A Russian court has sentenced a man to more than two dozen years in prison for assaulting a Gypsy fortune teller who predicted that he would be jailed, local media reported.
Gennady Osipovich was told by the female fortune teller that she saw a “state-owned house” in his future, which is a Russian euphemism for jail, The Moscow Times reported, citing the country’s Investigative Committee.
The woman managed to escape the man, but Osipovich stabbed two unidentified witnesses to death during the assault, which happened in October.
Osipovich was sentenced to 22 years in a maximum-security
Personally, I'm even more upset with the jury than with the defendant. Detroit, MI - A jury found Jamar Pinkney Sr. guilty of second-degree murder and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon. He showed no obvious reaction as the verdicts were read, the same emotionless face he displayed during the trial. Probably some kind of honor killing.
The jury foreperson, a 21-year-old female college student, later told In Session the initial vote was 10-2 for first-degree murder, but that the majority felt comfortable with a “compromise” after the instruction on intent was reread. Intent? He intended to kill his son with malice and forethought. That's first degree. That's all I need to know.
"On a bitterly cold Sunday last November, 15-year-old Jamar Pinkney Jr. was beaten, forced to strip naked at gunpoint, and marched outside his home into an empty lot. As his mother and grandmother looked on, the teen knelt before his attacker and was shot execution-style in the face. The trigger was pulled by his own father, Jamar Pinkney Sr.
The State of Michigan contends the elder Pinkney made an ultimate choice that day, between his son and his daughter, deciding to end Jamar Jr.Â’s life because of allegations heÂ’d sexually molested his three-year-old half-sister.
The alleged sexual contact came to light that Saturday, when the three-year-old described to family members what she claimed her half-brother had done to her. She was rushed to the emergency room, but an examination there revealed no signs of assault, and Jamar Jr. emphatically denied having touched her inappropriately. Still, her parents were convinced something had happened; the young girl would not have come up with such ideas on her own.
At 1:30 a.m. that night, the teen woke his mother to make a confession; “I did it.” She put him on the phone with his father to beg forgiveness – but Jamar Sr. was furious and said simply he’d come by the next morning to talk.
#5
Hmm. All of a sudden, I can imagine second degree here. Heaven forbid, it would take me quite a while to come back to earth after getting news like that.
A 19-year-old man walked almost a mile with a steak knife impaled in his head after being stabbed, San Diego police said Thursday. then he noticed his hat wouldn't come off
The victim told officers he didnÂ’t know why he was attacked by three men Wednesday night
Police got the call about the stabbing about 11:20 p.m. By then, Delimitros said, the victim had walked to Via Las Cumbres, about a mile from Morley Street.
A steak knife was impaled in the manÂ’s head. Paramedics took him to a hospital and he is expected to survive but now has an aversion to cutlery
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/12/2010 11:44 ||
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#1
a modern parable updating the "walk a mile in another persons shoes" tale.
#2
Yep, it's weird, but not unheard of to have a stabbing or impaling victim walking around just fine up to the hospital ER doors. The removal process is a bit tricky, though, because the patient can then bleed to death if it is not done correctly.
PARIS (AFP) – Plastic surgery patients have carried a new class of superbugs resistant to almost all antibiotics from South Asia to Britain and they could spread worldwide, researchers reported Wednesday. This is why you should take your antibiotics until the end of the prescription, not just until you feel better. This is why you don't just pump livestock full of them at the drop of a hat. This is why you take them only when you need them. One of these bugs stand a chance of bringing back biblical-style plagues. Or dying from a hangnail. Well, it was nice while it lasted.
Many hospital infections that were already difficult to treat have become even more impervious to drugs thanks to a recently discovered gene that can jump across different species of bacteria.
This so-called NDM-1 gene was first identified last year by Cardiff University's Timothy Walsh in two types of bacteria -- Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli -- in a Swedish patient admitted to hospital in India.
Worryingly, the new NDM-1 bacteria are resistant even to carbapenems, a group of antibiotics often reserved as a last resort for emergency treatment for multi-drug resistant bugs.
In the new study, led by Walsh and Madras University's Karthikeyan Kumarasamy, researchers set out to determine how common the NDM-1 producing bacteria were in South Asia and Britain, where several cases had turned up.
Checking hospital patients with suspect symptoms, they found 44 cases -- 1.5 percent of those screened -- in Chennai, and 26 (eight percent) in Haryana, both in India.
They likewise found the superbug in Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well 37 cases in Britain, where several patients had recently travelled to India or Pakistan for cosmetic surgery.
"India also provides cosmetic surgery for other Europeans and Americans, and it is likely that NDM-1 will spread worldwide," said the study, published in the British medical journal The Lancet.
NDM-1 was mostly found in E. coli, a common source of community-acquired urinary tract infections, and K. pneumoniae, and was impervious to all antibiotics except two, tigecycline and colistin.
In some cases, even these drugs did not beat back the infection.
Crucially, the NDM-1 gene was found on DNA structures, called plasmids, that can be easily copied and transferred between bacteria, giving the bug "an alarming potential to spread and diversify," the authors said.
"Unprecedented air travel and migration allow bacterial plasmids and clones to be transported rapidly between countries and continents," mostly undetected, they said.
The emergence of these new drug-resistant strains could become a serious global public health problem as the major threat shifts toward a broad class of bacteria -- including those armed with the NDM-1 gene -- known as "Gram-negative", the researchers warn.
"There are few new anti-Gram-negative antibiotics in development, and none that are effective against NDM-1," the study said.
NDM-1 stands for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1.
Johann Pitout from the University of Calgary in Canada said patients who have medical procedures in India should be screened for multi-resistant bacteria before they receive care in their home country.
#2
"This is why you take them only when you need them."
One of the biggest problems in medicine today is this issue. Overuse of antibiotics in situations when they will do nothing at all has allowed many antibiotics to become obsolete decades before they would have otherwise by getting the bugs tolerant.
Especially a problem with young mommies who think that antibiotics are some sort of automatic thing that you give to kids whenever they have a sniffle to get rid of/prevent colds, which are essentially all caused by various types of virus organisms that aren't affected by antibiotics in any way.
I actually once overheard two young mommies talking in a grocery store, and one of them was complaining about her kid's pediatrician's reticence to prescribe an antibiotic for her kid's cold. The other mommy responded without missing a beat that she should just lie and tell the doc the kid had green mucus to get the magic potion (her words). I have my own ideas about exactly why this willful ignorance exists and persists, but that is a topic for another thread.
Unfortunately, in many communities, there'll be one or two less-than-ethical pediatric docs who will figure out this ignorant demand by parents is a potential money maker, and will attract lots of patients who are kids of parents like that, so they gleefully write, write, write for these medications, creating yet another generation of abusers whose resistant bacteria are a threat to us all. Talk to docs at college clinics and they'll tell you that the minute many students get sick with anything they'll head straight for the infirmary and DEMAND that they be given an antibiotic.
It might be a good idea for those state boards who monitor overprescription of pain pills to do the same with antibiotics. The lives they save may be yours or mine, ultimately.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/12/2010 5:57 Comments ||
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#3
Media alert. Panic Alert.
There are issues, true. Including that the Indian surgeons and the Thai dental practitioners are operating in a free market. Can't have that. Must have control.
Just keep remembering that around 100,000 people die in the US annually from mistakes in hospitals. The media breathlessly reported every death from Iraq while 20 times as many were dying in their own institutes of medical care.
#4
Antibiotic resistance is widely mis-understood. Basically resistance occurs once only and then the resistance mechanism spreads through the population of that bacteria and often other bacteria (species).
So while not taking the full course of antibiotics may facilitate the spread of resistant strains, it doesn't, except in very rare circumstances, cause resistance.
The real problem is that there is little money in developing new antibiotics, while the costs are enormous. In part this is due to international conventions that allow developing countries to produce generics without paying royalties.
#5
Oh, the joys of globalism. Kill the US economically and bring back biblical plagues at the same time. Joy oh joy.
Posted by: Black Charlie Chinemble5313 ||
08/12/2010 11:37 Comments ||
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#6
You don't see much ink on the topic, but HIV has played a huge role in developing resistant strains. As the disease weakened the body's defenses these guys were succumbing to all kinds of infections which they could no longer fight off. Bugs any healthy person would shrug off. Doctors pumped them full of antibiotics to keep them alive longer. Maybe extended life a few months. In the meantime, it created the perfect environment to incubate resistant strains.
With new HIV treatments this is less of a problem now, but the damage is done.
On a related topic, I'd like to hear someone explain how taking antibiotics when you are not sick can produce resistant strains. Back when I took biology you actually had to have bacteria present in order to do this.
#7
Good question, Iblis, and one which has a fairly simple answer.
Many infections are not of exotic bugs, but overgrowth of ones that are always present in the body in non-threatening numbers. Changes in the immune system or changes in the ratio of one particular bacteria to another often trigger rapid growth and infection of what would otherwise be a normal part of your usual bioload. These are sometimes called opportunistic infections.
Thus, if you are taking an antibiotic at ANY time, there are lots and lots of species of bacteria in your body (skin, mouth, colon, genitals) which are there, not causing any problems at the moment, but building up resistance to whatever you are taking. If at some future time they DO grow out of control, any resistance they gained from being exposed when they were in a harmonious and non-narmful mode will be retained.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/12/2010 18:49 Comments ||
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#8
On a related topic, I'd like to hear someone explain how taking antibiotics when you are not sick can produce resistant strains. Back when I took biology you actually had to have bacteria present in order to do this.
Answer - Your body is full of harmless and even beneficial bacteria. Taking antibiotics will create the opportunity for resistance to develop. Although developing resistance is an extremely low probability event, but multiple billions of bugs by millions of people taking unessesary antibiotics and someone somewhere will eventually develop resistance.
Once resistance occurs, the mechanism gets filed away in the genetic code available to be switched on when needed (in the harmless bacteria).
At some point in the future a strain of the harmless bug with the resistance mechanism co-infects a person with some harmful infection and the resistance mechanism gets transferred to the harmful bug. From memory via plasmids.
Resistance is generally through multiple (although a small number of) steps. So the more people taking antibiotics, the faster the individual resistance steps occur and the sooner they get the opportunity to combine into full resistance.
#9
Does that mean I'm carrying around strains of TB and Staph just waiting to mutate into super bugs and kill...someone else? And then why do those resistant strains always seem to come from hospitals and people in a weakened state from other factors?
#10
In a word, Iblis, yes. This happens in all animals, all the time. A little unsettling but true.
Mutant strains coming exclusively from hospitals and weak people? Not "always" Iblis. But your point is well taken.
If a resistant strain takes off in a weak person it can increase its numbers and the possibility of contagion exponentially in a few days. Plus, there are lots of other weak people around (it's a hospital, after all) whose immunity is less than optimal. Plus those people are being visited by relatives and friends and treated by large numbers of health professionals. So naturally the opportunity for resistant strains to have a ground zero in that environment is better than society at large.
Phil, I had forgotten plasmids.. Good point.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/12/2010 20:27 Comments ||
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#11
People in hospital are much more likely to have multiple concurrent infections, and people with weakened immune systems are much more likely to pass on an infection to others.
Basically hospitals create optimum conditions for the spread of resistant bugs and transfer of resistance across different species. Hospital acquired infections is a huge problem.
A Massachusetts man who was rushed to hospital with a collapsed lung came home with an unusual diagnosis: a pea plant was growing in his lung.
Ron Sveden had been battling emphysema for months when his condition deteriorated.
He was steeling himself for a cancer diagnosis when X-rays revealed the growth in his lung.
Doctors believe that Mr Sveden ate the pea at some point, but it "went down the wrong way" and sprouted.
"One of the first meals I had in the hospital after the surgery had peas for the vegetable. I laughed to myself and ate them," Mr Sveden told a local Boston TV reporter.
Mr Sveden said the plant was about half an inch (1.25cm) in size.
"Whether this would have gone full-term and I'd be working for the Jolly Green Giant, I don't know. I think the thing that finally dawned on me is that it wasn't the cancer," Mr Sveden said.
He is currently recovering at home with his wife Nancy, who joked that God must have a sense of humour.
[Arab News] Full provisional results are in from Rwanda's presidential election showing that President Paul Kagame got 93 percent of the vote.
Rwanda's election commission also says that 97 percent of registered voters cast ballots, a huge turnout.
Kagame has overseen strong economic growth in Rwanda but has been criticized for crackdowns on dissent and opposition groups.
Charles Munyaneza, the electoral commission's executive secretary, said Wednesday that he was happy with the electoral process. He said the commission had not received any reports of voter intimidation.
An Associated Press reporter on Monday spoke to three voters who said they and other villagers were forced to vote in the early morning hours before polls opened.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Luis Estrada is a relatively unknown Mexican film director whose last film was a black comedy called A Wonderful World in 2006, and Herod's Law, a political satire directed against Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) in 1999.
This new film is also a black comedy. While it doesn't exactly have a galaxy of Hollywood stars in it, Joaquin Cossio stars in it, who is best known to English speaking audiences as the evil General Medrano in A Quantum of Solace.
The release date is important. September 2010 is the Bicentenial of Mexican independence. One of the less noticed, but funny affectations is the little handwritten note on the bullet pocked sign on the film's advertising poster that says Mexico 2010, which reads, "Nothing to Celebrate." In the film's trailer a question is posed, "Who will win? It won't be Mexico in Hell."
Click the pic for an interesting image that might explain why the Russians were blaming us for this at first. Hard to imagine a torpedo that penetrates before exploding, though. Velocities underwater aren't so high, and the Kursk had a double titanium hull. Maybe it was the result of rescue operations?
The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk was engaging in training maneuvers in the Barents Sea in 2000 when an explosion ripped through its torpedo room. Two minutes later, another blast shook the vessel and water began to flood the sub, causing it to sink 354 feet below the surface. August 12 marks the 10th anniversary of the disaster, which took the lives of all 118 sailors on board.
Today, the legacy of the Kursk disaster is one of diplomacy and improved communication. The Russian Northern fleet now maintains good relations with the Norwegian military, and the two organizations hold bi-annual joint exercises to practice rescue operations in the Barents Sea. Maybe some good came of this after all.
Memorial services for the lost submariners will be held on Aug. 12 in St. Petersburg, followed by a military honors ritual and a wreath-laying ceremony at the Kursk crew memorial at the Serafimovskoye Cemetery.
Yes, I removed it earlier this morning. Please don't embed Photobucket images, it can slow down the Burg. Also, do not embed pics with the 'href' tag; use 'img src' instead.
#2
Ahh. I had no idea. I try to limit the size of the pic because it seems that would mean the server would have to stay on task until it is loaded, but I would not have guessed the second layer would cause more overhead. Sorry about that! Is it better to put the pic in the comment section?
Azerbaijan's Ministry of Defense has reportedly banned the overwhelmingly-Muslim country's soldiers from performing the daily prayers in their barracks.
According to Azerbaijan's Center for Protection of Freedom of Conscience and Faith (DEVAM), army officials in Goranboy city have banned the daily prayers based on a verbal decree from the country's Defense Ministry.
"Bravery of the faithful Muslim soldier Mubariz Ibrahimov showed that performing religious duties does not stop them from serving their country and furthermore adds to their bravery and patriotism," said head of DEVAM center Haji Ilgar Ibrahimoglu.
Ibrahimov, the national Hero of Azerbaijan, was a Warrant Officer, who was shot in the back and killed by Armenian forces in June 2010 after he killed four enemy soldiers and wounded five others.
Although some 98 percent of the Azerbaijani population is Muslim, the country has imposed various limitations on performing religious duties.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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Hey, DEVAM, maybe they don't want an Islamist military coup on their hands.
Posted by: American Delight ||
08/12/2010 6:11 Comments ||
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Too much inadvertant gas being passed in the prayer position. They need to pray outside for crying out loud!
Posted by: Black Charlie Chinemble5313 ||
08/12/2010 12:41 Comments ||
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Fifa has launched an investigation into allegations that the North Korean World Cup coach and players were punished by the government after they lost all three of their games in the tournament in South Africa.
Last month, Radio Free Asia said that the Korean squad, apart from two foreign-based players, were subjected to 'harsh ideological criticism' after their team conceded the most goals of all 32 at the tournament. Their coach Kim Jong-hun was also publicly humiliated and sentenced to hard labour for their performance.
Fifa's president said a letter had been sent to North Korea's footballing body. Sepp Blatter said: 'We sent a letter to the football federation to tell us about their election of a new president and to find out if the allegations made by the media that the coach and some players were condemned and punished are true.
'We are doing this as a first step and we will see how they answer.'
After starting only their second World Cup brightly with a 2-1 defeat to five-times champions Brazil, North Korea were then thrashed 7-0 by Portugal and easily beaten 3-0 by Ivory Coast. I'm sure the scores would have been turned around had they only followed Kimmie's magnificent advice!
Mr Blatter said the investigation was launched after Fifa executive committee member Chung Mong-joon, from South Korea, provided new information on the issue.
Asian Football Confederation President Mohamed Bin Hamman, who recently travelled to the secretive communist nation, said he was hopeful the investigation would prove conclusive.
'There was an unconfirmed report that these players have gone through torture or something like that, but I can't confirm that.
'I haven't seen anything with my eyes or heard anything with my ears. Maybe this Fifa investigation can clear the air.' "Can you fly the players over here so we can talk to them?"
"No."
"Can we fly them over here so we can talk to them?"
"No."
"Can we fly over there to talk to the players?"
"No."
"Can we talk to the players on the phone then?"
"No."
"Did you torture them?"
"No."
"We'll go tell the world the good news!"
#1
"Ignoring" Kimmie's guidance? Heck, following his instructions to play aggressive offense instead of North Korea's usual game was what resulted in the 7-0 score.
The official Chinese media speculate that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan had a political motive for apologizing to Korea but not China in an official statement about Japan's colonial rule on Tuesday.
In a front-page headline story on Wednesday, the Global Times, a sister newspaper of the People's Daily, said the timing of the apology was "very sensitive." That it only addressed Korea "touched a raw nerve in the region."
The daily pointed out that Japan apologized to all its Asian neighbors on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II in 1995, but it has never apologized to China alone. The daily speculates that Tuesday's statement was the start signal for Tokyo and Seoul to huddle closer together and face off against Beijing.
Lu Chao of the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences wrote, "Japan apologized only to Korea, even though it committed a graver crime against China. This must have something to do with the Northeast Asian situation that has developed" in the wake of North Korea's sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan. "This shows that Tokyo is apparently attempting to further cement its alliance with Seoul and Washington."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Pushy little b*stards sure do get offended easily.
Over 30,000 people showed up in East Point yesterday, a suburb of Atlanta, to obtain applications to receive Section 8 housing vouchers. The line began forming on Sunday, three days prior to the scheduled date the applications were to be handed out.
Thousands converged in the 90+ degree heat and at least 62 people needed medical attention and 20 of them were transported to a hospital.
A baby went into a seizure in the extreme heat and had to be stabilized at a hospital. Many people passed out from dehydration and heat exhaustion and several were removed on stretchers.
News reports show several people who had been waiting hours in a line started pushing, shoving and cursing, after they were told theyd been waiting in the wrong line.
The heat, combined with the frustrated citizens caused a near riot at the scene!
The agency said they expected about 10,000 people but three times as many showed up. Many were just accompanying those looking for an application. Many in the crowd had been waiting for as long as two days to seek housing assistance.
East Point police, some wearing riot helmets, were patrolling the area. Firefighters and EMTs were attending to people who were overheating in the sun. Police from College Park, Hapeville, Fulton County and MARTA assisted in crowd control.
There were no arrests and at the end of the day, some 13,000 applications were handed out.
#1
Other articles on this stated that what the people were waiting for was merely an application to get on the waiting list for the vouchers. They were not actually applying for the vouchers. So the first come, first serve principle contributed to the mess.
Meanwhile, in other news, the federal & state governments are doing all they can to KEEP HOUSING PRICES HIGH. Yes, that policy does affect the Section 8'ers also.
#6
Besoeker i wound up in east point by mistake one time with some drunk friends. We didn,t know the ATL streets too well .We found a cop too follow him out of that shit hole. I thought the entire east point was section 8 housing already?
Posted by: chris ||
08/12/2010 17:36 Comments ||
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#7
Friends don't take friends to East Point Chris. Congratulations on your successful escape.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The US trade deficit in June has reached its widest point in the past 20 months on the rising imports and weakening exports - an indication of a slow economic recovery.
The US trade gap in June was on its fastest track since October 2008, reaching USD 49.9 billion, and disappointing expectations about a growing economy.
"This is spectacularly terrible," economist Ian Shepherdson of High Frequency Economics said on Wednesday, explaining that rising imports eat in to already anemic US growth figures, AFP reported.
Imports in June showed a three percent rise to hit USD 200.3 billion, while exports fell by 1.3 percent to USD 150.5 billion, the Commerce Department said.
The June deficit bewildered both the government and private economists.
"The slowing in exports will only fan fears of a faltering US recovery," said Sal Guatieri, an economist at BMO Capital Markets, AP reported.
Most expert estimations put June's deficit at around USD 42.2 billion.
Facing lackluster growth and a high jobless rate, the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday vowed to renew crisis-era measures that pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into ailing markets to prevent the economy from falling into another recession.
US President Barack Obama has put export growth high on his agenda.
Obama is seeking to double US exports during the next five years to about USD 3.1 trillion by 2015.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Obama is seeking to double US exports during the next five years to about USD 3.1 trillion by 2015.
great. now the fearless leader is issuing 5 year plans.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
08/12/2010 0:59 Comments ||
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#2
> Facing lackluster growth and a high jobless rate, the US Federal Reserve on Tuesday vowed to renew crisis-era measures that pumped hundreds of billions of dollars into ailing markets to prevent the economy from falling into another recession.
It's socialism! These aren't effects of TARP spending, we need to spend EVEN MORE.
#4
I'm tired of hearing the lie "Trade Deficits"
Example,
You shop for groceries at (Say) Krogers, what have you sold Krogers?
NOTHING
Damn your trade deficit with Krogers sucks.
(Or Wal Mart, Costco, etc)
COMPLETELY IGNORING the cash you used as "Trade".
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/12/2010 9:42 Comments ||
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Ben Quayle, the son of former Vice President Dan Quayle who is seeking a House seat in Arizona, is making a splash with a new campaign ad in which he looks straight into the camera and declares, "Barack Obama is the worst president in history." Check.
"My generation will inherit a weakened country," Quayle also says solemnly in the new 30-second spot. "Drug cartels in Mexico, tax cartels in DC. What's happened to America? I love Arizona. I was raised right. Someone needs to go to Washington and knock the hell out of the place." Wow. Busy 30" there. That would even do an RBer proud! ;-)
NH Democratic candidate for state representative Keith Halloran wished (on facebook!) that Sarah Palin and Levi Johnston had gone down with Ted Stevens's plane. Trunks all offended and called on Governor John Lynch and Congressional Candidate Ann McLane Kuster to personally denounce his remarks. That'll happen. Right after they figure out what all the fuss is about.
#1
Very bad Karma, Keith, when you wish things like that on people. You may have installed a curse on yourself, nice job. Ever been around a plane crash? You would not wish that on anyone after you've seen one. Very bad thoughts and heart. Moron.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/12/2010 3:15 Comments ||
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#2
These IDIOTS that make these STUPID statements should be made to immediatly step down
#3
Why admonish him? Just thank him for telling the truth and what the left really thinks of those who do not march lock step with them. This is who they really are. Those who lust for power tolerate no other thought. There can only be one. There is no 'kinder gentler' socialism.
#5
I echo what AP said, people that wish evil on others show their ignorance and true self, moron and coward. These are the same that watch a war movie before voting to send troops into battle because they have not idea about the reall horror of battle. I hope someone posts the facebook page on billboards in his district. Let the people see him for who he is.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/12/2010 11:42 Comments ||
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#6
P2K is right and the point needs to be made LOUDLY.
Oops ....
Some Democrats are upset and advocacy groups are outraged over the raiding of the food-stamp cupboard to fund a state-aid bailout that some call a gift to teachers and government union workers. You know, union subsidies can be double-edged swords sometimes.
House members convened Tuesday and passed the multibillion-dollar bailout bill for cash-strapped states that provides $10 billion to school districts to rehire laid-off teachers or ensure that more teachers won't be let go before the new school year begins, keeping more than 160,000 teachers on the job, the Obama administration says. I'd say let the states manage their schools. So does the Constitution. What say ye, Obama? Oh, I guess you just weighed in. Can't let go of that little-liberal production machine, can you?
But the bill also requires that $12 billion be stripped from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps, to help fund the new bill, prompting some Democrats to cringe at the notion of cutting back on one necessity to pay for another. The federal assistance program currently helps 41 million Americans. Hmm. That's more than 160,000.
Arguably one of the most outspoken opponents on the Democratic side is Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who has blasted the move as "a bitter pill to swallow" but still voted yes. Heh heh. Enjoy the bitter fruits of impending bankruptcy.
#1
Food stamps are different from any other form of welfare.
Lack of food does not motivate people to do anything other than get food now. It can keep them from doing what they need to do to earn money to buy food. Then add to that America having annually so much excess food that thousands of tons of it rot every year.
By giving away excess food, it costs taxpayers *less* money than warehousing it. And it doesn't even impact the retail food market, because free food is less processed, and those with money prefer food that is processed.
#4
Democratic rank and file members, including Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, say the cuts wonÂ’t take effect until 2014 and will merely return food stamp benefits to pre-stimulus levels.
Why is billions of Stimulus dollars allocated for 2014 no longer needed? Was the money ever needed? Was there an error in calculations when the bill was drafted? Or was it just typical DC slush money? Maybe the real question should be (At the risk of being vulgar) donÂ’t the American taxpayers deserve straight Fucking answers?
#5
Food stamps are just a subsidy to grocery stores.
How about setting up some food coops where people can work for health food like this one that Vista (remember the home peace corp) set up in the late 60s. Open Harvest Food Coop
A much more effective expenditure of food aid money!
Stupid effing disconnected rudderless moron let out the mother of the liberal roadmap Freudian slips. They may end up with the majority if amnesty were enacted today, but like any group, they can't all be fooled all the time. They'll have to give up Mexican citizenship I would think, and then they'd have to lie in the bed they would make.
#3
might wanna ask Brian Sandoval, who's beating your "son with no last name" Rory, like a rented mule. I'm at Tahoe, watching Reno TV news, and Harry's been pouring the ad money in saying Sharron Angle is "too extreme" by using out-of-context quotes, scared actors Nevadans, and spooky music. A real POS, that Dingy Harry
Posted by: Frank G on the road ||
08/12/2010 11:41 Comments ||
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#4
Doesn't give Hispanics credit for being able to think for themselves. That really is kinda racist, isn't it?
#5
I think ol' Harry's given up on leading the Senate, even if he manages to pull this one out. However...he may still have his eyes on the Grand Kleagle seat now that Bobby Byrd's vacated it.
Just how much should Uncle Sam do to help Americans buy their own homes? Mortgage interest tax deduction and the death penalty for predatory mortgage practices. No more.
For 70 years -- and for the last 15 in particular -- the answer has been: Whatever it takes. Just roll the clock back to before all this corrupt legislation hit and call it good.
Now, policymakers are pausing to reconsider. In the next few months, they'll weigh whether there can be too much of a good thing when it comes to helping families finance the American Dream. I just can't wait to see how Obankrupt turns this into some kind of crisis to take advantage of. Hopefully the Trunks can hold him at bay.
#1
Heck, maybe not even an interest deduction. Mortgage rates are set by how much people have left over. If taxes take a bigger bite, what is left over is smaller and mortgages will have to come down.
#3
In the old Ottoman Empire, the Islamic model was that all land was owned by the Sultan, and there was no right of land inheritance. So if you wanted land, you worked for the Sultan.
Oddly enough, that is why they had little official bureaucracy. Because everyone worked for the government, everyone was a bureaucrat.
#4
Unfortunately the article didn't point out the inherent conflict between 2 governmental policies: (1) continuing & costly efforts to keep housing prices (for would-be homeowners and indirectly for renters) from falling to a level that matches family incomes. This policy has become a desperate one to prop up the failing economy and especially the insolvent banking system. (2) promoting home ownership. Just how does keeping housing ridiculously expensive promote home ownership? Buehler? Anyone?
How anyone can believe both policies are appropriate to pursue simultaneously is beyond me.
#5
How anyone can believe both policies are appropriate to pursue simultaneously is beyond me
I think the fractious nature of the Dem party is part of it. Some parts want this, some parts want that. The only way they can stay in power is to support each other's stupid ideas, and that's going to result in contradictory policies that only denial can allow them to carry them forward.
In some areas, all Dems move as one, though. None of them seem to get the idea of consequences, such as that of making credit for home-buying too affordable. It may have felt good, and probably bought them votes, but in the long run it didn't do anyone any good. Generally, but not always, there's a reason some people don't have money. And that has to be respected.
#6
How's this for a housing policy (from Karl Denninger): Without that support prices collapse to affordable levels. A place where the average single earner in a household can afford to buy a house with 20% down and an 8% mortgage for 30 years.
A place where the market was in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
A place where the market can return to.
A place where housing becomes a thing defined by where you hang your hat and raise a family, instead of a speculative financial bubble where a handful of people make a fortune and half of America is bankrupted.
#9
Aug. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration will offer $1 billion in zero-interest loans to help homeowners whoÂ’ve lost income avoid foreclosure
The idiots and dam fools are in charge.
#10
Three groups of people should definitely never own homes.
-Those who cannot afford them without government intervention.
-Those who can but lack the money management discipline to own the house and not spend on other things.
-Those who can, but cannot manage the property in a usable state.
Since these numbers are a substantial chunk of the population, it seems folly to encourage them to own a house when renting is, in every way, a better deal for them, and somethig they can handle.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/12/2010 19:00 Comments ||
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#6
He was on track to general officer. The sad story of his early retirement says a great deal about our...."war" against radical Islam and international terrorism.
Got to see the pictures at site What a great guy and gal ...
Former President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, made a surprise visit to U.S. troops this afternoon.
They showed up at the USO in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. There they mingled with the returning soldiers, thanked them, chatted and posed for photos as proof of the unexpected encounter for folks back home.
The USO just posted an assortment of the photos on its Facebook page, which quickly drew a growing list of appreciative comments.
"What an AWESOME moment," Robert Rowe wrote. "If anyone can't see the President and First Lady's love for our nations troops, they must be dead or blind. May God Bless them ALL !" Richard Cruz wrote: "The look on that kid's face says it all...."
And Shirley Lovely Fry added: "A President and First Lady who love their country and their country's military."
#5
he's not quite out of politics totally. From the smile on his face, I would say he feels quite out of politics. This visit was a true personal expression & also added a bit of much-needed social capital to the country. I felt better just reading the story.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira Wednesday said the present democratic government believes in free media, freedom of expression and the reports alleging government had blocked transmission of some television channels are unfounded and baseless.
Addressing a press conference at Press Information Department he said "Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led government believed in free media and expression and the reports that the government has blocked transmission of some television channels are baseless."
He said transmission of some channels might have been blocked due to confrontation between the two cable operators. The minister said both the cable operators have been issued notice to resolve the issue.
"The government does not believe in imposing a curb on the media," he added. However, he urged media to report the events with responsibility. He advised the media to report both sides of the story.
The minister said PPP Quaid Benazir Bhutto and workers have given unmatched sacrifices for the independence of media.
"We are in the favor of free media and will remain committed to it", he added. He said the government strongly condemned the incident in which bundles of newspapers were burnt.
The minister further said the ministry has never issued directives to any media house. The government will take action against elements involved in setting the newspapers on fire, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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[Straits Times] THAILAND'S Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family against the seizure of US$1.4 billion (S$1.9 billion) of their assets.
Thaksin, who was stripped of more than half his fortune in February for abuse of power, did not provide any new evidence to support his case, the court found after almost two hours of deliberation by no fewer than 119 judges.
'The legal process is over. There is nothing we can do,' said Thaksin's lawyer, Chatthip Tantaprasart.
Thai courts have issued a series of warrants for Thaksin for charges including terrorism - an accusation linked to violent street protests in April and May by his supporters within the anti-government 'Red Shirt' movement.
The former telecoms tycoon was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 2006 and lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a prison jail imposed in absentia for corruption.
The decision in February to confiscate 60 per cent of Thaksin's US$2.3 billion of frozen assets angered his red-shirted supporters, who staged two months of opposition rallies in the heart of Bangkok from mid-March.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/12/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The following are just a few of the many assistance programs available to you, the undocumented Democrat here in Virginia:
*Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
*Food Stamp program - Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).
*Free Gov't cell phone.
*Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).
*The National School Lunch Program (NSLP).
*GR Program.
*Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
*Child day care.
*Foster care.
*Refugee Program.
*Home Based Services.
*Adoption Subsidy.
*Neighborhood Assistance Program.
*Emergency Assistance.
*The School Breakfast Program (SBP)
* Participating NSLP schools may sponsor an afterschool snack program
* WIC is a special supplemental food program for women, infants
*Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (includes pre and post-natal birthing services)
New technology helps modern-day Muslims observe old traditions
The most ancient traditions of Islam are going high-tech, with a slew of modern offerings for those observing the holy month of Ramadan, which began Wednesday.
Cell phone applications such as "iPray" or "iQuran" offer a beeping reminder of requisite prayer times, while the "Find Mecca" and "Mosque Finder" programs help the Muslim traveler in an unfamiliar city find the nearest place to pray.
"When I saw these applications for the first time, I thought, 'This is amazing,' " said James Otun, who has several Islamic applications on his Apple iPhone and iPad. "Whoever came up with this idea: God bless him or her."
The applications aren't just for Ramadan. Islamic-themed programs help users find the nearest Costco offering foods prepared according to Islamic dietary rules, learn the correct Arabic pronunciations in a daily prayer, or count how many pages of the Koran they've read that day -- all on a mobile phone.
There also are applications, or apps, for the holy books of several other religions, including the Catholic Holy Bible and the Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu scripture.
The first time Sumeyye Kalyoncu heard the Adhan -- or call to prayer -- through surround-sound speakers on her iPhone dock, she was overcome with nostalgia for her native country of Turkey. Such apps are especially popular in the U.S., Ms. Kalyoncu said, as U.S. mosques do not broadcast daily calls to prayer from external loudspeakers, as they do in Muslim countries.
"These are traditions and these have been in our lives for ages, like almost 15 centuries, so they seem very old," she said. "I think this is like combining together the technology and the things that we do daily."
Ms. Kalyoncu uses an iPhone app called iPray Lite, keeping track of requisite daily prayers with a program that simulates the clicking sound of prayer beads or the turning wheel of a hand-held metal counter that Muslims use to keep count of prayer repetitions. Using headphones, the 24-year-old said she can now fulfill her daily spiritual obligations by counting prayers on her iPhone while on the commuter bus to Manhattan from her Edgewater home.
Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said the company doesn't track the more than 225,000 apps for its phones by category so she doesn't know how many are Islamic-themed. The programs aren't offered just by Apple; Nokia has a Ramadan suite for its cell phones that consolidates everything worshippers need to know to observe Islam's holiest month, in which Muslims worldwide observe daily daylight fasting.
Mr. Otun, a technology aficionado, said the apps on his iPhone and iPad make him a more observant Muslim. He said he no longer has an excuse to live an unobservant life, with the beeping reminder to stop and pray during his busy schedule running a limo service and an app that tells him which nearby restaurants serve food prepared within Islamic guidelines.
"If you forgot to pray, you might not be responsible, because you're human; you forget and you can make it up later," said Mr. Otun, 35. "But not now that you have those apps, that might change things in God's level."
Mr. Otun's favorite application, called Find Mecca, is a compasslike program with an electronic indicator that changes from red to green when he has reached the requisite prayer angle of 58 degrees northeast to ensure he is facing Mecca from any location -- a requirement of all Muslims when praying.
Mr. Otun said he was amazed to see an image of Mecca on his cell phone screen for the first time, and to realize he could carry a library of religious texts with him everywhere.
"IPhone makes you emotional," he said. "I can't carry 10,000 pages of books. Now, you have it in your phone -- it's priceless."
Companies using criminal records or bad credit reports to screen out job applicants might run afoul of anti-discrimination laws as the government steps up scrutiny of hiring policies that can hurt blacks and Hispanics.
A blanket refusal to hire workers based on criminal records or credit problems can be illegal if it has a disparate impact on racial minorities, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The agency enforces the nation's employment discrimination laws.
"Our sense is that the problem is snowballing because of the technology allowing these checks to be done with a fair amount of ease," said Carol Miaskoff, assistant legal counsel at the EEOC.
Continued on Page 49
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.
A 19-year-old man walked almost a mile with a steak knife impaled in his head after being stabbed, San Diego police said Thursday.
A Massachusetts man who was rushed to hospital with a collapsed lung came home with an unusual diagnosis: a pea plant was growing in his lung.
The official Chinese media speculate that Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan had a political motive for apologizing to Korea but not China in an official statement about Japan's colonial rule on Tuesday. 
Over 30,000 people showed up in East Point yesterday, a suburb of Atlanta, to obtain applications to receive Section 8 housing vouchers. The line began forming on Sunday, three days prior to the scheduled date the applications were to be handed out.
Ben Quayle, the son of former Vice President Dan Quayle who is seeking a House seat in Arizona, is making a splash with a new campaign ad in which he looks straight into the camera and declares, "Barack Obama is the worst president in history."
Companies using criminal records or bad credit reports to screen out job applicants might run afoul of anti-discrimination laws as the government steps up scrutiny of hiring policies that can hurt blacks and Hispanics.
