Tuesday - January 30, 2007

Guest Workers?

It’s already starting in Australia. How long before illegal aliens here in America start taking jobs away from our hard-working girls? This will not do. All you “johns” out there are urged to “buy American.” This message brought to you by your local pimp union.

Backpackers Undercut Legal Brothels
_{QUEENSLAND, Australia - January 30, 2007 11:46am}

Foreign backpackers working as illegal prostitutes are undercutting legitimate operators and damaging the industry, legal brothels say. Queensland Adult Business Association Nick Inskip said the illegal sex industry was undercutting prices and preventing the legal industry from maintaining health and safety standards.

Mr Inskip said many backpackers counted on making extra cash during their visit. “Especially when you go up to northern Queensland, it’s not unusual for them to be working in the illegal escort industry,” Mr Inskip said. “No one asks to see their passports.

“If you go to a licensed brothel the first thing they do is ask for your passport and whether you are here legally.” He said illegal escorts often undercut legal brothel prices because they had fewer overheads and it was difficult for the tax office to track the workers.

“They can charge less because they are not paying GST, staff costs for managers and receptionists, or have a registered business name,” Mr Inskip said. Mr Inskip said the Queensland Police Service’s 20-person prostitution task force was “a very dedicated bunch of people”.

But he said the task force was being frustrated by illegal operators using new methods and technology, such as multiple mobile phones, to hide their activities. “Every time it’s allowed to happen it damages the legal industry and what the Government is trying to do,” Mr Inskip said.

One solution could be allowing legal brothels to operate outcall services, he said. That proposal has previously been rejected by the Crime and Misconduct Commission and the state Government.

Queensland has 23 legal brothels operating in city and regional areas. Police figures show the number of prostitution offences reported in Queensland increased from 362 to 600 in 2005-06.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/30/2007 at 02:21 AM   
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Changing Times

In Washington, counter-protesters also converged on the mall in smaller numbers, but the antiwar demonstration was largely peaceful.

There were a few tense moments, however, including an encounter involving Joshua Sparling, 25, who was on crutches and who said he was a corporal with the 82nd Airborne Division and lost his right leg below the knee in Ramadi, Iraq.

Mr. Sparling spoke at a smaller rally held earlier in the day at the United States Navy Memorial, and voiced his support for the administration’s policies in Iraq.

Later, as antiwar protesters passed where he and his group were standing, words were exchanged and one of the antiwar protestors spit at the ground near Mr. Sparling; he spit back.

Capitol police made the antiwar protesters walk farther away from the counter-protesters. “These are not Americans as far as I’m concerned,” Mr. Sparling said.

Another counter-protester, Larry Stark, 71, a retired Navy officer who fought in Vietnam for five years and was a prisoner of war, said, “We never lost a battle in Vietnam but we lost the war, and the same is going to be true in Iraq if these protesters have their way.”

The protesters on Saturday were undermining troop morale, Mr. Stark said, and increasing the likelihood of a premature withdrawal. “It’s like we never learn from the past,” he said.

-- NY TIMES, January 29, 2007 “Protest Focuses on Iraq Troop Increase”

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/30/2007 at 01:52 AM   
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   Monday - January 29, 2007

Motivational Poster Of The Day

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/29/2007 at 05:03 PM   
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Smackdown in Najaf

News Item #1: Iraqi and US forces smacked the crap out of insurgents in Najaf, killing hundreds. News Item #2: The NY Times reported it. I don’t know which is more earth-shattering. The first is good news. The second is nothing short of a miracle.

I look forward to seeing more headlines like this in the next few months. Sooner or later these creeps (the ones in Iraq, not the ones at the TIMES) will run out of warm bodies and we can bring our troops home and buy them all a beer or three (or more).

250 Are Killed in Major Iraq Battle
_{BAGHDAD (NY TIMES) — January 29, 2007}

At least 250 militants were killed and an American helicopter was shot down in violent clashes near the southern city of Najaf on Sunday, Iraqi officials said. Iraqi security forces talked to a wounded man in Zarqa after clashes broke out between Iraqi forces and gunmen there.

For 15 hours, Iraqi forces backed by American helicopters and tanks battled hundreds of gunmen hiding in a date palm orchard near the village of Zarqaa, about 120 miles south of Baghdad, by a river and a large grain silo that is surrounded by orchards, the officials said.

It appeared to be one of the deadliest battles in Iraq since the American-led invasion four years ago, and was the first major fight for Iraqi forces in Najaf Province since they took over control of security there from the Americans in December.

That handover was trumpeted by the Iraqi government at the time as a sign of its progress in regaining more control of Iraqi territory. The American military confirmed that the helicopter crashed around 1:30 p.m., and said that two soldiers aboard died in the crash. But American military officials said they could not confirm the total number of dead in the battle.

Col. Ali Numaas, a spokesman for the Iraqi security forces in Najaf, and an Interior Ministry official said the number of dead could rise. They said that the fighting stopped just after 10 p.m. and that most of those killed were militants. An employee at a local morgue said at least two Iraqi policemen were among the dead.

In a statement, the United States military said bodies of the two soldiers aboard the helicopter were recovered. The crash, at least the third involving an American helicopter in Iraq over the past week, is under investigation. The precise affiliation of the militants was unclear.

Asad Abu Ghalal, the governor of Najaf Province, said the fighters in the orchard were Iraqi and foreign, some wearing the brown, white and maroon regalia of Pakistani and Afghan fighters. He said they had come to assassinate Shiite clerics and attack religious convoys that were gathering in Najaf, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest cities, and other southern cities for Ashura, a Shiite holiday that starts Monday night.

At a news conference on Sunday afternoon, Mr. Ghalal said the fighters called themselves the Soldiers of Heaven, and seemed to be part of a wider Sunni effort to disrupt Ashura, which marks the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Hussein.

The holiday attracts hundreds of thousands of Shiite pilgrims to Karbala, where Hussein is believed to have been killed, and for days, the roads of southern Iraq have been filled with convoys of pilgrims beating drums and preparing for the day’s rituals, which include self-flagellation. In past years, Ashura has been a magnet for violent attacks from Sunnis, with at least 180 people killed on the holiday three years ago.

But two senior Shiite clerics said the gunmen were part of a Shiite splinter group that Saddam Hussein helped build in the 1990s to compete with followers of the venerated Shiite religious leader Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. They said the group, calling itself the Mehwadiya, was loyal to Ahmad bin al-Hassan al-Basri, an Iraqi cleric who had a falling out with Muhammad Bakr al-Sadr — father-in-law of the Shiite leader Moktada al-Sadr — in Hawza, a revered Shiite seminary in Najaf.

The clerics spoke on condition of anonymity because they said they had been ordered not to discuss Shiite divisions. Iraqi officials said the group of 100 to 600 fighters was discovered in the orchard Saturday night, leading to a midnight meeting of local authorities who hatched an attack plan.  “We agreed to carry out an operation to take them by surprise,” said Mr. Ghalal, the Najaf governor.

At dawn, the governor said, the area was surrounded and the offensive began. He said the militants had antiaircraft rockets and long-range sniper rifles, and, according to a soldier involved in the fighting, Iraqi security forces encountered heavy resistance. Commanders called for reinforcements and a brigade of soldiers from nearby Babil Province joined the fight.

Eventually, Iraqi officials said, they called on the United States military for help. American tanks and helicopter gunships arrived, and gun battles continued into the night. By 10:30 p.m., the gunfire had died down and Iraqi troops began searching the area for bodies.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/29/2007 at 01:10 PM   
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Obituary

Barbaro Is Euthanized After Struggle With Injury
_{KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (NY TIMES) - January 29, 2007 12:30pm ET}

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was euthanized Monday after complications from his breakdown at the Preakness last May. “We just reached a point where it was going to be difficult for him to go on without pain,” co-owner Roy Jackson said. “It was the right decision, it was the right thing to do. We said all along if there was a situation where it would become more difficult for him then it would be time.”

Roy and Gretchen Jackson were with Barbaro on Monday morning, with the owners making the decision in consultation with chief surgeon Dean Richardson. It was a series of complications, including laminitis in the left rear hoof and a recent abscess in the right rear hoof, that proved to be too much for the gallant colt, whose breakdown brought an outpouring of support across the country.

“I would say thank you for everything, and all your thoughts and prayers over the last eight months or so,” Jackson said to Barbaro’s fans. On May 20, Barbaro was rushed to the New Bolton Center, about 30 miles southwest of Philadelphia in Kennett Square, hours after shattering his right hind leg just a few strides into the Preakness Stakes. The bay colt underwent a five-hour operation that fused two joints, recovering from an injury most horses never survive. Barbaro lived for eight more months, though he never again walked with a normal gait.

The Kentucky Derby winner suffered a significant setback over the weekend, and surgery was required to insert two steel pins in a bone—one of three shattered eight months ago in the Preakness but now healthy—to eliminate all weight bearing on the ailing right rear foot. The procedure on Saturday was a risky one, because it transfered more weight to the leg while the foot rests on the ground bearing no weight.

The leg was on the mend until the abscess began causing discomfort last week. Until then, the major concern was Barbaro’s left rear leg, which developed laminitis in July, and 80 percent of the hoof was removed. Richardson said Monday morning that Barbaro did not have a good night.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/29/2007 at 12:41 PM   
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Jumping The Fence

_{Paul Combs - The Tampa Tribune}

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/29/2007 at 12:28 PM   
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Wow?

Get ready. It is about to hit store shelves tomorrow. The long-awaited (?) next Windows operating system is finally ready for prime time. According to Bill Gates, this new O/S is bug free and 100% secure. After making this statement, we noticed Mr. Gates’ nose had grown significantly. (just kidding, Bill - please don’t hurt me)

Seriously, I’ve been beta testing Vista since last summer when Microsoft released Beta RC1. I’ve had the RTM (Release To Manufacturing) version from MSDN Technet since November and I have to confess that there is a certain “wow” factor involved, especially with the new Aero display.

I’ll have a full review for you all later this week. I’m still putting my notes together. One thing I better tell you right up front - your old PC is probably headed for the trash if you want to run Vista. The hardware requirements have increased significantly so you better plan on buying a new PC if you want the new toy.

Next is the price. I’ll have a full breakdown of the upgrade prices and new install prices later. For now my best advice is - don’t get too excited yet. Start saving your pennies because you’re going to drop at least a grand on a new PC and the O/S. Windows XP will continue to be supported for several years so be patient.

Gates Promises Vista to Wow PC Buyers
_{NEW YORK (AP) - January 29, 2007, 11:02 AM EST}

“Wow" hasn’t tended to be a big part of Bill Gates’ vocabulary, but to hear him speak in the hours before Microsoft Corp.’s planned launch of the long-awaited Vista operating system, you’d never know it.

“This ‘Wow’ thing is a great way of describing what we’ve got here,” Microsoft’s chairman told The Associated Press on Monday as the software maker scheduled a slate of splashy events in New York. “There are chances for wows all over the product.”

More than five years in the making, Vista was released for business customers Nov. 30, but the new Windows operating system’s unveiling for consumer buyers was scheduled for Tuesday around the world.

In Tokyo, about 80 people lined up at the Bic Camera Department Store to become among the world’s first consumers to own Vista. Celebrities and executives were on hand as a large-screen television set displayed a countdown to the midnight launch (10 a.m. EST).

The second person on line, Fumihiko Koyama, 33, waited three hours and was hoping the new operating system will make his work in Web design easier. “My expectations are very high for Vista,” he said. “I want to try it out because it’s new.”

He said he felt compelled to be among the first Vista owners because of the parties Bic and other major retailers were holding. The Redmond, Wash.-based software maker contends that Vista is such a huge improvement over previous computing platforms that users inevitably say “Wow” when they see it—and so the word plays a big role in the company’s marketing campaign.

When users boot up Vista for the first time, they’ll be wowed by the slick 3-D graphical user interface and document icons that give at-a-glance previews, Gates said. The next wow comes when they start using a system-wide search program that Microsoft’s engineers built into both the operating system and new versions of Microsoft Word, Excel and other Office 2007 elements, which also hit store shelves at midnight.

Then, Gates said, there are layers of wows for all the different types of PC users: the gamers, the students, the business users, the moms. But will this talk of “wow” translate into crowds at the CompUSA and Best Buy stores that are staying open until past midnight to sell the very first Vista machines?

“When I look at Windows Vista, I see a technology that is interesting, that is relevant, but to some extent is evolutionary,” said Al Gillen, an analyst at the technology research group IDC. “I do not believe it will create a lot of motivation for people to rush out and get a new operating system.”

Gates said Microsoft actually wasn’t pushing midnight sales events—after all, the software will be available as a download over the Web for the first time. And while the software is prettier and more secure, “the biggest impact is always what partners do with it,” Gates said in an interview.

Still, Gates didn’t play down Vista’s importance. He argued that as the PC has morphed from a souped-up typewriter to a networked entertainment center, personal media library and gateway to the Internet, the operating system itself has earned a higher profile.

“When people think about their PC, they think about Windows even more than who the manufacturer is. That determines how it looks, how you navigate, what the applications are that are available,” Gates said. And in this case, Vista has folded in programs that users once bought separately—including automated back-up systems and some spyware protections.

Microsoft shares dropped 13 cents to $30.47 in late morning trading Monday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/29/2007 at 11:51 AM   
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Iran’s Helping Hand?

You’ve got to be kidding me! Iran now wants to offer reconstruction aid to help rebuild the infrastructure their surrogates in the insurgency and Shiite militias helped blow up? Plus they are offering to send troops to “help” the security situation?

What do they think we are - complete idiots?

Oops! Scratch that last question. I see Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha have been traveling across the region from Iraq to Pakistan to Afghanistan. With those two over there the Iranians have every right to think we’re fools and jerks. Never mind ...

Iranian Reveals Plan to Expand Role in Iraq
_{BAGHDAD (NY TIMES) - Jan. 28, 2007}

Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad outlined an ambitious plan on Sunday to greatly expand its economic and military ties with Iraq — including an Iranian national bank branch in the heart of the capital — just as the Bush administration has been warning the Iranians to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs.

Iran’s plan, as outlined by the ambassador, carries the potential to bring Iran into further conflict here with the United States, which has detained a number of Iranian operatives in recent weeks and says it has proof of Iranian complicity in attacks on American and Iraqi forces.

The ambassador, Hassan Kazemi Qumi, said Iran was prepared to offer Iraq government forces training, equipment and advisers for what he called “the security fight.” In the economic area, Mr. Qumi said, Iran was ready to assume major responsibility for Iraq reconstruction, an area of failure on the part of the United States since American-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago.

“We have experience of reconstruction after war,” Mr. Qumi said, referring to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. “We are ready to transfer this experience in terms of reconstruction to the Iraqis.”

Mr. Qumi also acknowledged, for the first time, that two Iranians seized and later released by American forces last month were security officials, as the United States had claimed. But he said that they were engaged in legitimate discussions with the Iraqi government and should not have been detained.

Mr. Qumi’s remarks, in a 90-minute interview over tea and large pistachio nuts at the Iranian Embassy here, amounted to the most authoritative and substantive response the Iranians have made yet to increasingly belligerent accusations by the Bush administration that Iran is acting against American interests in Iraq.

President Bush has said the American military is authorized to take whatever action necessary against Iranians in Iraq found to be engaged in actions deemed hostile.

The Iranian ambassador abruptly agreed to a longstanding request for the interview — made repeatedly after the first American seizure of Iranians here on Dec. 21 — and seemed eager to rebut the accusations.

In a surprise announcement, Mr. Qumi said Iran would soon open a national bank in Iraq, in effect creating a new Iranian financial institution right under the Americans’ noses. A senior Iraqi banking official, Hussein al-Uzri, confirmed that Iran had received a license to open the bank, which he said would apparently be the first “wholly owned subsidiary bank” of a foreign country in Iraq.

“This will enhance trade between the two countries,” Mr. Uzri said. Mr. Qumi said the bank was just the first of what he said would be several in Iraq — an agricultural bank and three private banks also intend to open branches. Other elements of new economic cooperation, he said, include plans for Iranian shipments of kerosene and electricity to Iraq and a new agricultural cooperative involving both countries.

He would not provide specifics on Iran’s offer of military assistance to Iraq, but said it included increased border patrols and a proposed new “joint security committee.”

Any Iranian military assistance to Iraq would be fraught with potential difficulties. Aside from provoking American objections, such assistance could further alienate Sunni Arabs, many of whom already suspect that Iran, overwhelmingly Shiite, is encouraging Iraq’s Shiite-led government in persecuting them.

- More ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/29/2007 at 11:27 AM   
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Déjà vu, All Over Again

Anti-War Protesters Spray Paint Capitol Building
_{(THE HILL) - January 28, 2007}

Anti-war protesters were allowed to spray paint on part of the west front steps of the United States Capitol building after police were ordered to break their security line by their leadership, two sources told The Hill.

According to the sources, police officers were livid when they were told to fall back by U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Chief Phillip Morse and Deputy Chief Daniel Nichols.  “They were the commanders on the scene,” one source said,who requested anonymity. “It was disgusting.”

After police ceded the stairs, located on the lower west front of the Capitol, the building was locked down, the source added. A second source who witnessed the incident said that the police had the crowd stopped at Third Street, but were told to bring the police line in front of the Capitol.

Approximately 300 protesters were allowed to take the steps and began to spray paint “anarchist symbols” and phrase such as “Our capitol building” and “you can’t stop us” around the area, the source said. Morse responded to these claims in an e-mail Sunday afternoon,explaining that the protesters were seeking confrontation with the police.

“While there were minor instances of spray painting of pavement by a splinter group of Anarchists who were seeking a confrontation with the police, their attempts to breach into secure areas and rush the doors of the Capitol were thwarted,” Morse said. “The graffiti was easily removed by the dedicated [Architect of the Capitol] staff, some of whom responded on their day off to quickly clean the area.”

He added, “It is the USCP’s duty and responsibility to protect the Capitol complex, staff and public while allowing the public to exercise their First Amendment rights … at the end of the day, both occurred without injury to protesters or officers.”

Yet, the sources who talked to The Hill were furious that protesters were not stopped before reaching the Capitol. “To get that close to the Capitol building, that is ridiculous,” the second source said. “[Police] were told not to arrest anyone.” The second source added that police had to stand by and watch as protesters posed in front of their graffiti.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/29/2007 at 01:30 AM   
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A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Away

_{Henry Payne - The Detroit News}

US Answer To Global Warming: Smoke And Giant Space Mirrors
_{(GUARDIAN-UK) - Saturday January 27, 2007}

The US government wants the world’s scientists to develop technology to block sunlight as a last-ditch way to halt global warming, the Guardian has learned. It says research into techniques such as giant mirrors in space or reflective dust pumped into the atmosphere would be “important insurance” against rising emissions, and has lobbied for such a strategy to be recommended by a major UN report on climate change, the first part of which will be published on Friday.

- More of this silliness at the Guardian ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/29/2007 at 01:01 AM   
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   Sunday - January 28, 2007

Final Weekend Silliness

They say “life imitates art”, or something like that. Here is proof.
Now quit snickering and get some rest. Monday comes early.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/28/2007 at 06:26 PM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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My Turn

As I sit here and ponder the weekend’s events, I can’t help but wonder how so many people in our society have become so self-centered and hungry for attention that they will go to any extreme to gain an audience, including making complete fools out of themselves and causing more divisiveness and anger than anyone would have thought humanly possible.

I’m not just talking about Cindy Sheehan. I’m referring to the whole anti-American, multicultural, politically correct crowd of publicity seekers we are afflicted with every day. From where I sit it seems these people aren’t really interested in changing anything or making anything better. It seems to be all about them, not you or me or us.

I see a large crowd of immature narcissists strutting across the media stage with no sense whatsoever of the consequences of their actions. They have something to say and you had just better damn well listen - and shut up while they talk ... and play for the cameras.

I started writing this piece while reading about John Kerry’s comments to the World Trade Organization’s 2007 conference in Davos, Switzerland this weekend. Here is what the Senator had to say:

“Duplicity", “hypocrisy”, “international pariah”? The distinguished Senator from Massachusetts was referring to the United States when he made those comments to an international audience in Switzerland. Such language in an international forum is usually reserved for describing hateful, repressive regimes like Nazi Germany.

To make matters worse, he made those remarks while seated next to former Iranian President Sayyed Mohammad Khatami, former leader of what is perhaps the most isolated, anti-semitic, anti-American, rogue regime on the planet - a nation with nuclear ambitions and terrorist agents stirring up trouble all across the Middle East. A nation that is training and equipping Shiite militias in Iraq to kill our troops. And then after making those remarks, he shook hands with Khatami, gave him his autograph (no kidding) and smiled for the cameras before leaving.

Now far be it from me to condemn Senator Kerry for having an opinion about the United States, even such a blatantly negative opinion as this. He is entitled to his opinion just as I am entitled to my opinions ... and my opinion is that America is a great country full of great people and although our government is not perfect and occasionally makes mistakes in dealing with the rest of the world, it’s still a nice place to call “home” - and I could care less what the rest of the world thinks of me or my country.

People here in America today tend to forget that our ancestors or parents came here to get away from the rest of the world. We came here because we didn’t like the way things were going over there. Why should we be concerned about their opinion of us now? They were glad to get rid of us and are only now starting to hate us because we have succeeded so well in building a better society. Our success has reaffirmed the fact that the rest of the world is a screwed up mess and if people are given half a chance to build something better, they can ... and will.

But no, there are still people here in America today who believe we should be ashamed of that success and we should be seeking the forgiveness and approval of the rest of the world. These people like to refer to themselves as “liberal” or “progressive” which is quite odd, considering they are neither. They attempt to force everyone to march in lock step with their politically correct rules and silence any critics with vicious attacks.

This weekend also saw a great gathering of these people in a few cities around the country, numbering in the tens of thousands. While 99% of Americans took time off from work and caught up on chores around the house or just relaxed after a tough week, these people, led by Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn in Washington and Cindy Sheehan and her Code Piink friends in Los Angeles, aired their grievances with the government in front of the news cameras of the entire world.

Once again, I have no problem with these people having their opinions about the war or anything their narrow, little minds can find to disagree with. What I have a problem with is their method of disagreement. Our Constitution guarantees us the right “to petition the government for a redress of grievances”. Nowhere does the Constitution guarantee us wall-to-wall coverage on CNN for the entire world to watch as a small minority makes fools of themselves.

Yes, they are unhappy with the progress in the war on terror. So am I. The difference is I act rationally. There is a major change of plan currently going on in Iraq and Afghanistan and I’m willing to give it a chance. If it fails, I will make my disapproval known by mailing my representatives and the administration and even more importantly at the voting booth.

I feel no need to strut and preen before a mob of media cameras because it is not about me. Never has been, never will be. I’m just a small part of a big picture. Senator Kerry and Jane Fonda are entitled to their opinion. I just wish they wouldn’t take their case to the entire world. That only serves to embolden the enemy we face around the world and encourages them to hold out until the will of the American people breaks under the constant pressure of a small percentage of the population with the cooperation of a willing media.

So I say to all these people, let’s keep our disagreements to ourselves. If you really want to end the war then let’s concentrate on winning it. It doesn’t matter anymore whether it is “the right war” or not. What matters is that we’re in it and we have young men and women in harm’s way. Anything that encourages the enemy only results in more of those men and women coming home in coffins.

We can argue about the war after it is won, done and over. For now though, Senator Kerry, Jane Fonda, Sean Penn, Cindy Sheehan and those who support and encourage them just need to use a little common sense and stop playing for the cameras. It’s not about them or you or me. It’s about soldiers, sailors and airmen overseas who are our brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. Do something to encourage them ... not the enemy.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/28/2007 at 02:43 AM   
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On This Day

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/28/2007 at 02:02 AM   
Filed Under: • History •  
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Sunday Funnies

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/28/2007 at 01:46 AM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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