Thursday - October 13, 2005

Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day (and maybe of all time)

YO! ADRIENNE!

Marlon Brando screamed, “I COULDA BEEN A CONTENDER!”

Sylverster Stallone screamed, “I COULDA BEEN AN ACTOR!”

Stallone Squares Up For Rocky VI
(DAILY MAIL - UK)

His last bout was with his protègèturned-rival Tommy Gunn in Rocky V. Now, more than 15 years on - and 30 years since first putting on his boxing gloves - Rocky Balboa is making another comeback. Hollywood sources confirmed last night that Sylvester Stallone has agreed to star in the sixth instalment of the Rocky saga. Filming starts in Los Angeles in December and Stallone, who will turn 60 next year, is also lined up to direct.

A spokesman from the star’s agent Paul Bloch said: ‘There is a script, but it has yet to get the green light.’ This is industry-speak for Stallone being in advanced talks, but having yet to officially announce his commitment to the project. In Rocky VI, a lonely, poverty-stricken Balboa comes out of retirement and looks to keep his hand in with a few low-profile fights. But his return to the ring causes a media frenzy and a promoter comes up with the idea that he should fight the heavyweight champion, Mason ‘The Line’ Dixon.

Stallone is understood to have been back in the gym in preparation for the role. Although the film is to be made in Los Angeles, it is unclear whether it will be set in Rocky’s hometown of Philadelphia. The supporting cast has not been announced. Rocky will signal something of a renaissance for 59-year- old Stallone, who will turn 60 during filming, and comes as he attempts to revive his other career-defining role, Rambo.

The fourth film in that series is currently in pre-production and will also be produced by Stallone. The actor became one of Hollywood’s highest-paid leading men as the monosyllabic Rocky. For the first film, in 1976, he was paid just £15,000. But for each sequel he got a huge pay rise - and for Rocky V he earned £10million. His last role was a cameo in last year’s Sky Kids 3. Previously, he had failed to set the box office alight with D-Tox, Driven and the remake of Get Carter.

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/13/2005 at 03:44 PM   
Filed Under: • Hollywood •  
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Super-Duper FEMA Phone And More

Some people just never learn ....

Katrina Spawns Thousands of Fraud Cases
WASHINGTON (AP)

Hurricane Katrina has spawned a second big flood that is surging well beyond the Gulf Coast: thousands of cases and complaints alleging fraud. Seven weeks after the storm roared ashore, authorities around the country are amassing cases ranging from identity theft to scams by phony construction contractors to hotel price gouging. In Louisiana, dozens of victims have applied for benefits from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, only to find their personal identification information has been stolen and already used. In Texas, authorities say people falsely claiming to be refugees collected hundreds of dollars in emergency aid—sometimes going back two or three times each day.

And in Mississippi, authorities are on the lookout for a woman who was charging victims $50 to use her “super-duper FEMA phone”—which she said would let frustrated callers bypass busy signals on a direct hot line to the relief agency. “There are some real oddball cases,” said Mississippi Assistant Attorney General Grant Hedgepeth, who heads the state’s consumer protection office. Mississippi investigators have received more than 1,000 complaints—about hotel and gas price gouging, phony insurance adjuster scams, people posing as FEMA workers to collect victims’ personal information. The Red Cross is investigating more than 500 fraud cases, said spokeswoman Devorah Goldburg. And as of Thursday, the Justice Department had charged 34 people with various fraud crimes stemming from Katrina and Hurricane Rita.

An estimated 1.5 million people evacuated their homes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama when Katrina hit the coast Aug. 29. Congress has approved $62 billion in disaster relief aid. The big payout, combined with the scattering of victims to nearly every state, created the potential for rampant fraud in Katrina’s aftermath, said Jeannette M. Adkins, executive director of the National Organization of Victim Assistance. Scam artists “can show up to disaster relief centers in almost every state and present themselves as victims, and have nothing to show for it,” Adkins said. “And people are handing out the money.” While the number of federal cases is still relatively small, officials say the prosecutions reflect a more aggressive effort by the government to curb fraud than there was after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The federal government prosecuted 13 people accused of fraudulently seeking aid from the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund and New York City, according to the Justice Department’s inspector general. Focused on preventing more terror attacks, the department left nearly all 9/11 fraud cases to local and state prosecutors. With Katrina, the federal government created an anti-fraud task force the week after the storm hit to curb con artists and contractors trying to cheat the system. The goal is to make sure that money from the relief effort “doesn’t end up in the pockets or wallets of defrauders,” said Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher, who heads the task force of investigators from 35 agencies.

Nearly all the federal cases target people posing as displaced hurricane victims. Some are charged with applying for FEMA and Red Cross aid using stolen identity information; others are accused of contriving tragic scenarios to blend in with victims who lost all documentation of their properties. Two people in Los Angeles are accused of posing as charity officials to collect money from trusting donors. A Miami-area man allegedly solicited donations though his Web site by promising to help evacuate children and critically ill patients from Louisiana. The bulk of the cases are surfacing at state and local levels. In Houston, local police arrested 54 people over a six-day period last month, accusing them of illegally collecting Red Cross benefits from a Baptist church.

“Some people were bold enough to come through three times a day,” said Houston Police Lt. Craig Williams, who estimated that up to 7,000 Katrina victims—and impostors—collected aid at the church daily. Victims were eligible for $360 individually, or $1,565 for a family of five—and “everybody was claiming they had five kids,” he said. Investigators for Louisiana’s attorney general are looking into more than 2,200 complaints about gas stations and hotels trying to take advantage of desperate families by raising prices, said spokeswoman Jennifer Cluck. In Mississippi, Hedgepeth said some hotel prices skyrocketed from nightly rates of $49 to $135 as evacuees searched for shelter. Even a Louisiana campground got into the price gouging game, Cluck said, by allowing only evacuees willing to pay $900 in monthly fees to stay.

As the immediate emergency for evacuees subsides, authorities anticipate scammers will find new ways to defraud victims. Construction contracts are being watched closely by federal, state and local prosecutors. Roofers are under particular scrutiny in Louisiana, which has seen a spate of cases where little or no work gets done after scammers receive upfront payments. “We’ll probably start seeing some new trends as people look to get back into heir homes and restart their lives,” Cluck said.

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/13/2005 at 03:20 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Stoopid-People •  
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OUTRAGEOUS!

Ordinarily, I don’t condone drug use but this is an exception. I also don’t condone treating veterans this way ... by Canadians or Americans ...

Lawyer: Ailing Vet Deported From Canada
SEATTLE (AP)

An Army veteran who fled to Canada to avoid prosecution for growing marijuana to treat his chronic pain was yanked from a hospital by Canadian authorities, driven to the border with a catheter still attached, and turned over to U.S. officials, his lawyer says. He then went five days with no medical treatment and only ibuprofen for the pain, attorney Douglas Hiatt said. Steven W. Tuck, 38, was still fitted with the urinary catheter when he shuffled into federal court for a detention hearing Wednesday, Hiatt said.

“This is totally inhumane. He’s been tortured for days for no reason,” Hiatt said. U.S. Magistrate Judge James P. Donohue ordered Tuck temporarily released so he could be taken to a hospital for treatment. However, Tuck’s release hit a snag later Wednesday when King County Jail officials received a detainment request from authorities in Humboldt County, Calif., Hiatt said. Hiatt negotiated into the night with jail officials.

Tuck suffered debilitating injuries in the 1980s when his parachute failed to open during a jump, and those injuries were exacerbated by a car crash in 1990, Hiatt said. He said Tuck was using marijuana to treat his chronic pain. In 2001, while he was living in McKinleyville, Calif., his marijuana operation was raided for the second time. He fled to British Columbia to avoid prosecution but asylum was denied. Last Friday, he checked himself into a Vancouver hospital for prostate problems, and it was there that he was arrested.

Richard Cowan, a friend who runs the Web site marijuananews.com, said in a telephone interview from Canada that he was with Tuck at the hospital when Canadian authorities arrested him. “I would not believe it unless I had seen it,” Cowan said. “They sent people in to arrest him while he was on a gurney. They took him out of the hospital in handcuffs, put him in an SUV, and drove him to the border.” He was turned over to Whatcom County Jail officials, who called federal marshals. The marshals took him to the King County Jail in Seattle.

Though Tuck has taken morphine - as prescribed by doctors - for about 16 years to help with his pain, he was given no painkiller or treatment at the jail other than ibuprofen, Hiatt said. Tuck appeared emaciated in court, and Hiatt said he had been sick from morphine withdrawal. A message left with representatives of the King County Jail was not immediately returned Wednesday. A spokesman with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Vancouver said he could not immediately comment on the case.

Tuck is charged federally with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Donohue agreed to release him on the condition that he face the charge in the Northern District of California upon his release from the hospital. The Supreme Court ruled in June that people who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws, even in states like California that have laws permitting medical marijuana use.

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/13/2005 at 07:00 AM   
Filed Under: • Health-Medicine • Military •  
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Interstellar Bypass

_{Christo Komarnitski, Sofia, Bulgaria - From the Bulgarian newspaper “Sega”}

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/13/2005 at 06:00 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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   Wednesday - October 12, 2005

Fifteen Minutes And Twenty Seconds

As Andy Warhol said, everyone is entitled to fifteen minutes of fame. Cindy Sheehan is twenty seconds over limit ....

Sheehan Delivers Letter to Governor’s Office About War
(KXTV SACRAMENTO)

Vacaville mother and anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan traveled to the State Capitol today to ask Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to pull California’s National Guard troops out of Iraq. Sheehan has toured the nation protesting the war since her son, Casey, died in Iraq last year. In August, she camped outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, hoping to meet with him to confront him about the war.

Sheehan delivered a letter to the governor’s office. The letter reads, in part: “California is suffering each day as its law enforcement, corrections and firefighters are called to a war in Iraq which does not protect the people of California, leaving the state in a weakened position. California tax dollars are also disproportionately spent on this war. California men and women are killed and maimed in this war, and their families are left in ruins, as I too well know.”

The governor’s acting Communications director, Margita Thompson said, “We are absolutely sure we would have enough National Guard troops here to be deployed to protect our own vital service needs in the event of an emergency while at the same being able to provide troops for the effort in Iraq.” The governor is attending a fundraiser in Arizona tonight. He was not at the State Capitol today. The California National Guard says 2,300 troops are stationed in Iraq. About 1,600 troops are in the state and are not deployed.

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/12/2005 at 10:46 PM   
Filed Under: • Stoopid-People •  
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Peeking Into Al-Qaeda’s Mail

I know you’ve all heard about the intercepted mail between Zed-1 and Zed-2 (I can’t spell these asshats’ names this late at night!). We now give you a translated insight into the minds of madmen, courtesy of the fine troops at CENTCOM ....

ZAWAHIRI-ZARQAWI COMMUNIQUÉ
Translation from the original Arabic by CENTCOM
Key Themes
11 October 2005

We note seven critical themes from the Zawahiri-Zarqawi letter.  The first four confirm al-Qaida’s long-term strategy and core beliefs; the latter three reflect new information about how senior al-Qaida leader Zawahiri views developments in Iraq – and elsewhere – turning against them.

Further confirmation of al-Qaida’s long-term strategy/beliefs:

Iraq is becoming the central battlefield for al-Qaida senior leaders in Pakistan .  Zawahiri views Iraq as the bridgehead for the creation of a new Islamic caliphate – their ultimate objective.  The letter makes clear al-Qa’ida intends to wrest control of Iraq from the Iraqi people so they can use the country in pursuit of other goals.

Quote: “I want to be the first to congratulate you for what God has blessed you with in terms of fighting in the heart of the Islamic world, which was formerly the field for major battles in Islam’s history, and what is now the place for the greatest battle of Islam in this era….”

Al-Qaida’s ambitions do not stop at Iraq ’s borders.  Establishing the political dominance of Sunni militants in Iraq is only a first step—a means to an end—in realizing al-Qaida’s ambitions of imposing its control over the broader Middle East.  In fact, al-Qaida’s focus on Iraq has nothing to do with Iraqi nationalism, but is purely instrumental as a beachhead for al-Qaida’s broader agenda.  Under al-Qaida, Iraq will serve as a terrorist haven and staging ground for attacks against Iraq ’s neighbors and quite possibly Western nations—all those judged to be ruling in violation of their distorted interpretation of Islamic law – and clearly destabilize the region.  According to Zawahiri:

Quote:  “…the Jihad in Iraq requires several incremental goals:  The first stage: Expel the Americans from Iraq .  The second stage: Establish an Islamic authority or amirate, then develop it and support it until it achieves the level of a caliphate over as much territory as you can spread its power in Iraq, i.e., in Sunni areas. . . . The third stage: Extend the jihad wave to the secular countries neighboring Iraq .  The fourth stage: …[This is ] the clash with Israel , because Israel was established only to challenge any new Islamic entity. . . . [T]heir ongoing mission is to establish an Islamic state, and defend it, and for every generation to hand over the banner to the one after it until the Hour of Resurrection.”

Quote:  “It has always been my belief that the victory of Islam will never take place until a Muslim state is established in the manner of the Prophet in the heart of the Islamic world, specifically, in the Levant, Egypt , and the neighboring states of the Peninsula and Iraq ; however, the center would be in the Levant and Egypt .”

The letter demonstrates that pulling US forces out of Iraq is the wrong approach – that terrorists will not simply lay down their arms when American forces depart Iraq .  Al-Qaida and its terrorist brethren will not go away when the Coalition hands over security control to Iraqi forces; rather, they are committed to overthrowing the elected, democratic Iraqi government and ruling the country according to their interpretation of Islamic law.

Quote:  “And it is that the Mujahidin must not have their mission end with the expulsion of the Americans from Iraq , and then lay down their weapons, and silence the fighting zeal.  We will return to having the secularists and traitors holding sway over us.”

Zawahiri believes in religious intolerance and converting, conquering, or killing anyone who does not believe as he does.  His only concern is how to deceive the population that this is not the case by urging Zarqawi to reduce attacks on Shia civilians.  Zawahiri contends that Shia are heretics.  He views Shi’ism as a “religious school based on excess and falsehood,” and as a danger to what he sees as true, Sunni Islam.  Zawahiri does not condemn Zarqawi for killing Shia.  Indeed, the Shia, along with anyone who does not blindly follow al-Qaida’s twisted interpretation of Islam, will be forced either to adopt al-Qa’ida’s extremist ideology or face repression or death if the terrorists establish control.  Zawahiri’s concerns are purely tactical; managing the press and gaining the support, or acquiescence, of the people.

Quote: “People of discernment and knowledge among Muslims know the extent of danger to Islam of the 12’er school of Shi’ism.  It is a religious school based on excess and falsehood whose function is to accuse the companions of Muhammad of heresy [in] a campaign against Islam, in order to free the way for a group of those who call for a dialogue in the name of the hidden mahdi who is in control of existence and infallible in what he does.  Their prior history in cooperating with the enemies of Islam is consistent with their current reality of connivance with the crusaders.”

Quote: “The collision between any state based on the model of prophecy with the Shi’ites is a matter that will happen sooner or later.  This is the judgment of history, and these are the fruits to be expected from the rejectionist Shi’a sect and their opinion of the Sunnis.  These are clear, well-known matters to anyone with a knowledge of history, the ideologies, and the politics of states.”

Quote: “[M]any of your Muslim admirers amongst the common folk are wondering about your attacks on the Shi’a.”

How al-Qaida views the developments in Iraq – and elsewhere – as turning against them:

Zawahiri clearly is worried they are losing public support in Iraq, and is attuned to the role of the media in the battle for such support.  Zawahiri emphasizes that the struggle is ideological, with each side competing for the popular support and loyalty of the Muslim world.  Zarqawi’s methods are backfiring by alienating the Iraqi people with attacks against the Shia.

Quote:  “…[W]e will see that the strongest weapon which the Mujahidin enjoy . . . is popular support from the Muslim masses in Iraq , and the surrounding Muslim countries.  So, we must maintain this support as best we can, and we should strive to increase it….”

Quote:  “[T]he Jihadist movement must avoid any action that the masses do not understand or approve. . . .”

Quote:  “I say to you: that we are in a battle, and that more than half this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media.  And that we are in a media battle in a race for the hearts and minds of our nation.”

Zawahiri, who previously termed democracy heretical, is willing to exploit the political process unfolding in Iraq to advance the group’s goals.  Zawahiri is advocating a modified strategy in an attempt to expand the group’s Sunni support base in Iraq .  It is tacit acknowledgement that the political process unfolding in Iraq appeals to average Iraqis.  Zarqawi’s recent pronouncements for all-out war against the Shia and recent rhetoric against Sunnis supporting the government and coalition stirred concerns among his advisers and allies and already have prompted Zarqawi to quickly adjust his rhetoric and some tactics.

Quote:  “We don’t want to repeat the mistake of the Taliban, who restricted participation in governance to the students and the people of Kandahar alone.  They did not have any representation for the Afghan people in their ruling regime, so the result was that the Afghan people disengaged themselves from them.”

Quote: “I stress again to you and to all your brothers the need to direct the political action equally with the military action, by the alliance, cooperation and gathering of all leaders of opinion and influence in the Iraqi arena. . . . [Y]ou and your brothers must strive to have around you circles of support, assistance, and cooperation, and through them, to advance until you become a consensus, entity, organization, or association that represents all the honorable people and the loyal folks in Iraq .”

Zawahiri’s letter to Zarqawi reveals continued points of weakness in Pakistan-based al-Qaida senior leaders and what they need to operate and survive:

Financial shortages:  Zawahiri asks for a payment of approximately 100,000 of an unspecified currency until “new lines” – likely with donors – are opened.  Moreover, he makes this request in the context of Abu Faraj al-Libi, intimating that his capture adversely affected al-Qaida’s ability to transfer funds.

Quote:  “The brothers informed me that you suggested to them sending some assistance.  Our situation since Abu-al-Faraj is good by the grace of God, but many of the lines have been cut off.  Because of this, we need a payment while new lines are being opened.  So, if you’re capable of sending a payment of approximately 100,000 [units of currency] we’ll be very grateful to you.”

The CT efforts of our partners:  Furthermore, Zawahiri notes that while they may have limited the consequences of Abu Faraj’s capture, al-Qaida is wary of the Pakistani army’s presence in the tribal areas where its leaders have found sanctuary.  This highlights the importance of continued Pakistani efforts in the War on Terror.  As partnerships and partnership capacity expands, so shrinks the space in which terrorists can operate.

Quote: “[T]he real danger comes from the agent Pakistani army which is carrying out operations in the tribal areas looking for Mujahidin.”

Isolation of senior leadership.  Zawahiri appeals to Zarqawi for information about the situation and activities in Iraq .

Quote: “Likewise I would like you to inform us about the Iraqi situation in general and the situation of the Mujahidin in particular in [sufficient] detail. . . . At the least, we should know as much as the enemy knows.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/12/2005 at 10:11 PM   
Filed Under: • Terrorists •  
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Remember the Cole

Today is the fifth anniversary of the U.S.S. Cole bombing.

Stars and Stripes pays tribute to the 17 sailors killed in the terrorist attack, the dozens wounded, the survivors, and the families affected. Command Master Chief James Parlier will never forget the decision he was forced to make in leaving a mortally wounded sailor to die:

“That’s the first time in my Navy career that I had to let someone die, so I did,” Parlier said. “I made the call. I said last rites. I said a prayer and then we put him on the side somewhere so he wouldn’t be in a position where he was dying in front of the crew and demoralizing the crew.”
What did demoralize the crew was Yemenis celebrating the attack in view of Cole crewmembers for a couple of nights following the attack, Parlier said. They felt the Cole was their trophy, he said.

“Boy, that sticks [with me], seeing all these guys in white outfits jumping up and down, partying music blaring,” he said.

For the Cole’s sailors, it was tough not to retaliate, he said.

The Cole incident was one of a series of terrorist attacks in the 1990s that were not adequately answered by the United States, said Marc Genest, an associate professor of strategy and policy at the Naval War College.

“Measured responses against terrorist organizations are seen as a sign of weakness, not strength,” he said.

Genest said the overall lesson from the Cole is that not responding to terrorists’ attacks only emboldens them.

“The time to attack terrorists is at the very beginning of their strategy,” he said.

^{(via Michelle Malkin)}

Posted by Drew458     on 10/12/2005 at 12:06 PM   
Filed Under: • Terrorists • War-Stories •  
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Would it work in Humans?

Scientists create GM mosquitoes to fight malaria and save thousands of lives
guardian
Genetically modified mosquitoes could soon be released into the wild in an attempt to combat malaria. Scientists at Imperial College London, who created the GM insects, say they could wipe out natural mosquito populations and save thousands of lives in malaria-stricken regions.

Now that’s not a bad thing on the surface.  I’ve given plenty of blood to the little buggers.  but this:

Led by Andrea Crisanti, the team added a gene that makes the testicles of the male mosquitoes fluorescent, allowing the scientists to distinguish and easily separate them from females.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/12/2005 at 11:52 AM   
Filed Under: • Science-Technology •  
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Strike Fear In Their Hearts

“En Garde” from Cox & Forkum

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/12/2005 at 07:40 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA •  
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The Tooth Fairy

When you’re eight years old, the world is a simple place and there are always obvious solutions to every problem. It’s too bad we all have to grow up and become cynical, suspicious grownups ...

8-Year-Old Girl Sends Tooth to Red Cross
BRANDON, South Dakota (AP)

An 8-year-old girl with a big heart and loose tooth found a creative way to help people displaced by the hurricanes. Briton Nordmeyer sent her tooth to the Red Cross chapter in Sioux Falls, hoping the tooth fairy would leave money there instead of under her pillow.

The tooth poked a hole through the envelope and fell out, but her letter made it. And after word spread of her generosity, a $500 check came in from an anonymous donor.

Briton had told her mother she wanted to do something for the children who lost everything. “It’s really nice to help them get new food, homes, schools, toys, lots of stuff to help them,” Briton said.

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/12/2005 at 07:21 AM   
Filed Under: • Philosophy •  
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Suspicious Suicide

Hmmmmmm ... Syria’s Interior Minister supposedly “commits suicide” just days before a UN report on Syria’s possible involvement in the assassination of a former Lebanese Prime Minister is due out? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what is going on here. Kanaan was obviously ordered to fall on his sword. Althouogh, I fail to see what harm a UN investigation might cause since the asshats at the UN couldn’t find a criminal act if their lives depended on it, especially if it involved a fine, upstanding country like Syria (pardon my dripping sarcasm over that last part) ...

Syrian Minister ‘Commits Suicide’
DAMASCUS (BBC)

Syria’s interior minister Ghazi Kanaan has committed suicide, the official news agency in Damascus says. He was reportedly questioned by a UN investigator last month over the murder of ex-Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri. For many years Kanaan was Syria’s powerful intelligence chief in Lebanon, which was dominated by Syria until its military withdrawal earlier this year.

He returned to Damascus in 2002 as political intelligence chief and joined the cabinet in 2004. The United States froze his assets there in July saying he had aided terrorism in Lebanon. “Interior Minister Brig Gen Ghazi Kanaan committed suicide in his office before noon,” the Syrian Arab News Agency reported. The authorities are carrying out the “necessary investigation” into the incident, Sana reported.

The UN report on Hariri’s assassination is expected to be published before the end of October. Correspondents say it is likely to implicate Syria’s intelligence regime in Lebanon in the bombing, that killed 20 people in central Beirut in February.

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/12/2005 at 07:05 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists • United-Nations •  
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Goodbye Columbus

Where else but Berkeley could you find an event like this? It seems Columbus is completely out of favor these days. Native Americans are more important. After all, they had to walk tens of thousands of miles across the Bering landbridge and down across Canada, during an Ice Age for goodness sake, to get here, whereas Columbus just tricked out his boat and sailed over in a few months, bringing disease with him to kill the noble savages while stealing their gold. At least that’s the modern version of history in the People’s Republic Of Kalifornia (with help from the asshats at the United Nations) ...

Berkeley Celebrates Indigenous Peoples Day
(DAILY CALIFORNIAN)

Bells jingled, feathers flew and chants rang out at Berkeley’s 14th annual Indigenous Peoples Day celebration, which drew hundreds of supporters to Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park on Saturday. The city-sponsored event featured dozens of vendors and dance performances from American Indian tribes across the Bay Area and the country in honor of the Oct. 12 Day of Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples.

The holiday is the first of its kind in the country-since 1991, the Berkeley City Council has been one of few city governments nationwide to proclaim the Saturday nearest Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day. After the United Nations declared Aug. 9 International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples in 1993, Bay Area-based coalition Resistance 500, which advocates awareness of American Indian history, urged the city of Berkeley to observe the holiday closer to Columbus Day instead.

In Berkeley, both have been designated citywide holidays. “I’m sure there’s some people that prefer to celebrate Columbus Day, but generally I think (Indigenous People’s Day) is broadly supported,” said Councilmember Max Anderson. According to John Curl, a member of the event’s planning committee, promoting awareness of American Indian culture is a unique process because the Bay Area’s many tribes combine to create a new intertribal culture.

As part of a government program to integrate American Indians into the work force during World War II, American Indians from a variety of tribes were moved to the Bay Area. The result was a blending of tribal cultures, Curl said. “Many native people came off the reservation and they developed a new urban, intertribal culture,” he said. But not everyone at Saturday’s celebration was aware of the holiday’s long history.

Audrey Chrisler, a Berkeley High senior, strolled the open market with her mother as an assignment for her environmental science class. Chrisler said she had never heard of the event before, but expressed interest in learning about the culture. “It’s great,” she said. “It’s so fun seeing everyone’s outfits and hearing the music and learning about different people.” The celebration also drew participants from outside the state. Cisa Loja, a member of the Quaechae and Cuni tribes, traveled from New Mexico to staff a booth selling handmade artwork that she and her family made.

Curl said honoring the American Indian culture is not only about preserving the past but also improving current and future interracial relations. “It’s about native people, but it’s about a lot more than that,” Curl said. “It’s about the world.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/12/2005 at 06:53 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • History •  
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Hard-Candy Christmas

Yes Virginia, there is still a Santa Claus but this year he is on a tight budget after hurricanes, high gas prices and frivolous lawsuits. The elves are demanding a better medical plan and a 10% increase in wages. The American Federation of Elves (AFE) is threatening a strike if their demands are not met. Santa is also under attack by PETA for alleged animal abuse for driving the reindeer so hard to get presents to all the world’s children overnight and the ACLU has filed a lawsuit over Santa’s connection to Christianity. Hang in there, kids. It will be a hard-candy Christmas this year ...

Parents Plan Christmas Cut Backs
NEW YORK (CNN)

Francie Todd’s two boys may not notice it, but there’ll be fewer toys under the tree this Christmas. Amid higher gasoline prices and other effects of Hurricane Katrina, Todd plans to cut her toy spending in half. “You look at the economic climate overall, and this is not a good time to run up the credit cards,” said Todd, of East Lansing, Michigan, who will spend about $100 on toys for each child, down from $200 last year.

The human suffering from Katrina has also made Todd re-evaluate her budget for toys. “We want to be more about the experience of giving, and less about the getting,” she said. Those sentiments, likely to be shared by millions of parents this holiday season, are a depressing turn for the $20 billion toy industry. If parents buy only one or two fewer toys each, the collective frugality could give the industry its third straight year of falling holiday sales.

Toy retailers, preparing for a difficult season, plan big discounts and other promotions. “It’s going to be extremely competitive to draw customers to their stores,” said Jim Silver, editor-in-chief of Toy Wishes, a trade publication. Price wars are already under way. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. began by slashing prices up to 30 percent on toys including the latest version of Hasbro Inc.’s electronic pet Furby, and Fisher-Price’s “Shout” Dancing Elmo. Toys R Us Inc. responded by lowering its prices.

Wal-Mart, hurt last year when it didn’t offer enough discounts, is expected to mark down more aggressively this year. Toys R Us, meanwhile, is offering more exclusive toys than it did last year, and other retailers are also ready for a battle to get customers into the store. For the holidays, the toy industry has high hopes for a series of children-friendly versions of adult gadgets, including VCamNow, a $79.99 video camera for 8-year-olds and ChatNow, a $74.99 pair of two-way radio communicators, both from Hasbro.

Toy companies are also coming out with educational toys that are more fun to play with, like LeapFrog’s $99.99 L-Max Learning system, which plugs into a television; and VTech Holdings Ltd.’s $89.99 V.Smile Pocket, a handheld version of the original V.Smile learning system. There are also more advanced high-tech dolls such as Amazing Amanda from Playmates Toys Inc., a doll that can recognize her “mommy’s” voice and respond after hearing it just a few times.

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/12/2005 at 06:44 AM   
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Homosexual Lawsuit #4,276,331

Here we go again. In an ongoing effort to completely change society to fit their agenda instead of trying to just fit in with the majority of people, a lesbian woman is suing a doctor who refused to artificially inseminate her, based on the doctor’s personal moral beliefs. How is this discrimination? Does this mean I can sue the next Muslim I see because he refuses to join me for a drink at a local bar? Can I sue a PETA-activist who refuses to help distribute canned meat products to hurricane victims? If not, what’s the difference? Where does this insanity end?

And while we’re on the subject, when did artifical insemination become “treatment”. The lesbian in question was not suffering from any medical condition known to man except for an avowed aversion to men and a distaste for penises in general. Plain and simple, this is moral relativism versus moral clarity disguised as anti-discrimination. If our courts had any sense whatsoever, they’d throw this case out, send the lesbian packing and put the kid up for adoption.

I am sick and tired of the homosexual “tail” wagging the heterosexual “dog”, especially when the “tail” uses the courts to punish doctors who are just as entitled to their own moral code of ethics as you, me or anyone else ... including the rug-munchers ...

Calif. Court Hears Gay Fertility Case
SAN DIEGO (AP)

A California appeals court heard arguments Tuesday in the case of a woman who sued her doctors after they refused to artificially inseminate her, allegedly because she is gay. The physicians are appealing a ruling that prevented them from raising religious freedom as a defense in the test of whether doctors can deny treatment to gays and lesbians. Attorney Carlo Coppo told California’s Fourth District Court of Appeal that religion is relevant to deciding whether his clients wrongly denied fertility treatment to Guadalupe Benitez.

Drs. Christine Brody and Douglas Fenton should be allowed to explain “what went through their hearts and minds when they did what they did,” Coppo told the three-judge panel. One of the judges said the case is destined for the U.S. Supreme Court. Benitez, 33, sued the doctors and their small practice in Vista in 2001, claiming their actions violated California’s anti-discrimination laws. Benitez was eventually treated elsewhere and gave birth to a boy who is now 3 years old.

In her suit, Benitez claims that Brody told her in 1999 that her religious beliefs prevented her from helping a homosexual conceive a child by artificial insemination, but that other physicians at the practice would be able to help her. The next year, Benitez said, she was told that both Brody and Fenton were unable to help her because they did not feel comfortable with her sexual orientation. The doctors contend they denied treatment because Benitez and her registered domestic partner of 15 years were not married. But Benitez’s attorneys say she was denied because of her sexual orientation, not her marital status.

The case appears to be the first in the country in which a gay or lesbian patient was allowed to sue doctors over charges that treatment was denied based on sexual orientation, said Benitez’s attorney, Jennifer Pizer of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. Pizer argued that California civil rights law should have prevented the doctors from refusing treatment based on her client’s sexual orientation. “The state has a compelling interest to eradicate invidious discrimination,” she told the court.

A Superior Court judge dismissed the case in 2001 on grounds that federal rules covering employer health plans bar state civil rights actions. In 2003, the San Diego appeals court overturned the decision. When the case returned to Superior Court, Judge Ronald Prager ruled before trial that the doctors could not use religious freedom as a defense because there is no such exemption under the state’s anti-discrimination law, setting the stage for Tuesday’s arguments. Justice Gilbert Nares predicted a long road ahead. “As we all know, this is going to the U.S. Supreme Court,” he said. “It’s just a question of when.” The appeals court has 90 days to rule.

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/12/2005 at 06:39 AM   
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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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