Saturday - November 29, 2008

Taj Mahal siege ends as total death toll rises to 195 .

Mumbai attacks: Taj Mahal siege ends as total death toll rises to 195
The siege at the Taj Mahal Hotel in the centre of Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, has ended, bringing a halt to more than three days of terror in the city.

By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter
Last Updated: 12:41PM GMT 29 Nov 2008

At least two more terrorists were killed in the final stages of a battle with Indian commandos, following attacks throughout Mumbai.

The official death toll rose significantly today to 195, from 155 yesterday. At least 295 others have been injured in the assault on India’s economic capital.

The hotel siege was brought to a close today as security and political sources in the UK tried to play down suggestions that up to seven of the terrorists had strong British links, and that some of them were British-born men of Pakistani origin.

Sources in India are reported to have indicated that some of the men came from the north of England, including from Leeds, Hartlepool and Bradford.

Erika Mann, a European Union trade official, escaped from the Taj Mahal hotel through an underground passage.

She told the Times of India: “The attacks appear to have an European dimension.

“We’ve heard from journalists and other people we were with that English citizens were involved in the attacks.”

However, a spokesman for the Foreign Office in London said: “We have spoken to Indian authorities at a high level and they have said that there is no evidence that any of the terrorists either captured or dead are British.”

Gordon Brown also played down such a link after speaking to Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister. “At no point has the Prime Minister of India suggested to me that there is evidence at this stage of any terrorist of British origins, but obviously these are huge investigations that are being done and I think it will be premature to draw any conclusions at all,”, said Mr Brown.

“We remain steadfast and firm, standing with India and all other countries against any form of terrorist activity, and we will be vigilant in both helping the Indian authorities and in making sure that in every part of the world we support those who are fighting terrorism.”

Mr Brown said his thoughts were with those who had died, including British yachting tycoon Andreas Liveras. Mr Liveras, the 73-year-old Cypriot-born founder of a luxury yacht business, was pronounced dead on arrival at St George’s Hospital in the city.

A team of detectives from Scotland Yard is flying to Mumbai to help Indian authorities with the investigation. Officers are also meeting Britons returning on flights to London’s Heathrow Airport and handing out leaflets appealing for information.

More of those Britons caught up in the terror attack were due to fly home to London today.

Some in the Indian government have suggested that the attack could have be planned or launched from Pakistan. Pranab Mukherjee, the Indian External Affairs Minister, said: “According to preliminary information, some elements in Pakistan are responsible for Mumbai terror attacks.”

Pakistan has backtracked on a decision to send the chief of its spy agency to India to help with the Mumbai attack investigation, in a move likely to revive questions about who is in charge of the shadowy agency. The Prime Minister’s office in Islamabad said today that a representative of its Inter-Services

Intelligence (ISI) agency would now go to India instead of its director general.

PHOTOS AND ARTICLE

Posted by peiper     on 11/29/2008 at 08:29 AM   
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   Friday - November 28, 2008

Britons killed or held hostage were legitimate targets says scummy mudslime preacher.

THIS LITTLE BIT HERE IS ACTUALLY ALMOST AT THE END OF MY PREVIOUS POSTING.  I WANTED THIS TO STAND OUT AND SO HAVE POSTED IT HERE AS WELL.
SHOWS YA THE KIND OF MENTALITY WE ARE UP AGAINST.  ISN’T IT TIME (OVERDUE) WHEN THE WEST STARTED REPAYING IN KIND?

FROM THE DAILY MAIL ARTICLE IN PREVIOUS POST.

A British-based Muslim preacher Anjem Choudhary backed the terrorists and said any Britons killed or held hostage were legitimate targets because they should not have gone to India.

Choudhary, right-hand man to preacher of hate Omar Bakri, said Britain and America is at war with the Muslim world and their citizens must keep off the battlefield.

‘Muslims are being killed in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan every day through acts of atrocity against them. But the media only report events like Mumbai.’

I really do find it hard to believe that this pond scum preacher actually believes that rubbish.  But heck.  Lets just say it’s true.  So?  Killing those life forms should never be seen as actually killing real humans.  We must get over thinking of them as people, as human beings, as anything of worth or worthy of existing.
Which is not to say that there aren’t any good ones. Of course there are.  And they are all DEAD!

Posted by peiper     on 11/28/2008 at 09:20 AM   
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British-born Pakistanis among arrested militants.

Mumbai gunmen ‘were BRITISH’: Indian authorities say two of arrested militants are from UK

By Justin Davenport , Rashid Razaq and Nicola Boden
Last updated at 1:59 PM on 28th November 2008

British-born Pakistanis were among the Mumbai terrorists, Indian government sources claimed today, as the death toll rose to more than 140.

Two Britons were among eight gunmen captured by commandos after they stormed two hotels and a Jewish centre to free hostages, the city’s chief minister said.

Vilasrao Deshmukh also revealed that up to 25 terrorists were responsible for the series of bomb blasts and shootings that targeted tourists and foreign interests.

Sieges in the Indian city were still ongoing today in dramatic stand-offs at the three buildings. Some hostages emerged unharmed but inside were scenes of carnage.

Calm: One of the young gunmen with his weapon, looking for more victims. Indian authorities say two of the arrested militants were British-born Pakistanis

At the luxury Oberoi Hotel, brought back under control this morning when commandos shot dead two militants, another 24 bodies were found.

Their discovery takes the total death toll to 143. Only one is confirmed as British so far but there are fears this may rise. At least another 300 people were wounded.

More…

* ‘It was carnage… there was blood and guts everywhere’: Briton freed after almost 48hrs tells of horrific bloodshed
* Besieged ‘Curry King’ avoided gunmen because of last minute decision to dine in his room
* Distraught British woman tells how two of her family were executed by terrorists in Mumbai massacre
* ANALYSIS: The fanatics behind the Mumbai bombings would like to trigger nuclear war
* British tycoon shot dead was texting his son as he was killed

Hundreds of other traumatised guests were rescued from their rooms there and at the five-star Taj Mahal hotel but still the fighting did not cease.

At the Taj, commandos were still engaged in a prolonged shootout with militants. Four bystanders were reported wounded in the crossfire.

Indian forces launched grenades at the walls. Inside, at least one terrorist was believed to be holed up in a ballroom.

Commandos also stormed the Nariman House Jewish centre where some of the militants were believed to be hiding to find the dead bodies of at least five hostages.

Around 20 masked officers had dropped onto the building from helicopters on to the roof this morning covered by heavy fire in what was dubbed Operation Black Tornado.

After hours of heavy fighting, a massive explosion ripped through the building, blowing out windows in the surrounding houses. Gunfire and smaller explosions followed before Indian authorities appeared to have control.

Police throw a grenade into the Taj Mahal hotel as they desperately try to control a militant.

LOTS MORE HERE

Posted by peiper     on 11/28/2008 at 09:05 AM   
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   Thursday - November 27, 2008

Survivors tell of murder and terror in Mumba.

Survivors tell of murder and terror in Mumbai

‘Just don’t say you’re a Brit’: Survivors tell of murder and terror in Mumbai

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:14 PM on 27th November 2008

SHOW US YOUR PAPERS

Dozens of Britons were caught in the Mumbai carnage. These are some of their stories:

Businessman ALEX CHAMBERLAIN was held hostage in the Oberoi Hotel before dramatically escaping.

He said: ‘I was having dinner with a colleague and then the gunfire started . . . some people initially thought it was fireworks.

‘We were ushered into the kitchen area before a waiter was shot in the arm.

‘There were then about 30 or 40 of us and the group was told to walk up the stairs of the hotel by the gunmen.

‘They stopped us after two or three flights and told everyone to put their hands up and one of the gunmen said, “Where are you from? Are there any Americans or British here? Show us your ID or passports or business cards”.

Posted by peiper     on 11/27/2008 at 06:18 PM   
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massacre that has claimed 125 lives, hostages also taken.

I guess for some Americans who I hear have been taken (not fully confirmed) this is how many spent Thanksgiving today.
There are still many being held hostage according to the radio.

I first heard about it late last night on radio, but didn’t realize till this morning just how bad it was.

The Daily Mail had thick pools of blood all over the front page.  You could see where so many ppl had been shot up as there were separate pools everywhere.
Seeing the paper really made it hit home.

Hate to say it and especially on a conservative blog site guys but .... the west is most assuredly doomed and that includes at some point our own country,
until enough people wake up to the fact that this can not be a clean war with worries about the rights of terror prisoners held at Gitmo, or collateral damage caused by our guys fighting in foreign lands.  There are people who really do need exterminating and age and sex should not matter.  If you folks have seen the pictures I have, and by now you must have surely, you might understand this line I am taking.  Of course, I’ve held it long before this.
And I will bore you and say again and again and again.

In order to make any kind of headway at all, we MUST FIRST deal with the enemy in our own back yard. And you all know who the traitors are.
If those folks live America ... we all lose no matter what our troops do overseas. 

Mumbai attacks: Troops rescue 39 from massacre hotel
Indian commandos have rescued 39 people from the Trident Oberoi Hotel, but Britons are among hundreds of people still trapped in hotels at the centre of the Mumbai massacre that has claimed 125 lives.

By Gordon Rayner and Damien McElroy in Mumbai
Last Updated: 10:44PM GMT 27 Nov 2008

Police said the operation freed dozens of people, including international tourists, who had been hiding in their rooms since the co-ordinated attacks began.

“Around 39 people have been brought out, some of them are foreigners,” an aide to Mumbai police commissioner A N Roy said.

“Our forces are engaged in mopping up operations and looking for other people who might be still in there. We are checking room by room.

“We cannot yet say whether the hotel is… 100 per cent clear of terrorists.”

Officials said the Taj Mahal hotel had been almost entirely cleared by commandos, with just one injured militant holed up in that building.

More than 24 hours after Islamic extremists launched a series of devastating gun and grenade attacks on Western targets – with a British tycoon among those killed – soldiers were still battling to free more than 200 people either held hostage or hiding in their rooms.

They included Mark Abell, a British lawyer who remained “holed up” in his room and spoke of his fears that the terrorists might “come and get me” if they discovered his exact location.

The authorities blamed militants from Pakistan-ruled Kashmir for the bloodbath, which left 125 dead and at least 327 injured after simultaneous attacks on at least seven targets in Mumbai (formerly Bombay).

Indian officials said the terrorists had “pretended” to be Indians, but that one who was captured appeared to be from Pakistan.

Officials said the death toll was likely to rise once burnt-out rooms in the hotels could be checked for bodies.

Mumbai’s central railway station, a hospital, police station, cinema and a Jewish centre were among other targets hit by the terrorists, who sailed by boat to the peninsula before fanning out in several dinghies and landing on the shore close to their predetermined targets.

The killers specifically targeted British and American visitors when they attacked the Oberoi and Taj Mahal luxury hotels, ordering receptionists to give them a list of the names and room numbers of all British and US guests and demanding that hostages declared their nationalities.

At least five Britons are being treated in hospital after being injured in the shootings, and many more are feared to be among those still inside the hotels.

As Indian commandos fought their way through the corridors of the Taj Mahal and the Oberoi – both of which had earlier been set on fire by the terrorists – Mr Abell, from London, said he had barricaded his door and was “hunkering down for the long term”.

He said: “I’m holed up in my room, with furniture blockading the door. The British consul knows I’m here, and I’ve been told to sit tight and wait. Whether that will be for an hour, a day, a week, nobody knows.”

The British man killed in the attacks was named as Andreas Liveras, 73, who was gunned down moments after he phoned the BBC from inside the Taj Mahal hotel to give an eyewitness account of the terrorist attacks.

Before he was hit, Mr Liveras, who built a £315 million fortune from his eponymous luxury yacht charter business, described how he had just sat down for dinner at the Taj Mahal when the shooting began.

“We heard the machine gunfire outside in the corridor,” he said. “We hid ourselves under the table and then they switched all the lights off. But the machine guns kept going, and they took us into the kitchen, and from there into a basement, before we came up into a salon.

“There must be more than a thousand people here. Nobody comes in this room and nobody goes out, and we really don’t know. Everybody is just living on their nerves.”

The Indian home ministry estimated 20 to 30 people were being held hostage at the Oberoi, while its owners estimated 200 people were inside.

Two retired teachers from Hexham in Northumberland were among those shot in the first of the attacks, in the Café Leopold, at 9.30pm local time (4pm GMT) on Wednesday.

Michael Murphy, 59, was shot in the ribs and is in intensive care after having his spleen removed. His wife Diane, 58, who was shot in the foot, said: “It was mayhem. There were so many casualties. It was carnage. There were obviously people injured and others who were dead.”

Mrs Murphy said there were at least 100 people in the café when the shooting began.

“All of a sudden there was automatic gunfire,” she said. “The whole place fell apart. It was tremendously loud. My husband and I were hit, as were lots of people. Everybody was down on the ground.”

Alan Jones, from South Wales, was staying at the Oberoi Hotel on business when it was attacked. He said: “We took the lift to the lobby and heard bangs as the door opened. Two Japanese men riding with us got out, but immediately signalled for us to go back in the lift.

“As they got back in, a bullet hit one of the Japanese men in the back of the leg. Flesh and blood splattered everywhere.

“I looked up to see one of the gunmen was approaching. I tried to close the door, but the injured guy’s leg was preventing it from closing.

“I frantically pressed the ‘close door’ button, but had to move the shot man’s foot for the door to close.”

Mr Jones escaped after being guided by staff to a basement via another lift.

Hugh Brown, who was staying at the Taj Mahal, took refuge in a library area with a large group of people, one of whom later turned out to be a terrorist.

He told Sky News: “We were let out at one point at about 2.30am. There was a gunman who had been in among us in the room for the best part of the evening. He pretended to be one of us in the room.

“When he got out with us, he started shooting some of the people as they were leaving the room.”

One of the terrorists was quoted on Indian TV saying the purpose of the hostage-taking was to secure the release of all “mujahideen” held in Indian prisons.

The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, said the attacks were “well planned and well-orchestrated… intended to create a sense of panic by choosing high profile targets and indiscriminately killing foreigners”.

David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, said yesterday that the attacks bore some hallmarks of al-Qaeda but it was too early to say if the network was behind the deadly assaults.

“It is very premature to start talking about links to Al-Qaeda,” he said. “Some of the names of groups that are being circulated at the moment are not al-Qaeda affiliates, but that cannot be taken as a definitive view.”

http://tinyurl.com/6rkmry

too early to say if the network was behind the deadly assaults.

Well actually, we’re getting different reports on that. 

Posted by peiper     on 11/27/2008 at 05:52 PM   
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Thanksgiving Day Graphics

GET ME OUT OF HERE ...

Posted by Drew458     on 11/27/2008 at 11:51 AM   
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Digital Revolution

Just for fun ...

Posted by Drew458     on 11/27/2008 at 11:20 AM   
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   Wednesday - November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving Reflections

Ok, it’s 2 years old, but Jules Crittendon wrote an essay that is worth rereading.

Thanksgiving in fact commemorates a brief, bright period in American history, in 1621, when the English and the Indians got along. There are a lot of nice ideals associated with Thanksgiving, most of which are later additions and irrelevant to this discussion. The friendship between Pilgrim and Wampanoag was an arrangement, at least at first, of wary mutual convenience. By 1675, it had degenerated into open warfare, but that was a remarkably long time, given the parties involved.

In a later paragraph, it almost seems like he’s describing a certain current political figure ...

That’s made me wonder what it is like to reject the inconvenient truths of one’s past, claiming identity and victimhood along a few exalted segments of one’s history and DNA, while repudiating other segments in collective punishment.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/26/2008 at 10:25 PM   
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Knock me over with a feather

an actual professional journalist (well, Ok, the outdoors columnist at an upstate NY newspaper) writes about assault rifles. Ahem, writes the TRUTH about assault rifles. Catch me, I’m gonna faint.

A true assault rifle — the M-16 and AK-47 are examples — is a fully automatic military weapon capable of continuous firing as long as the trigger is depressed, like a machine gun.

Automatic firearms were restricted from civilian ownership by the 1934 National Firearms Act. By comparison, the politically labeled so-called “assault rifle” — the AR-15 is an example — looks like its military counterpart, but functions only as a semi- automatic. It fires just one round with each pull of the trigger, similar to many deer rifles and shotguns used to break clay targets.

These semi-automatic rifles can be purchased and owned by civilians who pass the standard FBI background check. Although it has a modern military look, the semi-automatic rifle’s operation is very different from a military machine gun and, in fact, is based on 100-year-old technology. It is not a “machine gun.”

Wow. Do you think he’ll go after the “high powered rifle” lie next?

Posted by Drew458     on 11/26/2008 at 10:22 PM   
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Look over here, don’t move, smile and don’t blink.

I had serious insomnia and so booted and thought ... maybe you folks might really dig this.
It does have it’s appeal.

Posted by peiper     on 11/26/2008 at 07:18 PM   
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BRITAIN INTRODUCES ID CARDS FOR FOREIGN NATIONALS.

FOREIGN NATIONAL ?  WELL, I GUESS THAT MEANS MESELF.

THIS WAS IN TONIGHT’S NEWSLETTER FROM OUR EMBASSY (AMERICAN).
OBOY!

Hey, these people do NOT have a very good track record keeping private what is meant to be kept private. 
For months now it’s one lost or stolen briefcase or laptop taken from govt. offices.  Very often people who work for the govt., which sometimes feels like half the population, are taking things from the office to bring home to work on.  But later find a case or a laptop has been left somewhere.

Really look forward to this.  Hey, it’s their country and if the Brits feel this is what’s needed then I have no argument nor do I have a right to any argument with em.  The problem tho is, as you’ll read, they think they will be able to control the illegals.  What the heck for?  Once they are here the Brits hardly deport any.  Even plane hijackers have NOT BEEN deported. 

Papers, Papers.  Papers Please.  You have papers? ID Card?

The first UK Identity Card was unveiled today by the Home Secretary.

Building on the Government’s commitment to begin issuing the first ID cards to foreign nationals from November 2008, the card’s design was revealed for the first time.

The new credit-card sized document will show the holder’s photograph, name, date of birth, nationality and immigration status. A secure electronic chip will also hold their biometric details, including fingerprints, and a digital facial image.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:

“Today shows we are delivering on our commitment to introduce the National Identity Scheme in order that we can enjoy its benefits as quickly as possible.

“ID cards will help protect against identity fraud, illegal working, reduce the use of multiple identities in organised crime and terrorism, crack down on those trying to abuse positions of trust and make it easier for people to prove they are who they say they are.

“ID cards for foreign nationals will replace old-fashioned paper documents, make it easier for employers and sponsors to check entitlement to work and study, and for the UK Border Agency to verify someone’s identity. This will provide identity protection to the many here legally who contribute to the prosperity of the UK, while helping prevent abuse.”
Compulsory identity cards for foreign nationals will kick start the National Identity Scheme, with the first applicants having to apply for cards from 25 November.

Within three years all foreign nationals applying for leave to enter or remain in the UK will be required to have a card, with around 90 per cent of foreign nationals in Britain covered by the scheme by 2014/15.

To ensure the benefits of the programme are felt from the start, the UK Border Agency will start with categories that have been targeted by those wanting to abuse our immigration system, including students and people seeking leave to remain on the basis of marriage.

The introduction of the first card supports the Government’s tough new Australian-style Points Based System for managed migration. To earn and retain their licence as a sponsor businesses and education providers must keep records of the migrants they have sponsored including, in time, a copy of a migrant’s identity card. Businesses found employing illegal workers face fines of up to £10,000 per person.

The introduction of cards for foreign nationals will be followed by the first ID cards for British citizens, targeting workers in sensitive roles and locations like airports from 2009. Then from 2010 ID cards will be available to young people who want them and from 2011/12 cards will be available to the general population.

The introduction of ID cards will provide a convenient and secure means to protect identity by locking it to one person using their fingerprints.

Tom Hadley, Director of External Relations of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), said:

“Recruitment professionals in the front-line of the UK labour market play an increasingly pivotal role in checking the identity, background and status of individual job seekers.

“Within this context measures to simplify the checking requirements can be welcomed and must be backed with an extensive communication programme. Recruiters take their responsibilities to verify an individual’s right to work in the UK extremely seriously and support initiatives to enhance safe and ethical recruitment.”

Julian Gravatt, Association of Colleges’ Director of Funding and Development, said:

“Issuing ID cards to overseas students should assist in the reduction of identity fraud.

“Colleges welcome any measure which facilitates the recruitment of genuine students to study in the UK and the economic benefits this brings.”

Tim Cowen, Director of Communications for NCP Services, said:

”This is good news for employers, and a credit to the work the UKBA has done to help make the hiring of migrant workers more streamlined for UK organisations.

“Employers will, quite rightly, still need to make sure their systems for spotting forgeries are robust, but the biometric cards will cut down on fraud and make it easier for us to do this.

“Crucially, it will also help those who genuinely have the right to work in the UK get employment quickly – since it will be easier to check their identity and get them working.”

DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT ONE

Posted by peiper     on 11/26/2008 at 02:03 PM   
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Everyone just relax please

Busy day here. Instead of several posts I answered a lot of BMEWS emails. It does accumulate. So that took a few hours, now I have to run errands for the afternoon, and do the baking tonight.

I was on the edge of an altercation in the grocery store, and that’s why I’m writing this post. The day or two before major holidays are Crazy Dayz in the stores. Don’t let the stress get to you!

So I hit the grocery store to pick up some ingredients. As you know, the day before Thanksgiving is the best day NOT to go to the grocers, but most of us wind up doing it anyway. The place is a zoo. Your local store is a zoo. They’re all zoos today. You can’t get a parking spot. You can’t find a cart. The place is solid people inside, and everyone there goes out of their way to get into yours. It’s time to Whiten Up and just smile and say please and excuse me and I’m sorry and be extra polite to everyone.

I grew up working in grocery stores. In the 14 years I spent there I thought I had seen it all. And I mean that. Armed robberies, a bomb scare, the Phantom Crapper, butchers injuring themselves, cranky customers, accidents in the parking lot, the shop windows getting blown out during hurricanes, fires, you name it. Shoplifters of every age, even an old lady who bent over the ice cream case and died ... and nobody noticed for over 2 hours. (she was a very slow shopper anyway). But I saw a new one today ...

I’m on line with my stuff at the semi-express checkout. The lines are long even though the store has every single register open and a small army of clerks bagging. 4 customers ahead of me on the line, some guy’s stuff gets to the cashier and he realizes he forgot the cat food. “I have to get cat food. I’ll be right back.” WRONG. Dude, this is the busiest day of the year. Buy your stuff, park your cart, and then go back and get the crap for the cat. No, he shoves his way back through the line and disappears. So the cashier puts his stuff aside. She’s got 20 people on line; she can’t stand there waiting for him. So she rings up the next little order. And the next. And the next. And just as she’s about to start ringing my stuff up, the guy comes back. 7 minutes later. Back through the line. And he’s pissed.

“Where’s my stuff? Why didn’t you wait? I was only a second. What the FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!!” He’s losing it. The guy is freaking out. Over a couple of oranges, some shampoo, and a few cans of cat food.

“Sir, I have a big line. I can’t wait for...”

“FUCK YOU! FUCK ALL OF YOU! FUCK THIS WHOLE THING!!”

And he proceeds to slam his items down on the floor, kick the shopping cart out of the checkout aisle, push the bagging lady right off of her feet, knock aside the sturdy clerk who came over to help (it’s always amazing how fast you move in one of these situations) and storm out of the store by kicking the exit door so hard it popped off it’s track. At the start of his outburst the whole front end went quiet. I had time for just two quick thoughts - “Oh great” followed by “aw shit, I’m not carrying” - and it was over. The clerks weren’t injured or really even roughed up. The door can be reset easily; they’re designed to pop away. The cashier and the bagger lady were quite upset; I told them that they had done the right thing and that some people just can’t handle the holiday stress. But come on. This was totally out of control and completely out of bounds.

As I’m driving away a few minutes later the local cops come zooming up the driveway, lights flashing.




Let’s all try to let the little stuff go. Life is full of aggravations enough. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Ok, I ate lunch while writing this. So now it’s back out again. Haircut. Bank. Gas station. Need beer too. I’m a bit let down that I can’t bring my famous Kitchen Sink stuffing to Thanksgiving tomorrow at my father in law’s. But I’ll cook it any way, even though my wife will hardly touch it. So I’ll be eating stuffing for the next 10 days all by myself. Fine by me.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Hope you remembered the cranberry sauce.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/26/2008 at 01:17 PM   
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schoolgirl described as “fit, healthy and popular” killed herself because she felt fat and ugly.

This is really a depressing story.  Reason for me posting it here is because I’ve so far ignored (or tried to) ALL THE OTHER LIKE STORIES over the last couple of months of young suicides.  It bothers me a lot when young kids with so much to live for and with a future in front of them, decide for whatever reason that they have no future.

I realize there are one or two that didn’t mean to actually kill themselves but meant instead to scare the parents or play some dumb game that went horribly wrong. 

Earlier this year there were something like 15 (possibly more) suicides from just one town over here. Or maybe it was one general area but I’m fairly certain it was a town and the name escapes me.  The fact is, there are an alarmingly large number of kids who have tried and failed or actually did kill themselves.

Why is it that a young girl would do this and what make a young girl feel “fat and ugly” to the point of suicide?

I hadn’t given it a whole lot of thought before but I know womens groups and not just the ones Rush calls feminazis, have been complaining about the way women are used in ads and portrayed as stick thin icons of what the ideal is supposed to be.  Maybe I have it all wrong but I’m wondering if they don’t have a valid point.  Maybe this poor kid just wasn’t talking to her mom enough if at all. 

I think the images young girls are trying to live up to these days are ALL WRONG.  Sad that they don’t understand that.

Perfectionist schoolgirl hanged herself while worried about appearance
A perfectionist schoolgirl described as “fit, healthy and popular” killed herself because she felt fat and ugly, an inquest heard.

By Paul Stokes
Last Updated: 3:36PM GMT 26 Nov 2008

Imogen D’Arcy, 13, spent the weeks leading up to her death searching internet sites for information on anorexia and suicide.

The lyrics to the song Courage, by the group Superchick, about personal suffering and not eating were also found on her computer.

Imogen’s father Paul, 51, found her hanging from the bathroom door by the flex of his laptop in the bathroom of the family’s home in Adel, Leeds.

After he had freed her and attempted resuscitation, Mr D’Arcy noticed a note in her handwriting which had been left on the toilet seat.

He said: “I took it to the bedroom and read the first paragraph but I couldn’t read any more. It appeared Imogen had a problem with her body image, she felt fat and ugly. This is not true she doesn’t have an ounce of fat on her.”

Imogen was transferred from hospital to a hospice and a decision taken to switch off her life support machine after eight days.

Mr D’Arcy and his wife Susan, 40, both charter quantity surveyors, were convinced that their daughter, who enjoyed playing football and running, did not have a eating disorder.

But the Leeds hearing was told that soon after her death they found out about websites the Bradford Christian School pupil, considered head girl material, had been visiting.

Imogen, who has four sisters aged three to 18, had been for a haircut with her mother on the day she died last December.

Her mother had shouted at her when she refused to tidy up the children’s toys before she was left in the house with her youngest sister while the rest of the family went shopping.

SAD STORY

More of this sad story at the link.

Posted by peiper     on 11/26/2008 at 11:18 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • UK •  
• Comments (10) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

Gun disguised as a mobile phone is seized by police .

I think we’ve seen this or something very close not too long ago.  Or does memory fail me?
Anyway, I think this is really neat.  Look, if bad guys can get their hands on this sort of thing, seems to me the rest of us might wanna consider one too.

Street punk wants your cell phone and you say sure. Here. BANG!

A gun disguised as a mobile phone has been seized by police.

By Graham Tibbetts
Last Updated: 2:32PM GMT 26 Nov 2008

The weapon, which is black with a dummy screen, was discovered by Italian police during a raid on a mafia gang.

It can hold four .22 calibre rounds, contained beneath the display.

The phone is transformed into a gun by sliding the keypad section.

It is fired by pressing one of the keys, with the antenna acting as the gun barrel.

A police spokesman said: “This is the first time such a weapon has been seized and shows the sophistication that the crime syndicates are turning to.

“Tests are being carried out to see if it has been used recently or has been involved in any shooting attacks.”

The raid in a suburb of Naples, southern Italy, was part of an operation against the Gionta crime family of the Camorra, the port city’s version of the Mafia.

Officers from the paramilitary Carabinieri police also seized two ordinary handguns, ammunition, bullet-proof vests, drugs and cash.

A 28-year-old man was arrested during the raid in the Torre Annunziata area but several other suspected gang members escaped.

The Camorra was infiltrated by Roberto Saviano, an author whose book, Gomorrah, was turned into a critically acclaimed film.

http://tinyurl.com/6jbjoc

Posted by peiper     on 11/26/2008 at 11:05 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Guns and Gun Control •  
• Comments (12) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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