceless!

Super Hose I'll be lookin forward to your reports on the Baghdad by the bay and area!!
Posted by: RD || 10/04/2006 1:28 Comments || Top||

#4  On the other end of the social spectrum:
Nude dancing ruling stands
Posted by: .com || 10/04/2006 5:09 Comments || Top||

#5  .com, I am not a frequenter of those type of establishments but it seems like rather than appeal, it might be more useful to buy a yard of transparant material.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/04/2006 9:13 Comments || Top||

#6  They fired the guy working the counter -- either collecting admission or working the bar -- for recording customer complaints?

How freaking stupid is that?

Oh, wait, there's the answer: "employee-owned, employee-run, fully unionized". Geez.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 10/04/2006 22:22 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
$20bn and 10 years to build - a giant rival for Panama canal
Long Guardian piece about a proposed Nicaraguan canal.
Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in Latin America, plans to construct a $20bn rival to the Panama canal to enable the largest tankers and container ships in the world to pass between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The mega-engineering project is expected to take more than 10 years to build but could redraw the map of world trade by opening the east coast of North America, Europe and Brazil to large-scale sea traffic from burgeoning Pacific rim countries including China and South Korea. The new route would cut 500 miles - or at least a day - off the route between California and New York, and could considerably shorten and cheapen the journey from China to Europe for large ships.

Yesterday's formal announcement of what is known as the Grand Inter-Oceanic Nicaragua Canal was greeted with trepidation by nearby Panama, which is also planning to widen its canal. It fears that its main source of income will be seriously affected if Nicaragua builds a rival. If built, the Nicaraguan canal would allow 250,000-tonne tankers and container ships to pass through the isthmus that divides the two oceans, compared with the Panama canal's 79,000-tonne boats. Even if an expected $5bn (£2.6bn) upgrade of the Panama canal goes ahead, it is expected to only accommodate 120,000-tonne boats.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 10/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Do what you like. The US doesn't have a merchant marine anymore. Talk to Liberia and Nassau. Perhaps they will be willing to foot the bill.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/04/2006 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Iff histoire' is any measure, odds are iff the USA doesn't start it, the USA will end up completing the project for them.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/04/2006 5:38 Comments || Top||

#3  iirc, the Nicaraguan was the first choice for the Americans to build a trans-ocean canal. However, investors in defunct Panama ventures engaged in [horrors] lobbying to get the Yanks to buy their holdings out. To include a nifty propaganda piece of a bogus Nic postcard showing an erupting volcano.
Posted by: Gleaque Shairong2690 || 10/04/2006 8:47 Comments || Top||

#4  (1) The current canal is too narrow for many ships.

(2) A chinese company with strong ties to their government controls the existing canal operations IIRC.
Posted by: lotp || 10/04/2006 9:44 Comments || Top||

#5  As to the unloading issue of containers the idea of roll-on roll-off ships with rail containers utilizing railcars seems to make sense. But then we run into the issue of rail gauge widths
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 10/04/2006 10:52 Comments || Top||

#6  If they build the canal and a free-wheeling hong-kong style near zero taxation capitalist container port on each end I think they'd find the Panama Canal would be ignored pretty damn quick.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/04/2006 12:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Hey, Nicaragua, make sure you don't let Jimmy Carter get involved. Just sayin'...
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 10/04/2006 13:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Gleaque Shairong2690:

Correct. Note that it was the FRENCH who had started the canal in Panama, failed and got the US to buy them out. Coincidence?
Posted by: Iblis || 10/04/2006 13:42 Comments || Top||

#9  $20 billion is a small fraction of the cost to build a canal big enough for the largest containerships and oil tankers. A Nicaraguan canal would be over 100 miles and would have to have the ability to raise and lower supertankers.

Note the channel tunnel cost $21 billion for a 31 mile hole for a train (12 years ago).

Hugo might go for the idea though.
Posted by: DoDo || 10/04/2006 16:47 Comments || Top||

#10  If I remember correctly Nicaragua has some nice lakes that shorten the distance but it also has a chain of volcanos which makes things very complicated.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 10/04/2006 16:57 Comments || Top||

#11  There was an old Atoms for Peace idea to dig this canal in an interesting way.
Posted by: 3dc || 10/04/2006 17:02 Comments || Top||

#12  Won't global warming take care of the problem eventually ?
Posted by: wxjames || 10/04/2006 17:53 Comments || Top||

#13  Re #5 - we already have a huge number of containers offloaded on the west coast and railed to the center of the US. We even have some shipped to Houston and loaded back on a ship for points east.

Still - they built the Chunnel.....
Posted by: Bobby || 10/04/2006 18:16 Comments || Top||

#14  150 billion maybe. But a sealevel canal allowing passing supertankers to pass in Lake Manugaga would be a gold mine.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/04/2006 18:37 Comments || Top||

#15  -- they would however, require time-consuming and expensive loading and unloading of containers.--

Jobs and we'd have a foot there by requireing scanning of all containers.

The Chicoms own Panama - give them the competition.
Posted by: anonymous2u || 10/04/2006 22:26 Comments || Top||

#16  There are a couple of major problems with a Nicaragua canal. First, the lake is 105 feet above sea level, but only 84 feet at the deepest point. It's a long run up the San Juan river from the Caribbean to the lake, but only about 10 miles from the Pacific. Dropping 105 feet in 10 miles would require some hefty locks. There are some substantial volcanos along the western edge of the lake, and two on one of the many islands within the lake. While the San Juan is considered "navigable", I don't think it's capable of supporting supertankers or US aircraft carriers. A second canal in Panama, say from the San Blas Gulf west-southwest to the Pacific may make more sense, since it could continue to use water stored in Gatun Lake.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/04/2006 22:35 Comments || Top||


Brazil seizes passports of U.S. pilots tied to crash
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ..If you ever get the cbance, read Ernest K. Gann's classic Band of Brothers, about a US pilot accused of negligence in a fatal crash on Taiwan. The rest of the world just tends to assume guilty until proven innocent, so this unfortunately isn't a surprise.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 10/04/2006 13:02 Comments || Top||


China-Japan-Koreas
300,000 extra people to make way for Three Gorges Dam
The human cost of China's biggest hydroelectric project, the Three Gorges Dam, has risen beyond the government's forecasts, Xinhua news agency revealed this week. An extra 300,000 people will have to be relocated, bringing the total to 1.4 million.

"Considering the ecological capacity of the reservoir areas, the need for the migrants to prosper and the pursuit of harmonious development, the government considers it suitable to increase the number of people being resettled," said Pu Haiqing, head of the dam's construction committee.

Completion of the dam is due in May.
Collapse should come in the following three years due to structural failure, or 12 hours after the Chinese attack Taiwan.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think about all the history China has lost because of this and it makes me sad. On the other hand I have to wonder when the dam breaks how much of the "Artifacts" that became unburied will come rushing down the river. If we're lucky some hairpins might impale a Chinese Colonel or two.
Posted by: Charles || 10/04/2006 7:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Given China's ecological record, the river could also to go up in smoke like the river that caught fire in Ohio some decades ago (Cuyahoga? or Maumee?). Or maybe suffer a cyanide spill.

Anybody taking bets on how much the commisars got in graft money for ignoring crummy materials?
Posted by: mom || 10/04/2006 21:10 Comments || Top||

#3  expect a post from the Flyash Liberation Army in 5...4...3...
Posted by: Frank G || 10/04/2006 21:16 Comments || Top||


Europe
Police manhunt on for farting dissident
Police in Poland have launched a nationwide hunt for a man who farted loudly when asked what he thought of the president.

Hubert Hoffman, 45, was charged with "contempt for the office of the head of state" for his actions after he was stopped by police in a routine check at a Warsaw railway station.

He complained that under President Lech Kaczynski and his twin brother Jaroslaw, the country was returning to a Communist style dictatorship.

When told to show more respect for the country's rulers, he farted loudly and was promptly arrested.

Hoffmann was arrested and released on bail but failed to turn up at a Warsaw court early this week to be tried, and the judge in the case rejected an appeal by defence lawyers to throw the charges out.

A court spokesman said: "Such a case of disrespect is taken very seriously."

Instead the court ordered the police to start a nationwide hunt for the man, and interpol have been alerted.
"Calling all cars! Calling all cars! We've got a six-sixty six happening at this time. Be on the lookout for a 45 year old male who jumped bail on a presidental disrespect farting case. Consider the suspect armed with WMD and dangerous. That is all."
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/04/2006 13:44 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Attention, attention, citizens; a dangerous madman is on the loose. Whatever you do, don't come near him with a naked flame."
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 10/04/2006 14:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Meanwhile, the Flatulent Fugitive Squad is on the case...

Sure is quiet out there, sarge.
Yeah, too... Oh, man! What the hell was that! Wooo! Somebody light a match! Jeeeeesuz... Must...call...for...backup...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/04/2006 14:11 Comments || Top||

#3  How do you say "Beano" in Polsky?
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/04/2006 14:13 Comments || Top||

#4  "Pull my voting lever finger"
Posted by: Frank G || 10/04/2006 15:05 Comments || Top||

#5  Police manhunt on for farting dissident

maybe he was just ululating?
Posted by: RD stringer for al-Reuters || 10/04/2006 16:33 Comments || Top||

#6  was charged with "contempt for the office of the head of state"

They'd have to lock up a huge chunk of our country if we had such a law - even without any flatulence.

WWMMD? [What Would Mr. Methane Do?]
Posted by: xbalanke || 10/04/2006 16:39 Comments || Top||

#7  "He complained that . . . the country was returning to a Communist style dictatorship."

Funny, being arrested for disrespectful farting kind of proves his point.
Posted by: exJAG || 10/04/2006 17:32 Comments || Top||

#8  A born American
Posted by: Shipman || 10/04/2006 18:38 Comments || Top||

#9  "Without that breath, one would meet death." -- Translation of an old Polish proverb.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/04/2006 23:55 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Corker targets Metro's 'collar' counties in neck-and-neck race
On a breezy late September evening, in an open-air hangar at a private residence here, the Republican politician says he's getting accustomed to "contrasting" himself with the Democrat he's up against in the U.S. Senate seat. Talking to 100 or so supporters who paid $50 per couple for barbecue sandwiches and to hear him speak, Bob Corker tells them, "I'm getting used to it and … I kind of enjoy it a little bit, to be honest."

He promises to be nice. As the former mayor of Chattanooga segues into the part of his stump speech where he points out differences between himself and U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., he talks about his early career as a builder. And for several at the fundraiser in this Wilson County suburb of Nashville, Robert Phillip Corker Jr.'s life story as a small-time construction worker who amassed a real estate empire is why they plan to support him.

"He's a businessman," said John Baugh, 43, a businessman and farmer in Lebanon. "He has been under pressure making a payroll. That's hard to do."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [22 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I have been watching this race very closely. Harold Ford is much to liberal for me. He also gets an F from the NRA. I'm going to have to vote for Corker.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 10/04/2006 11:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Same here. Corker is less liberal than Junior, so is the lesser of two evils in my mind. I much preferred, and voted for, a true conservative Ed Bryant.

If Corker flops back to his election time flips, I'll have to head down to Voodoo Village and get Mama Mambo to put a hoodoo on him so his little weenie shrivles up and falls off.

Also, if he could find a voice coach that could teach him how to not talk through his nose, that would be a plus.
Posted by: Evil Elvis || 10/04/2006 14:18 Comments || Top||


Clown Is Running for Mayor of Alameda
A real clown is running for mayor of Alameda, and even his sister won't vote for him. Kenneth Kahn, 41, a professional joker known as ``Kenny the Clown,'' admits he's running a long-shot campaign for City Hall's top spot. Kahn has not previously run for an elected position and has never sat on a public board.

``People ask me, 'Do we really want to elect a clown for mayor of the city?''' he said. ``I say, 'That's an excellent question.''' Kahn's mother, Barbara, said her son doesn't have a chance, and Sylvia Kahn, a teacher, said her brother's candidacy is a ``mockery of our system.''

``I don't think it makes any sense, because, to me, running for mayor is not where you start as far as community involvement goes,'' she said.

In November, the funnyman who graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, faces incumbent Beverly Johnson and City Councilman Doug deHaan.
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ron Dellums and Jerry Brown make a mockery of our system. Kenny the Clown is comparitavely well qualified anywhere in the Bay area as far as the hose is concerned.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/04/2006 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Jerry Brown is a 60s moon beam-er who now pretends he's "tough on issues". LOL!

Ron Dellums OTOH is a flat out treasonous asshat parasite stealing our oxygen.
Posted by: RD || 10/04/2006 1:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Bring on Kenny the Clown and any surviving member of the cast of Gillighan's Island. Either would be an improvement.
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/04/2006 1:31 Comments || Top||

#4  I've always had a soft spot for Brown. He was a rotten governor, but I think he would have pretty good in the House or Senate.
Posted by: Jackal || 10/04/2006 12:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Well he's a graduate of Berkeley, so he probably doesn't need the makeup...
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/04/2006 13:48 Comments || Top||

#6  It must be the water in the Bay Area. Didn't Wavvy Gravvy run for office in The City a while back.
Posted by: Cheaderhead || 10/04/2006 18:44 Comments || Top||

#7  And I thought this clown was running ... after all, the article did imply a real clown.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 10/04/2006 21:46 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Attack on 9/11 Shrine
A man described by police as a Turkish-born Muslim was charged yesterday with destroying a Queens memorial to a fallen 9/11 cop while screaming, "This is political!" The Post has learned.

Adnan Emre, 26, tore down a portion of Officer Paul Talty's tribute attached to a light post at 50th Avenue and Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City, police sources said. It consisted of 5-inch-by-7-inch picture of the late officer, a cross, a plaque and crossed American and Irish flags. The plaque is inscribed, "Rest in Peace, Paul. We miss you. God Bless."

Emre ripped down the cross at about 7:52 a.m., cops said, and announced his deed by screaming, "This is political!"
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 10/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If he is a native of Turkey and not yet a citizen ....
Posted by: Super Hose || 10/04/2006 0:18 Comments || Top||

#2  If the cops saw this, why wasn't he taken to the station where a 2 x 4 could be inserted up his ass ? Mooselimbs ought to be severely slapped down here, before they think they can pull a van Gogh on our streets.
Posted by: SpecOp35 || 10/04/2006 0:54 Comments || Top||

#3  Make sure he's imprisoned for a full year, in the general population. He'll pay. After six weeks he'll pray longingly for that 2 x 4.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/04/2006 5:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Islam is a way of life not just a religious cult.

therefore it's political.

Therefore mosques should be torn down.

I'll pay for the 'dozer hire, who else is in?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan || 10/04/2006 7:56 Comments || Top||

#5  I'll pitch in $50 for the dozer.
Posted by: DarthVader || 10/04/2006 10:56 Comments || Top||

#6  "There are so many deranged people," said the officer's mom, Barbara Talty. "This doesn't surprise me, but it's sad."
Talty's sister, Patricia Dougan, said the suspect must be unstable. "I just have to think whoever would do this isn't right in the mind," Dougan said.


They're both right. He's a Muslim.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/04/2006 12:11 Comments || Top||

#7  very sad, if he aint American send his ass home today.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 10/04/2006 12:14 Comments || Top||

#8  I'll pay for the 'dozer hire, who else is in?

I'm in! I think Israel could give us some great advise, they seem to have the market on buldozing muzzie's.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 10/04/2006 18:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Y'all get it, I know how to drive it.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 10/04/2006 21:02 Comments || Top||

#10  ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/04/2006 21:12 Comments || Top||

#11  ]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]]
Posted by: Besoeker || 10/04/2006 21:12 Comments || Top||

#12  Throw him into the general inmate population where he can get his ass kicked up and down the corridor while the inmates (and occasional Sadistic guard) shout "This is political."
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 10/04/2006 21:50 Comments || Top||

#13  I'll get out the old chemistry set and give you guys a hand. Gotta be careful of the secondaries from a mosque, though - isn't that where all good muzzies store their AK-47s and RPGs?
Posted by: Old Patriot || 10/04/2006 22:44 Comments || Top||

#14  I keep getting the mental picture of moskkks as big Jiffy Pops.
Posted by: .com || 10/04/2006 22:45 Comments || Top||

#15  Mosques as big "jiffy-pops"!

I like that image!

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 10/04/2006 23:10 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordan Recalls Ambassador to Qatar
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) - Jordan has recalled its ambassador to Qatar to protest the Gulf country's vote against a Jordanian prince to head the United Nations, the chief government spokesman said Tuesday. The ambassador, Omar al-Amad, has been recalled for consultations "on Qatar's departure from Arab consensus" to nominate Prince Zeid al-Hussein to be U.N. secretary general, spokesman Nasser Judeh said on state television's main evening news bulletin.

Earlier two government officials had told The Associated Press that the ambassador had been recalled for consultations, but they declined to confirm that the move was linked to the Qatari vote.

On Monday, Judeh told reporters that Qatar "broke ranks" with the Arabs when it voted for a South Korean candidate instead of Prince Zeid. Zeid is among five candidates to succeed UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan when he steps down at the end of the year. Zeid is the only Muslim candidate.

South Korea's Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon cemented his position as the near-certain successor to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday, the only candidate to escape a veto in an informal Security Council ballot.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/04/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2006-10-04
  Pa. man charged with trying to help al-Qaida attack refineries
Tue 2006-10-03
  Hamas Closes Paleogovernment
Mon 2006-10-02
  Ex-ISI officials may be helping Taliban
Sun 2006-10-01
  PKK declare unilateral ceasefire
Sat 2006-09-30
  NKors digging tunnel for nuke test
Fri 2006-09-29
  Al Qaeda In Iraq: 4,000 Insurgents Dead
Thu 2006-09-28
  Taliban set up office in Miranshah
Wed 2006-09-27
  Insurgent Leader Captured in Iraq
Tue 2006-09-26
  Somali Islamists seize Kismayo
Mon 2006-09-25
  Omar al-Farouq killed in Basra crossfire©
Sun 2006-09-24
  Norway detains Pak, two others
Sat 2006-09-23
  'Bin Laden is dead' claim French secret service
Fri 2006-09-22
  Pak clerics demand Pope's removal
Thu 2006-09-21
  Death sentence for al-Rishawi
Wed 2006-09-20
  Meshaal threatens to murder Haniyeh


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