I'm not posting all of this — you need to click to read it all, 'cause John Kass and the Chicago Tribune deserve clicks, that's us letting them know, we like articles like this!
From Blackfive:
And I heard that Grodner was arrested upon showing up!
Update: Source says Grodner pled guilty, will pay $600 to Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. The judge gave Grodner a history lesson about the Marines and finished with explaining why Marines have each others' backs...
January 20, 2008 snip
Judge O'Malley had something to say. He looked out into his courtroom, at all those men who'd come to support a Marine they didn't know.
"You caused damage to this young Marine sergeant's car because you were offended by his Marine Corps license plates," said Judge O'Malley.
Grodner stood there, hands behind his back. He grasped the fingers of his left hand with his right, and held it there, so they wouldn't wiggle.
"You're probably also wondering why there was a whole crowd of people here, Mr. Grodner," said Judge O'Malley.
"I don't want to wonder," said Grodner, continuing in his new meek voice, not in his tough divorce lawyer voice, but the gentle, inside voice he'd just learned.
"That's because there is a little principle that the Marine Corps has had since 1775," the judge continued. "When they fought and lost their lives so that people like you could enjoy the freedom of this country. It is a little proverb that we follow:
"No Marine is left behind.
"So Sgt. McNulty couldn't be here. But other Marines showed up in his stead. Take him away," said the judge and former Marine.
A 19-year-old Chinese student recorded the killing and dismembering of her married lover by her boyfriend, local media said on Friday.
The second-year student in the southwestern province of Yunnan, her boyfriend and another male accomplice had all been arrested after the killing last month, the Southern Metropolis Daily said. The victim, 39, was a married manager at a local highway and bridge building company, the newspaper said.
The girl, who was from a struggling family in the capital Beijing and met the victim as a nightclub hostess, filmed as he was killed and his body was cut into "hundreds of pieces," the newspaper said. "The dismembering was both out of hatred and aimed at making the body unrecognisable," the report said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/20/2008 00:00 ||
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As you'll answer it, take heed
This Slave commit no Violence upon
Himself. I've been deceiv'd. The Publick Safety
Requires he should be more confin'd; and none,
No not the Princes self, permitted to
Confer with him. I'll quit you to the King.
Vile and ingrate! too late thou shalt repent
The base Injustice thou hast done my Love:
Yes, thou shalt know, spite of thy past Distress,
And all those Ills which thou so long hast mourn'd;
Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.
Hundreds of people gathered at First Baptist of Gautier Saturday to pay final respects to Maj. Michael Green. Green, 36, was killed Jan. 7 in a roadside explosion in Afghanistan where he was training militia recruits how to detect and disarm bombs.
The Revs. Hunter Isaacs and James LeBatard officiated at an hour-long funeral service.
"He was a bright, young man who never met a stranger," LeBatard said, describing Green to about 400 people at the funeral service. Green's twin sister, Michelle, is married to LeBatard's nephew, Johnson Paul.
"When I was in the ministry, studying to become a minister, he asked me why I wanted to become a minister at my age. I was 46 at the time," LeBatard said, eliciting laughter from the crowd. "I told him it was just something I felt I had to do. I asked him why he wanted to risk his life in the military and he said it was just something he had to do."
LeBatard said serving his country was a childhood dream of Green's.
Fellow soldiers Robert Grimmer and Mark Smythe said Green was like a brother to each of them. "Everyone gravitated to him," Smythe said. "He had a huge heart and was always thinking how to make immediate life better for the people around him. Everyone here, I can guarantee, is a better person for having known Michael."
Grimmer talked about his first encounter with Green. "In walks this guy with aviator glasses one size too big," Grimmer said. "A pistol, hand grenades hanging everywhere, binoculars around his neck, and I thought, "OK, I need to be friends with that guy,'" he said, drawing laughter from the crowd. "He was the best friend we could have asked for."
Sen. Michael Watson represented the state Senate and House and presented Green's family with a joint resolution of the Legislature passed last week honoring Green. "To a country, a fallen soldier means a national loss," Watson said. "To a community, a fallen soldier means a true hero. To a parent, a fallen soldier means a son who won't be coming home. It is with great pride and humility that we recognize this great American who was the guardian of civilization as we know it today."
After the service, about 200 people traveled to the cemetery. At the graveside, veterans played "Amazing Grace" on bagpipes as Green's silver casket draped with an American flag was removed from the hearse.
Military personnel presented Green's mother, Jane, a Bronze Star, the military honor for bravery. Jane Green was told that her son received the award for acts he performed from Nov. 20 through Dec. 8, just one month before his death. She was also presented with the Purple Heart, an honor that is received by a soldier for the wounds he sustains in battle. Green's mother was presented with three other honors from his troops in Afghanistan. She stood tearful, but proud and accepted her son's honors, including the American flag that covered her son's casket.
Four soldiers fired rifles as another played "Taps" on a bugle in the distance. The song and gunfire brought reality to the graveside service as several muffled cries erupted from the crowd and Maj. Michael Lee Green was laid to rest.
#1
"I'm not dead . . . I'm getting better . . . I think I'll go for a walk."
Posted by: Mike ||
01/20/2008 17:07 Comments ||
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#2
"When I opened them again, my uncle was looking at me. I started to cry and ran to get something to open up the coffin to get him out."
His uncle was looking at him through a closed coffin?
Click to watch the latest commercial, then, during halftime or between the games,
Spend some time reading about the making of the commercial by clicking on the stars for more film footage taken at each site. See pictures such as this
and this:
and for info like this:
As the America's Marines commercial production arrived at the Grand Canyon, everyone was thrilled for breathtaking vistas and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. No one expected to be greeted by a former Marine and member of the Hualapai Tribe on arrival.
Guano Point"Welcome to Guano Point," their guide told the assembled members of the Silent Drill Platoon, family members, film makers and assorted other crews. He came out to welcome the team onto the Hualapai reservation, about 60 miles north of Kingman, AZ, because "every Marine, old or young, is my brother and sister."
And did you know this happened at a Titan's football game?
Pre kick-off, the Titans paid homage to the 14,000 Tennesseans currently serving in the military. Members of the National Guard took the field for the National Anthem, unfurling an American Flag across 60 yards of the field.
After two quarters of football, the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon was introduced to the crowd. It didnt matter that the Marines entered through the visitors tunnel, they were given a huge and warm reception. The crowd rose to its feet and didnt sit down.
As the Marines shifted into their performance every pause was filled with cheers and applause only to be outdone by roars of the very appreciative crowd. Some in the crowd even hushed others to be quiet and watch. Even the Titans paused to watch when they came back onto the field.
As the Platoon marched off the football field, fans yelled down from the crowd Thank you. The Marines also heard people screaming, Youre my hero. America loves the Marine Corps and in Nashville on this sunny Sunday afternoon, you could feel it in the air.
#1
Wasn't this the commercial where San Francisco refused the USMC a filming permit to film on the city streets because it would supposedly impair traffic and cause people delays?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
01/20/2008 14:59 Comments ||
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#3
Lovely. Just lovely.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/20/2008 17:11 Comments ||
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#4
Ain't ascared to say it - brings tears to my eyes. Semper Fi to all our brothers and sisters in harms way and to those who've made the ultimate sacrifice.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
01/20/2008 18:42 Comments ||
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#5
former Marine.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/20/2008 20:29 Comments ||
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#6
Wasn't this the commercial where San Francisco refused the USMC a filming permit to film on the city streets because it would supposedly impair traffic and cause people delays?
Yep. Along with a long history of other attitude-related actions.
However, they do lead the nation in creating and spreading sexually-transmitted staph infections...
#8
No, TW. I've never been in the military. I do know that piece of etiquette, however. My brother is the military officer of the family. He'll be heading to the war again soon.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
01/20/2008 21:58 Comments ||
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#9
Our thanks to him, Eric, and our prayers for his safe return.
At Kandahar's Arab cemetery, victims of the US "war on terror" are revered by many as shaheed (martyrs) and their graves are believed to possess miraculous powers. Each day, hundreds of sick people visit the graves of more than 70 Arab and other foreign fighters and their family members who were killed in US bombing in the southern Afghan city in late 2001.
Soon after their burial, a cult developed around them and the graves became centres of pilgrimage for many in the area. People started seeing them as miracle workers, healers and intercessors for others before God.
Six years after US-led troops ousted the Taleban, devotion to these "foreign guests" is still alive. "Most of the visitors are sick people seeking blessings from the dead while others come hoping their social or financial problems will end," says Sangeena, a woman in her 50s who lives nearby and looks after the graves. For the past several years, Sangeena has come to the cemetery every day. "They are martyrs and it is my duty to serve them."
Also, it looks like someone is trying to influence people who are at weak points in their lives to believe in these a-holes. A common tactic of Muzzies. Find these folks and make them disappear.
#5
If your prophet is Arab, the 'angel' who gave him your holy book spoke in Arabic, your holy places are in Arabia, you dress like an Arab, you are obliged to visit Arabia on pilgrimage, your customs are Arab customs etc, is it so strange to think that Arabs are superior to yourself?
What to us are just the dump sites for the rotting carcasses of unlawful combatants and terrorists, becomes a sacred site for them. The resting place of the master race.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/20/2008 11:12 Comments ||
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#6
Self curing problem, Graves (However "Holy") cannot cure anyone, let them visit, and die.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/20/2008 12:34 Comments ||
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#7
Booby traps.
Posted by: ed ||
01/20/2008 19:56 Comments ||
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Jay Grodner, the scumbag Chicago shyster lawyer who keyed a Marine's car in anger because the car had military plates and a Marine insignia, finally got his day in court last week.
Grodner pleaded guilty in a Chicago courtroom packed with former Marines. Some had Marine pins on their coats, or baseball jackets with the Marine insignia. They didn't yell or call him names. They came to support Marine Sgt. Michael McNulty, whose car Grodner defaced in December, but who couldn't attend because he's preparing for his second tour in Iraq.
Grodner was late to court for the second time in the case. Grodner called Assistant State's Attorney Patrick Kelly, (Marine Corps/Vietnam 1969-1972), informing Kelly that he would be late to court. "He wanted to avoid the media," Kelly said Friday. "So he's coming a half hour late."
"I don't run my courtroom that way!" responded Judge William O'Malley, ordering Grodner be arrested and held on $20,000 bail when he arrived. Finally, Grodner strolled in. A short man, wide, wearing a black fedora, dark glasses, a divorce lawyer dressed like some tough guy in the movies.
And a real nancy-boy as it turns out.
Grodner told me he'd describe himself as a "radical liberal" who's ready to leave Chicago now with all this negative publicity and move to the south of France and do some traveling.
Judge O'Malley has also traveled, but in his youth. He was a police officer on the West Side during the riots before law school. And before that, he performed another public service. Judge O'Malley served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1961-1964.
During the proceedings, the judge described the offense as anger rose in his voice, especially as Grodner started balking on a plea arrangement he'd made with prosecutors.
"Is this what you did? Yes or no," Judge O'Malley asked Grodner.
"Without knowing, yes," Grodner said, sticking to his I-might-have-done-it-but-didn't-really-mean-it defense.
O'Malley asked again, in a stronger voice, not that of a judge but of a cop on the street or a Marine who meant business. "DID YOU KNOWINGLY CAUSE DAMAGE TO THIS CAR?" O'Malley asked.
Grodner bowed his head, meekly, and responded in an equally meek voice: "Yes," he said.
After the admission, came the details and Grodner was lucky, getting off with a misdemeanor and no jail time, and not a felony even though he caused $2,400 in damage to Sgt. McNulty's car.
So Grodner received a $600 fine, which will go to a Marine charity, 30 hours of community service and a year of court supervision. If he doesn't pay up in a month, the judge promised to put him in jail for a year.
Judge O'Malley had something to say. He looked out into his courtroom, at all those men who'd come to support a Marine they didn't know. "You caused damage to this young Marine sergeant's car because you were offended by his Marine Corps license plates," said Judge O'Malley.
Grodner stood there, hands behind his back. He grasped the fingers of his left hand with his right, and held it there, so they wouldn't wiggle.
"You're probably also wondering why there was a whole crowd of people here, Mr. Grodner," said Judge O'Malley.
"I don't want to wonder," said Grodner, continuing in his new meek voice, not in his tough divorce lawyer voice, but the gentle, inside voice he'd just learned.
"That's because there is a little principle that the Marine Corps has had since 1775," the judge continued. "When they fought and lost their lives so that people like you could enjoy the freedom of this country. It is a little proverb that we follow:
"No Marine is left behind.
"So Sgt. McNulty couldn't be here. But other Marines showed up in his stead. Take him away," said the judge and former Marine.
They took Grodner away, he was processed, and everyone left. The lobby was dark, quiet, except for two court deputies running the metal detector. Then Grodner came through an inside door, put his fedora back on, the dark glasses, a tough guy again.
We stood outside, in the parking lot, talking for 20 minutes. He smoked, and I didn't. He explained that he wasn't anti-military and why he pleaded guilty. "The judge, he's the guy with the black robes," Grodner said. He could have been slapped with a felony, but Sgt. McNulty's family said they wanted to put this behind them and let it go as a misdemeanor. Grodner showed no remorse, and I asked if he'd apologize.
So everything he said in the courtroom was a lie.
"Yes, I'd say, 'I'm sorry if I scratched your car.' It escalated. That's when he wanted me locked up and thrown away," said Grodner, always the victim.
That's not an apology.
Grodner tells me he plans to leave for the French Riviera and get some sun.
#1
It's not over yet, either: there's still the Sergeant's civil damage claim, and possibly a professional disciplinary proceeding against Grodner's law license.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/20/2008 16:03 Comments ||
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#2
Very unsatisfying. I regret that they let it go as a misdemeanor.
#4
From Blackfive -- Update 01-20-08: Transcript added below. For what it's worth, the prosecutors were vets - Patrick Kelly was a Marine and Arunas Buntinas was a SF Officer (and a very good one too if he's the same guy I knew 20 years ago).
#6
Grodner's career is down the toilet, he'll have to pay for the damages plus the penalties, and others are challenging his law license. I think justice is served. Perhaps this POS will regret his actions, if he hasn't already
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/20/2008 18:16 Comments ||
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#7
Grodner's law career will get a big boost - assuming he can keep his license and move to San Francisco or Boston.
#8
Can he leave the country before fulfilling the plea agreement? Specifically, the 30 hours of community service and the year of court supervision? If no, what happens if/when he does leave for France?
Former supermodel Carla Bruni may follow in Princess Diana's footsteps by visiting Taj Mahal alone, when her boyfriend French President Nicolas Sarkozy goes on a two-day visit to India next week. Though Sarkozy has shortened his official part of the visit to accompany Bruni to Taj Mahal, protocol problems might compel her to visit the great marble mausoleum near Agra alone and not with him, The Daily Telegraph reported on Saturday.
"In two thirds of the countries of the world it is impossible for Carla to officially sleep in the same bedroom as the President. The problem is the President doesn't know how to stay on his own at night in his room," one of Sarkozy's aides was quoted as saying.
In fact, there have been mixed signals from the Indian government over Bruni's possible presence and it has asked for a clue from France on her status before deciding where to put her in official banquets. There remains the crucial question of where Bruni will sit to watch the Republic Day parade on January 26 where her new found love is the guest of honour.
Sarkozy's diplomatic aides have tried to persuade him to prolong the official part of his visit in which he would conduct sensitive talks on nuclear and defence deals with the Indian government, but he has ruled out their suggestion, according to the daily.
The 52-year-old President, who divorced his wife of 11 years, Ccilia, in October and met Bruni the following month, has seen his popularity ratings declined in the polls since Christmas because of his affair.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/20/2008 11:05 ||
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#1
The Defence Minister commented on this yesterday.
They never considered a draft.
A reporter asked the Army chief about the Officer recruitment shortfall and the possibility of a draft and he replied. Somehow this ended up in the newspapers as "conscription being considered".
The Indian Army has never had conscription. From its formation under the British, it has been an all-volunteer force.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/20/2008 8:03 Comments ||
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According to the North Cantt police station on Saturday morning, unknown suspects stabbed a spiritual healer to death with no apparent motive.
"What'dja kill 'im for?"
"Because he... Ummm... I ain't sayin'."
The police said the deceased Khalid Mehmood Shah Hashmi, had been living in a rented room in Hafizabad for the last three years. The owner of the house told the police, upon entering his room in the morning, he found the deceased on the floor.
"Yep. Dat's right, officer! Dere he lay, titzup! I could tell he wuz dead!"
"How could you tell?"
"Mainly from the smell."
He added, Khalid Shah had worked as a security guard and a volunteer worker in the past, but had spent his time confined to his room for a recent period of time. The victim was known to distribute amulets to the locals.
"Hey, Khalid! You got anything for... ummm... never mind."
"Here, try one of my amulets."
"What's in it?"
"Verses from the Koran and the word 'Viägra' written between every line. It'll take care of your problem."
"Ummm... I ain't got a problem. But my friend does..."
The heirs of the victim told the police that Khalid had been living in Lahore for the last 20 years with his family presiding in Hafizabad.
"Dat's right, officer! He went out for a pack of cigarettes 20 years ago and never came back! An' here he wuz, living right in town for the past three years! Don't that beat all?"
We have no enmity with any person, the widow added in a statement.
"I wonder why he never called? He did have life insurance, didn't he?"
According to police reports the victim was stabbed several times in the throat.
the purp got confused and thought he had hired a Ritual Healer not a Spirtual Healer; so he stabbed him in the neck, which BTW was the ritual act he wanted to lose in the first instance.
"Our goal is to turn the female mosquito's blood meal into the last meal she ever eats," said project leader Roger L. Miesfeld, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics in UA's College of Science and a member of BIO5 and the Arizona Cancer Center.
[..]
These researchers have discovered that one particular mosquito species, Aedes aegypti, has a surprisingly complex metabolic pathway, one that requires its members to excrete toxic nitrogen after gorging on human blood. If the mosquitoes fail to do so, they'll also fail to lay eggs--and will likely sicken and die.
[..]
Miesfeld and his colleagues are seeking a molecule that is harmless to humans, but will gum up the works of mosquito metabolism, forcing the mosquitoes to hang onto the nitrogen. Such a molecule would kill both the mosquitoes and their would-be progeny--thus slowing the spread of disease.
Once found, this molecule--and similar molecules aimed at other mosquito species--could be developed into an insecticide and sprayed in places where mosquitoes congregate, such as around water and on mosquito netting.
[..]
The researchers also envision developing an oral insecticide--a mosquito-slaying pill that members of a community with a high instance of, say, yellow fever or malaria might take to reduce the mosquito population. The pill wouldn't be a vaccine; if people who took it were later bitten by a disease-carrying mosquito, they would still become infected. However, the mosquito would ingest the insecticide along with the blood, causing her to bear fewer young and possibly die before she could bite anyone else.
#3
It may work if all living creatures could be vaccinated. Or if some kind of trap could be laid that would trick the mosquito into biting the trap instead of a live animal.
Or you could do like they did in Panama and oil all the stagnant water puddles.
#4
I grew up with DDT, and it is awesome other than the pungent odor it gives off. It was banned after Rachel Carson published her alarmist agit prop: "Silent Spring." Later she refused to explain the tens of millions of Africans and Asians who perished because they couldn't get DDT.
#6
A year before Silent Spring came out, Daddy had a contract for producing a chemical he'd invented that greatly increased DDT's effectiveness as much lower levels. Apparently he made pots of money and enabled the killing of lots of malaria-bearing mosquitoes for that one year. He subsequently gave up in disgust, turning to finding a cure for cancer.
#7
A couple points that always get overlooked when people start ranting about DDT:
- we were over-applying it; sprinkling it around like holy water so much that critters like birds higher up the food chain were accumulating harmful concentrations. That was not a smart way to use it.
- We didn't just spray chemicals to fight malaria and yellow fever. We also put up window screens, drained standing water and in general, made life harder for mosquitos.
Under the auspices of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Festivity of Damascus as the Capital of Arab Culture for the year 2008, officially kicked off on Saturday at al-Assad House for Culture and Arts. Among participants in the festival are Qatari Amir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Former Lebanese President Emil Lahoud, and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
I read this as a way to bring propagandists and fellow travellers to meet with Hamas and Iranian agents under the cover of Culture and Arts.
In a statement to reporters, Moussa underlined the strong contribution of Syria to the Arab and Islamic culture. Moussa said that he would discuss with Syrian officials during his visit the current preparations for the Arab summit scheduled to be held in March in Damascus. He added that he would also discuss the developments in the Arab region, particularly in Lebanon. Moussa affirmed that Damascus was and always will be the cradle of Arab culture and civilization, as history itself proves.
In a statement to Syrian News Agency (SANA), Moussa pointed out that Damascus has a special place in Arabs' hearts because of its history, with Arab culture emerging from it and spreading all over the world, carrying with it the Arab and Islamic civilization that contributed in the evolution of mankind.
Among those participating in the festival was the Secretary General of Arab Towns Organization Abdul-Aziz Al-Adsani, President of the Secretariat Arab Poetry Council Abdul-Aziz Al-Babtain, along with other Arab and Islamic Ministers of Cultures.
Continued on Page 49
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A 19-year-old Chinese student recorded the killing and dismembering of her married lover by her boyfriend, local media said on Friday.
Hundreds of people gathered at First Baptist of Gautier Saturday to pay final respects to Maj. Michael Green. Green, 36, was killed Jan. 7 in a roadside explosion in Afghanistan where he was training militia recruits how to detect and disarm bombs.
