Wednesday - August 10, 2005

First Hurdle Complete

Nefarious Ferret Update: I got an e-mail from the father of our little lady out at the USAF Academy last night. Kristen has made it through the first hurdle, the summer boot camp that all new cadets go through. Next up, classes start today ....

Allan:

Well, Kristin made it through basic out at the Academy.  Today is graduation and classes start right up tomorrow.

She made it through everything and is doing well.  I told her about your post. She was pretty excited about it and I expect she will be in touch with you guys soon.  The cadets picked up their computers yesterday.

She was able to call home again on Sunday.  I happened to be out on a field exercise so she called me on the cell.  I passed the phone around to a bunch of the NCOs in my unit that have watched her grow up and they all took turns giving her a hard time about the AF.  lol Something about “valet bivouac” and the like.

Speaking of making it through, her flight was actually the ONLY one that didn’t lose any cadets in basic.  They were pretty happy about that, normal attrition is around 5-7% as I recall.

Well, ‘spect you’ll be hearing from her soon,
Mike

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/10/2005 at 04:33 AM   
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Asshat Of The Day, Part III

We continue the ongoing saga of radical Muslim cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed where we left off yesterday. He left Britain, is currently in Lebanon and yesterday said he would come back to Britain in four to six weeks unless told not to come back. Now the British government has made its move in this chess game of international intrigue, telling Bakri that if he fails to return before the end of the month he will be banned ....

(GUARDIAN - UK)—The Islamist preacher Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, who left Britain for Lebanon at the weekend after learning he could face incitement charges, will be banned from returning if he fails to come back before the end of the month. Mr Bakri, the former leader of the Islamist group al-Muhajiroun, said yesterday that he was enjoying a holiday with his mother in Beirut and still hoped to return to London to his family.

The deputy prime minister, John Prescott, urged Mr Bakri to stay away. “I just say ‘enjoy your holiday, make it a long one’,” he said, adding that the preacher, who currently has indefinite leave to remain in Britain, had committed no offence by leaving the country.

The lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, made it clear yesterday that Mr Bakri, and two other radicals, are highly unlikely to face treason charges. In a letter in today’s Guardian, the director of public prosecutions, Ken Macdonald QC, said that discussions with the Metropolitan police had taken place concerning “three Muslim clerics” over “possible offences of solicitation to murder and acts relating to the withholding of information under the Terrorism Act 2000”. There had been no discussion about treason.

Although the home secretary, Charles Clarke, cannot stop Mr Bakri coming back under existing legislation, he would be able to block his entry under the plans announced last Friday to exclude or deport those who preach hate or justify violence. Mr Clarke does not need primary legislation to implement the plan to exclude figures such as Mr Bakri. He can introduce the change under existing immigration rules and is expected to do so swiftly once the two-week consultation period is completed.

The home secretary named Mr Bakri in the Commons on July 20 as one of the two principal targets of his new powers, alongside Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. This means, in practical terms, that Mr Bakri can expect to be banned from re-entering Britain unless he returns within the next three weeks.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/10/2005 at 04:04 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists •  
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Headache

_{Mike Lane, Baltimore, Maryland}

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/10/2005 at 03:23 AM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists •  
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   Tuesday - August 09, 2005

There Can Be Only One!

Michigan cops are still trying to figure out this asshat who .... well .... went medieval on them (link goes to The Smoking Gun by way of Fark) ....

Crusader Nabbed By Michigan Cops
Medieval sword, mallet, armor no match for ye olde Taser

AUGUST 5—Meet Robert McClain. The Michigan man, 42, was arrested last week after he attempted to literally go medieval on cops. According to the Royal Oak Police Department report, officers were dispatched to McClain’s home after a motorist called 911 to report that McClain had fled the scene of an auto accident. When they arrived at his crib, McClain allegedly tried to strike a cop with a four-foot sword.

After missing, McClain retreated to his basement, where he donned a chainmail armored vest and leather gauntlets to protect his arms. He also added a giant wooden mallet to his arsenal and beckoned officers to come downstairs and get him. “I’m gonna crush your fucking skulls,” McClain warned. Then, in a nice rhetorical flourish (for a lunatic, at least), he added, “I have a thousand years of power.”

That omnipotence, however, was no match for a police Taser, which felled McClain. He was then carted off and charged with felony assault and a misdemeanor count for failing to remain at an accident scene.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/09/2005 at 03:21 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Stoopid-People •  
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Under Suspicion

The British have compiled a ”targeted surveillance list” of radical MOOS-LIM clerics ....

LONDON (AP)—Radical Muslim clerics in Britain could find themselves under threat of being prosecuted or expelled under anti-terror measures proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair. Clerics being closely watched include:

* OMAR BAKRI MOHAMMED: Came to Britain in 1985 after being deported from Saudi Arabia. Founded the now-disbanded radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun. The group repeatedly came under scrutiny, particularly after the Sept. 11 attacks, which some members praised. Bakri is from Syria, but his wife’s family is Lebanese and he has citizenship in both Syria and Lebanon. He left for Lebanon last weekend but says he hopes to return to Britain.

* ABU IZZADEEN: Describes himself as the spokesman for the Islamic group al-Ghurabaa. British-born and of Jamaican descent. Reportedly converted to Islam at age 17. Has been quoted as saying Britain’s failure to accept a “cease-fire” from Osama bin Laden led to the July 7 attacks in London. Al-Ghurabaa called on Britons not to vote in the last general election.

* OMAR MAHMOUD ABU OMAR: A Palestinian better known as Abu Qatada. Granted political asylum in Britain in 1993. Sentenced in Jordan in absentia for his alleged involvement in a series of explosions and terror plots. Regarded as Osama bin Laden’s spiritual ambassador in Europe and allegedly an inspiration for Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta. Spent three years in a high security British prison without being charged, under anti-terror powers introduced after the Sept. 11 attacks. Released in March after Britain’s highest court ruled the legislation breached human rights. Electronically tagged and required to live under a curfew. Likely to be deported to Jordan.

* ABU UZAIR: Reportedly a former member of al-Muhajiroun and believed part of its successor organization, the Saviour Sect. Told BBC “Newsnight” that the Sept. 11 attacks were “magnificent.” Says he is a British citizen.

* ABU HAMZA AL-MASRI: Regarded as one of Britain’s most radical clerics. The Egyptian-born preacher—who has one eye and hooks for hands, which he says were lost fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan—was a cleric at Finsbury Park mosque, long a magnet for extremist Muslims. In custody, awaiting trial on charges that include encouraging the murder of Jews and other non-Muslims and using threatening or abusive language. Has pleaded innocent to all charges.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/09/2005 at 02:47 PM   
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • RoPMA • Terrorists •  
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Where Are They Now?

From the “Where Are They Now” department our crack staff has uncovered the whereabouts of Jennnifer Wilbanks, the so-called “Runaway Bride”. She is mowing the lawn at the courthouse and washing police cars ....

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (AP)—Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks mowed the lawn of a government building Tuesday as part of her court-ordered community service for lying to police after she ran off days before her scheduled wedding.

Wearing an orange community service vest, a ballcap that said “Life is good” and running shoes, Wilbanks seemed upbeat as she pushed a powered mower by a swarm of reporters and photographers. She briefly spoke when the mower’s engine died in tall, wet grass.

“I’m doing well,” said Wilbanks, who has been undergoing mental health treatment. She admitted with a laugh that it had been a long time since she had mowed a lawn.

“I need to get back to work. I don’t want to get into trouble,” she added.

Her lawn mower then kept dying in the grass, each time prompting her to repeatedly yank on the pull string to restart it. After the eighth time it quit, she let out a big sigh.

In all, she was ordered to do 120 hours of service. Wilbanks had already completed 16 hours of her sentence by cleaning probation offices and washing public vehicles. Department of Corrections spokeswoman Peggy Chapman said Wilbanks planned to work off eight more hours Tuesday, also picking up trash.

“She’s a hard worker. She didn’t take advantage of anything. She did more work than most people,” said 17-year-old Michael Powell, who has cleaned bathrooms and offices with Wilbanks while working off his own sentence of 80 hours of community service for an offense he declined to disclose.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/09/2005 at 12:36 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Stoopid-People •  
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Fill Her Up!

The bottom line: we’re paying, on average, about .50¢ more per gallon of gas than we did a year ago. However, when you adjust for economic growth and inflation, we’re paying about .30¢ less than we did in 1949. Check out all this and more at the Department Of Energy web site.

As for me, I buy a tank of gas (20 gal.) every two weeks to get back and forth to work. Fifty cents more per gallon equals $10 more per tank, every two weeks which equates to $260 more per year I spend on gas. Dick Cheney and Halliburton better hurry up and steal all that Iraqi oil before I go broke ....

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/09/2005 at 12:05 PM   
Filed Under: • Economics •  
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Touchdown!

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/09/2005 at 11:36 AM   
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Another Death In The Iraq War

Sadly, we have to report another death in the Iraq war. Oddly enough this one ocurred in Kentucky. Two gun vendors at a flea market got into an argument over the Iraq war, both pulled guns and the man who backed the war got off the first shot ....

It was bound to happen sooner or later, and in what newspapers in Kentucky are calling a first, one American has killed another in a dispute over the Iraq war. It happened at Floyd County flea market on Thursday, when two friends, who were firearms vendors there, drew guns after quarreling about the war. Douglas Moore, 65, of Martin, who backs the war, shot and killed Harold Wayne Smith, 56, of Manchester, who opposed it, according to investigators.

Moore was released without being charged after he convinced police he had acted in self-defense. A grand jury may yet hear evidence in the case. Commonwealth’s Attorney Brent Turner said the episode might mark the first death in the U.S. due to a dispute over the war.

One witness, Sam Hamman of Prestonsburg, told the Lexington Herald-Leader, “Harold was talking about the 14 people that were killed in Iraq the other day and Doug said that just as many people were killed on the highways here.”

This quickly escalated into an argument, then to a scuffle, and finally both men drew pistols outside a snack shed. The dead man was apparently just a little slower in firing. Witnesses said he stood for about five seconds before toppling on the walkway.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/09/2005 at 06:04 AM   
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Pasta Across The River

Just across the Mississippi from us sane folks here in St. Louis in East Carondelet, Illinois they’re having way too much fun, it seems. Frogs Sports Club is in trouble for having nude women wrestling in a swimming pool filled with spaghetti noodles. Would this be what is meant by the term “kanoodling”?

EAST CARONDELET—Frog’s Sports Club Inc.’s liquor license was under review at a village hearing Thursday night because of police reports of nudity, gambling and underage drinking. On Saturday, East Carondelet Police and the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department arrived at 707 Davis Street Ferry Road in East Carondelet and shut down Frog’s bar after witnessing two nude women wrestling in a swimming pool filled with spaghetti noodles.

Ray Curtis, co-owner of the bar, asked Mayor Herb Simmons not to revoke the bar’s liquor license. “Everybody deserves a second chance,” Curtis said. “That’s what we’re asking for.” Village Attorney David Schneidewind asked for the village to revoke the bar’s liquor license for violating local ordinances and state statutes regarding illegal gambling, nudity and underage drinking.

Simmons, who is the liquor commissioner for East Carondelet, said he would review all of the documents and render a decision today. He said he would notify the parties in writing. During the hearing, Curtis said he had no idea that the nude entertainment was going on at his bar. “It’s my fault for not being there more often,” Curtis said. “The fliers said spaghetti wrestling, not nude spaghetti wrestling. Somebody could have come to me with this information before.”

According to the police report, it was bar co-owner Tom Williams who contracted St. Louis-based Unleashed Entertainment for $100, and agreed that the wrestlers would be able to keep their tips. Williams, who was present at the hearing, declined to comment.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/09/2005 at 05:51 AM   
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Asshat Of The Day, Part II

I recently posted about a radical MOOS-LIM cleric in Britain who has been living on the dole for 20 years while he incited his followers to violence and publicly stated his support for the suicide bombers. In an update today, it seems he fled to Lebanon over the weekend but is threatening to return to Britain in “four to six weeks unless the British government tells him he is unwelcome” ....

LONDON (AP)—A fundamentalist Muslim cleric facing possible treason charges said Tuesday that he left Britain over the weekend and was in Lebanon but planned to return within weeks unless the government says he is unwelcome. Sheik Omar Bakri, the founder and spiritual leader of the now-disbanded radical Islamic group al-Muhajiroun, has been identified by British authorities as one of three radical clerics who could face charges if their public remarks are deemed to have incited terrorism.

Al-Muhajiroun’s successor organizations are to be banned in Britain under new anti-terror laws unveiled last week by Prime Minister Tony Blair to root out Islamic extremists following the July 7 bombings and the failed attacks two weeks later. Officials are also considering reviving an old law that makes it possible to charge with treason those who praise acts of terrorism. Bakri said al-Muhajiroun has ceased activities in Britain.

He told British Broadcasting Corp. radio he had left Britain on Saturday to avoid being used by the government to pressure British Muslims with new measures. Bakri, who has lived in Britain for 20 years, said he traveled to Lebanon and was staying with his mother.

“I’m going to return back after six weeks or four weeks, unless the British government (says) ‘You are not welcome,’” the Syrian-born cleric said. Bakri said he had denounced the July 7 attacks, which killed 56 people, including the four bombers. “I did condemn the bombings taking place and killing innocent people in London, the way I condemn the killing of any innocent people around the world.”

But he insisted he would not inform British police if he knew Muslims were planning an attack. “Islam forbids me to report any Muslim ... to the British police,” Bakri said. “My job (is) to stop him, to hold him with my Muslim brothers even if it costs me my life.”

Bakri made similar remarks after the July 7 attacks and reportedly offered support for insurgents who attack troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. A spokeswoman for Britain’s attorney general said Sunday that prosecutors and police would look at Bakri’s remarks to assess whether he could be charged with treason, incitement to treason, solicitation of murder or incitement to withhold information known to be of use to police.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/09/2005 at 04:59 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists •  
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PC Football

_{Doug Marlette, The Tallahassee Democrat, FL}

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/09/2005 at 04:40 AM   
Filed Under: • Politically-Incorrect •  
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   Monday - August 08, 2005

More Money For Africa?

Everyone says we should throw more money at Africa. U2’s Bono is running around the world begging for money, LiveAid gives concerts and the UN wrings its hands over the starving and dying. In my opinion, it is a ”money pit”. For those of you who never saw the movie (of the same name) or bought a house that was a “fixer-upper”, it is a way of throwing away good money after bad. Africa is no exception to this rule. In fact, as long as we throw money at the continent it will only prolong the agony. Why can’t we pass some legislation and call it the “No African Left Behind Act” .. where they only get money if they show reasonable signs of progress in solving their problems?

Take a look at the two quotes below. They both concern the West African country of Mali. The first comes from the US Department Of State and the second is from a news story today from AP ....

Mali

Area: 1,240,278 sq. km. (474,764 sq. mi.); about the size of Texas and California combined.

Population (2002 est.): 10.5 million.

US Foreign Aid: In 2003, U.S. assistance reached $44.2 million: This included $40.7 million in sector support made available through U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) programs; a Peace Corps program budget of $2.8 million for 190 volunteers serving in Mali; Self-Help and the Democracy Funds of $153,000; and State Department Public Diplomacy Funds of $300,000 for educational opportunities and local projects. Military assistance includes $100,000 for the International Military Education Training (IMET) program, and $200,000 for the Regional Defense Counter Terrorism Fellowship (RDCTF) program. The Department of State dedicated $1.05 million to train militaries of the Pan Sahel countries, including Mali.

MARSI, Mali (AP)—While the world’s attention has been fixed on famished Niger, Sidi Mohammed’s big, tearful eyes and cries of hunger reveal another food crisis unfolding next door. The year-old baby, mewling as his mother tries to feed him a cup of vitamin-rich gruel provided by aid workers, is one of an estimated 1.5 million of Mali’s 11 million people are said to be facing hunger, among them an estimated 144,000 children already suffering malnourishment.

Aid workers say they fear a replay of what happened in neighboring Niger, where the world ignored repeated warnings and only rushed in aid in recent weeks when images of starving children hit TV screens. The U.N. World Food Program said an appeal for $7.5 million was facing a shortfall of 85 percent, which it called “devastating. A similar appeal for Niger got 70 percent of the $16 million sought, mostly from Australia, Germany and the United States. But that was at least seven months after the first calls for help went out for the entire region.

Across the chronically dry and dusty West African region on the edge of the Sahara, malnutrition is a yearly blight. Poor rains and locusts worsened the situation last year, and now Sidi and his three siblings are dangerously underfed and dependent on food aid. Burkina Faso and Mauritania also are affected. “We had nothing to eat except the milk of our three sheep. I was very afraid. What could I do for my children?” says Sidi’s mother, 25-year-old Ahmetan Ahmedu.

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/08/2005 at 02:15 PM   
Filed Under: • Africa •  
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Most Outrageous Item Of The Day

What do greedy US bankers and illegal immigrants have in common? The mortgage on a new home, it seems. Several US banks have started giving home loans to illegal immigrants. Classic line: “break our laws and we’ll reward you with a home” ....

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The banking industry is opening its doors to a controversial new market: illegal immigrants. Despite heated political debate in Washington over illegal immigration in the United States, an increasing number of banks are seeing an untapped resource for growing their own revenue stream and contend that providing undocumented residents with mortgages will help revitalize local communities. It’s a win-win situation, they say. But skeptics worry about the message these home loans send to illegal immigrants: break our laws and we’ll reward you with a home.

“It’s institutionalizing illegality,” said Marti Dinerstein, president of Immigration Matters, a New York-based think tank. “Now there’s no distinction being made between the people that follow all the rules and those who break our laws by entering the country or overstaying their visas.” Dinerstein also worried that lack of knowledge on the part of illegal immigrants could pave the way for abuse in the form of predatory lending. But advocates of the practice say the benefits outweigh any potential downside. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, one million illegal immigrants cross the U.S. borders every year. About 500,000 illegal immigrants lose that status every year either by getting legitimate green cards or returning to their native countries. That leaves a 500,000 annual net increase of illegal immigrants – a market that has unmet banking needs.

“This is a huge untapped market with people that live and work in this country and are capable of buying homes to realize the American dream,” said Chan Peterson, executive vice president and head of community banking at Banco Popular, one of the earliest banks to enter this field. He added that there’s a common misperception that illegal immigrants will be more likely to default on their loans than a documented resident. But the company has found that there is no higher rate of default in this loan portfolio than any other market the company serves. “There’s a pride that comes with people moving from renting to owning and we’ve found that these borrowers are driven to hang on to their homes,” Peterson said.

Bill Schumer, vice president of product development at Fifth Third Mortgage Co., a unit of Fifth Third Bancorp. (Research), said the company entered the marketplace due to the belief that providing these low-to-moderate income loans will help revitalize communities in the United States, as borrowers buy more run-down properties and rebuild. He added that by introducing this segment of the population to home ownership education, they are also building a foundation to cross-sell their other products. “We’ve been at this program for the last 8 or 9 months and 68 percent of these borrowers have established three or more banking services with us,” he said.

While Schumer wasn’t willing to disclose how many of mortgages the company provides, he said the product has been well received in the marketplace and is already 4 percent above the level the bank had targeted for the year. And it’s growing. That’s not surprising, said Alenka Grealish, manager of the banking group at Celent, an independent research and consulting firm. Grealish said while the mortgage banking business in the U.S. continues to be red hot, veterans know that it’s a highly cyclical industry that moves with interest rate trends. She said that forward-looking banks are already considering how to grow their business when the pipeline of traditional mortgages begins to dry up. “Illegal immigrants are here to stay and banks are recognizing that,” she said. “If you do a niche market well and know how to price it, banks can have some attractive margins.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 08/08/2005 at 12:52 PM   
Filed Under: • Illegal-Aliens • Outrageous •  
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