We're going to spend a little time this week exploring the fruit of the world's most disturbing Chia Pet's existence... that's right, Kim Jong Mentally-Il, and all that that entails.
For starters: North Korea warn of pre-emptive nuclear strike against neighbour
Warm and fuzzy news as always.
Also, there's a documentary series on North Korea that's worth exploring. I'll be commenting as I get through the chapters.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Saturday, March 29, 2008
From the Hollywood Reporter:
Also,
'Fitna' pulled from Web
March 28, 2008
RELATED: Muslim nations condemn film
Anti-Koran film goes live on Web
AMSTERDAM -- The controversial anti-Muslim film by Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders has been removed from the Web by its British Internet provider, which said its employees have been seriously threatened.
"Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature and some ill-informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly lead to the harm of some of our staff, LiveLeak.com has been left with no other choice but to remove 'Fitna' from our servers," the company said.
The 15-minute short film was posted Thursday and taken down Friday and had been seen by some 3 million people. In the film, presented in Dutch- and English-language versions, Wilders claims that the Koran provokes violence, using Sept. 11, the attacks in Madrid and London and the murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh as examples.
In the Netherlands, most local Muslim organizations appeared not to take the Wilders project seriously. There was no disturbances of the kind that occurred three years ago following the murder of van Gogh.
Meanwhile, Wilders can expect some copyright charges from Dutch media, whose material was used in "Fitna" without permission. Also, the infamous Danish cartoon of the prophet Muhammed being hit by a bomb was used without approval.
Wilders made another mistake. When trying to show the murderer of van Gogh, he instead showed a local rap artist, Salah Edin.
Also,
Friday, March 28, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Worst news of the day... linked on Drudge...
This includes Austin.
STAY AWAY, Y'ALL.
Yeesh.
HOWDY: 4 Texas Cities Among Top 10 in Growth...
This includes Austin.
STAY AWAY, Y'ALL.
Yeesh.
This is honestly my favorite story of the day. I just cannot get enough of it.
Jim McDermott: "We Don't Mind Being Used" by Saddam Hussein
Last night came the news that Saddam Hussein's regime paid for a high-profile trip taken by three congressional Democrats to Baghdad in the fall of 2002. The visit, by Democratic Representatives David Bonior, Jim Thompson, and Jim McDermott, was brokered by Muthanna al Hanooti, a Michigan resident with close ties to the Iraqi regime. Hanooti is being prosecuted for spying on behalf of Saddam's regime.
Reacting to the latest news, Mike DeCesare, a spokesman for Jim McDermott, one of the three congressmen, said his boss wasn't aware that the money came from Saddam Hussein's regime when he accepted it. He told me the same thing in 2004, when I asked him about the $5,000 McDermott had accepted for his legal defense fund from Shakir al Khafaji, one of Saddam Hussein's biggest U.S. boosters before the war. Khafaji, who accompanied the congressmen and made the arrangements for their visit, had run "expatriate" conferences in Baghdad for Saddam as recently as 2000. He also provided $400,000 to former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter for Ritter's propaganda film on behalf of the former Iraqi regime. In an interview back in 2001, Ritter told me that Khafaji was "openly sympathetic" with Saddam Hussein.
All of this was public record -- available to the lawmakers with a Google or Nexis search. But they went anyway. Reacting to the news yesterday, Jim Thompson pleaded ignorance.
"Obviously, had there been any question at all regarding the sponsor of the trip or the funding, I would not have participated."
Thompson and McDermott would have us believe that they visited a sworn enemy of the United States -- one who had tried to assassinate a former president and declared that the "Mother of all Battles" had never ended -- without doing even the most basic research about who was funding their trip? That's hard to believe. And Bonior, who was from Michigan and had taken money from al Khafaji before, had no idea that he was backed by Saddam Hussein? When I spent a week reporting in Michigan for a story on Iraqi exiles, virtually every Iraqi I spoke to told me about al Khafaji and his dirty money. Is is possible that nobody ever mentioned this to Bonior, who recently chaired John Edwards' presidential campaign, before he traveled to Iraq with al Khafaji? Again, hard to believe.
In any case, they knew well that they would be used as propaganda tools before they left. This is how we put it in a piece on the trip back in October 2002:
EVEN BEFORE the Baghdad boys left Iraq, media outlets throughout the Middle East gleefully highlighted divisions in the U.S. government and the travels by the "antiwar" congressmen. The Iraq Daily, for example, published by Saddam's Ministry of Information, printed daily updates of the trip and posted them in English on their website.
For example, a September 30 report says, "the members of the U.S. Congress delegation has underlined that this visit aims to get acquainted with the truth of Iraq's people sufferings due to ongoing embargo which caused shortage in food and medicine for all Iraqi people." (That article appeared next to a report on Saddam's continuing financial support for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers or, to use the paper's formulation, "intrepid Palestinian uprising martyrs." Also in that issue is an article by American white supremacist Matthew Hale, "Truth About 9-11: How Jewish Manipulation Killed Thousands.")...
So how does it feel to be used as a propaganda tool against your own country? McDermott, who was asked that question by CNN's Jane Arraf when he was still in Baghdad, said it feels fine. "If being used means that we're highlighting the suffering of Iraqi children, or any children, then, yes, we don't mind being used."
Once again? "We don't mind being used."
Update on the story below, from lgf:
I'm shocked.
Al-Hanooti was active in other local groups. He was former head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations and the president of Focus on American and Arab Interests and Relations.
I'm shocked.
I just couldn't resist posting this one.
US: Saddam Paid for Lawmakers' Iraq Trip
Mar 26, 7:01 PM (ET)
By MATT APUZZO
Mar 26, 7:01 PM (ET)
By MATT APUZZO
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WASHINGTON (AP) - Saddam Hussein's intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam's regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary.
At the time, the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq.
The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. None was charged and Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said investigators "have no information whatsoever" any of them knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.
"Obviously we didn't know it at the time," McDermott spokesman Michael DeCesare said Wednesday. "The trip was to see the plight of the Iraqi children. That's the only reason we went."
During the trip, the lawmakers expressed skepticism about the Bush administration's claims that Saddam was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.
"War is not the answer," Bonior, who is no longer in Congress, said at a news conference while on the trip. "There is a way to resolve this."
Though weapons of mass destruction ultimately were never found, the lawmakers drew criticism for their trip at the time.
Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles, the second-ranking Senate Republican at the time, said the Democrats "sound somewhat like spokespersons for the Iraqi government."
Al-Hanooti was arrested Tuesday night while returning to the U.S. from the Middle East, where he was looking for a job, his attorney, James Thomas, said. Al-Hanooti pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, illegally purchasing Iraqi oil and lying to authorities. He was being held on $100,000 bail.
Thomas said Al-Hanooti would "vigorously defend" himself against the charges but he could not discuss the specifics of the case since he had seen none of the evidence.
Al-Hanooti worked on and off from 1999 to 2006 as a public relations coordinator for Life for Relief and Development, a Michigan group formed after the first Gulf War to fund humanitarian work in Iraq. FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force agents raided the charity's headquarters in 2006 but charged nobody and allowed the agency to continue operating.
Prosecutors said Al-Hanooti was responsible for monitoring Congress for the Iraqi Intelligence Service. From 1999 to 2002, he allegedly provided Saddam's government with a list of U.S. lawmakers he believed favored lifting economic sanctions against Iraq.
In exchange for coordinating the congressional trip, Al-Hanooti allegedly received 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil, prosecutors said.
DeCesare said McDermott was invited to go to Iraq by a Seattle church group and was unaware of any other funding for the trip.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, February 04, 2008
Posting this as it's related to the following post:
Bomb-related material has been found during raids in Barcelona which led to the arrest of 14 people suspected of links with an Islamist terror network.
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the suspects included 12 from Pakistan and two from India.
Local media reports that the Spanish intelligence agency had warned France, the UK and Portugal that a terror cell was preparing an imminent attack.
This coincides with a European tour by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf.
Radical threat
The Civil Guard detained the suspects in Barcelona as part of a joint operation with Spain's National Intelligence Centre (CNI).
Several premises were searched and officers seized computers and materials to produce explosives.
The operation is ongoing and more arrests have not been ruled out.
Mr Rubalcaba said the evidence suggested that they were faced with "a radical Islamist group with a significant level of organisation which seems to have taken a step beyond ideological radicalisation".
Let's be as cautious as is advisable in these cases
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
Spanish prime ministerHe said the group appeared to have been "planning to equip itself with material to make explosives and so to carry out violent actions".
Spain suffered at the hands of Islamist militants in 2004 when 191 people were killed in the Madrid train bombings.
Most of the 21 people convicted of the attacks were found to have been part of a local Islamist militant group inspired by al-Qaeda, but not part of that organisation.
Election issue
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said that it was too early to arrive at any conclusions as to what the suspects might have been planning.
"Let's be as cautious as is advisable in these cases, with regard to the scope, intentions and what this potential group of radical Islamist activists represented," he said.
The BBC's Steve Kingstone, in Madrid, says domestic security will be a key issue in the run-up to Spain's general election, in two months time.
The governing Socialist Party says that, during its four-year term of office, 300 Islamist militants have been arrested.
Suicide bomb suspects held at Gatwick after tip-off
SCOTLAND YARD is braced for a fresh wave of possible terrorist attacks against public transport after a group of suspected Islamist suicide bombers were arrested in a secret security operation at Gatwick airport.
Six Pakistani men were held under anti-terrorism laws 10 days ago after they flew in from Barcelona. The arrests were prompted by a tip-off from the Spanish intelligence services after the discovery of a suspected Al-Qaeda terror cell in the city. The cell is alleged to have planned to detonate suicide bombs on the Barcelona Metro. The Spanish warned a similar attack was being planned here.
The six Pakistanis were taken to Paddington Green police station in west London and were questioned by detectives from the Yard’s counter-terrorism unit. After being held overnight they were driven under police escort back to the airport and escorted onto a flight back to Pakistan.
Soon after the arrests MI5’s Centre for the Protection of National Infra-structure warned of a possible terrorist attack on bridges, tunnels and the Channel tunnel.
The Gatwick arrests followed an antiterrorist operation in Barcelona in which 12 Pakistanis and two Indians were held for allegedly planning bomb attacks. It has been reported that among the cache was a quantity of triacetone triperoxide, a comparatively cheap explosive used by suicide bombers in the Middle East.
At the time of the Barcelona arrests counter-terrorism officials played down reports of any imminent threat to Britain. But it has since emerged that Spanish intelligence did receive information about an attack against Britain’s public transport system.
According to El Pais, the Spanish newspaper, a member of the Barcelona cell told the Spanish civil police that it was planning attacks not just on Barcelona’s underground system but also against public transport in Britain and other European countries.
The informant is said to have told police that pairs of suicide bombers planned to strap explosives to their bodies and blow themselves up on the rail and bus networks in Britain, France, Germany and Portugal.
Referring to the arrests of the Pakistanis at Gatwick, a senior British official said: “The intelligence from Spain was that there was to be another wave of attacks on the way to us after the attempted attacks in Barcelona. When it was followed up it led to this lot.”
Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP who last year helped to prepare a report on terror threats to crowded places, said: “This intelligence shows the breadth and span of international terrorism and anybody who thinks that the threat has either gone or is in abeyance is in cloud-cuckoo-land.”
Friday, December 21, 2007
Robin Williams, Lance Armstrong in Kabul
ASSOCIATED PRESS ^ | 20 Dec 07 | JASON STRAZIUSO
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Robin Williams and Lance Armstrong took a swipe at the French, Kid Rock strummed "Sweet Home Alabama," comedian Lewis Black grumbled about the falling snow, and Miss USA told the troops to keep "kicking butt."
Some 500 American soldiers watched an all-star USO cast perform under a steady snowstorm at a U.S. base in Kabul late Thursday. The stop was part of a six-day, 14-show tour that saw the entertainers begin their day with a performance in Iraq.
The audience of soldiers - bundled in hooded jackets and warm hats - stood in the snow before a makeshift stage waiting for Williams and company to arrive after the performers were delayed by rough weather.
Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was traveling with the group, took the microphone first, telling the soldiers it was a tough time to be away from home.
"We brought a few celebrities tonight to try and lift your spirits," he said before introducing Miss USA Rachel Smith, to a burst of cheers.
Armstrong, a seven-time winner of the Tour de France, told the soldiers that the entertainers had gotten stuck in Tikrit, Iraq because of a sandstorm and had to bunk in the same room. Black started snoring 60 seconds after the lights were turned out, Armstrong said.
"Then Robin was above me snoring so all night I was punching the bunk trying to get him to stop," he said.
After winning the world's most prestigious bike race seven times in a row, Armstrong said he was the most hated man in France. He then said he didn't think "there's that many French people around here anyway" - a statement that could be interpreted as a dig at the French military, which is stationed in the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan.
Armstrong later said he walked offstage and promptly ran into several French soldiers.
Williams, a USO veteran making his fourth trip to Afghanistan, told the soldiers he woke up on Thursday in the desert sands of Iraq and closed out his day with snow in Kabul. "From sand to snow, mother nature is having hot flashes."
Then he, too, took a dig at the French.
"They're the only people who go into combat wearing a chef's hat. It's amazing," he said.
Among the many soldiers in the crowd wearing wide smiles on their faces was Lt. Col. Larry Terranova.
"Afghanistan is sometimes called the forgotten war and we don't get a lot of attention here and conditions are pretty miserable so it means a lot," said Terranova, 48, who is based out of Fort Sill, Okla.
He said he would miss his four children and four grandchildren over the holidays.
Williams, Armstrong and company have already performed in Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan and will perform in Kyrgyzstan and Europe before returning home.
Wayne Newton, head of talent recruitment for the USO, says the USO has had trouble recruiting entertainers for trips overseas. But John Hanson, USO spokesman, said that wasn't the case, noting the all-star cast now on tour. He said there have been 52 USO tours in 2007 that performed more than 300 shows.
"We don't want people to think there aren't people willing to come out here. There are," Hanson said, noting that entertainers must commit 10 days to two weeks for each tour.
Rock, who performed on acoustic guitar and had soldiers sing the chorus to "Sweet Home Alabama," said he volunteers for the sake of the soldiers.
"I'm here for one reason, to entertain these guys," he said in an interview after the show. "To be a source of entertainment, give them a slice of home."
"How can you not come?" he said.
"Especially at Christmas," Williams said, "to let people know they're not forgotten."
Smith, who was born on a military base in Panama, said she wanted to give something back because she knows what the troops are going through. She said the troops' work was invaluable.
"We wouldn't have the opportunities and freedoms that we have back at home if you guys weren't over here kicking butt," Smith said.
Armstrong said he was first introduced to USO tours through Williams, a longtime friend.
"I feel like it's important for us as entertainers or sports figures to step up and support our troops regardless of what you think or don't think of the conflict," Armstrong said. "The bottom line is that they sign up to defend our country."
Thursday, November 22, 2007
From LGF:
This guy was a professor at a US University. Unbelievable. Yet... not... really.
: |
Islamist Professor Sentenced to 11 Years
Wed, Nov 21, 2007 at 2:07:07 pm PST
Former Howard University professor Abdelhaleem Ashqar was sentenced today to more than 11 years in prison for refusing to testify to a grand jury in a Hamas funding case.
CHICAGO: A former professor accused of providing money to Hamas terrorists was sentenced Wednesday to more than 11 years in prison and fined $5,000 for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury.
Abdelhaleem Ashqar, a former associate professor of business at Washington’s Howard University, showed no emotion as U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve imposed the sentence. But several relatives wept openly in the courtroom.
Ashqar was convicted earlier this year of criminal contempt and obstruction of justice for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the Palestinian militant movement Hamas on June 25, 2003. But he was acquitted of taking part in a racketeering conspiracy aimed at bankrolling the terrorist group Hamas.
Before being sentenced, Ashqar delivered a nearly two-hour passionate statement describing the suffering of Palestinian people under the Israeli occupation and saying he would rather go to prison than divulge the secrets of Palestinian militants.
“The only option was to become a traitor or collaborator and that is something that I can’t do and will never do as long as I live,” he told the court.
This guy was a professor at a US University. Unbelievable. Yet... not... really.
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Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Today:
Republican presidential hopeful former Tenn. Sen. Fred Thompson speaks to local residents during a stop at a local bar and grill, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2007, in Le Mars, Iowa. Thompson compared his Democratic rivals to race car drivers who only know how to turn left: 'It's like they're all in training for the NASCAR, you know, nothing but a left turn, just steady as she goes, all the way around,' he said in Iowa Tuesday. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Monday, November 19, 2007
22 posted on 11/19/2007 9:21:08 AM CST by andy58-in-nh (Kill the terrorists, secure the borders, and give me back my freedom.)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Wife Let Off Over Fatal Sherry Enema
Wife Let Off Over Fatal Sherry Enema
Everything is wrong with this story. Sorry I didn't post it on Friday, where it truly belongs.
Everything is wrong with this story. Sorry I didn't post it on Friday, where it truly belongs.
A Texas woman has escaped being charged with negligent homicide after she killed her husband with a sherry enema. Tammy Jean Warner had been scheduled to go on trial over the death of Michael Warner, 58.
Tammy Jean and Michael WarnerBut Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne said the charges had been dismissed due to a lack of evidence.
She said the dead man had had a "severe alcohol issue" and it was not clear his wife had committed a crime.
"Let's say I have lung cancer and I continue to smoke. If you provide cigarettes to me, is that negligent homicide?" Ms Yenne asked.
"I really wrestled with the consent issue and negligence issue. I didn't think it rose to the level of negligent homicide."
Michael Warner, a machine shop operator, died at the couple's Lake Jackson home on May 21, 2004.
According to a post mortem report, Mr Warner had been given an enema containing enough sherry to produce a blood alcohol level six times the legal driving limit.
At the time his wife was indicted, Lake Jackson police detective Robert Turner said Michael Warner was a longtime alcoholic who sometimes used enemas to get drunk because a medical condition made it painful for him to drink.
Warner claimed her husband had been addicted to enemas since he was a child. She said he often used alcohol in that manner to get drunk.
72-year-old concerned citizen takes down suicide bomber
72-year-old concerned citizen takes down suicide bomber
Multi-National Forces - Iraq ^ | October 18, 2007 | 2nd BCT, 3rd Inf. Div.FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE RELEASE No. 20071018-04 October 18, 2007
FORWARD OPERATING BASE KALSU, Iraq – A 72-year-old man stopped a suspected suicide bomber from detonating himself at a checkpoint in Arab Jabour Oct. 14.
The man approached a checkpoint where Mudhehr Fayadh Baresh was standing guard, but did not make it very far. Baresh, a tribal commissioner and member of the Arab Jabour Concerned Citizens program, said he ordered the man to lift his shirt - using training received from Coalition Forces - when he did not recognize him as a local villager.
The suspect refused to lift his shirt. Baresh repeated the command again, and the suspect exposed his suicide vest, running toward the checkpoint.
Baresh opened fire which caused the vest to detonate, killing the suspect.
“I did it for the honor of my family and the honor of my country,” said Baresh.
Maher helps security kick out rowdy protester - USATODAY.com
Maher helps security kick out rowdy protester - USATODAY.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Bill Maher can add "security guard" to his job description alongside comedian and political commentator.Maher helped security give the boot to a rowdy protester from the studio of his weekly HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night, and it was all captured on live television.
Maher was talking science during one of his weekly panel discussions when a protester in his audience stood, held up a smuggled-in sign reading "9/11 is a cover up fraud" and shouted comments to the same effect.
The host tried to shout down the audience member, who only became more agitated.
"Do we have some (expletive) security in this building," Maher yelled, "or do I have to come down there and kick his (expletive)?"
When security reached the man's aisle and he resisted leaving, Maher ran into the seats and helped them push him out the door, shouting "Out! Out! Out!"
Several other protesters, sprinkled throughout the audience, then stood up and shouted.
"This isn't the Iowa Caucus, OK, we're not here to debate," Maher shouted with most of his audience cheering him on. "This is the problem with live television."
The incident was shown live on the East Coast, and the network appeared to show the entire affair unedited for the taped-delayed West Coast version.
After the instigators were ejected, Maher told his panelists — MSNBC's Chris Matthews, Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein and Congresswoman Sheila Jackson — that they often linger outside his studio to share 9/11 conspiracy theories with him and try to get into the show.
"It's the only time I defend Bush," he said.
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