PDA

View Full Version : NewsWhoar Thread


Pages : 1 [2] 3

theholycow
05-06-2010, 03:42 PM
It's illegal to wear the flag as clothes.

§ 8. Respect for Flag.
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the
flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, state flags, and
organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.
(a) The flag should never be displayed with union down, except as a signal of dire
distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
(b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor,
water, or merchandise.
(c) The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
(d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It
should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed {...}

Now, that said, it sounds like they were wearing clothes with American Flag designs, not wearing actual flags, so that should be the most strongly protected free speech around.

Cez★
05-06-2010, 04:18 PM
i heard teh guy wearing a mexican flag shirt went to school all day

---------- Post added at 10:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:56 AM ----------

:roflmao: wow

The Sugar Land high school senior found beaten to death in Mexico last weekend wanted to be a coyote who smuggled illegal immigrants across the border and also worked as a stripper, according to her mother's statement to police, a Houston Police Department missing persons report reveals.

Elisabeth Mandala, 18, who attended Kempner High School in the Fort Bend Independent School District, was found dead Saturday along with the bodies of two men on the highway to Monclova, just west of Mina, a town of 6,000 near Monterrey.

The pickup had been staged to look as if it had been involved in an accident, but investigators found evidence the truck's accelerator may have been jammed with a rock, according to the Monterrey newspapers, Milenio and El Norte

“It's pretty apparent she was doing stuff down there she shouldn't have been,” said a law enforcement source close to the investigation who asked not to be identified by name.

Mandala's family has declined to comment on the case or the mother's statement to police, calling the investigation into the teen's slaying “a very sensitive situation.” A phone call to their home went unanswered Wednesday.

Mandala's mother did not contact Houston police to report her daughter was missing until after the teen had already been found dead Saturday in Mexico.

Paula Benitez Mandala, 47, told Houston police her daughter was driving a rental car when the teen left Houston last week because the girl had wrecked her own car. The mother, however, could not provide Houston police a description of the rental car.

Plans were vague
The girl, a U.S. citizen born in Texas, left her mother's home in the 10100 block of Synott Road on April 27 to go meet “somebody” and maybe go to Mexico, according to her mother's statement in the HPD report. The next day, Elisabeth Mandala posted on her Facebook page that she was in Mexico and would be back in Houston the following day. But she did not return.

By noon on Saturday, Paula Mandala had grown worried enough to call Houston police to report her daughter missing. But her daughter's beaten body had already been found six hours earlier on a Mexican highway in a Dodge Dakota pickup with Texas license plates. It was unclear if that was the same vehicle that Elisabeth Mandala had rented before leaving Houston.

Found beaten to death with her were Dante Ruiz Siller, 38, and Luis Angel Estrella Mondragon, both from Mexico City, but described as having local ties. Fingerprints confirmed Mondragon, a taxi driver, had a criminal record, but Mexican police were unable to say what his criminal history included, El Norte reported. One Mexican media outlet reported the two men were brothers.

Mandala's relationship with the two men or how she knew them is unclear.

Falsified papers
Mexican authorities also recovered false identification papersin Mondragon's possession, El Norte reported.

Houston police could not elaborate on Mandala's desire to be an immigrant smuggler because her mother did not provide them with any additional details, they said.

The U.S. Consulate has filed paperwork on the Mandala family's behalf to claim the teen's body, according to a report in El Norte on Wednesday.

Cez★
05-06-2010, 06:19 PM
rabble rabble
http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100506/ts_csm/299351

theholycow
05-06-2010, 06:24 PM
:taloconationaldayofprayer:

stonehenge
05-06-2010, 06:29 PM
http://www.kvoa.com/news/arizona-to-eliminate-speed-cameras-on-freeways1/

:fuckyeah:

Cez★
05-06-2010, 06:31 PM
rofl you have cameraz on highways?
:masputo:

Biggs
05-06-2010, 08:43 PM
Texting during sex? some say it's ok (http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/06/texting-during-sex-some-say-its-ok/?hpt=T3)

Off of cnn.com
Sorry, but if you're able to text during sex, yer doing it wrong...

theholycow
05-06-2010, 08:50 PM
According to TFA, one in 10 people younger than 25 say that they would not mind being "interrupted by an electronic message" during sex.
I wonder what the actual survey said? Because TBH, I wouldn't mind; I'd just fucking ignore it and keep on plowing.

BillyJeanKing
05-06-2010, 08:51 PM
:word:

answer that bish after i squirt

Cez★
05-06-2010, 08:53 PM
updating teh facebewkz

Biggs
05-07-2010, 02:28 AM
Candles offer a whiff of White Castle's burgers (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/05/06/1419738/candles-offer-a-whiff-of-white.html)

Do you want fries with your candles bish?!?

BillyJeanKing
05-07-2010, 02:30 AM
Only a guy would appreciate a candle that smells like a burger but guys dont buy or use candles

DNC :blah:

:headexplodes:

Biggs
05-07-2010, 02:40 AM
If the candle woulda smelled like bacon, it might be different.

BillyJeanKing
05-07-2010, 02:42 AM
:word:


i'd buy it fo sho

theholycow
05-08-2010, 07:04 PM
http://www.wtnh.com/dpps/news/strange/lord-jesus-christ-his-real-name-hit-by-mass-car-jgr_3346685
Lord Jesus Christ hit by Mass. car
His real name, according to his ID

Updated: Friday, 07 May 2010, 8:49 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 07 May 2010, 8:49 AM EDT
Barry Kriger

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Northampton police issued a traffic citation this week to a driver whose car hit Lord Jesus Christ.

It happened Tuesday on Main Street in front of Fitzwilly's.

Lt. Michael Patenaude told 22News 50-year-old Lord Jesus Christ of Belchertown was struck as he crossed Main Street a little after 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

20-year-old Brittany Cantarella of Pittsfield was cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

Lord Jesus Christ was treated for facial injuries at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

Lt. Patenaude said Lord Jesus Christ had a Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles identification card. Officers checked his ID and discovered that, indeed, his legal name is Lord Jesus Christ.

http://www.wtnh.com/dpps/news/strange/la-county-probes-alleged-beauty-salon-in-baby-icu-jgr_3346636
Alleged beauty salon in baby ICU probed
'We've quickly taken decisive action'

Updated: Friday, 07 May 2010, 7:36 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 07 May 2010, 7:36 AM EDT

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Two county hospital workers were placed on paid leave after anonymous complaints that they set up a makeshift beauty salon in an intensive care ward for newborns, authorities said.

The two complaints said manicures and eyebrow waxes were given to nurses and doctors in the neonatal intensive care unit at county-run Olive View-UCLA Medical Center.

"The smell of acetone permeates the back area of the NICU," according to one complaint obtained by the Los Angeles Times and reported Thursday.

The same complaint alleged a doctor "had a French manicure right on the high-frequency ventilator."

No babies in the intensive care unit were harmed, officials said.

The complaints were made to the Joint Commission, a nonprofit group that accredits the hospital. The panel asked the hospital to respond to the complaints by May 17.

The county Department of Health Services sent an investigator to the hospital on Tuesday and has placed two employees on paid leave while it investigates.

"We've quickly taken decisive action," said Carol Meyer, the health department's chief network officer.

One complaint also alleged the neonatal ICU is understaffed and unqualified doctors and staff made mistakes and failed to report them.

Those allegations also are being investigated, Meyer said.

"There's no patient who is unsafe," she said.

The hospital also is investigating the complaints, chief executive Carolyn Rhee.

"The first concern of the hospital is always patient safety and quality of care," she said.

:wtf:

Cez★
05-10-2010, 05:31 PM
http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/10/roger-ebert-vs-tea-party-supporters-on-twitter/?hpt=Mid

Cez★
05-10-2010, 08:32 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100510/ap_on_en_ot/us_sept11_sculpture_ebay

Cez★
05-11-2010, 07:40 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100510/ap_on_re_us/us_immigration_architect

---------- Post added at 01:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:26 PM ----------

The early debate over Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan's record is focusing squarely on the controversial decision she made as Harvard Law School's dean to temporarily ban military recruiters from campus over objections to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Kagan was concerned at the time that the military's policy banning gays from serving openly was violating the school's anti-discrimination rules.

Republican senators, aside from questioning the solicitor general's lack of judicial experience, said after President Obama nominated her to the high court Monday that the recruitment stand-off will be front and center during the confirmation process.

"She has taken very few policy positions, and the one policy position that she took in favor of gay rights when she was dean of the Harvard Law School, directly contrary to congressional law ... troubled many," Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., told Fox News, accusing Kagan of putting her "gay rights agenda above U.S. law."

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the move was a "step too far" and that Kagan would "have to deal with that" in the weeks ahead.

Vice President Biden defended Kagan on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday, saying she made the right call and showed no discrimination in her decision to side with universities in a brief to the Supreme Court against allowing recruiters on campus.

"All during that period, she has reached out to veterans in the law school, she has been at promotions ceremonies, she's recognized veterans coming to the law school. So this is not a single bit of anti-military bias. She DOES think, and I agree with her, that the don't-ask-don't-tell policy is a very bad policy," he said.

Kagan's battle with recruiters at Harvard took several twists and turns and was not a stand unique to her term as dean. Harvard had banned recruiters from the main recruitment office for more than two decades by time Kagan got there.

After the Solomon Amendment was passed, allowing the federal government to cut off funding to campuses that ban recruiters, the military was allowed to recruit students through the Harvard Law School Veterans Association, a student group.

However, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Republicans in Congress called it a disgrace that military recruiters were being hampered in a time of war, and the Bush administration threatened to cut off funding.

In 2002, Harvard Law School relented and allowed military recruiters to use a campus office. Kagan continued that policy after becoming dean in 2003, the same year a major lawsuit was brought by 36 law schools challenging the Solomon Amendment. Harvard did not join the lawsuit, but filed a brief siding with the other schools. At the time Kagan called "don't ask, don't tell" a "moral injustice of the first order."

She had her chance to act in 2004, after the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the Solomon Amendment unconstitutional. The next day, Kagan banned military recruiters from using the campus office, though still allowed work through the veterans group.

However, under the threat of another funding cutoff, Harvard relented and Kagan allowed the recruiters to use a campus placement office.

In 2005, the Supreme Court unanimously reversed the 3rd Circuit, finding it constitutional to deny funding to schools that do not allow military recruiting. Afterward, Kagan wrote to the Harvard Law School community to express her displeasure with the ruling.

"I have said before how much I regret making this exception to our anti-discrimination policy. I believe the military's discriminatory employment policy is deeply wrong -- both unwise and unjust. ... I look forward to the time when all our students can pursue any career path they desire, including the path of devoting their professional lives to the defense of their country," she wrote.

The unanimous ruling was a blow to Kagan and has been used to question her judgment.

"It is unfortunate that President Barack Obama has chosen to replace the only military veteran on the Supreme Court with extensive wartime experience with a nominee whose only significant record indicates deliberate hostility and opposition to laws protecting the culture and best interests of the American military," read a statement from Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Mlitary Readiness.

Still, some Republicans have indicated they're open to considering her nomination and potentially even voting for her. Seven Republicans voted for her as solicitor general last year -- she is not considered a highly controversial pick, despite the military issue.

"I think she should be given a full chance to explain (the recruitment decision), and she will be given that chance," Sessions said.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/11/kagans-role-military-recruitment-scrutinized/?test=latestnews

BillyJeanKing
05-12-2010, 12:46 PM
:scum:

http://www.ajc.com/news/razor-blades-found-taped-524634.html

theholycow
05-12-2010, 01:33 PM
:wtf: :scum:

Cez★
05-14-2010, 04:40 PM
http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/lady-gaga-to-paparazzi-singer-12-stay-away-from-girls--1234

---------- Post added at 10:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:15 AM ----------

...
Outraged family members and community groups are accusing a Muslim group of trying to rewrite history with its plans to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center just two blocks from Ground Zero, where Islamic extremists flew two planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

"This is a place which is 600 feet from where almost 3,000 people were torn to pieces by Islamic extremists," said Debra Burlingame, whose brother died in the attack on the Pentagon that day.

"I think that it is incredibly insensitive and audacious really for them to build a mosque, not only on that site, but to do it specifically so that they could be in proximity to where that atrocity happened," said Burlingame, who is co-founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America.

The 13-story mosque and cultural center will be built on the site of a four-story building that was a Burlington Coat Factory retail store until 9/11, when part of a plane's landing gear crashed through the roof. The building, which will be razed, currently houses a mosque.

The New York City Mayor's office says "It's private property, and the area is zoned for uses that include this one."
Pamela Gellar, executive director of Stop Islamization of America, blasted the organization behind the plans, Cordoba Initiative, and its leader, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, saying the project is "an insulting flag of conquest of Islamic supremacism."

"How can you build a shrine to the very ideology that brought down the World Trade Center?" asked Geller, whose group is planning a June 6 rally to protest the project.

"We have to do everything we can to stop this ... a huge Muslim monument, a stone's throw from Ground Zero, with a mosque pointing toward Mecca."

She called it an act of deception that the group has been able to get the green light from the Lower Manhattan Community Board, whose finance committee gave it a thumbs-up last week.

Though the Cordoba Initiative's website calls part of the $100 million-plus project a mosque, its founder, Imam Rauf, says the project is not a mosque but a community center for all faiths that will include recreational facilities, a prayer space and a 500-seat theater that can be a part of the neighborhood's trendy Tribeca Film Festival.

Rauf insists the effort is meant to help heal the wounds of 9/11, "We've approached the community because we want this to be an example of how we are cooperating with the members of the community, not only to provide services but also to build a new discourse on how Muslims and non-Muslims can cooperate together to push back against the voices of extremism."

But Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, president of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, says there are more productive ways to fight Islamic extremism.

"Even when they have the resources, they are using it for a place of worship, a cultural center for organizations," he said. They are not using it for a counterterrorism research center.

"They are not using it to lead the war like Americans need to see us do and they are wasting our resources, not to mention that being close to the hallowed ground that is so sensitive in the souls of the families of 9/11. I think it is extremely poor judgment."

Jasser also has questions about the financing.

According to reports, the building that occupies the site was purchased last year for $4.85 million in cash by Soho Properties, a real estate company run by Muslims. Imam Rauf, who's also the founder of American Society for Muslim Advancement, ASMA, was an investor in that transaction.

The balance of the $100-150 million total cost still needs to be raised, but Rauf says he's confident it will be.
Jasser says that with such a financial commitment, there needs to be full disclosure about where the money is coming from.

"There should be transparency about who those investors are," he said, "whether that money is coming from domestic interest or not, and if it's coming from foreign interests we need to know, because I think that's a liability, and it shows that there is another agenda rather than domestic security and tranquility."

Madeline Brooks, a member of the New York chapter of Act! for America, a non-profit organization that "is opposed to the authoritarian values of Islam fascism," believes the Cordoba Initiative's agenda is to co-opt the 9/11 narrative and transform it into a Muslim conquest.

"Is it a victory for Islam over non-Muslims?" she asks. "Is this a feather in his (Rauf's) cap?"

Brooks says she's received hundreds of angry e-mails from people who say they can't believe the audacity of this project. "Why here?" she asks. "Why are you offending and outraging people... stirring up a huge hornet's nest?"

Rauf says the intent is to do exactly the opposite. "[T]his is where we can amplify the voice of the moderates," he says. "We have been condemning terrorism since 9/11; our voices have not been heard."

"If they wanted peace and harmony," counters Brooks, "do you really think they'll get that?"

Burlingame says, "The idea that you would establish a religious institution that embraces the very Shariah Law that terrorists point to as their justification for what they did ... to build that where almost 3,000 people died, that is an obscenity to me."

Burlingame said she plans to attend a meeting next week of the full Community Board One. She and other groups are ramping up their opposition to the project and promise to wage a long fight to defeat it.

Chris
05-14-2010, 04:41 PM
epic fell

BillyJeanKing
05-14-2010, 04:43 PM
epic fell

lol WUT?

Cez★
05-14-2010, 04:45 PM
imo. but its private property :uhohshrug:


KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Activists took to the campus of the University of Tennessee on Friday to protest Al Gore's honorary doctorate for his work on climate change as the man behind a documentary challenging Gore hired a bannered-plane to fly over the graduation ceremony.

Protesters handed out mock graduation programs and degrees as well as dressed in Gore masks to add to the theatrical flare.

Journalist-turned-filmmaker Phelim McAleer, who made headlines for the film "Not Evil, Just Wrong," which challenges Gore's Oscar-winning "An Inconvenient Truth" told FoxNews.com that the sign behind the plane reads, "Mr. Gore, why send jobs to China?"

"What he is proposing has a very, very serious effect on America and the American economy," McAleer said, noting that he has tried many venues to get Gore to answer his questions about the data, which has come under suspicion following the release of thousands of e-mails from climate scientists that raise questions about internationally accepted data.

"I am disappointed that Al Gore has come to Knoxville and is once again appearing in public but won't makes himself available to journalists," McAleer said.

Gore won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize along with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his work on global warming. "An Inconvenient Truth" was awarded an Oscar for documentary filmmaking and several other accolades.

Gore was awarded an honorary doctorate in laws and humane letters in ecology and evolutionary biology by the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

In awarding the degree, UT Knoxville Chancellor Jimmy G. Cheek said the former vice president is "among the most accomplished and respected Tennesseans in history."

"Vice President Gore's career has been marked by visionary leadership, and his work has quite literally changed our planet for the better," Cheek said in a university announcement of the award.

But members of the group called Collegians for a Constructive Tomorrow, described as a "non-profit, nationwide grassroots organization that deals with environmental and energy issues from a free-market perspective," say the former vice president is completely misguided.

"First he got a Nobel prize although he didn't bring peace, now he's getting an honorary degree for scaring Americans with flawed science," Dillon MacDonald, a CFACT-TN leader said in a statement on the group's website. "He flies in private jets, just bought another mansion, yet tells working people their houses are too large, their showers too warm, their cars too fast and our economy too free. We should give him a doctors in hypocrisy."

Evan Dent, a member of CFACT, told FoxNews.com that about 25 protesters were kept in a "free-speech zone" a fair distance from the 10,000-15,000 guests attending commencement ceremonies, but that hadn't stopped them from making their opposition known.

"It is a graduation, these students deserve to have their moment to shine but we also want to say, 'Hey, it's bad the university is honoring Al Gore,'" she said.

Cez★
05-14-2010, 09:03 PM
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/14/new-british-cabinet-criticized-lacking-diversity-failing-include-women/

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister David Cameron's three-day-old administration was criticized by activists, the press and even his new coalition partners Friday for picking an almost entirely white, male and upper-class Cabinet despite pledging that his Conservative party would no longer be an old boys club.

Cameron and his deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats, both grew up in wealthy families and attended elite schools. The 23-member Cabinet they selected after forging a coalition government this week includes Britain's first female Muslim to sit at Cabinet, but only three other women. Only two run government departments, the mark of influence and power.

Twenty-two Cabinet members are white, and at least 16 went to top universities Oxford or Cambridge.

Cameron has been trying to detoxify the image of the Conservative party as a small club of aristocrats hostile to minorities and indifferent to the poor. He's been including more minority candidates and pledged in his campaign that a third of senior government jobs would go to women.

The participation of the left-leaning Lib Dems also raised expectations of more diversity, now dashed.

"Cabinet jobs for well-heeled school chums," the Daily Mirror tabloid scoffed. "A huge step backward," wrote gender rights activists in a letter to The Times. "Awash with buddies, backslapping and in-jokes," said a columnist for The Guardian newspaper.

Radio shows were inundated by complaints about the lack of women and minorities in the upper echelons of power.

"When you look at the negotiating teams, they were male and pale," Liberal Democrat lawmaker Lynne Featherstone told the BBC, referring to senior leaders from both parties who cobbled together the power-sharing deal. "We must do better."

Other European nations have greater gender equity at the top. About half of Norway and Sweden's Cabinets consist of women, and Germany has six women in its current 16-member Cabinet. Six of Austria's 13 top ministers are female. In Switzerland, women make up less than a third of the parliament, but within Cabinet there are three women out of seven members.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair had six women in his 2005 Cabinet. Gordon Brown, who resigned this week, had five in his team.

"The numbers (of women in government) have certainly gone down, and so has the significance of the posts they hold," said Margaret Beckett, who served as foreign secretary under Blair. "(Cameron's) rhetoric has been that we need to bring more women into the administration, but his decisions have not matched that."

Eight percent of Britain's population consists of ethnic minorities, with Indians being the largest group followed by Pakistanis.

Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim woman to sit at Cabinet, has not been given a defined policy area.

Theresa May, the most senior female figure in the Conservative Party and the new Home Secretary, will also serve as minister for equalities.

Her appointment was questioned by some gay rights activists. Although praised as a Conservative modernizer, May voted against equalizing the age of sexual consent for gays and heterosexuals in 1998, and in 2002 she voted against letting gay couples adopt children. May did, however, vote in favor of civil partnerships.

Analysts say Cameron's efforts to increase diversity in the party's upper ranks by recruiting women candidates — mockingly dubbed "Cameron's cuties" by the press — didn't work because the new recruits don't yet have enough experience.

"Cameron — and Clegg — were acutely aware they have very few women on which they could credibly draw," said Colin Hay, a politics professor at the University of Sheffield. "The politics of the past was gender discriminatory ... the irony, in a way, is that the Cabinet remains a sort of last bastion of that old order."

Cez★
05-19-2010, 03:14 PM
:roflpow:
Some Giants fans think the throw was intentional, but Padres pitcher Mat Latos(notes) says it was an accident.

Either way, the young San Diego righty says he's sorry that a ball he threw into the stands during last Tuesday's batting practice cleared the left-field concourse at AT&T Park and did some Jason Heyward-type damage in the player's parking lot just beyond the ballpark.

The baseball crashed upon the sunroof of the new Honda Civic owned by Giants announcer Dave Flemming. The jilted jalopy is still in the shop awaiting an estimate for its DL time, but Latos says he'll pay the bill once the Giants forward it to him.

Here's what Latos told Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News on Monday night in San Diego:

"I've heard people are saying I threw it over the Coke bottle (in left field). That's not even close to true. Look, people are going to believe whatever they want to believe. If they send me a bill, I'll pay it. I'm sorry it happened and I'll be responsible for it. But I didn't know there was a parking lot back there. I wasn't trying to throw it out of the stadium."

Since I'm not a mind reader and am unfamiliar with the AT&T Park setup, I'm going to take Latos' word for it. The 22-year-old tells Baggarly that he did learn a valuable lesson, though:

"When you throw a ball in the stands. Throw it to the guy in the first row."

Padres fans, I'm guessing, won't mind if Latos keeps intentionally vandalizing the Giants' lineup on the field. He'll start Tuesday night's game against San Francisco at Petco Park having already been a smashing success against the team on two separate occasions. He nearly pitched a perfect game against the Giants last Thursday and is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA (and only five hits allowed) over 16 innings this season.

BillyJeanKing
05-20-2010, 07:34 PM
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/05/19/michelle-obama-hears-immigration-plea-from-girl-worried-about-de/?icid=main|htmlws-bv-n|dl2|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2 010%2F05%2F19%2Fmichelle-obama-hears-immigration-plea-from-girl-worried-about-de%2F

Cez★
05-21-2010, 03:30 PM
Republican lawmakers from the top national security committees in Congress roundly criticized the White House for forcing the resignation of Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, saying the spy chief took the fall for other top officials who President Obama chose to protect.

Blair, who had a reputation as a "know-it-all" on Capitol Hill, was not the most popular member of the Obama administration. He also had been feuding with CIA Director Leon Panetta and other officials. His off-the-cuff public comments have caused problems for the administration and a scathing report released just days ago outlining intelligence failures before the attempted Christmas Day bombing -- one of three major security breaches since last fall -- could have put the nail in the coffin.

But top-ranking Republicans called the change-up a crass political move by Obama that ignored more entrenched intelligence problems in the administration. They said Blair's authority had been systematically weakened during his 16-month tenure and pointed the finger at Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan.

"Blair's resignation is the result of the Obama administration's rampant politicization of national security and outright disregard for congressional intelligence oversight," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. "Dennis Blair was the one person you could count on for rationality among Holder, Napolitano and Brennan -- and he's the one the president let go."

The lawmakers slammed the administration for transferring intelligence oversight to the White House and Justice Department -- in an apparent reference to the decision to create a specialized interrogation unit under the purview of the FBI and subject to oversight from the White House-based National Security Council.

"It must have been challenging to be forced on the sidelines by the attorney general but still catch all the blame for failings," Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told Fox News.

The White House has already been interviewing potential successors. An administration official told Fox News that "several strong candidates" are in the running.

Some lawmakers, while praising Blair for his service, withheld criticism of the administration's decision, suggesting a change in leadership was needed after a string of high-profile plots against the United States.

A report from the Senate Intelligence Committee this week found 14 intelligence failures that allowed suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to allegedly board a plane to Detroit on Christmas Day armed with explosives. That came after the deadly Fort Hood shooting in November. Then on May 1, suspect Faisal Shahzad, an American citizen of Pakistani descent, allegedly tried to blow up a vehicle filled with explosives. As with the Christmas Day attempt, the explosives failed to properly detonate and the vigilance of bystanders helped defuse the situation.

"This type of failure cannot be tolerated," Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said.

Senators are apparently eager to hear Blair's side of the story. His resignation is effective May 28.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said in a statement that he looks forward to meeting with Blair "to understand why he is leaving his office now and whether he thinks the DNI needs more statutory authority than it currently has."

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, accused the administration of stifling Blair.

"It is unfortunate that the Obama administration did not allow him to do his job and tried to make him the scapegoat for the administration's intelligence failures. The problem was not with Dennis Blair, but with the White House itself, which, under John Brennan, attempts to control intelligence policy beyond the scope of congressional oversight while withholding necessary information from Congress," he said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/21/lawmakers-slam-white-house-blair-resignation-spy-chief-scapegoat/

---------- Post added at 09:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:28 AM ----------

wonder whos going to fill the spot

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/20/national-intelligence-director-dennis-blair-resigning/
National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair said Thursday he will resign in the wake of a series of successful and attempted attacks that critics said pointed to U.S. intelligence failures -- from the Fort Hood shooting to the failed Christmas Day bombing plot to the attempted Times Square bombing.

"It is with deep regret that I informed the president today that I will step down as director of National Intelligence effective Friday, May 28th," Blair said in a written statement. "I have had no greater honor or pleasure than to lead the remarkably talented and patriotic men and women of the Intelligence Community."

In a written statement, President Obama said he was "grateful" for Blair's leadership in the job.

"During his time as DNI, our intelligence community has performed admirably and effectively at a time of great challenges to our security, and I have valued his sense of purpose and patriotism," he said.

"He and I both share a deep admiration for the men and women of our intelligence community, who are performing extraordinary and indispensable service to our nation," he said.

related links
RAW DATA: National Intelligence Director Blair's Resignation Letter
Intelligence Director Knew His Days Were Numbered
The president is already is interviewing potential successors.

"We have been interviewing several strong candidates to be his replacement," an administration official told Fox News.

A retired Navy admiral, Blair is the third director of national intelligence, a position created in response to the 9/11 attacks.

Blair's tenure as the overseer of the nation's intelligence agencies was marked by turf battles with CIA Director Leon Panetta and controversial public comments in the wake of the Christmas Day airliner bombing attempt.

The enmity between Blair and Panetta is well known, one Democratic senator told Fox News.

Republican lawmakers blamed the Obama administration for Blair's resignation.

"Blair deserves this nation's thanks for his long service to our country," said Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri, the ranking Republican member on the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It must have been challenging to be forced on the sidelines by the attorney general but still catch all the blame for failings."

Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said Blair's resignation "is the result of the Obama administration's rampant politicization of national security and outright disregard for congressional intelligence oversight."

"Blair's resignation is disturbing and unfortunate," he said in a written statement. "The concerns I have come from how the Obama administration conducts national security, not over the director of national intelligence, who they never allowed to do it."

Hoekstra said Blair was more rational than Attorney General Eric Holder, Homeland Security Janet Napolitano or White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan.

"Congressional Republicans we will be watching closely who the president plans to name as a successor," he added.

Blair is described by some who worked with him as direct and straight-talking. The approach did not always mesh well with the White House, where increasingly, intelligence-related matters were being channeled to Brennan.

In the last six months, attempted attacks on the United States seemed to underscore gaps in the system. Earlier this week, a report by the Senate Intelligence Committee identified 14 "specific points of failure" that allowed Christmas Day bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to travel to the United States.

The report criticized the National Counter Terrorism Center, which is under Blair's control, concluding the agency had the tools for the job but was not organized properly to fulfill its mission. And with the post-Sept. 11 emphasis on sharing intelligence, there was a lack of ownership.

Cez★
05-24-2010, 05:12 PM
HOUSTON - The teen who was stabbed at school on Friday is home from the hospital and shares his story Only on FOX.

Trevien Thomas, 15, had his throat slashed by another student as he left North Shore Senior High School Ninth Grade Campus. The attack took place on the school grounds and the boy's mother and two younger siblings witnessed it.

"To see how close it was to his main artery and he missed it by one inch. One inch," said Terra Crooms, mother of the attacked teen.

After classes on Friday, Thomas walked out of the North Shore campus and his mother was there to pick him up.

"My momma was walking toward me. And I just grabbed my neck and I looked in my hand and I had a hand full of blood and I saw him and I said, "Man, you stabbed me!," said Thomas.

Crooms told FOX 26 News anchor Damali Keith that she saw a boy reach from behind her son and slash his throat with a box cutter. She then explained how saw her son in a fight for his life.

"He tried to kill my son. He really tried to take his life right there in front of me," said Crooms.

"I was dizzy, like everything around me was just spinning and my legs started shaking and I just dropped," said Thomas. He also said he was not sure why his classmate stabbed him.

In the cafeteria on Friday, the suspect stared Thomas down before the attack and used a slicing motion across his throat, explained Thomas.

Other than that threatening motion across his neck, Thomas said that nothing else happened before the alleged attack.

Crooms said the boy who stabbed her son is friends with a group of boys who she says bullied her son in 2009. She presented documents to FOX 26 from complaints she made to the school.

"There's a huge elephant in the room out in North Shore that no one wants to address. There's a problem between black and Hispanic youth," said community activist Quanell X.

"We sit on one side of the classroom. They sit on the other side of the classroom. We don't never sit together. We don't do nothing together. We don't play basketball together," said Thomas.

Quanell X said that Houston-area leaders will have to join school officials and parents to end what this family calls an awful racial divide.

"I just want everything to stop because I don't want nobody else to get hurt," said Thomas.

The student accused in the stabbing was taken into custody on the North Shore campus. He has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

A spokesperson for the Galena Park Independent School District said that the district is not aware of any racial problems involving the students.

FOX 26 learned that extra deputies will be at North Shore as a precaution on Monday as the students return for their final weeks of classes.

BillyJeanKing
05-25-2010, 06:12 PM
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/dpp/good_day_xtra/Catherine-Ariemma-Discusses-KKK-Controversy-20100524-gda-sd

BillyJeanKing
05-26-2010, 03:51 PM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1281538/Smoking-year-old-Ardi-Rizal-40-cigarettes-day.html?ITO=1490

Cez★
05-26-2010, 04:13 PM
:roflfp:

---------- Post added at 10:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:53 AM ----------

:rofl: sounds liek calderon needs to worry bout his country before a states law
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/26/mexican-authorities-arrest-cancun-mayor-drug-money-laundering-charges-1409098273/

BillyJeanKing
05-26-2010, 04:42 PM
http://worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhv25c5r27370gQ6lk

stonehenge
05-26-2010, 04:44 PM
She must be hawt

BillyJeanKing
05-26-2010, 04:50 PM
:roflmao:

Cez★
05-28-2010, 03:26 PM
http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/entertainment/2009/11/11/celebrity-veterans#slide=1?test=faces

BillyJeanKing
06-02-2010, 12:03 AM
http://www.bvblackspin.com/2010/05/31/glenn-beck-malia-obama/?icid=main|htmlws-bv-n|dl3|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bvblackspin.com%2F201 0%2F05%2F31%2Fglenn-beck-malia-obama%2F%0D%0A

BillyJeanKing
06-02-2010, 12:25 PM
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/university-of-texas-dorm-named-for-ku-klux-klan-leader/19497081?icid=main|aim|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww. aolnews.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Funiversity-of-texas-dorm-named-for-ku-klux-klan-leader%2F19497081

stonehenge
06-02-2010, 03:01 PM
our university has a dorm called Osama and one called Adolf :shrug:

BillyJeanKing
06-02-2010, 03:06 PM
:wtf:

LIAR!!!

stonehenge
06-02-2010, 03:14 PM
:cheeky:

Cez★
06-03-2010, 09:54 PM
Civil rights groups have asked the Bureau of Prisons to shutter or at least loosen restrictive federal prison units that they say house a disproportionate number of Muslims.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights say the communications management units, or CMUs, at Terre Haute, Ind., and Marion, Ill., place draconian restrictions on inmates' contact with the outside world and even their own families without offering any reason. They also say inmates can be placed in the CMU without being told why, and have no way to earn their way out.

Prisons bureau spokesman Edmond Ross said the units are intended to house those for whom outside contact poses a heightened security risk but who don't need to be placed in the federal SuperMax prison in Florence, Colo.

But ACLU spokesman Will Matthews said the units should be shut down. "There's no justification for their existence," he said.

While the Center doesn't call for the outright closure of the units, it says major reforms are needed to protect inmates' rights.

"We're saying that the CMUs as they currently operate are unconstitutional," said attorney Rachel Meeropol.

The groups filed their latest comments criticizing the prisons bureau's proposed rule governing the CMUs Wednesday, during a public comment period for the rule that ends June 7. The prisons bureau published the rule in April, 10 months after the ACLU sued the agency for operating the Terre Haute unit since 2006 without following federal rulemaking procedures.

The groups saw little improvement under the new rule — and said in some ways it would be even more restrictive. CMU inmates would be allowed only one 15-minute phone call and one hourlong visit per month, only with immediate family members. Inmates would be forbidden to touch visitors, including their own children.

The ACLU contends the units were designed to house terrorists, but also hold inmates convicted of other offenses. Among the inmates at the CMU in Terre Haute is American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh.

Both groups contend a disproportionate number of CMU inmates — perhaps as many as 60 to 70 percent — are Muslim. The Center also contends that others are assigned to the CMU because of their political beliefs. In one case, it says, an inmate was transferred out of the CMU after he agreed to drop a lawsuit against the prisons bureau.

Meeropol said she believes a large percentage of inmates are placed in CMU because of a vague suspicion of Muslims. Since prison officials aren't required to provide reasons for the transfers, such policies go unchecked, she said.

"The lack of due process allows for transfers based on nothing other than suspicion of a religious group," she said.

It also allows the prisons bureau to take steps to silence prisoners it deems "troublemakers," she said.

Ross declined to respond due to the pending litigation and said he didn't have access to how many inmates might be Muslim.

Both groups, along with the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law, say the proposed rule doesn't address concerns over the lack of due process. Inmates can be transferred to the CMU without a hearing like those required in other transfers, and procedures for challenging placement are inadequate, the groups say.

"The thin procedures contemplated by the proposed rule will land inmates in CMUs whose presence there is unjustified, and leave them with no meaningful way to challenge their designation," said the comment submitted by the Brennan Center.

The Brennan Center comment also said the criteria for CMU inmate placement were "overbroad" and recommended officials allow contact visits with family members unless evidence shows the inmate will abuse the visits.

The prisons bureau has filed a motion to dismiss the ACLU's pending lawsuit, arguing it is moot since the agency has started the rulemaking procedure. But Matthews contends the procedure isn't complete, so the lawsuit isn't moot.

The Center for Constitutional Rights filed a separate lawsuit in March, alleging the units violate inmates' constitutional rights. The prisons bureau hasn't filed a legal response.


wtf? pretty stupid imo

stonehenge
06-03-2010, 09:55 PM
you know what i say to that post

Cez★
06-03-2010, 09:58 PM
:emodoor:

stonehenge
06-03-2010, 10:00 PM
:security:

Biggs
06-03-2010, 10:21 PM
Epic Fail: Mom charged in Xbox theft (http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/content/2010/jun/02/epic-fail-mom-charged-xbox-theft/)

stonehenge
06-03-2010, 10:30 PM
my mom never stole game consoles for me :emo:

Biggs
06-03-2010, 10:53 PM
Mine either. I was deprived...

Cez★
06-04-2010, 05:46 PM
A Connecticut School District's showdown with the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State has come to end -- at least for a year.

With the clock ticking, the Enfield School Board voted 5-4 Thursday night not to appeal a preliminary injunction by U.S. District Judge Janet Hall, who ruled Monday that it was unconstitutional for the district's two high schools to hold their commencement ceremonies at a church.

The vote means the schools will hold their 2010 graduation ceremonies on school grounds.

"We're quite pleased about the vote," said Alex Luchenitser, senior litigation counsel for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "The board did the right thing to help the students in the community put this behind them. It allows the schools and the principals to finalize graduation instead having plans up in the air. We want to assure every student can enjoy the graduation without it becoming very divisive.”

But his opponent in the case was far from pleased with the school board's vote.

"I was shocked. I was stunned," said Vincent McCarthy, the attorney with the American Center for Law and Justice. "I thought the decision was pro forma. We had a good chance."

School Board Chairman Greg Stokes was also surprised. Up until the start of Thursday night's meeting, he'd gotten assurances from five board members that they would vote for the appeal.

"The plan was to vote to appeal then work on the backup plan just in case," Stokes said. "I don't know what happened."

Jordan Sekulow, an attorney with the Center for Law and Justice, had felt all along that the case was winnable and that Judge Hall did not consider two similar cases that ruled in favor of the school districts. "This kind of case can go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court where it impacts every school district, and that's why it's important," Sekulow said.

Enfield was one of five school districts in Connecticut that planned to hold commencement ceremonies for its high schools at First Cathedral, a megachurch in Bloomfield with state-of-the-art facilities, plenty of legroom and ample parking.

School Board president Greg Stokes says, "When they (the school board) narrowed it down, we came to conclusion as a board that First Cathedral was the right place for the right price.... one-stop shopping."

Stokes said the Enfield football field was off limits because the newly installed Astroturf required a protective covering. (Failure to protect the turf would nullify its warranty.) The small gym would allow only two tickets per students, and there's no air conditioning -- a cause for concern in late June. But now that the board has decided not to appeal, the gym will be the likely site.

Enfield wasn't the only school district singing the praises of First Cathedral.

"We had a great ceremony there," said Mary Alice Dwyer Hughes, chairwoman of the East Hartford School Board. She said the parents loved it and "the kids got a great ceremony."

Last fall the ACLU sent out letters to each of the five districts telling them that if they continued with plans to hold graduations at the church, they would be in violation of the Constitution's establishment clause and that the ACLU would take legal action.

Four of the schools heeded the warning and dropped their plans. Enfield, which has two high schools, stayed the course -- but only after being assured by the Center for Law and Justice that it would handle the legal costs.

On Thursday, the Enfield board voted not to appeal because it wanted to give the students certainty about the location of their commencement. The decision was met by loud boos and jeers from parents and students who packed the meeting.

But for at least the three of the other four districts, the issue came down to money. With limited budgets, the school districts felt it was safer to back down rather than spend tens of thousands of dollars in a legal battle.

"We've got to a worry about keeping teachers and keeping our expenses down," said Dwyer Hughes. "Money is tight."

"The bottom line," said Dr. Elizabeth Feser, superintendent of Windsor Schools, "the board felt that if it remained with the Cathedral and faced the ACLU, the cost to the taxpayers would be significant and the board could not justify that cost."

Windsor School District has held commencement ceremonies at First Cathedral since 2001. Only in 2008 did it change venues, because of a scheduling conflict. In the past all nine school board members voted in favor of the megachurch venue. Dr. Feser said the board also contacted a local rabbi to ensure that he did not have a problem with it.

Now East Hartford is paying double for an alternative location, and Windsor is paying double and a half. But both school districts, as well as South Windsor, say it is cheaper than waging a protracted legal battle.

"We received similar legal advice from our council, that the litigation cost would be substantial," said Rob Kozaczka, superintendent of schools in South Windsor. "We had to give closure to our kids so they would know where their commencement ceremony would be held."

Sekulow said he had hoped the Enfield case would set an example for other school districts nationwide. "They get a lot of scary letters from the ACLU which has no precedent whatsoever from the Supreme Court, to say this is unconstitutional," he said. "In fact, the precedent from other circuit courts and districts is on the side of the school districts."

But Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which fought with the ACLU to have the venue changed, said the judge made the right call. “The court’s ruling will ensure that no student or parent has to choose between missing their own graduation and being subjected to a religious environment of a faith to which they do not subscribe,” Luchenitser said after the ruling. “It is unconstitutional and wrong for a school district to subject students and families to religious messages as the price of attending graduation.”

Andrew Schneider, Executive Director of the ACLU in Connecticut, said in a statement after Monday's ruling: "We are pleased that the court has found that holding a public high school graduation ceremony in an overtly religious setting is inappropriate when comparable secular facilities are available. The Enfield Schools' plans to hold the ceremonies in a church created an unnecessary divisive atmosphere for what should be a positive and inclusive event for all students."

But Sekulow said the only divisiveness was caused by the ACLU. "The ACLU may be able to scare off some towns," he said, "but there are always towns and cities that are willing to take a stand. And when they do they can set a precedent for the entire nation."

McCarthy and the Center for Law and Justice have filed a motion to recuse, arguing that the judge's husband, David Schaefer, is a board member and officer with the Anti Defamation League, which sent a letter to the school last November demanding the school not use First Cathedral for graduation ceremonies. McCarthy says the judge was aware of that letter on May 24, before the hearings even began.

"Any reasonable person would see that as an appearance of impropriety," he said. "She should vacate the decision."

BillyJeanKing
06-04-2010, 05:47 PM
my mom never stole game consoles for me :emo:

:wtf:

then yo momma ain't love yo ass :nono:

stonehenge
06-04-2010, 06:06 PM
:bawl:

theholycow
06-04-2010, 10:50 PM
tldr, I only read half of it.

Seems reasonable to me...public schools shouldn't hold ceremonies in churches, even when the facility is so much nicer; and they sure as hell shouldn't spend tax money on a legal battle over the idea.

Cez★
06-11-2010, 03:14 PM
bump.

Sarah Weyrick posted her need for extra cash on the popular website under Personals and Casual Encounters, police said.

Her post read, "Need help with a couple on bills -- just two bills. Tough times call for drastic measures."

Investigators said Weyrick lived just a few blocks from where she was found dead on June 2.

Weyrick had only been living in Houston for three months when she was found dead at the Mansions of Shadowbriar apartments, 12100 Overbrook Lane, in southwest Houston. Her body was discovered in the back seat of her burned gold Toyota Camry at around 2 a.m.

Police found a milk carton filled with a possible accelerant near the charred car. Weyrick's cause of death was multiple stab wounds to her neck.

Weyrick, who was originally from Burlington, Iowa, moved to Houston to spend time with her dad and to get a fresh start after high school.

Anyone with any information on Weyrick's death is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

A $5,000 reward is being offered in the case.

BillyJeanKing
06-22-2010, 01:03 AM
http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/media/madoffs-9-billion-stash-claim-is-likely-a-desperate-ploy-to/19524607/?icid=main|htmlws-bv-n|dl2|link2|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyfinance.com%2Fst ory%2Fmedia%2Fmadoffs-9-billion-stash-claim-is-likely-a-desperate-ploy-to%2F19524607%2F

note to self: if you ever get busted for insider trading make sure you wire transfer all your funds to AOT guys to keep teh pigs off your back

stonehenge
06-22-2010, 06:03 AM
and to make AOT gaiz rish like eddeh :cheeky:

Cez★
06-22-2010, 07:59 PM
A federal judge struck down the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, saying the government rashly concluded that because one rig failed, the others are in immediate danger, too.

The White House promised an immediate appeal. The Interior Department had halted approval of any new permits for deepwater drilling and suspended drilling of 33 exploratory wells in the Gulf.

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama believes strongly that drilling at such depths does not make sense and puts the safety of workers "at a danger that the president does not believe we can afford."

Several companies that ferry people and supplies and provide other services to offshore drilling rigs asked U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman in New Orleans to overturn the moratorium.

They argued it was arbitrarily imposed after the April 20 explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that killed 11 workers and blew out the well 5,000 feet underwater. It has spewed anywhere from 67 million to 127 million gallons of oil into the Gulf.

Feldman sided with the companies, saying in his ruling the Interior Department assumed that because one rig failed, all companies and rigs doing deepwater drilling pose an imminent danger.

"The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is an unprecedented, sad, ugly and inhuman disaster," he wrote. "What seems clear is that the federal government has been pressed by what happened on the Deepwater Horizon into an otherwise sweeping confirmation that all Gulf deepwater drilling activities put us all in a universal threat of irreparable harm."

His ruling prohibits federal officials from enforcing the moratorium until a trial is held. He did not set a trial date.

The Interior Department said it needed time to study the risks of deepwater drilling. But the lawsuit filed by Hornbeck Offshore Services of Covington, La., claimed there was no proof the other operations posed a threat.

Company CEO Todd Hornbeck said after the ruling that he is looking forward to getting back to work.

"It's the right thing for not only the industry but the country," he said.

Earlier in the day, executives at a major oil conference in London warned that the moratorium would cripple world energy supplies. Steven Newman, president and CEO of Transocean Ltd., owner of the rig that exploded, called it an unnecessary overreaction. BP PLC was leasing the rig.

"There are things the administration could implement today that would allow the industry to go back to work tomorrow without an arbitrary six-month time limit," Newman told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

The moratorium was declared May 6 and originally was to last only through the month. Obama announced May 27 that he was extending it for six months.

In Louisiana, Gov. Bobby Jindal and corporate leaders said that would force drilling rigs to leave the Gulf of Mexico for lucrative business in foreign waters.

They said the loss of business would cost the area thousands of lucrative jobs, most paying more than $50,000 a year. The state's other major economic sector, tourism, is a largely low-wage industry.

Tim Kerner, the mayor of Lafitte, La., cheered Feldman's ruling.

"I love it. I think it's great for the jobs here and the people who depend on them," said Kerner, whose constituents make their living primarily from commercial fishing or oil.

But in its response to the lawsuit, the Interior Department said the moratorium is needed as attempts to stop the leak and clean the Gulf continue and new safety standards are developed.

"A second deepwater blowout could overwhelm the efforts to respond to the current disaster," the Interior Department said.

The government also challenged contentions the moratorium would cause long-term economic harm. Although 33 deepwater drilling sites were affected, there are still 3,600 oil and natural gas production platforms in the Gulf.

Catherine Wannamaker, a lawyer for environmental groups that intervened in the case and supported the moratorium, called the ruling "a step in the wrong direction."

"We think it overlooks the ongoing harm in the Gulf, the devastation it has had on people's lives," she said. "The harm at issue with the Deepwater Horizon spill is bigger than just the Louisiana economy. It affects all of the Gulf."

BillyJeanKing
06-22-2010, 08:10 PM
cez

go back and read teh first post :cheeky:

Cez★
06-22-2010, 08:15 PM
YS, GF

cliffz-read the fucking thing.
jk jk. first sentance of the article pretty mash serves as cliffs

BillyJeanKing
06-22-2010, 08:18 PM
:emo:

i triez to limit mah word intake

Cez★
06-22-2010, 08:24 PM
you just surpassed ze limit

stonehenge
06-22-2010, 09:35 PM
thread = tfl, dnr

BillyJeanKing
06-27-2010, 03:49 AM
:facepalm:

http://mediatakeout.com/external/41782

Cez★
06-30-2010, 08:43 PM
An independent review of last year's arrest of black Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. by a white police sergeant says both men missed opportunities to "ratchet down" the situation and end things more calmly.

The review released Wednesday said the incident was sparked by "misunderstandings and failed communications," and by a "certain degree of fear" each man had for the other.

Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley arrested Gates for disorderly conduct at his home July 16 while investigating a possible burglary. Gates alleged he was a victim of racial profiling. Charges were later dropped.

The incident sparked a national debate on race relations and President Barack Obama invited both men to the White House for a "beer summit."

A lawyer for Gates said he was "disappointed" the report glossed over some details of the incident.

Sergeant Crowley released the following statement:

"I certainly don't expect anyone to fully understand the dynamics of the encounter when they weren't there, but I was pleased that the Committee took the time to speak with me and give my account of the arrest. No one that knows me thought that the arrest was based on race in any way. Arrests are based strictly on behavior. I've learned a lot through this process and I continue to be committed to the city of Cambridge, my responsibilities as a police officer and father, and my dedication to teaching fellow officers about the need for balancing tolerance and safety."

Cez★
07-02-2010, 02:31 PM
chicagos new proposed law
CHICAGO – With the city's gun ban certain to be overturned, Mayor Richard Daley on Thursday introduced what city officials say is the strictest handgun ordinance in the United States.

The measure, which draws from ordinances around the country, would ban gun shops in Chicago and prohibit gun owners from stepping outside their homes, even onto their porches or garages, with a handgun.

Daley announced his ordinance at a park on the city's South Side three days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a right to own a gun for self-defense anywhere they live. The City Council is expected to vote on it Friday.

"As long as I'm mayor, we will never give up or give in to gun violence that continues to threaten every part of our nation, including Chicago," said Daley, who was flanked by activists, city officials and the parents of a teenager whose son was shot and killed on a city bus while shielding a friend.

The ordinance, which Daley urged the City Council to pass, also would :

• Limit the number of handguns residents can register to one per month and prohibit residents from having more than one handgun in operating order at any given time.

• Require residents in homes with children to keep them in lock boxes or equipped with trigger locks.

• Require prospective gun owners to take a four-hour class and one-hour training at a gun range. They would have to leave the city for training because Chicago prohibits new gun ranges and limits the use of existing ranges to police officers. Those restrictions were similar to those in an ordinance passed in Washington, D.C., after the high court struck down its ban two years ago.

• Prohibit people from owning a gun if they were convicted of a violent crime, domestic violence or two or more convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Residents convicted of a gun offense would have to register with the police department.

• Calls for the police department to maintain a registry of every handgun owner in the city, with the names and addresses to be made available to police officers, firefighters and other emergency responders.

Those who already have handguns in the city — which has been illegal since the city's ban was approved 28 years ago — would have 90 days to register those weapons, according to the proposed ordinance.

Residents convicted of violating the city's ordinance can face a fine up to $5,000 and be locked up for as long as 90 days for a first offense and a fine of up to $10,000 and as long as six months behind bars for subsequent convictions.

"We've gone farther than anyone else ever has," said Corporation Counsel Mara Georges.

Still, the mayor, whose office is trying to craft an ordinance that will withstand legal challenges, had to back off some provisions he'd hoped to include, including requiring gun owners to insure their weapons and restricting each resident to one handgun.

Georges said it would be expensive for homeowners to include guns on their homeowners' and renters' insurance policies, so such a requirement could be seen as being discriminatory to the city's poorer residents. Limiting the number of handguns could be seen as discriminatory to people who owned weapons before the city's ban went into effect in 1982 or before they moved into the city.

"We can limit the place in which those handguns can be located," she said, before adding a not-so-veiled swipe at the court: "For instance, the Supreme court does not want them coming into the courthouse."

Still, Daley indicated that no matter what was included in the ordinance, he expects legal challenges.

"Everybody has a right to sue," he said.

stonehenge
07-02-2010, 02:59 PM
tfl
dnr
gfys

BillyJeanKing
07-02-2010, 03:09 PM
nida didp

BillyJeanKing
07-08-2010, 01:18 PM
:tejaspatriot:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0630101bong1.html

theholycow
07-08-2010, 01:58 PM
Silly potheads...toddlers don't know how to take a hit from a bong.

BillyJeanKing
07-08-2010, 02:01 PM
:serio:

BillyJeanKing
07-15-2010, 10:44 PM
:nono:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38217476/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts?GT1=43001

BillyJeanKing
07-20-2010, 12:25 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/07/19/new.york.soupman.reopening/?hpt=Sbin

brb, NY

Biggs
07-21-2010, 08:50 PM
What better way to show your wife you've just about had enough of her "crap" than to shoot her between the eyes with a roll of Charmin... /sarcasm


Clicky clicky.. (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/07/21/1575326/nc-man-accused-of-shooting-wife.html#none)

theholycow
07-21-2010, 08:58 PM
Fuckin' bitch should have been home before midnight. Duh. :crazy:

Biggs
07-21-2010, 10:30 PM
He's 38. She's 55.

Guess he shoulda flushed the evidence though eh?

theholycow
07-21-2010, 11:57 PM
http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2006/07/18/photos

Cliff's notes:
Guy and friend take their kids camping. Common innocent family camping photos are taken and developed at a drugstore. Sick drugstore employee thinks they are pictures of decapitation and sexual abuse, so calls the cops. Government goes on a witch hunt. Family goes through the wringer and has their lives permanently scarred.

Biggs
07-23-2010, 01:50 AM
SC man dies after trying to slap passing train (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/07/22/1576964/sc-man-dies-after-trying-to-slap.html)


"Gimme 5!!!!!" thump....

BillyJeanKing
07-23-2010, 02:10 AM
train left his ass hangin :nono:

---------- Post added at 09:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 PM ----------

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2006/07/18/photos

Cliff's notes:
Guy and friend take their kids camping. Common innocent family camping photos are taken and developed at a drugstore. Sick drugstore employee thinks they are pictures of decapitation and sexual abuse, so calls the cops. Government goes on a witch hunt. Family goes through the wringer and has their lives permanently scarred.

:facepalm:

Cez★
07-28-2010, 03:15 PM
cliffs- doosh kids beat up an illegal and dies a few days later, at the hospital some cunt nurse robbed him

Dusk fell around Salvadoran immigrant Abelino Mazaniego as he sat on a bench on a promenade in an upscale New York suburb after finishing his restaurant shift. As night encroached, so did a group of teenagers, including one with a cell phone videocamera at the ready.

Then, authorities say, they beat him unconscious, with the camera rolling.

Days later, the 47-year-old father of four was dead — but not before the video had been circulated among teenagers in Summit, N.J., authorities say. And not before a nurse in the emergency room where he was taken the night of July 17 was accused of pilfering several hundred dollars from his wallet.

The attacks on Mazaniego's body and dignity resulted in days of escalating court actions that culminated Tuesday in murder charges against three young men, ages 17, 18 and 19. A fourth teenager believed to have videotaped the attack hasn't been charged, but authorities weren't divulging details on the teen's involvement or potential culpability.

In Summit on Tuesday evening, a young girl sobbed, trembled, and clutched the waist of an older woman as they stood in a group of five people in front of a shrine of sunflowers, votive prayer candles, handwritten notes and a photo of Mazaniego that had been placed on the bench where he was attacked. Speaking quietly in Spanish, a woman with red-rimmed eyes said she was Mazaniego's wife of 29 years, and the rest were family members. She declined to give her name, saying she was too upset and scared to speak about the attack.

Mazaniego was "a hardworking, punctual, friendly employee," said Colin Crasto, manager and chef at Dabbawalla Indian restaurant, across the street from where the attack took place, and where the victim had worked for three years as a cook's assistant. A photo of Mazaniego was taped to the front window, with a message saying he had been the sole supporter of his family and asking patrons to donate money to help his family.

Along Summit's main thoroughfare, a place of upscale clothing and jewelry stores, real-estate brokerages advertising million-dollar homes, and luxury SUVS parked along the street, merchants and residents said the attack was an anomaly for the town, a vibrant mix of nationalities that considers itself welcoming of immigrants.

"I know bad things happen all the time, everywhere, but it's unusual here," said Neil Rodriguez, the manager of The Wine List, who knew Mazaniego, as he worked a few doors down. Recalling Mazaniego as a "genial, really nice gentlemen," Rodriguez said that, as a Hispanic, he was bothered that the incident was being portrayed by some as racially motivated.

"It's a random act of violence, there's not a lot of racial strife in this town," he said. "I'd like to see the parents that produced such monsters," he added, referring to the alleged attackers.

Khayri Williams-Clark, 18, and an unidentified 17-year-old, both of Summit, were arrested Wednesday on manslaughter charges. Williams-Clark pleaded not guilty to the charge Friday.

Now they're charged with murder, along with Nigel Dumas, 19, of Morristown. A spokesman for the public defender's office, which is representing Williams-Clark and the 17-year-old, declined to comment Tuesday and said the office hadn't yet received an application to represent Dumas.

The 17-year-old is being held in the Union County juvenile detention center, while Williams-Clark is being held at the Union County jail on $100,000 bail, prosecutors said. Bail for Dumas, at the same jail, has been set at $250,000. Authorities wouldn't say how many teens were in the group or whether there would be more charges. They also weren't discussing theories on the motive for the beating — whether it was Mazaniego's background, a thrill killing or some other reason.

But it apparently wasn't an attempt to get the $640 in cash that Mazaniego was carrying.

Police found the victim after the beating and took him to the hospital, where, officials say, nurse Stephan Randolph, 39, of Flemington, took the money out of the unconscious victim's wallet.

Family members noticed the missing money and told authorities, who charged Randolph with third-degree theft Monday, six days after Mazaniego died.

Randolph could not be reached for comment by The Associated Press this week; a phone listed in his name rang unanswered.

Biggs
07-28-2010, 09:03 PM
Who is missing their cheeseburger?!? (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/07/28/1587349/cheeseburger-stuffed-in-cars-gas.html)

stonehenge
07-28-2010, 09:14 PM
Fuck that, ain't mine. I woulda nom'd it.

Cez★
07-28-2010, 09:15 PM
damn wtf.

stonehenge
07-28-2010, 09:17 PM
how the fuck do you even cram a sheezeburg0r into a gas tank? The hole for the pump nawzzle is like 1.5" in diameter. You'd have to break it into little pieces or something and then how the hell did the mechanic know it was originally a burger? :rofl2:

Cez★
07-28-2010, 09:17 PM
maybe was a slider?
or he did it to get bizz

stonehenge
07-28-2010, 09:20 PM
roll slider into little snake like with play-doh and then slide it up in there? :hmm:

theholycow
07-28-2010, 09:20 PM
Roll up patty (if it's a thin patty), stuff in. Fold bun, stuff in.

Car says "om nom nom!"

stonehenge
07-28-2010, 09:21 PM
pero gave car clawgd arteriez :(

Biggs
07-29-2010, 01:16 AM
Either way, pitiful waste of nomz :(

Biggs
08-14-2010, 02:02 AM
man sent to jail after laughing in courtroom (http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/08/13/1621212/nc-man-sent-to-jail-after-laughing.html)

Stupid twice in the same event? Yes, it can be done..

BillyJeanKing
08-16-2010, 11:35 PM
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/deadly-crash-likely-to-increase-scrutiny-of-off-road-racing/19594948?icid=main|htmlws-bv-n|dl2|link2|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fnation% 2Farticle%2Fdeadly-crash-likely-to-increase-scrutiny-of-off-road-racing%2F19594948

theholycow
08-16-2010, 11:44 PM
"had no business" going as fast as he did, a witness said today.
you have no business doing 80-90 miles an hour through there
Under that permit, though, drivers are supposed to go no faster than 15 mph when they're within 50 feet of spectators, a rule that was clearly not followed Saturday.
I don't think these people know the definition of "racing".

Cez★
08-27-2010, 07:17 PM
cali ftl

Appeals court upholds conviction based on GPS tracking

Dissenting federal judge says agents' tactics were "creepy"

The ruling is the opposite of one by another federal court

Law enforcement officers may secretly place a GPS device on a person's car without seeking a warrant from a judge, according to a recent federal appeals court ruling in California.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Oregon in 2007 surreptitiously attached a GPS to the silver Jeep owned by Juan Pineda-Moreno, whom they suspected of growing marijuana, according to court papers.

When Pineda-Moreno was arrested and charged, one piece of evidence was the GPS data, including the longitude and latitude of where the Jeep was driven, and how long it stayed. Prosecutors asserted the Jeep had been driven several times to remote rural locations where agents discovered marijuana being grown, court documents show.

Pineda-Moreno eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to grow marijuana, and is serving a 51-month sentence, according to his lawyer.

But he appealed on the grounds that sneaking onto a person's driveway and secretly tracking their car violates a person's reasonable expectation of privacy.

"They went onto the property several times in the middle of the night without his knowledge and without his permission," said his lawyer, Harrison Latto.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal twice -- in January of this year by a three-judge panel, and then again by the full court earlier this month. The judges who affirmed Pineda-Moreno's conviction did so without comment.

Latto says the Ninth Circuit decision means law enforcement can place trackers on cars, without seeking a court's permission, in the nine western states the California-based circuit covers.

The ruling likely won't be the end of the matter. A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., arrived at a different conclusion in similar case, saying officers who attached a GPS to the car of a suspected drug dealer should have sought a warrant.

Experts say the issue could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

One of the dissenting judges in Pineda-Moreno's case, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, said the defendant's driveway was private and that the decision would allow police to use tactics he called "creepy" and "underhanded."

"The vast majority of the 60 million people living in the Ninth Circuit will see their privacy materially diminished by the panel's ruling," Kozinksi wrote in his dissent.

"I think it is Orwellian," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which advocates for privacy rights.

"If the courts allow the police to gather up this information without a warrant," he said, "the police could place a tracking device on any individual's car -- without having to ever justify the reason they did that."

But supporters of the decision see the GPS trackers as a law enforcement tool that is no more intrusive than other means of surveillance, such as visually following a person, that do not require a court's approval.

"You left place A, at this time, you went to place B, you took this street -- that information can be gleaned in a variety of ways," said David Rivkin, a former Justice Department attorney. "It can be old surveillance, by tailing you unbeknownst to you; it could be a GPS."

He says that a person cannot automatically expect privacy just because something is on private property.

"You have to take measures -- to build a fence, to put the car in the garage" or post a no-trespassing sign, he said. "If you don't do that, you're not going to get the privacy."

theholycow
08-27-2010, 07:51 PM
Sounds like a major Fourth Amendment violation to me.

Cez★
08-27-2010, 07:55 PM
pfft. the 4th amendment is soo 1780. its 2010 old cao :crazy:

theholycow
08-27-2010, 07:58 PM
This cao's rights shall not be stampeded!

Cez★
08-27-2010, 08:00 PM
someone say stampede? MOOOOOOO!
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/16/d1/38/cow-stampede-further.jpg

Bass
08-30-2010, 05:08 AM
"Associated Press
Posted on August 28, 2010 at 11:30 AM
Updated today at 1:16 AM
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Paris Hilton's attorney is urging people "not to rush to judgment" about his client's latest brush with the law.
The 29-year-old celebrity socialite has been arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of felony cocaine possession.
Authorities say she was arrested last night after a police motorcycle officer smelled marijuana smoke coming from a black Cadillac Escalade driven by Hilton's boyfriend, then found cocaine in her purse.
The driver, Las Vegas nightclub mogul Cy Waits, was arrested on misdemeanor suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Both were booked into the Clark County jail. Hilton was released without bail a short time later. Waits' attorney says Waits posted $2,000 bail and was expected to be released today.
Hilton's attorney, David Chesnoff, told The Associated Press that he's still gathering facts about the arrest."

Cez★
08-30-2010, 05:10 AM
lolz.

some people need to stop breathing

theholycow
12-21-2010, 04:10 PM
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/304450-giant-ice-penis-is-climate-change-to-blame
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2008/09/icebergREX_450x300.jpg

Giant ice penis - is climate change to blame?

If there was any doubt about the terrible threat that global warming poses to humanity, then it can now be dismissed - as this shocking photograph proves that climate change is turning icebergs into giant penises.

The cockberg was photographed by Andy Rouse* in the Bransfield Strait near Antarctica.

Experts now believe** that it is only a matter of time before an armada of penis-shaped chunks begin to break off the Antarctic ice floes, and then roam the oceans wreaking havoc and luring sailors to their doom.

* We were sceptical of this name. Andy Rouse? A Rouse? Arouse? But he is real, it turns out, and takes very many nice pictures, most of which aren't penis-related in any way.


** No they don't.

Cez★
12-21-2010, 04:13 PM
:roflmao:

BillyJeanKing
12-29-2010, 04:46 PM
:roflsquared:

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/06/chatroulette-plans-genital-image.html

theholycow
01-07-2011, 12:18 AM
:picardpalm:

On the news today they were talking about how kids sledding and playing in snow can hurt their heads and should wear helmets. KIDS ARE SUPPOSED TO FUCKING GET HURT WHEN THEY DO THAT SHIT! THAT'S A VITAL PART OF GROWING UP! For fuck's sake...why don't we wrap them in cotton and put them in a fucking bubble.

BillyJeanKing
01-15-2011, 04:19 PM
Wouldn't you be proud to go to this school???

http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13837102

:nono: whoarz

theholycow
01-15-2011, 05:05 PM
Probably like the ol' pregnancy pact. :nono:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html

theholycow
02-06-2011, 03:16 PM
http://www.foxprovidence.com/dpps/news/offbeat/conn-man-calls-911-with-pot-inquiry-ob11-jgr_3712040
Man calls 911 with pot inquiry
'I was just growing some marijuana...'

Updated: Friday, 04 Feb 2011, 11:54 AM EST
Published : Friday, 04 Feb 2011, 10:46 AM EST
By: Rebecca Santillo

FARMINGTON, Conn. (WTNH) - A Farmington man is under arrest after he called 911 and asked the dispatcher how much trouble he could get into for growing marijuana.

Police say Robert J. Michelson called 911 Thursday evening around 8 p.m.

Dispatcher: "911, what's your emergency?"
Michelson: "Uh, let's not get into that yet."

Dispatcher: "If it's not an emergency you don't call 911 sir."
Michelson: "Well, I have a legal question."

Dispatcher: "Is it life threatening or an active crime in progress?"
Michelson: "Crime in progress possibly."

Dispatcher: "What's going on?"
Michelson: "I was just growing some marijuana and I was just wondering what, how much trouble you can get in for one plant."

Dispatcher: "You're growing marijuana and you want to know...depends on how big the plant is?"
Michelson: "It's only a seedling."

Dispatcher: "Well, it's possession. You can get pinched for a roach in the car."
Michelson: "All right, thanks for the info."
Click here to visit our sister station WTNH to listen to the audio recording of the 911 call (http://www.wtnh.com/dpp/news/hartford_cty/man-calls-911-with-pot-law-inquiry)

Police were able to track the call to Michelson's Waterville Road home where they found a small amount of marijuana and numerous items used to grow and smoke pot. Michelson admitted to cops that he spent a lot of money online purchasing the cultivation products.

Michelson was released on bond, but not before giving the police dispatchers two middle fingers, presumably for doing such a good job.

stonehenge
02-06-2011, 06:50 PM
maybe he bought that grow box you saw on tv

theholycow
02-06-2011, 06:56 PM
:word: That was my first thought too.

BillyJeanKing
02-14-2011, 06:59 PM
:read:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356636/Teacher-slept-students-threesome-boys-house.html

theholycow
02-14-2011, 07:35 PM
:read:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1356636/Teacher-slept-students-threesome-boys-house.html

:big_banana_Dance:

stonehenge
02-14-2011, 08:21 PM
:miyagi:

Cez★
02-19-2011, 06:41 PM
pinche WI democrats. they bailed on the vote to stall the bill. then obama opening his mouth. then again most of the union fgts voted for him so he would talk about it.

http://www.montereyherald.com/politics/ci_17431533?nclick_check=1

Organized labor is trying to re-energize and take advantage of the growing backlash from the wave of anti-union sentiment in Wisconsin and more than a dozen other states.
President Barack Obama and his political machine are offering tactical support, eager to repair strained relations with some union leaders upset over his recent overtures to business.

The potent combination has helped fan the huge protests in Wisconsin against a measure that would strip collective bargaining rights from state workers. The alliance also is sending a warning to other states that are considering the same tactic.

"I think it's a clear message," said AFL-CIO political director Karen Ackerman. "If you take on middle-class people and try to solve the budget crises on their backs, there's a price to pay. Many thousands of people will be energized to fight back."

For Obama, stepping into a confrontation with a governor has its risks. The president is in a struggle of his own to tame spending, and siding with unions may cast him as a partisan even as he talks about setting a new tone in Washington.

For the labor movement, which suffered a bitter split in 2005, the brash moves by GOP lawmakers such as Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., have brought unions together in a way unthinkable a few years ago.

Nearly every major union leader—both public and private sector—has united behind an ambitious $30 million plan to stop anti-labor measures

Advertisement

in Wisconsin and 10 other states.
The group at the new "Labor Table" includes AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka working with leaders such as Teamsters president James Hoffa. Until recently, the two barely were on speaking terms.

"There's nothing like the possibility of extinction to focus people's attention," said former Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich., who spent more than a year trying without success to reunify the labor movement.

"They've got everything to lose here and they're


FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2010, file photo President Barack Obama stands with AFL-CIO Presidet Richard Trumka after speaking about jobs and the economy in Washington. Stung by the February 2011 wave of anti-union sentiment in Wisconsin and more than a dozen other states, organized labor is re-energizing as a political force and trying to take advantage of the growing backlash. The president and his political allies are offering tactical support, eager to ride the labor wave and repair strained relations with some union leaders. ((AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File))
either going to do something or they're not," Bonior said.
Congressional Republicans are accusing Obama of trying to muzzle governors who were making efforts to rein in government. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Obama was helping fuel "Greece-style" protests in the United States, a reference to the demonstrations that followed Greek efforts to cut government programs.

"His political organization is colluding with special interest allies across the country to demagogue reform-minded governors who are making the tough choices that the president is avoiding," Boehner said. "The president should make it clear to his friends that the people of Wisconsin, and states across America, can handle their own affairs without Washington special-interest money and meddling."

The energy behind labor's discontent is not lost on Obama and his political operation. The president waded into the fight between Walker and unions when he told a Milwaukee television station that any effort to make it harder for public employees to engage in collective bargaining "seems like more of an assault on unions."

Obama's political arm at the Democratic National Committee, Organizing for America, helped mobilize demonstrators in coordination with unions. Democratic Party officials also are watching government-labor disputes in Ohio and Indiana to see if the party should step in there, too.

Such visible support for public sector workers signals an effort by Obama's


Jesse Jackson stands with protesters at the Capitol rotunda in Madison, Wis. on Friday, Feb. 17, 2011. Union members, students and others have been protesting the governor's bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers. ((AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, Craig Schreiner) )
organization to smooth a sometimes rocky relationship with some in the labor movement. Unions have sought reassurance from the White House that Obama is not pulling away from them as he ratchets up his overtures to business.
Labor unions are among the better organized foot soldiers of the Democratic Party, and party officials are wary of weakening their political motivation.

"I think Democrats here are upholding the right principle," said Democratic pollster Mark Mellman. "Failing to give support to this principle would be a real problem as far as the Democratic constituency is concerned."

Besides lobbying and public demonstrations, the unions are considering ballot initiatives, costly legal fights and even launching


The Rev. Jesse Jackson, center, walks through protesters at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., Friday, Feb. 18, 2011. Union members, students and others have been protesting the governor's bill to eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers. ((AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, Michael P. King) )
recalls against newly-elected GOP lawmakers. They are planning to seek help from like-minded progressive groups, immigration activists, environmentalists and religious leaders.
They expect momentum from the protests to spill into the 2012 election cycle, when they can try to punish Republicans they accuse of overreaching. Unions are focusing on the states with the most serious attacks and where they have the strongest ability to fight: Florida, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

The blessing of the White House could especially help mend relations with the American Federation of Teachers, which has criticized Obama's support of charter schools and teacher merit pay. The group's Wisconsin affiliate is helping lead the protests in Madison.

Even Education Secretary Arne Duncan weighed in this past week by promising teachers' unions during an education summit in Denver that he would stand by them in states where governors have pledged to shut down teachers' collective bargaining rights. He specifically cited Wisconsin.

The efforts by the administration and Democrats are not without risk.

Obama and the national party are challenging a cost-cutting governor even as Obama comes under attack for not trimming enough in the federal budget. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday that Obama was not trying to undermine efforts to rein in state spending, but was only objecting to approaches that would curtail bargaining rights.

With unemployment at 9 percent, the public is not particularly sympathetic to public sector employees.

"On the politics, we worry that this will be seen less as an attempt to help the middle class broadly and more as an attempt to help a union or an interest group," said Matt Bennett, a vice president at the centrist but Democratic leaning Third Way. "That does not have a deep wellspring of support among the middle class at the moment."

Andrew
02-19-2011, 07:40 PM
Yesterday on Dateline they did the story of our Colonel Russel Williams.

...whole things over and done with now. Hes in Solitary for life for murdering 3 women, hundreds of break and enters where he stalked womens, stoled all their underwears/bathingsuites/pictars, and then fapped in their bed. This includes a bunch of minors.

Was odd to see it from the 'Merican perspective.

Cez★
02-19-2011, 07:48 PM
:roflmao:
:lol:

Cez★
03-03-2011, 03:37 AM
A French air force Mirage 2000 jet fighter crashed in the central French countryside overnight and its pilot and navigator are missing, officials said March 2.
http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=5845476&c=EUR&s=TOP


A former U.S. Army major and his wife have been convicted of bribery and money laundering in a huge scheme that illegally funneled some $60 million in Iraq war contracts, the Justice Department said March 1
http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=5849096&c=AME&s=TOP

theholycow
03-03-2011, 12:30 PM
Pics of the wife?

stonehenge
03-03-2011, 04:17 PM
omg sometimes i read so fuckin lazy.. i read this:

A French air force Mirage 2000 jet fighter crashed in the central French countryside overnight and its pilot and navigator are missing, officials said March 2.

and got this from it:

A French air force Mirage 2000 jet fighter is missing, officials said March 2.

I was like :whoa: how you lose one of those big bishes!?!?

Cez★
03-03-2011, 04:34 PM
Article said that when it crashed it crashed near a lake with so mash force that it made a crater that filled water soon after.

stonehenge
03-03-2011, 04:50 PM
the crater filled water!? :whoa:

Cez★
03-03-2011, 05:15 PM
Yeap. Was haulin ass

theholycow
03-08-2011, 07:56 PM
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/03/07/murderer-and-accused-cannibal-michael-woodmansee-to-be-freed-in/?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl1|sec3_lnk3|205241

Cliff's:
Sicko molests and kills little boy, possibly eats the kid, and keeps the bones
Crime unsolved
Years later, sicko tries with another kid but kid gets away
Crime solved
Sicko serves time
Sicko is going to be let out
Father of dead kid vows to kill sicko

Murderer and Accused Cannibal to Be Freed in August
Mar 7, 2011 – 8:50 PM

Text Size
Print this page
|
Email
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Digg
Share on Lifestream


David Lohr
Contributor
A plea deal intended to spare a murdered child's family the horrific details of his death has come back to haunt residents of a historic town in Rhode Island. The killer, an accused cannibal who was a teenager when the crime was committed more than 30 years ago, will be free before the end of the year, according to police.

"We do not know what his plans are or if he is [planning on coming back here], but it is definitely something we plan on discussing," a spokesman for the South Kingstown Police Department told AOL News today.

While police have yet to formulate a plan for the impending release of convicted murderer Michael Woodmansee, the father of his victim, a 5-year-old boy named Jason Foreman, is not mincing words.

"I do intend, if this man is released anywhere in my vicinity, or if I can find [him], I do intend to kill this man," John Foreman told Rhode Island's WPRO News talk radio today.

According to The Providence Journal, Woodmansee was a withdrawn 16-year-old boy on May 18, 1975 –- the day he lured Jason into his home, stabbed the boy in the heart and hid the small body in a trunk.


Rhode Island Department of Corrections
Convicted killer Michael Woodmansee benefited from a reward system that shaved 12 years off his 40-year prison sentence.
Woodmansee lived up the street from the Foreman home. The day he took Jason's life was the boy's mother's 25th birthday -– a time of happiness that would forever after be associated with pain and heartache.

Woodmansee later told police he had fantasized that "it would be easy [to kill someone], easy to get away with it, and some form of fun,'' according to the Journal.

For eight years, frustrated authorities conducted a nationwide manhunt for Jason. Some feared he had been kidnapped, but no one suspected the whole, horrific truth -- that a disturbed killer had taken his life, removed his flesh and shellacked his bones.

The pieces in the case began to come together on April 15, 1982, when a bearded Woodmansee invited a 14-year-old newspaper delivery boy named Dale Sherman into his house. After supplying the boy with hard liquor and beer, Woodmansee attempted to strangle the teen, police said. Sherman fought back and managed to escape and run home, where his dad called police.

Taken to police headquarters, Woodmansee initially denied any wrongdoing. Because the allegations involved a boy, investigators decided to question him about Jason. Shortly thereafter, he confessed to sexually assaulting and killing the child, police said.

When authorities searched Woodmansee's home, they found Jason's skull and other miscellaneous bones on top of the man's dresser. They also discovered a journal in which he detailed the young boy's gruesome death, police said.

On Feb. 24, 1983, Woodmansee pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 40 years in prison. According to The Associated Press, prosecutors agreed to the plea bargain to spare the family the horrific details of the boy's death and to avoid a grisly trial.

After sentencing Woodmansee, Superior Court Judge Thomas H. Needham ordered his journal and all other evidence in the case sealed. Needham said the accounts within it were too disturbing for Jason's family to see.

For decades, rumors have surfaced about the journal. Speaking with WPRO today, John Foreman alleged that Woodmansee was a cannibal and said the killer had eaten his son's flesh off his bones.

The boy was finally buried in March 1983, roughly two weeks after his killer pleaded guilty. Jason's mother, Joice, who often spoke with the media about the case, died in 2000.

For more than 25 years, Woodmansee has remained behind bars, all but forgotten by the general public. All that changed last week, however, when the now 52-year-old convict was transferred to a correctional institution in Cranston. The move is part of a process to prepare Woodmansee for his August release date.

The killer, according to the Journal, has benefited from a prison reward system that shaved roughly 12 years off his 40-year prison sentence.

Superior Court Judge Susan E. McGuirl, the former state prosecutor who agreed to the plea bargain, did not immediately return calls for comment from AOL News today. Speaking with the Journal, she said news of Woodmansee's pending release was "shocking."

"Certainly there would not have been any anticipation of him getting out in 28 years," she told the newspaper.


While Woodmansee's plans for the future remain unclear, one thing that is clear is that he is won't get a warm reception if he decides to return home.

"I have taken the position that he is not welcomed in this community and that as a resident and the police chief, I don't think it would be safe or prudent for him to be here," South Kingstown Police Chief Vincent Vespia told The South County Independent.

Jason's father cannot bear to think that his killer could return to their town.

"I have been able to visit Jason and his mother, Joice, at their gravesite with only love in my heart for them. But now I'm afraid to visit, now that the terrible memories are back to haunt me and my family," John Foreman told the Journal. "There is no forgiveness in me, only revenge."

Cez★
03-08-2011, 08:04 PM
I read about that
Prawlee woulda been better off being :sneaky: about it

Just read an article saying the us is under pressure to arm teh rebelz in lybia :bertstare:

What fucking use is the un if we do everything

Cez★
03-09-2011, 04:36 AM
heres a link over me post
The administration of President Barack Obama has come under mounting pressure to arm Libyan rebels facing an emboldened and regrouping military, amid charges Washington missed recent chances to oust the country's strongman.

Obama has insisted that all options, including military action, remain on the table with respect to Libya, where Moammar Gadhafi's forces have unleashed deadly airstrikes on rebels and civilians in efforts to crush an uprising in which thousands are feared dead.
http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=5890159&c=AME&s=LAN


heres some more news.
The international naval flotilla working to curtail piracy in the western Indian Ocean is failing to solve the problem, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress.

"The naval ships that have been involved from … more than 20 nations just have not been willing to really put themselves out," Clinton said on March 2. "They're happy to patrol, and they're happy to say they are, and then kind of count themselves as part of the coalition. But when push comes to shove, they're not really producing."
http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=5870906&c=AME&s=TOP


yea they arent doing much. so fuck it lets just keep our troops there. fuck it yea sounds good.

o and plz read the last link. makes me wonder why the FUCK that cunt is secretary of state

Andrew
03-09-2011, 05:36 PM
haaaay...this isn't becoming more and more like the Kuwait vs Iraq war..

BillyJeanKing
03-10-2011, 03:26 PM
:eekdoor:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/03/07/woman-23-worlds-youngest-grandmother/

stonehenge
03-10-2011, 04:10 PM
:pedobear:

BillyJeanKing
03-10-2011, 04:19 PM
:uhoh:

BillyJeanKing
04-20-2011, 04:54 PM
http://abcnews.go.com/US/duke-lacrosse-rape-accuser-crystal-mangum-charged-murder/story?id=13375065

Andrew
04-20-2011, 05:02 PM
Those books sales must've really went to her head.

theholycow
04-20-2011, 05:07 PM
In 2006, Mangum accused three Duke lacrosse players of raping her at an off-campus party. She and another dancer had been paid to perform for the team. Her story was eventually found to be false and a year later charges against the players were dropped.

In February 2010, Mangum was arrested and charged with attempted murder, arson and child abuse after an argument with Milton Walker, then her boyfriend. According to police, she attacked Walker and set his clothes on fire in the bathtub while three children were present. She also allegedly told Walker "I'm going to stab you [expletive]!" in front of officers.

She was found guilty in December of three counts of child abuse, injury to personal property and resisting a public officer. She was sentenced to 88 days in jail, which she had already served while awaiting trial. The felony arson charge was dismissed.

...and someone decided to try and be her boyfriend after all of that? Dumbass. He should be eligible for a Darwin award.

Andrew
04-20-2011, 05:10 PM
I remember that case. Weren't the kids kicked outta school too?

:nono:

Ruined their lives pretty much, for some bullshit excuse. Then you try to cash in on it. :pissedfist:

theholycow
04-28-2011, 05:19 PM
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/weird/Man-Dressed-as-Cow-Steals-26-Gallons-of-Milk-120807919.html?dr
http://media.nbcwashington.com/images/654*368/676275.jpg
Got milk?

How about 26 gallons of it? One man did, at least for a little while. And that man was dressed in a cow costume.

In the category of You Can't Make This Stuff Up If You Tried, the 18-year-old crawled into a Stafford, Va., Walmart on all fours, reported PotomacLocal.com.

After standing, he loaded about $92 worth of milk into a shopping cart and simply rolled the cart out of the without paying, police have confirmed to NBC Washington.

He then attempted to give the milk away outside the store, and tried to flee the scene by skipping away, police said.

Jonathan Payton, 18, of North Stafford, Va., was given a summons and released at the scene.

---------- Post added at 12:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:18 PM ----------

Bastards with their difficult-to-embed photo URL. Jesty pic of dude in cao suit...

http://media.nbcwashington.com/images/654*368/676275.jpg
http://media.nbcwashington.com/images/654*368/676275.jpg

stonehenge
04-28-2011, 05:20 PM
figures :cheeky:

theholycow
04-28-2011, 05:33 PM
http://www.mail.com/business/economy/377228-exxon-earns-11b-1q-best-2008.html#.7518-stage-hero1-6
Exxon earns nearly $11B in 1Q, best since 2008

The world's largest publicly traded company on Thursday reported net income of $10.65 billion, or $2.14 per share, in the first three months of the year. That compares with $6.3 billion, or 1.33 per share a year ago. Revenue increased 26 percent to $114 billion.

The quarter was Exxon's best since it earned a record $14.83 billion in 2008's third quarter.

Earnings grew across the company's business segments. Income from its exploration and production business gained 49 percent to $8.7 billion while the company's downstream business, which includes refineries, posted a huge 30-fold jump to more than $1.1 billion.

Exxon's huge profit followed similar results by other oil companies.

Europe's largest oil company, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, reported $8.78 billion in first-quarter profits, up 60 percent from a year ago. BP PLC's quarterly earnings rose 16 percent to $7.2 billion. ConocoPhillips said net income grew 43 percent to $3 billion and Occidental Petroleum Corp. said earnings climbed 46 percent to $1.55 billion.

Exxon Mobil Corp. increased earnings even though it produced less oil and natural gas liquids. Benchmark crude prices rose 20 percent from a year ago.

BillyJeanKing
05-05-2011, 03:43 AM
:whoa:

that are relevant to my inshrests

Andrew
05-05-2011, 04:23 AM
I still dont understand how when oil goes down, gas prices go up, yet profit from each barrel sold remains relativity unchanged.

Does the tax they have to pay change? Exxon made something like $.02 profit on each gallon sold last year.

...wish the damn CDN govn't would lower the tax oil companies have to pay. Were paying nearly $5.30 a gallon up here, and its STILL going up. :nono:

---------- Post added at 11:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 PM ----------

Im going to be ripped by summers end. Biking 40K a day FTW!

Cez★
05-05-2011, 04:40 AM
need bamf motorcycle imo

---------- Post added at 10:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 PM ----------

i thought i had read that there be looters and thieves running around in the south where all the storms came down. why cant we just shoot fucks like these?

---------- Post added at 10:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 PM ----------

The helicopters that flew the Navy SEALs on the mission to kill Osama bin Laden were a radar-evading variant of the special operations MH-60 Black Hawk, according to a retired special operations aviator.
http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=6414345&c=AME&s=AIR

theholycow
05-05-2011, 12:15 PM
I still dont understand how when oil goes down, gas prices go up, yet profit from each barrel sold remains relativity unchanged.

Does the tax they have to pay change? Exxon made something like $.02 profit on each gallon sold last year.

I don't think they've published data on profit margin for a given week, only a year at a time. However, if they buy crude oil cheaper today, that doesn't mean it should be cheaper at the pump today; they still have to ship it, refine it, load it into trucks, and then the gas station has to need a refill before they ship it to them.

I'm pretty sure there are deals where gas stations can pay virtual prices that fluctuate more quickly with the market, but I don't know exactly how they work or how common they are. They are good when prices are dropping but when prices are rising it's better to have paid in full for the delivery they already received...

apedestrian
05-08-2011, 04:34 AM
need bamf motorcycle imo

---------- Post added at 10:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:31 PM ----------

i thought i had read that there be looters and thieves running around in the south where all the storms came down. why cant we just shoot fucks like these?

---------- Post added at 10:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 PM ----------


http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=6414345&c=AME&s=AIR

kinda hard to have stealth helicopter since u have a rotor that's spinning at a shit load of Rpm's :rofl:

stonehenge
05-08-2011, 05:32 AM
Put pillows on rotors

Problem ape?

:troll:

Cez★
05-08-2011, 08:07 AM
think it had a hub or something over it

BillyJeanKing
05-12-2011, 01:53 AM
hmJV_c274aU


http://i.imgur.com/Uskin.jpg

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700132932/Video-shows-Phoenix-officer-slam-teen-into-wall.html

shootermcgavin003
05-12-2011, 02:42 AM
thats such bullshit on that really if she was 30 and a dude no one would ever say a word its the fact she is 15 and has a cunt

---------- Post added at 01:42 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:41 AM ----------

http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/121544019.html

my week

stonehenge
05-12-2011, 02:45 AM
pinche az

BillyJeanKing
06-19-2011, 02:52 AM
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHKZ_enUS433US433&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=weiner+pulls+out

:lol:

apedestrian
06-19-2011, 04:08 AM
:roflmao: :lol:

BillyJeanKing
07-06-2011, 03:52 PM
:facepalm:

wshhRm2t948rnhv4C4yz

Snowman
07-09-2011, 06:00 PM
Mountie docked five days pay after prostitute swiped wallet and BlackBerry (http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Mountie+docked+five+days+after+prostitute+swiped+w allet+BlackBerry/5074618/story.html)


In late 2009, senior RCMP officers launched an investigation to recover a constable's identification card and force-issued BlackBerry that had been stolen by a prostitute while she performed oral sex on the officer in his car.

Cez★
07-27-2011, 12:28 AM
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/07/26/eveningnews/main20083834.shtml

Bringing home the bacon is one of Washington's oldest traditions.
Both Democrats and Republicans in Congress spend considerable time trying to get federal funds for pet projects in their home districts.

So how's that affected some of the newer members who came to Washington vowing to cut federal spending at every turn? CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports that in some cases, apparently, not at all.

Everyone agrees the old Stillwater Bridge linking Minnesota and Wisconsin is on its last legs and must go. But the fancy, $700 million replacement in the works costs double the cheaper alternative.

Why is Congress a millionaires club?
Do corporate interests rule Washington?
CBSNews.com special report: The United States of Influence
A bill co-sponsored by Republican freshman Sean Duffy paved the way for the expensive bridge to be built, even though he ran on this platform: "Our national debt has grown sky high thanks to the liberals in D.C. I'll work in Congress to cut spending and balance the budget."

Duffy's office told us his bill doesn't fund the bridge, it simply allows it to move forward and has some Democratic support too.

Steve Ellis of Taxpayers for Common Sense sees it as a perfect example of excess Congress can't seem to resist, even during a time of fiscal crisis.

"There's an alternative that's hundreds of millions of dollars less, maybe not the signature bridge, maybe not the tourist attraction, but actually could get the job done for far less money," Ellis says.

Freshman Republican Steven Palazzo of Mississippi also ran as a fiscal conservative. Then he added more than $150 million to the defense budget, bound for a shipyard in his own district.

He didn't want to talk to CBS News but has said he's "glad to be able to help ensure the long-term viability of our shipbuilding industry."

Republican Duncan Hunter, now in his second term, added $5 million to the 2012 defense budget destined for Trex Enterprises, where employees are major donors to his campaign. Hunter also asked for $3 million in tax dollars for Trex in 2010.

A spokesman for Hunter told us part of his role in Congress is drawing business to companies in his district.

If Congress really expects to do more with less, it's not evident in their add-ons to the 2012 defense budget. There are fewer of them than in years past, but they add up to just as much as before: about $1.3 billion.

Cez★
07-27-2011, 04:54 AM
A 14-year-old American citizen has been found guilty in a Mexican court of torturing and beheading at least four people and kidnapping three others.
Judge Jose Luis Jaimes sentenced the teenager, known as "El Ponchis" ("The Cloak") to three years in a correctional facility -- the maximum sentence allowed under Mexican law because of his age. The teen also must pay a 4.5 million-peso fine (about $400,000).http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/07/26/mexico.teen.hit.man/index.html?hpt=hp_p1&iref=NS1

:lol:

apedestrian
07-27-2011, 05:00 AM
I ain't ever going to Mexico :uhoh::fts:





























without a Ak :sneaky:

stonehenge
07-27-2011, 05:33 AM
Fts

Cez★
07-29-2011, 02:35 AM
China has demanded that the United States stop spy plane flights near the Chinese coast, saying they have "severely harmed" trust between the two countries, state-run media reported July 27.

The comments came after Taiwanese media reported two Chinese fighter jets attempted to scare off an American U-2 reconnaissance plane that was collecting intelligence on China while flying along the Taiwan Strait in late June.

http://defensenews.com/story.php?i=7215612&c=AIR&s=TOP

apedestrian
07-29-2011, 02:48 AM
:bird2::bertstare:@ China











we send spy planes where we want to :security:

stonehenge
08-01-2011, 03:05 PM
Found video of some fgts misquoting korkah when he was a yungin':

G1sMwsVuX6A

BillyJeanKing
08-01-2011, 03:08 PM
i knew that shit would come out one day

fgt bishes misquotin mah werds and shit

:ffuuu:

stonehenge
08-01-2011, 03:09 PM
like that one time they misquoted you when you said you wanted to "sekz on other dudes' wimmenz" and they left of wimmenz :fp:

fgts :nono:

BillyJeanKing
08-01-2011, 03:17 PM
:truestory:

i lakk teh vagine not teh peenus

BillyJeanKing
08-02-2011, 03:40 PM
Actor who played Ewok in Star Wars and Harry Potter goblin spared jail for indecently exposing himself to schoolgirl on train

July 29th, 2011

A dwarf who appeared in the Harry Potter and Star Wars films has escaped a short jail spell for indecently exposing himself to a schoolgirl on a train.

Nicholas Read, who stands just 4ft 5in tall, sat next to the 17-year-old, blocking her exit, and performed an indecent act under a juggler's hat.

Paralysed by fear, the 17-year-old was unable to move, but managed to tell a police officer what the dwarf, who played an Ewok in Return of the Jedi, had done.

Yesterday, Read was handed a suspended 20-week jail term and told he would have to be supervised by the Probation Service and undertake a community sex offender group work programme.

Recorder Richard Bond took pity on the former pantomime star, despite his previous sexual offence convictions.

These included a previous conviction for indecent assault in 2004 when, after a New Year party with his Snow White pantomime cast, he drunkenly climbed into bed with the sleeping stage manager and his girlfriend.

He then put the woman's hand on his genitals.

Leicester Crown Court also heard that Read, of Cheadle, north Staffordshire, had made a series of random and explicit phone calls to women from a hotel room as long ago as 1995.

Last month, Read was convicted of indecent exposure for the train incident, which took place last October.

Passing sentence, Mr Bond said: 'A relatively short sentence of imprisonment will not help you, and it certainly will not protect the public from your fantasies.

'I have had to ask myself this question: is this a case where not just you, but more importantly, the public would benefit from you receiving a short custodial sentence? The answer to that is no.'

He previously told the dwarf whilst considering his punishment: 'One of the questions I ask myself is whether if I send him to prison for a short sentence he'll be out in a flash.'

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/06/08/article-2000869-0046BDD600000258-704_468x286.jpg
Read played a goblin in the film Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone


Read, who must also pay £500 towards the cost of his prosecution, was arrested last October after 'trapping' his victim in a window seat on a train travelling between London and Leicester.

The dwarf, 40, who played an Ewok in the 1983 film Star Wars: Return of the Jedi and a Gringotts goblin in 2001's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, had drunk half a bottle of gin and was feeling 'merry'.

Speaking from behind a screen, his female victim sobbed as she told the court: 'He placed his hat on his crotch. I saw a movement and I didn't know whether to believe it.

'I looked in the reflection of the window and saw his hand moving under the hat. He tried to catch my attention, tilting his hat up, looking at his crotch area and then looking at me a few times.'

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/06/08/article-2000869-0C770C1500000578-627_224x374.jpghttp://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/06/08/article-2000869-0C77EF5B00000578-625_224x374.jpg
Fall from grace: Read arriving at Leicester Crown Court, where he stood trial. He played an Ewok in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return Of The Jedi
:dbagsmile:

The behaviour continued for between 30 and 40 minutes of the 55-minute journey to Leicester.

When she got off the train, she told a British Transport Police officer who arranged for Read to be arrested when he left the train at Sheffield.

Yesterday, dressed in a blue suit, white shirt and yellow tie, the actor attended court in the company of another dwarf and was told that the teenager had been a vulnerable victim.

Describing aspects of Read's latest offence as chilling, the judge told him: 'It was obvious that she was extremely scared by what you did to her.

'She was so scared that she couldn't complain immediately for fear that you would touch her.'

Offering mitigation on Read's behalf, defence barrister Nigel Hamilton said his client had been involved with pantomimes since the age of 16, earning a weekly wage of up to £800.

Mr Hamilton told the court: 'He will not be able to do that anymore - he has had cancellations left, right and centre.'


http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/06/08/article-2000869-0C770C6900000578-605_470x623.jpg
Drunk: Read (left) had drunk half a bottle of gin before boarding the train


It is understood that Read has recently been hiring himself out to stag parties, offering to be handcuffed to the stag while dressed as a diminutive fictional character such as a Smurf or Oompa-Loompa.

Although the nature of Read's current employment was not aired in open court, Mr Bond voiced sadness at the actor's current activities and expressed hope that he will be able to stick to 'normal' roles in future.

Inspector Mark Clements of British Transport Police said: 'Read's actions were deplorable. He targeted a young lone female, unable to move from her seat, too scared to speak and paralysed by fear from his actions, worried he may assault her too.

'Read's denial of committing this offence led to his victim having to relive the upsetting ordeal again in court.

'His behaviour was completely unacceptable but the victim reporting the incident straight away enabled police to make a swift arrest.'

Cez★
08-02-2011, 03:43 PM
Foo has big head

BillyJeanKing
08-02-2011, 03:47 PM
they all do :rofl:

theholycow
08-02-2011, 03:55 PM
His head is shaped like this dude:
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/quiz/192000/192437_1240162289102_500_375.jpg

Also, when the headline says "schoolgirl" I'm thinking "6 years old? That's so incredibly sick that this dude belongs six feet under" not "17 years old...she can probably deal with it without permanent scarring, it's not like she's never seen one before".

stonehenge
08-02-2011, 04:27 PM
oh, shes 17? i only read the headline and assumed she was crazy young. cao theory proven

BillyJeanKing
08-02-2011, 04:40 PM
she was prolly taller than him anyway

it all kinda balances out

stonehenge
08-02-2011, 04:42 PM
word if dude is short than should be ok imo

apedestrian
08-09-2011, 03:12 PM
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/08/desperate-north-korean-dictato.html


:what?:

Cez★
08-09-2011, 04:02 PM
Copy/paste fgt

stonehenge
08-09-2011, 04:11 PM
:demKoreanMoneyMakingBots:

theholycow
08-09-2011, 05:26 PM
North Korea still uses CRTs. :jester:

Cez★
08-15-2011, 12:44 AM
Human Rights Watch has said all sides in Somalia's are guilty of serious violations of international law.

The UK-based charity says civilians are bearing the brunt not just of a terrible famine but also a failure by any side to protect them.

It says Islamist group al-Shabab is guilty of unrelenting brutality, while government troops carry out arbitrary arrests and detentions.

HRW also criticises the West for not exerting pressure to stop the abuses.

HRW plz go
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14524628?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

---------- Post added at 06:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:11 PM ----------

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-14523605?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

pinche mexico. hope u gaiz can click le links.
More than 1,000 people have joined a protest in Mexico City against the government's strategy in the fight against drug gangs.

Carrying banners and pictures of dead relatives, the activists marched in silence to the presidential palace to demand peace.

The protest was led by the poet turned activist Javier Sicilia, whose son was killed earlier this year.

He wants President Felipe Calderon to pull the army off the streets.

The activists are also demanding changes to a national security law reform being considered by Mexico's Congress, to give citizens more protection from the security forces.

'Failed state'
More than 35,000 Mexicans have been killed in drug related violence since President Calderon began deploying troops to fight the drugs cartels in December 2006.

But Mr Calderon insists there is no viable alternative to his strategy of using the military to confront the gangs.

At the start of the protest, Mr Sicilia declared that Mexico was a failed state.

"We have to renew it, it has been turned into an authoritarian state, instead of a tolerant and democratic state," he said.

He also condemned the proposed reforms to the national security law, saying it was aimed at legitimising the use of the army for internal security.

Critics of Mr Sicilia's Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity say it is wrongly focusing its anger on the government instead of on the criminal gangs responsible for the violence.

apedestrian
08-15-2011, 08:01 PM
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/envoy/pakistan-gave-chinese-peak-u-copter-remains-reported-182048474.html
Pakistan gave Chinese peek at U.S. ‘copter remains: reported U.S. intel assessment"

American intelligence officials believe that Pakistan's spy agency probably permitted Chinese military engineers to examine the wreckage of the U.S. Black Hawk stealth helicopter destroyed in the wake of the May raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the New York Times reported Monday.

The reported U.S. intelligence assessment is based on "intercepted conversations in which Pakistani officials discussed inviting the Chinese to the crash site," the Times' Mark Mazzetti reported.

Mazzetti noted that U.S. officials acknowledge they don't have "definitive proof" the Chinese obtained access to the Abbottabad wreckage site--but he cited one source knowledgeable about the incident who was "certain" that Chinese engineers had taken photos and samples of the wreckage.

Pakistani officials reportedly denied the accusation when U.S. counterparts raised it, Mazzetti reported. The remains of the Black Hawk helicopter had been previously returned to the United States.

The reported U.S. intelligence assessment comes after the Financial Times first reported Sunday that Pakistan's ISI spy agency allowed Chinese military engineers to photograph and take samples of the destroyed U.S. stealth helicopter. The Financial Times report also cited an unidentified person in U.S. intelligence circles.

This latest round of intelligence leaks again highlights to sensitive state of U.S.-Pakistani relations in the aftermath of the May 2 U.S. raid that nabbed the al Qaeda chief. Since the Navy SEAL team entered the country to find bin Laden without any advance consultation with Palestinian security personnel, the the successful bin Laden raid was a considerable embarrassment to Pakistan's military and intelligence officials.

However, while the U.S. intelligence assessment may be new, American officials have long suspected that the Chinese might gain access to the downed helicopter via Pakistan's intercesion. The week following the bin Laden raid ABC News reported on just that scenario, as Marcy Wheeler noted in her blog Empty Wheel Monday.

"The whole scoop seems, at best, the effort of someone trying to force the Administration to admit" that Pakistan's military chief is not dealing in good faith, Wheeler wrote. "At worst, it's another case of discovering gambling going on in the casino."

There's another possible subtext in the latest round of leaks: As one former U.S. official suggested in an interview with The Envoy, the leaked information could well reflect squabbling in the U.S. government among those in different agencies arguing over the merits of a plan to share sophisticated technology with the Pakistanis.


:wtf:

cut funding to these fgts

Cez★
08-15-2011, 08:08 PM
ehhh. i cant see them getting much from anything imo. aside from the stealth coating. itll be a while til they can use it (if they got anything) US be working on next gen stealth prawlee anyways.

still shows we the most bamf when it comes to bamf stuffz.

theholycow
08-16-2011, 02:24 PM
http://www.tirereview.com/Article/90476/Bridgestone-Sued-After-Tech-Sets-Fire-to-Homeless-Man.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TireReviewNews+%28Tire+Review +News%29
Bridgestone Sued After Tech Sets Fire to Homeless Man
August 09, 2011 Email
Print
0 Comments
Bookmark this website

According to a Los Angeles Times report, a homeless man is suing Bridgestone Americas, claiming that the company's anti-loitering policy at its company stores caused an employee to burn his belongings, which resulted in serious injuries to the man.


The 64-year-old homeless man suffered third-degree burns on his arms and face on Jan. 2, 2010, when a service technician working at the Firestone Complete Auto Care store in Santa Ana, Calif., tried to scare the man away. The technician, who is now serving a five-year sentence in prison for his actions, doused the man’s shopping cart with gasoline and set it on fire. All of the man’s possessions were in the cart, and he was burned while trying to put the fire out.

The man, who is a military veteran, reportedly spent six months at the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks undergoing treatment.

The $1.5 million suit alleges negligence and names Firestone and the technician, and seeks unspecified punitive damages.

http://www.tirereview.com/Content/Site309/News/06_01_2009/90476burnedmanj_00000045037.jpg

:horyshet: Cez, why didn't you tell us you work at a Firestone (fireshoppingcart?) store?

stonehenge
08-16-2011, 02:38 PM
if cez had done it, would have grabbed dudes ass/asshole apart :imo

Cez★
08-16-2011, 02:58 PM
:sneaky:

stonehenge
08-16-2011, 03:01 PM
:cheeky:

theholycow
08-17-2011, 11:41 AM
http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/16/news/companies/abercrombie_jersey_shore/index.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fmoney_latest+%28Latest+ News%29
Abercrombie to 'Jersey Shore': Ditch our brand

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Mike "the Situation" Sorrentino may have to find some new attire for his "gym, tan, laundry" routine.

On Wednesday, clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) said it would offer "substantial payment" to MTV's The Jersey Shore's cast members to stop wearing the brand on air.
830

Print

"We are deeply concerned that Mr. Sorrentino's association with our brand could cause significant damage to our image. We understand that the show is for entertainment purposes, but believe this association is contrary to the aspirational nature of our brand, and may be distressing to many of our fans," an Abercrombie & Fitch spokesperson said in a statement. "We have also extended this offer to other members of the cast, and are urgently waiting a response."

The reality show, currently in its fourth season, features hard-partying and hookups in locations ranging from the show's origin, the Jersey Shore to the current season in Florence, Italy.

The castmates have coined terms like "grenade"-- to refer to an unattractive woman -- and has come under fire for their liberal usage of words like "Guido" and "Guidette," which many have argued as adhering to Italian-American stereotypes.

Abercrombie & Fitch is also no stranger to controversy. The all-American retailer has come under fire in the past for a range of topics ranging from negative stereotyping to sexually explicit material and employment practices.

:jester:

stonehenge
08-17-2011, 02:52 PM
fuckin paying them to not wear their clothes :roflmao: good stuff

Cez★
08-20-2011, 02:05 AM
tl;dr version

cutting def budget could lead to spendings levels from 07 and not change for years. changing acquisition plans and cause changes in the mil roles and missions

The dictionary definition of “decimate” is to remove 10%, and that is what could happen to U.S. defense spending over the next decade, now that Washington has set a course to cut as much as $2.4 trillion from accumulating annual deficits.

With the 11th-hour deficit deal reached this month on Capitol Hill—formally called the Budget Control Act of 2011, once President Barack Obama signed it into law—massive, embattled programs will become even bigger targets for quantity reductions and cost containment. Topping most analysts’ lists are the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter, Lockheed Martin-Austal Littoral Combat Ship program and Bell/Boeing V-22 tiltrotor.

Other programs will not get away without bruises, but being smaller or still only in developmental phases will allow them to deflect painful changes immediately. And while some niches of defense spending are even expected to grow—such as cybersecurity, unmanned systems, missile defenses, long-range strike and command, control, computers, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR)—gone are the days when one huge acquisition could define a defense strategy such as air superiority against a potential but unproven threat. Analysts say the U.S. military’s roles and missions will change because of deficit-reduction efforts, for better or worse, and so will its acquisitions.

“The writing is on the wall and, in reality, the roles and missions of the U.S. [Defense Department] and intelligence community could be shaped more by broadly defined, ill-conceived defense budget cuts than by the actual threat environment over the near to intermediate term,” say Michael Lewis and Michael Smith of Lazard Capital Markets.

The Budget Control Act will cut at least $330 billion and possibly far more than double that amount from projected Pentagon spending over the decade starting in the next fiscal year. Tens of billions of dollars more would be cut from other security accounts such as intelligence, homeland security and veterans affairs.

Lazard and Moody’s Investor Services both see the worst-case scenario as the Pentagon budget losing about $850 billion. But it certainly could go higher under the newly enacted law as details of how to make the cuts remain to be worked out. Todd Harrison, of the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, says that if the full effect of the act is allowed to happen—if lawmakers cannot come up with a deal this year to cut the federal budget by another $1.5 trillion—the Pentagon’s baseline budget will return to its fiscal 2007 level in 2013 and hold there for another eight years.

“The budget deal has me partly breathing a sigh of relief [and] partly worrying that we are moving too much toward becoming an entitlement state at the expense of investments in science, education, infrastructure and national security,” the Brookings Institution’s Michael O’Hanlon says.

Accordingly, both larger prime contractors and smaller manufacturers will be affected over the next 10 years, says a new report by Russell Solomon of Moody’s. While most of the Pentagon budget is consumed by operations and maintenance-related activities and military personnel, a “disproportionate” share of future cuts is “likely” to come from investment categories such as procurement, research, development, testing and evaluation, according to Moody’s and Lazard.

“Programs are easier to cut quickly, and more readily enable big savings, while cutting people makes administration of the department harder,” Solomon notes.

The outlook for defense programs grows more dour as expectations dim for the so-called super committee of lawmakers tasked to find cuts under the second part of the Budget Control Act. None of the members named late last week was considered a particularly strong voice for A&D interests, despite the ardent lobbying of the Aerospace Industries Association and House Armed Services Committee Republicans.Senate Minority Leader Mitch McCon-nell (Ky.) tapped Ohio Republican Rob Portman, a freshman and newcomer to the Senate Armed Services Committee, for the budget expertise he acquired as former President George W. Bush’s budget director.

McConnell also named Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), who led a fight against the Obama administration last year over the New Start nuclear arms treaty with Russia and is a frequent advocate of spending on strategic missile defense and nuclear programs. Kyl is not on any defense panel and has announced he will retire from Congress at the end of his term. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), another freshman and a tea party darling, was McConnell’s third choice.

In his statement announcing the members, McConnell stressed the importance of entitlements and taxes—not defense. “My main [criterion] for selecting members was to identify serious, constructive senators who are interested in achieving a result that helps to get our nation’s fiscal house in order,” McConnell says. “That means reforming entitlement programs that are the biggest drivers of our debt, and reforming the tax code in a way that makes us more competitive and leads to more American jobs.”

Interestingly, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) did not heed appeals from his hawkish House Armed Services Committee contingent to choose one of his three representatives from among them. His three choices instead were Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (Mich.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (Mich.).

Thus, so far the biggest defense supporters have come from the Democrat party. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) appointed Patty Murray (Wash.), a member of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee and staunch supporter of Boeing. Reid also chose John Kerry (Mass.), a Vietnam combat veteran who has been on the defensive over military matters since his bruising presidential run in 2004, as well as Max Baucus (Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

The ad hoc committee must forward legislation to Congress by Nov. 23 that lawmakers in both chambers must pass by Dec. 23. If Congress or the committee fails to act, automatic reductions that are unpalatable to both Republicans and Democrats will be handed down.

However the results come about, if they are unacceptable to Congress and the president, they could try to pass another law to overturn part or all of the Budget Control Act or even pursue a different, and perhaps larger, deficit-cutting deal. But with the impending presidential election and polls indicating the public has considerable bitterness over the last battle, neither of those options are being discussed in Washington now.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/awst/2011/08/15/AW_08_15_2011_p29-358114.xml&headline=U.S.%20Defense%20Budget%20Faces%20Decimat ion%20Decade%20&next=10

stonehenge
08-20-2011, 02:17 AM
tl;dr @ tl;dr version

Cez★
08-23-2011, 07:53 PM
Chinese TV Clip Reveals Cyberattack On U.S.



A clip from a Chinese TV documentary purporting to show a Chinese military-launched cyberattack on a U.S-based religious sect is attracting the attention of U.S. intelligence and defense industry officials and has made it onto YouTube.

A veteran National Security Agency cyber-warrior who viewed the clip classifies it as “very cool,” and says it could become an embarrassment to the Chinese government. In addition to YouTube, the footage, as of Aug. 23, could still be viewed on China’s CCTV website.

The New York-based Epoch Times reported on the footage. The Epoch Times publishes in Chinese and was founded by supporters of the Falun Gong spiritual group that has been a target of the Chinese government for its criticism of the Chinese Communist Party.

The documentary about the Chinese military was aired July 15. It briefly shows a computer screen at a military university that was involved in cyberwarfare against the Falun Gong and other targets in the U.S., say Epoch Times reporters Matthew Robertson and Helena Zhu.

The documentary praises the wisdom and judgment of Chinese military strategists, and condemns the United States as an implacable aggressor in the cyber-realm. But fleeting shots of an apparent China-based cyberattack were included.

“The screenshots appear as B-roll footage in the documentary for six seconds—between 11:04 and 11:10 minutes—showing custom-built Chinese software apparently launching a cyberattack against the main website of the Falun Gong spiritual practice, by using a compromised IP address belonging to a United States university,” the reporters say.

The Chinese school involved in the film clip purports to be the Electrical Engineering University of China’s People’s Liberation Army [PLA], and the reporters contend that the clip offers “direct evidence that the PLA is involved in coding cyberattack software directed against a Chinese dissident group.

“The software window says ‘Choose Attack Target,’” the reporters translate from the video. “The computer operator selects an IP address from a list — it happens to be 138.26.72.17 — and then selects a target. Encoded in the software are the words ‘Falun Gong website list,’ A drop-down list of dozens of Falun Gong websites appears. The computer operator chooses Minghui.org, the main website of the Falun Gong spiritual practice. The IP address (138.26.72.17) belongs to the University of Alabama in Birmingham, according to an online trace. The documentary then show a big ‘Attack’ button on the bottom left being pushed, before the camera cuts away.”


http://tinyurl.com/42qrkaa

there be link for vid in article

Cez★
08-26-2011, 01:09 AM
Gunmen burst into a casino in the northern city of Monterrey on Thursday and doused the premises with a flammable liquid, starting a fire that killed at least 11 people and left a dozen injured, authorities said.

The fire at the Casino Royale in Mexico's third largest city represented one of the deadliest attacks against an entertainment center in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against drug cartels in late 2006.
State police officials initially said witnesses reported hearing three explosions before the fire started, but later said that a flammable material was used. The officials were not authorized to be quoted by name for security reasons.
The reports of explosions may have been the sound of the ignition of the liquid.
The casino building was engulfed in dense smoke following the attack, and firefighters and emergency personnel treated victims for smoke inhalation.
While there was no immediate information linking the attack to drug cartels, Monterrey has been the scene of bloody turf battles between the Zetas and Gulf cartels in recent months.
The Nuevo Leon state police officials said at least two men drove up in front of the casino, carried out the attack and fled.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44280517#.Tlbi9Khf1lM

Cez★
08-27-2011, 06:26 PM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14693677?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

New calligraphy classes for China's internet generation
Younger students should have classes every week specifically in writing Chinese characters, the education ministry said.

Older students will be offered optional lessons and after-school activities.

The classes could start as early as this coming week, with the beginning of the new school year.

The rapid development and popularity of mobile phones and computers had weakened pupils' ability to write Chinese characters, a notice on the education ministry website said.

It said students should be trained in correct writing habits, including posture, and in how to use hard and soft brushes.

Energy and motion
Calligraphy comes from the Greek for "beautiful writing". In Chinese it is "shufa" - the law, or method, of writing. And as the name suggests, there is a lot to learn.


Chinese-speaking countries such as Taiwan display colourful calligraphy at Lunar New Year
Twelve strokes of the pen or brush are needed to write the Chinese character meaning "thank you". That is just one character, one syllable in Chinese.

Every flick and swish and dot has a name: they must be written in the right order. At its most proficient, teachers say, Chinese calligraphy is a fusion of energy and motion, a simple brush loaded with black ink producing a work of art.

But technology is threatening centuries of instruction.

Writing using a computer gives the writer little time to dwell on the meaning contained in a character - and mistakes abound. But in China, as in many other countries, the language has evolved in the digital age.

Language from Mars
Internet-users often rewrite a standard Chinese phrase by peppering it with numbers, symbols and phonetic translations from English.

Sometimes they use words that sound the same but are written differently to mask what they mean.

Chinese web-speak is sometimes referred to as "huoxing wen", or the "language from Mars". It can be used to elude China's internet censors.

Younger users are simply thought to like keeping their parents in the dark.

english calligraphy for fgt texters of le generation? :chin:

Cez★
09-20-2011, 05:10 AM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14981082?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

'Don't ask, don't tell' ban on gays in US military ends

The Pentagon says it is fully prepared for the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell"
Continue reading the main story
Related Stories

'Don't ask, don't tell' ends, but 'inequity' remains
House passes gay military repeal
Pentagon study 'backs gay troops'
A policy banning open homosexuality in the US military has been repealed after nearly two decades.

The dropping of "don't ask, don't tell" means service members can now reveal they are gay without fear of investigation or discharge.

"Repeal Day" parties have been organised across the country to mark the victory for gay rights.

The US Congress voted last year to repeal the law, which was introduced in 1993 under the Clinton administration.

Under the policy, gays were permitted to serve as long as they did not openly acknowledge their sexual orientation, while commanders were not allowed to ask.

Displays of affection
Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters on Monday that the Department of Defense was fully prepared for repeal, and that 97% of military personnel had received training on the new law.

Continue reading the main story

Start Quote

Our nation will close the door on a fundamental unfairness for gays and lesbians”

Nancy Pelosi
House of Representatives Minority Speaker
DADT ends, but 'inequity' endures
The armed forces have been accepting applications from openly gay recruits for a number of weeks and will begin processing them now that the new law has taken effect.

The military has also published a revised set of regulations, without references to any ban against homosexual service members.

Pending investigations, discharges and other administrative proceedings have now been dropped under the new law.

Those who have been discharged under the don't ask, don't tell rule are entitled to re-enlist.

But existing standards of personal conduct, such as those pertaining to public displays of affection, will not change.

Nor will there be any change to the eligibility standards for military benefits.

Under current rules, service members are allowed to choose a partner as care-giver under the Wounded Warrior programme, or as a life insurance beneficiary.

"Our nation will finally close the door on a fundamental unfairness for gays and lesbians, and indeed affirm equality for all Americans," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat and leading advocate of the repeal.

Some in Congress remain opposed to repeal, arguing it could undermine efficiency and discipline in the military.

After the Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act was passed by Congress last December, President Barack Obama, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen certified that allowing openly gay service members would not undermine the military.

Cez★
09-27-2011, 03:14 AM
Sterling High School's principal is out of jail on bond after being charged with 'assault on a family member.'
Leviticus Williams, 43, is accused of hitting his girlfriend over the head with a bottle, according to a probable cause document filed in Harris County.
The alleged incident occurred on September 21.
Williams is listed as the principal of Sterling High School in the Houston Independent School District.
An HISD spokesman says Williams had a misdemeanor on his record, but he fully disclosed that prior to his hiring in August 2010.
HISD has relieved Williams of administrative duties pending a decision related to “personal matters,” according to a district statement.
Any disciplinary action will come after a review of his personnel file.
Assistant Principal Sam Dominguez will serve as the interim principal in charge.


Read more: http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/local/110926-sterling-hs-principal-charged-with-assault#ixzz1Z7C97Pjj

this guy was a vice principal at my high school when i was in there :roflmao: dude was cool. kept that ho in check :security:

Cez★
10-05-2011, 03:15 AM
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/09/201192514364490977.html


opinion piece pero found it interesting.
long pero i found it worthwhile

BillyJeanKing
10-07-2011, 01:27 AM
could someone please explain this article to me. i just don't get it

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/blog/dr_saturday/post/Headlinin-8217-Boise-WR-charged-four-games-fo?urn=ncaaf-wp7482

stonehenge
10-07-2011, 02:33 AM
Is that written horribly or do I just not understand sports enough to know what the FUCK is going on?

:fulloffuck:

theholycow
10-07-2011, 01:44 PM
What am I missing? A bunch of people got punished for breaking rules...

BillyJeanKing
10-07-2011, 03:38 PM
what rules???

why would he get punished for driving a POS ???

i need to know these things just in case i get hassled for driving tembo

theholycow
10-07-2011, 03:49 PM
He didn't pay for the car, it belonged to the team or the company or something and he was using it for personal purposes.

BillyJeanKing
10-07-2011, 03:50 PM
:facepalm:

stonehenge
10-07-2011, 05:08 PM
if it was a bamf :tembo: or :gB: or :CV: or :ww: or soemthing then I could see breaking the rules, it would just MAKE SENSE pero for that POS?

SPORTS GAI PLZ FKN GO

theholycow
10-07-2011, 05:56 PM
He was prolly thinking "Who would give a fuck about this POS? FIDIL! Nobody will notice or care."

BillyJeanKing
10-20-2011, 07:49 PM
deeeeeeeem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wshhjUEj1ma95A560zY1

stonehenge
10-20-2011, 08:38 PM
:blackkidooo:

theholycow
11-11-2011, 09:51 PM
http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-ways-we-ruined-occupy-wall-street-generation

theholycow
11-18-2011, 08:03 PM
http://dailyfreepress.com/2011/11/17/bu-professor-named-‘complicit’-in-running-meth-lab/

Cez★
11-22-2011, 10:50 PM
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/21/propagandastan?page=0,0



When people read a news website, they don't usually imagine that it is being run by a major producer of fighter jets and smart bombs. But when the Pentagon has its own vision of America's foreign policy, and the funds to promote it, it can put a $23 billion defense contractor in a unique position to report on the war on terror.

Over the past three years, a subdivision of Virginia-based General Dynamics has set up and run a network of eight "influence websites" funded by the Defense Department with more than $120 million in taxpayer money. The sites, collectively known as the Trans Regional Web Initiative (TRWI) and operated by General Dynamics Information Technology, focus on geographic areas under the purview of various U.S. combatant commands, including U.S. Central Command. In its coverage of Uzbekistan, a repressive dictatorship increasingly important to U.S. military goals in Afghanistan, a TRWI website called Central Asia Online has shown a disturbing tendency to downplay the autocracy's rights abuses and uncritically promote its claims of terrorist threats.

Cez★
11-23-2011, 05:49 AM
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57330050-503544/ron-paul-israel-can-take-care-of-itself/?tag=contentMain;contentBody

If they were to conduct such an attack, "that's their business, but they should suffer the consequences," Paul continued. He added that Israel has hundreds of nuclear missiles, so "they can take care of themselves."

Cez★
11-24-2011, 05:13 AM
http://alturl.com/key52


Once an isolationist communist state, over the last 20 years China has become the world's biggest exporter of consumer goods. But behind this apparent success story is a dark secret - millions of men and women locked up in prisons and forced into intensive manual labour.

"We were not paid at all, we were forced. If anyone refused to work, they would be beaten, some people were beaten to death."

Charles Lee, former prison inmate

China has the biggest penal colony in the world - a top secret network of more than 1,000 slave labour prisons and camps known collectively as "The Laogai". And the use of the inmates of these prisons - in what some experts call "state sponsored slavery" - has been credited with contributing to the country's economic boom.

theholycow
11-24-2011, 02:27 PM
Is that a surprise to anyone?

Cez★
11-24-2011, 06:09 PM
:smileshrug:

im pretty sum peepz aint hurd of dat

Cez★
11-26-2011, 06:48 AM
General Electric says it has successfully tested a faster, cheaper way to produce nuclear reactor fuel, and is planning to commercialize the technology by building a facility in Wilmington, N.C. While the prospect of saving resources to generate energy at a lower price sounds like a breakthrough, scientists are concerned that the top-secret method of enrichment that GE is using will indirectly elevate proliferation risks around the world, thus inspiring rogue states to develop their own laser enrichment facilities for nuclear weapons.

The enrichment technology is the Separation of Isotopes by Laser Excitation (Silex). It was developed by Silex of Australia in 1992. The technology company USEC funded early research on Silex, but abandoned it in favor of focusing on centrifuge enrichment. In 2006, GE signed an exclusive agreement to commercialize and license the technology and spearhead further research and development.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?channel=defense&id=news/dti/2011/11/01/DT_11_01_2011_p23-382620.xml&headline=New%20Uranium%20Enrichment%20Technology%2 0Alarms&prev=10

theholycow
11-26-2011, 01:11 PM
Didn't we have a local news thread? I can't find it.

http://news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2011/11/scituate-police-1.html#.TtDVuPoZk50
Scituate son beat father to death with baseball bat on Thanksgiving
Comments 32 | Recommend 4
November 25, 2011 9:36 pm
By Thomas J. Morgan

SCITUATE, R.I. -- A 27-year-old man described in court records as having "very significant mental-health issues" beat his father to death with a baseball bat while they were preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, the police said Friday.

Paul Dunbar is being charged with the slaying of his father, Milo Dunbar, a 71-year-old retiree.

The police went to the home at 58 Moswansicut Lake Drive, at about 12:15 p.m. Thursday after receiving a frantic call from the victim's wife, Olga, 52, according to chief of police Col. David Randall.

Randall said the incident may have had roots in a family argument the day before, when the father and son argued over the son's joblessness. The father asked his son, the chief said, "to leave the house in the next couple of days because he was not providing enough support to the family."

Milo Dunbar died of severe head injuries either while he was being taken transported to a hospital or upon arrival, Randall said.

Randall said Paul Dunbar was arraigned Friday and ordered held without bail pending a court appearance on a charge of murder. Hel said Paul Dunbar did not have a history of violence but court records obtained by the Associated Press showed that Paul Dunbar had a history of "very significant mental-health issues."

stonehenge
11-26-2011, 07:40 PM
we kinda haz local news thread: http://www.allofftopic.com/showthread.php?t=729

as for le baseball bat murder :scared:

theholycow
11-26-2011, 11:00 PM
Yeah, that's the thread I was thinking of.

Cez★
11-26-2011, 11:14 PM
pinche lil slugger

Cez★
11-28-2011, 04:51 AM
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57331758/teen-tweeter-wont-apologize-to-kan-gov/

A U.S. teenager who wrote a disparaging tweet about Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said Sunday that she is rejecting her high school principal's demand for a written apology.
Emma Sullivan, 18, said she isn't sorry and doesn't think such a letter would be sincere.

The Shawnee Mission East senior was taking part in a Youth in Government program last week when she sent out a tweet from the back of a crowd of students listening to Brownback's greeting. From her cellphone, she thumbed: "Just made mean comments at gov. brownback and told him he sucked, in person (hash)heblowsalot."

She actually made no such comment and said she was "just joking with friends." But Brownback's office, which monitors social media for postings containing the governor's name, saw Sullivan's post and contacted the Youth in Government program.

Sullivan received a scolding at school and was ordered to send Brownback an apology letter. She said Prinicipal Karl R. Krawitz even suggested talking points for the letter she was supposed to turn in Monday.

The situation exploded after Sullivan's older sister contacted the media. Since then, Sullivan's following on Twitter has grown to about 3,000 people, up from about 65 before the tweet. She said she thinks the tweet has helped "open up dialogue" about free speech in social media..

"I would do it again," she said.

Sullivan has received emails from attorneys but is waiting to see what happens when she refuses to hand in a letter. Krawitz, her principal, told The Kansas City Star previously that the situation is a "private issue, not a public matter" but didn't return a phone message from The Associated Press at his home Sunday.

Then-Sen. Sam Brownback announces an end to his presidential bid on October 19, 2007, in Topeka, Kansas. (Credit: Getty Images)
She hasn't heard from Brownback or his staff. She said she wouldn't mind sitting down and talking to the governor.

Sullivan said she disagrees with Brownback politically, particularly his decision to veto the Kansas Arts Commission's entire budget, making Kansas the only state in the nation to eliminate arts funding. Brownback has argued arts programs can flourish with private dollars and that state funds should go to core government functions, such as education and social services.

"I think it would be interesting to have a dialogue with him," she said. "I don't know if he would do it or not though. And I don't know that he would listen to what I have to say."

Sherriene Jones-Sontag, the governor's spokeswoman, told The Star previously that Sullivan's message wasn't respectful and that it takes mutual respect to "really have a constructive dialogue." Brownback's office didn't return calls or emails Sunday from the AP.

Sullivan's mother, Julie, said she isn't angry with her daughter, even though she thinks she "could have chosen different words."

"She wasn't speaking to the 3,000 followers she has now," Julie Sullivan said. "She was talking to 65 friends. And also it's the speech they use today. It's more attention grabbing. I raised my kids to be independent, to be strong, to be free thinkers. If she wants to tweet her opinion about Gov. Brownback, I say for her to go for it and I stand totally behind her."

of course not. no politics in the kitchen :bishplz:

theholycow
11-28-2011, 12:58 PM
When did this happen?

What went right:
- Adult student cared, and bitched about a politician
- Student's parent supports her

What went wrong:

- Politician, who was running for President, hates freedom of speech. This is exactly the free speech that the Founding Fathers had in mind when they came up with that idea; criticism of government.

- School principal wants kid to apologize. WTF? Schools are supposed to be teaching kids to think critically and take on the government, not kowtow and grovel.

- Politician made a big stink about the whole thing and then refused to settle it with an in-person discussion. For fuck's sake, if there's one thing Obama has done right, it was sitting down to a beer with a couple of disagreeing people...this jackovasaur ought to sit down to a Pepsi with her.

stonehenge
11-28-2011, 01:49 PM
And all of that over a tweet that wasn't even that bad. No bad language, nothing over the top, etc. That asshat can't deal with one "he blows"? Cez says worse than that when he sneezes.

Cez★
11-28-2011, 02:49 PM
Recently I think cao.

Cez★
11-29-2011, 08:58 PM
some interesting stories in this one imo
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/28/the_stories_you_missed_in_2011?page=0,9

BillyJeanKing
11-29-2011, 09:06 PM
oops, just quoted a damn near two year old post

me>>> :slap: <<< me

stonehenge
11-29-2011, 09:22 PM
korkah slappin himself like a bauce

Cez★
11-30-2011, 11:45 PM
Once you decide to lead a rebellion, there's usually only two ways the story can end: Either you ride into the presidential palace, or you die alone.

So it went for Mallojula Koteshwar Rao, the elusive leader of the Maoist insurgency that has claimed over 10,000 lives over the last decade in India. A media-savvy guerrilla with the nom de guerre "Kishenji," Rao (above, at a press conference in 2009) had repeatedly eluded the best efforts of some 100,000 Indian troops tasked with hunting him down. On Nov. 24, his luck ran out. Acting on an insider tip, the Indian government dropped an entire battalion of elite counterinsurgency forces into a derelict village on the edge of the jungle near the border between West Bengal and Jharkhand provinces, in the country's east. They emerged with the body of the 56-year-old mustachioed general, an outdated hearing aid in his ear and a stolen Kalashnikov by his side.


http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/11/29/the_generals_luck_runs_out?page=0,0

interesting article, specially since i aint hurd of taht

Cez★
12-02-2011, 06:30 AM
Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani on Friday gave his troops "full liberty" to respond to any further cross-border attacks by Nato forces in Afghanistan in the wake of an air strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, official sources said.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/Pakistan/Pak-army-has-liberty-to-hit-back-at-Nato-attacks-Kayani/Article1-776847.aspx

stonehenge
12-02-2011, 03:20 PM
:roflpow:

http://torrentfreak.com/copyright-corruption-scandal-surrounds-anti-piracy-campaign-111201/?_

Cez★
12-02-2011, 08:16 PM
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57335644-503544/jewish-gop-group-ron-paul-too-extreme-for-our-forum/#comments

The Republican Jewish Coalition elected not to invite Ron Paul to its Dec. 7 forum - which all the other Republican presidential candidates are expected to attend - because it rejects his "misguided and extreme views," Washington Jewish Week reports.


"He's just so far outside of the mainstream of the Republican party and this organization," RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks said. He went on to compare extending an invitation to Paul to "inviting (President) Barack Obama to speak."



fgt jews. they mad

BillyJeanKing
12-04-2011, 10:11 PM
:facepalm:

An investigation by Fox News 12 revealed that food stamps could be used to buy a $5.25 tall Frappaccino and a slice of pumpkin bread from a branch of Starbucks in Salem, Oregon, using food stamps.
The food stamps program was introduced to give assistance to low income families who struggled to provide themselves with food basics such as milk and bread.
But the news that the stamps can be used to buy expensive drinks and snacks from places like Starbucks has led to accusations that there is a 'huge misuse' of the scheme.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz1fOiTCuqq

stonehenge
12-04-2011, 10:14 PM
i can get starbucks w/ food stamps!?

:ohsnap:

time to apply

stonehenge
12-05-2011, 02:39 PM
:horyshet:

http://images.mirror.co.uk/upl/m4/dec2011/6/8/police-officers-investigate-a-farrari-crash-in-shimonoseki-japan-pic-ap-383706392.jpg

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/12/04/the-most-expensive-car-crash-ever-eight-ferraris-in-supercar-pile-up-115875-23610157/

Cez★
12-05-2011, 02:56 PM
Hapsburg. Todd at anime, not so good at driving

stonehenge
12-05-2011, 02:59 PM
Hapsburg. Todd at anime

:roflshrug:

stonehenge
12-05-2011, 06:30 PM
http://i.imgur.com/ezLke.png

Cez★
12-05-2011, 07:24 PM
Just saw my lsd laden post.:what?:

theholycow
12-05-2011, 07:35 PM
wut

stonehenge
12-15-2011, 03:14 PM
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/12/megaupload-v-universal/

Expected video to have old artists and no-name peeps that did the commercial just for the money but it has plenty of fairly relevant people who are rish.

:chin:

theholycow
12-15-2011, 04:10 PM
A second takedown notice came from will.i.am, of the Black Eyed Peas. The Hollywood Reporter, quoting the musician’s attorney, said his client had never given permission for his appearance in the video, which shows him singing: “When I’ve got to send files across the globe, I use Megaupload.”

Why would he sing that on video if it wasn't for a Megaupload advertisement?

After all the big music labels have done to their customers and to art, I have no sympathy for them in any lawsuit against them.

stonehenge
12-15-2011, 04:20 PM
:word: that foo is singin all happy and shit

Cez★
12-22-2011, 04:36 PM
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/12/21/end_of_the_chinese_dream?page=0,1



interesting read

theholycow
12-22-2011, 04:58 PM
So China is going to implode before it ever even grows into economic adulthood?

Cez★
12-22-2011, 05:21 PM
:smileshrug: doubt it :rofl: mehbeh if the lower class grows some balls

theholycow
12-22-2011, 07:41 PM
http://theweek.com/article/index/105766/australias-small-breast-ban
Australia is banning porn with small tits...big tits only, please. :boobs:

Cez★
12-22-2011, 07:45 PM
well played australia

---------- Post added at 12:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:44 PM ----------

pero goddammit i love my lolis. fkn upside down bastards

theholycow
12-23-2011, 02:59 PM
http://articles.boston.com/2011-12-20/yourtown/30539088_1_apartment-building-rats-rifle
A 57-year-old Allston man faced charges today for allegedly firing an unlicensed rifle at rats in the halls of his Franklin Street apartment building because of frustration over an infestation of the vermin, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney's office.

William McAbee was arraigned in Brighton District Court for unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and unlawfully discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling, prosecutors said. A not guilty plea was automatically entered on his behalf, and Judge Kenneth V. Desmond set his bail at $2,500, district attorney spokesman Jake Wark said.

[...]

The man told the officers he had a valid Firearms Identifications card but that it had been stolen from his car, prosecutors said.

But police later learned that the man's firearms license had expired in 1999 and filed a complaint charging the man which led to his summons arraignment today, authorities said.

At first I was like "WTF Massachsetts, Y U NO HAVE REASONABLE FIREARM LAWS?" but then I was like "Well, I guess if the state is full of guys like that..."

Cez★
01-15-2012, 07:26 AM
Cambodian police have found five bodies, two of them stuffed in a suitcase, in a car belonging to a Frenchman who had been missing for months with his four children, officials said.

The gruesome discovery was made after the vehicle owned by widower Laurent Vallier, 42, was retrieved from a pond on his property in the southern province of Kampong Speu, said Chhay Sinarith, director of the interior ministry's internal security department.

"After removing the car from the pond, we found the remains of five people. We conclude that they are those of the missing French family," he told AFP.

"The bones of two kids were put in a suitcase that was also in the car," he said, adding that police were still investigating the cause of death for all five victims.

Vallier and his two sons and two daughters, aged two to nine, had been missing since September. Vallier's Cambodian wife died in childbirth in 2009.

A source at the French embassy in Phnom Penh told AFP he could only confirm that "the remains of five people", in a badly decomposed state, had been found in Vallier's car, which is thought to have lain submerged for weeks.

The embassy official stressed that none of the victims had been officially identified and that an investigation was still ongoing.
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8403226

Manbearpig
01-15-2012, 11:24 AM
http://www.oaoa.com/articles/woman-79504-police-injuries.html

Map of shootings reported so far

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/381384_10151176434190585_584210584_22862374_240593 23_n.jpg

:kittahout:

stonehenge
01-15-2012, 12:02 PM
Jessica's comment is ratard:

http://i.imgur.com/IRhN7.jpg

MBP, plz find and eliminate kthx

stonehenge
01-19-2012, 03:11 PM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16620807

What a ratard :fp: the captains comments are pretty bad lol "tripped into a lifeboat" or "But this time I ordered the turn too late and I ended up in water that was too shallow. I don't know why it happened" :retard:

---------- Post added at 07:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:10 AM ----------

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/57967000/jpg/_57967234_highres_dg.jpg

:scared:

Cez★
01-19-2012, 03:11 PM
Yea the coast guard guys replies to him also made him to be a complete fgt

stonehenge
01-19-2012, 03:21 PM
word

:pissedoff: "dont be a fgt, get back on the boat and help"

:derp: "ehh its dark in there"

Cez★
01-19-2012, 03:25 PM
:serio: :fp:


Dats a huge boat.fts

stonehenge
01-19-2012, 04:18 PM
:serio: dats a huge bish

stonehenge
01-19-2012, 09:33 PM
http://techland.time.com/2012/01/19/feds-shut-down-megaupload-com-file-sharing-website/

RIP megaupload :emo:

theholycow
01-19-2012, 10:24 PM
:whoa:

http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv315/theh0lyc0w/EmotiCows/emow.gif

They're not going after people who downloaded from it, are they? :secret:

stonehenge
01-19-2012, 10:26 PM
not that i know of :secret:

Cez★
01-19-2012, 10:26 PM
http://techland.time.com/2012/01/19/feds-shut-down-megaupload-com-file-sharing-website/

RIP megaupload :emo:

Saw that earlier :(

apedestrian
01-19-2012, 11:19 PM
so the govt was just like :bishplz: we don't need sopa to take down sites :umad:

theholycow
01-19-2012, 11:32 PM
:shrug: That's nothing new.

As I understand, SOPA was intended to give that power to big companies, not to the government who already has it.

Cez★
01-19-2012, 11:42 PM
So it was the gov who took em down? Cuz just read that anon shut the doj site and some music label sies down

apedestrian
01-19-2012, 11:43 PM
:shrug: That's nothing new.

As I understand, SOPA was intended to give that power to big companies, not to the government who already has it.

oh :blah:


so big companies can deem what is infringing on copyright laws :fp: i wish i could move out of the usa but even still the bill will affect everyone in the world:(