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Hamas arms smuggling never stopped during IDF op in Gaza
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
$1.2 Million Spent to Redecorate Thain's Office (Merrill CEO)
Welcome to Tyco hell Mr. Thain.
Posted by: ed || 01/23/2009 11:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Former Merrill chief Thain out at Bank of America

So how much will the new guy spend to re-redecorate it? Or at least have the blood washed off the walls...
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/23/2009 12:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Why should anyone buy a share of stock, ever again?
I'm going to have to see some big changes before I ever put more of my own money into the stock market.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 01/23/2009 18:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Don't be a p$&&y bigjim, there are bargains for the bold out there right now.
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 01/23/2009 19:52 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Today in History: Happy Birthday John Moses Browning!
John Moses Browning (January 21 or January 23, 1855 -- November 26, 1926), born in Ogden, Utah, was an American firearms designer who developed many varieties of firearms, cartridges, and gun mechanisms, many of which are still in use around the world. He is the most important figure in the development of modern automatic and semi-automatic firearms and is credited with 128 gun patents.

One significant contribution is the pistol slide design, found on nearly every modern automatic handgun, developed in the 1890s and introduced on Colt and Fabrique Nationale (FN) pistols such as the M1911.

He also developed the first gas-operated automatic machine gun, the Colt-Browning Model 1895 -- a system that would surpass recoil operation in popularity. Other successful designs include the Browning .50 caliber machine gun, the Browning Automatic Rifle, and a ground-breaking semi-automatic shotgun, the Browning Auto-5....
Posted by: Mike || 01/23/2009 08:12 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey, guess what's sitting just 10 feet away from me right now. No, not a Ma Deuce, a Winchester model 94, my favorite Browning design.

Posted by: Parabellum || 01/23/2009 9:12 Comments || Top||

#2  Looks like it could be a Pre-64. Good choice and a good investment as well Para.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/23/2009 9:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes, mine is pre '64. 1948 if I read the serial number charts correctly.

Too bad my father had it re-blued 20 years ago. {8^(

Still, she's a sweet shooter.
Posted by: Parabellum || 01/23/2009 10:22 Comments || Top||

#4  No worries there, no huge difference in price either way. Unless you're planning on selling, a professional re-blue will only serve to protect your family keepsake. I compliment your father for his wise choice in hand-me-downs.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/23/2009 10:30 Comments || Top||

#5  it's heartening to know I share a b-day w/such a great fellow American.
Posted by: Andy Ulusoque aka Broadhead6 || 01/23/2009 10:45 Comments || Top||

#6  Should be regarded as a saint. If MLK deserves a day off, certainly Browning ought to qualify.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 || 01/23/2009 11:09 Comments || Top||

#7  Dad was a BAR man in the Marines. He loved that damn thing.
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/23/2009 13:26 Comments || Top||

#8  Lots of people loved the BAR, TU - Clyde Barrow among them. No pansy-ass pistol-cartridge Thompson for him, he wanted full-on .30-06 power...
Posted by: mojo || 01/23/2009 15:34 Comments || Top||

#9  Gawd I love a .50 caliber machine gun.

you can chew up so much landscape with one of those.

I also owe my life to a M1911A1 that I used to shoot my way out of my hooch went my fire base was over run by NVA Sappers. You know a .45 slug will knock a small person a long ways when you center punch them. None of this gasping and falling over stuff you see in movies.........they go backwards.

He should have a statue at the National War College.

He should be canonized.
Posted by: James Carville || 01/23/2009 17:41 Comments || Top||

#10  I have a Winchester Model 94 - style in .44 Magnum. It's not accurate very far out, but it sure knocks the shit outta things. Fun to shoot, but the ammo's expensive
Posted by: Frank G || 01/23/2009 18:13 Comments || Top||

#11  Also Happy Birthday to JarHed, purdy good American in his own right.
Posted by: .5MT || 01/23/2009 20:20 Comments || Top||

#12  My sporterized BAR in 7 mm Rem Mag has been the demise of several vegetarians, and the start of many a full stomach.

Lovely machine.
Posted by: no mo uro || 01/23/2009 20:22 Comments || Top||

#13  you guys need to check out the AA-12 shotgun. (saw it on youtube) Would make JMB proud.

thanks for the gracious compliment .5MT.
Posted by: Bob Cheaper aka Broadhead6 || 01/23/2009 20:35 Comments || Top||

#14  Yep, could stop a drug crazed Moro* [Muslims] even a hundred years ago - Knocking out the Moros.

"The four-day battle of Bagsak Mountain on Jolo Island in the Philippines took place from 11 to 15 June 1913. Americans of the 8th Infantry and the Philippine Scouts, personally lead by Brigadier General John J. Pershing, brought to an end years of bitter struggle against the Moro pirates. These Bolo men, outlaws of great physical endurance and savage fighting ability, were well organized under their Datus or chiefs. They had never been conquered during several centuries of Spanish rule in the Philippines. The U.S. Army .45-caliber pistol was developed to meet the need for a weapon with enough striking power to stop fanatical charges of lawless Moro tribesmen in hand-to-hand fighting."

*who's occupation and hobby of piracy and slaving were not rationalized back then as multiculturalism or owing to their 'poverty'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/23/2009 22:46 Comments || Top||


Britain
More than 1,000 travellers face eviction after Appeal Court rules giant camp is illegal.
A thousand travellers living at two of Europe's biggest illegal camps were ordered to quit the sites by the Court of Appeal yesterday following years of legal wrangling.

Homeowners initially welcomed the announcement, which they said would end years of obscene, criminal and anti-social behaviour, as well as restore the value of their homes.

But celebrations were short-lived after it emerged the families at Crays Hill, near Billericay in Essex, and Hovefields, at nearby Wickford, were planning to request a High Court injunction to block eviction until their case can be heard by the House of Lords. This could extend their stay by months and, in a further snub to the legal ruling, many are planning to create a 'tent city' on nearby land which they have bought if it is upheld.

Len Gridley, whose bungalow backs on to the Crays Hill site and has seen its value plummet £300,000 since the travellers arrived, said: 'We have won a battle but not the war. The authorities should stop all this legal aid for the travellers because they already have more money and property than we'll ever have. They have stated they own land and properties all over the place. As long as they have got someone else's money to spend they will always find a way to stay by appealing and appealing.'

Jill Walsh, who lives beside the Hovefields site, said: 'I won't see it as the end of the matter until they have been denied an appeal to the House of Lords.'

Malcolm Buckley, leader of Basildon Council, said he was pleased with the Appeal Court ruling but admitted he might not be able to take action if the travellers set up another camp nearby.

Graham Puxton, a spokesman for the travellers, said they had been buying up land between the two sites in case they have to move.

Some of the families living at Dale Farm first settled there in the 1960s and permission was granted for 40 families. But over the years more travellers have settled at the site without permission and also on nearby Five Acres Farm.

Lord Justice Pill said there was a problem for traveller families caused by the limited areas where they may lawfully park. He said in each case the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government had upheld the enforcement notice and refused permission.

Since 1990 the total number of gypsy and traveller caravans had increased nationally by 44 per cent, he said.

In the Basildon District, the increase was over 475 per cent and the area now housed 40 per cent of Essex's traveller families.

Lord Justice Pill said it had been suggested by the council that the cheapness of Green Belt land, because of the severe constraints on development, was a major factor in attracting the travellers to Basildon District. It had also been argued that the reason for the large increase in numbers was that the travellers wanted to be near families and friends.

Lord Justice Pill said the council had taken into account the lack of sites in the area. 'On the other hand, it does not follow from a claimant's wish to live on a site in Basildon District that he is entitled to have one there,' said the appeal judge.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/23/2009 11:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Travelers = gypsies, yes?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/23/2009 12:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Travelers - Irish origin
Gypsies - Indian origin.
Posted by: ed || 01/23/2009 12:33 Comments || Top||

#3  They are, according to their more respectable neighbors, a bunch of thievish, con-artist, semi-literate, dirty, no-good lazy chav squatters.

They're also apparently the only demographic of native Britons who are reproducing at above replacement level.

I'm wondering lately who's going to save us from all the respectable people.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/23/2009 14:29 Comments || Top||

#4  You show me how to control a wild fu@ing gypsy and I'll show you how to control an unhinged, pig-feeding gangster.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/23/2009 15:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Travelers, or Knackers, like these chaps?

knackers
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/23/2009 18:33 Comments || Top||

#6  :)
Teefs over-rated. Keep on keepin on.

Also remember some wheels left-threaded.
Posted by: .5MT || 01/23/2009 20:24 Comments || Top||

#7  Big on the inbreeding are they?
Posted by: tu3031 || 01/23/2009 20:38 Comments || Top||


Europe
Berlin to dig up old WWII bombs under Tegel airport runway
Authorities have known for some time that old World War II munitions lie underneath the runways at Berlin’s Tegel airport, but now the airport plans to dig them up in early 2009, daily Berliner Morgenpost reported on Friday.

Clean up crews will work to uncover old bombs and grenades at some 500 points, city development head Ingeborg Junge-Reyer told the paper.

The bomb recovery is part of the city’s work to adhere to the United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requirements, which state that big planes like the Airbus A 330 – which land and take off at Tegel - need wider runways.

As the Berlin city government discussed the project, politicians called Tegel an "objectively dangerous situation" because of "live munitions near the ground surface" that could be detonated by vehicles, airplanes or "mowing and landscape work that digs into the ground," the paper reported.

The head of Berlin’s civil underground engineering department Frieder Bühring told the paper that the "suspicion" of old munitions was not adequate for the city to undertake a preventative clean-up project, but that it was necessary to protect workers from potential explosions during the runway expansion. The chance of a bomb going off, however, is as likely as winning the lottery, he added.

More than 60 years after the end of World War II, weapons recovery remains an important task for police and private companies throughout Germany. Allied forces dropped more than 2.7 million tonnes of explosives across Germany during the war. Some of the ordnance did not explode and has become increasingly dangerous with time and corrosion.
Posted by: mrp || 01/23/2009 09:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The chance of a bomb going off, however, is as likely as winning the lottery, he added.

And someone always seems to win. Maybe he should be first in line for a ticket.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/23/2009 10:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Damn! I've landed there a dozen times and never knew this. At least at Tegel they keep the lights on and coffee shop open for the last flight from Gatwick unlike what used to happen at Templehof (ghost town). Of course, Templehof is a mere memory these days - too bad - great old terminal and more conveniently located to my business dealings.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 01/23/2009 10:38 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
Army Cuts Off Retirement Pay for Elderly WWII Alaska Militia Veterans
The Army has decided to cut off retirement pay for veterans of a largely Native militia formed to guard the territory of Alaska from the threat of Japanese attack during World War II.

The change means 26 surviving members of the Alaska Territorial Guard _ most in their 80s and long retired _ will lose as much as $557 in monthly retirement pay, a state veterans officer said Thursday. The payments end Feb. 1. Applications for retirement pay from 37 others have been suspended.

The state is pursuing a remedy for "these brave Alaskans, who did so much for the cause of freedom during a time of great national peril," Gov. Sarah Palin said.

The action comes almost a decade after Congress passed a law qualifying time served in the unpaid guard as active federal service. The Army agreed in 2004 to grant official military discharge certificates to members or their survivors.

An Army official said the law was misinterpreted. The law applies to military benefits, including medical benefits, but not retirement pay, said Lt. Col. Richard McNorton, the Army's human resources command in Alexandria, Va. "The focus is to follow the law," he said. "We can't choose whether to follow the law."

The Army doesn't intend to seek to recoup past pay, he said.

About 300 members are still living from the original 6,600-member unit called up from 1942 to 1947 to scout patrols, build military airstrips and perform other duties. But only a fraction had enough other military service to reach the 20-year requirement for retirement pay.

Among those who did is 88-year-old Paul Kiunya in the western Alaska village of Kipnuk. Kiunya was 16 when he joined the territorial guard and worked in communications, reporting by radio any unusual noises or the direction of aircraft, including some Japanese planes he spotted.

"We did not get one cent being in the territorial guard," he said. "And we worked hard."

Kiunya _ who later put in 22 years in the National Guard and another decade in the Guard reserves _ will lose more than $358 a month in his retirement package because of the Army's decision. With gasoline in his village at almost $10 a gallon, that's a huge amount to lose. "I don't know why they trying to cut the pay. It's not good for us right now," he said in a phone interview. "It's not right."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 01/23/2009 08:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The focus is to follow the law," he said. "We can't choose whether to follow the law."

Well, if you can ignore a law governing the prosecution of terrorists, passed by Congress and validated by SCOTUS on the last go around, then why not this? When POTUS directs you to ignore the law and you willingly obey, you have a problem hiding behind that argument of picking and choosing.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/23/2009 10:00 Comments || Top||

#2  I guess the new tone has started.

Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 01/23/2009 10:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Recommend writing the new Chief of Veteran's Affairs. Oh wait........
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/23/2009 10:21 Comments || Top||

#4  "The focus is to follow the law," he said. "We can't choose whether to follow the law."

Laws come and go, you can choose how to interprete the law to save a quick buck tho!

What a bunch of dicks!
Posted by: Grolush Darling of the Hatfields3195 || 01/23/2009 10:26 Comments || Top||

#5  Isn't the new VA head Shineski, the ex-Army COS, who is of Japanese heritage? How about that for irony. Also, those militia guys (the eskimo version of "Dad's Army") did a hellva job. I don't remember the Japs getting with 500 miles of Anchorage.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 01/23/2009 10:40 Comments || Top||

#6  I don't think you should be dissing Shineski for Japanese heritage. He was born in Hawaii and has served us honorably. And you don't know his opinion on this.
Posted by: George Glaling8854 || 01/23/2009 11:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Take money away from elderly veterans to undoubtedly hand it to people who have never worked a day in their lives.

Makes me want to puke.
We're going to start the redistribution of wealth program right away I guess.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 01/23/2009 11:23 Comments || Top||

#8  I don't remember the Japs getting with 500 miles of Anchorage.

Only 1500 miles from Attu to Anchorage, about the same distance from Anchorage to Seattle.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/23/2009 11:28 Comments || Top||

#9  Gov Palin should come to the rescue of these old heroes and shame the new administration at the same time.
Posted by: ed || 01/23/2009 12:09 Comments || Top||

#10  Change Hope!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles the flatulent || 01/23/2009 12:13 Comments || Top||

#11  To say nothing of the affront to our defenders - you'd think the Army would have enough brains to find 100K$ a year and avoid the negative PR.
Posted by: KBK || 01/23/2009 13:45 Comments || Top||

#12  These guys saved the asses of a lot of confused US soldiers in the Aleutians, one of the most hostile environments on earth. They deserve their payday.
Posted by: mojo || 01/23/2009 15:37 Comments || Top||

#13  Pay them. Pay them yesterday you pinchy lawyer wanna-bes.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/23/2009 16:03 Comments || Top||

#14  holy shit they are taking $557 away from these men who did their jobs and deserve every if not more than this small amount. Find 50 ppl who have been on welfare ALL their life , take it, give it too these men as their pay
Posted by: rabid whitetail || 01/23/2009 16:25 Comments || Top||

#15  HERE is a good link for learning about the Alaska Territorial Guard. A fellow named Marvin R. "Muktuk" Marston worked to organize the ATG into a fighting force.

Check out the links. I knew some of the old ATG vets up in NW Alaska. It appears that there were Japanese patrols wandering about in Western Alaska during the war.

The army has its head up its a$$ for pulling some sh*t like this. I would imagine that our Alaska Congressional delegation is getting an earful as we speak. Hopefully this can be resolved quickly. If a CEO can get a redecorating for the latest bailout, a bit can go to these brave Alaskans for what they did.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 01/23/2009 20:15 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
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1al-Qaeda in Iraq
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1Islamic Courts
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tu3031
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2009-01-23
  Hamas arms smuggling never stopped during IDF op in Gaza
Thu 2009-01-22
  Meshaal hails Hamas victory in Gaza, attacks PA
Wed 2009-01-21
  Pakistani troops kill 60 Talibs in Mohmand
Tue 2009-01-20
  Barack Obama inaugurated
Mon 2009-01-19
  Qaeda in North Africa hit by plague
Sun 2009-01-18
  Olmert: Israel's goals in Cast Lead have been attained
Sat 2009-01-17
  Israel Unilateral Cease Fire in Effect
Fri 2009-01-16
  Elite Hamas ''Iran'' Battalion Wiped Out
Thu 2009-01-15
  Senior Hamas figure Said Siam killed in airstrike
Wed 2009-01-14
  Hamas accepts Egyptian proposal for Gaza cease-fire
Tue 2009-01-13
  Israelis Push to Edge of Gaza City
Mon 2009-01-12
  Israeli reservists swarm into Gaza
Sun 2009-01-11
  Hamas rejects international observers in Gaza
Sat 2009-01-10
  Israel to continue offensive despite UN resolution
Fri 2009-01-09
  New Year's Missile Strike Killed Top Al-Qaeda Operatives


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