what's wrong with this picture?
One of two men charged in a human smuggling operation that ended Tuesday with federal agents shooting at the suspected smugglers at the San Ysidro border checkpoint appeared in federal court Friday.
Prosecutors charged Javier Jaramillo Mendez with smuggling illegal immigrants for financial gain. He was ordered held pending a detention hearing next week.
According to a federal complaint, Jaramillo was the navigator for the driver of a van who ran the border with 25 illegal immigrants inside. Jaramillo has been arrested 28 times for immigration violations, the complaint said. 28 times?
The complaint says that Sergio Guzman Torres drove one of three vans loaded with illegal immigrants that ran the border checkpoint. With the van coming toward them, three federal agents opened fire. Four people were wounded, two by gunfire, including Guzman.
Guzman, who remains hospitalized, has been arrested 11 times for violating immigration laws, the complaint said. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. 11 times? Your border enforcement at work via the courts and weak judges
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2009 09:28 ||
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#1
There's a pattern of those who rationalized slavery [cheap labor] and those who rationalize illegal immigration [doing the jobs Americans won't]. These smugglers are barely one step above slavers and should be treated as such. Till the courts start treating human trafficking as nothing more than modern slave trade, you'll get this recidivism.
Susan Atkins, a member of the Charles Manson "family" who admitted ruthlessly stabbing pregnant actress Sharon Tate to death in the cult's 1969 murder spree, has died in prison less than a month after a parole board turned down a bid for compassionate release. She was 61 and had brain cancer.
Atkins, who eventually came to call the crimes a sin, died late Thursday, according to the California Department of Corrections.
Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said that at the time of Atkins' death she had been in prison longer than any woman currently incarcerated in California. Sounds okey dokey to me, but then I am rather heartless...
Atkins' final chance at freedom was denied on Sept. 2. Terminally ill, she was brought to a parole board hearing on a gurney and slept through most of it, but managed to recite religious verse with the help of her husband, attorney James Whitehouse.
Atkins was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008, had a leg amputated and was given only a few months to live. She underwent brain surgery, and in her last months was paralyzed and had difficulty speaking.
Atkins was the first of the convicted killers to die. Manson and three others involved in the murders -- Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten and Charles "Tex" Watson -- remain imprisoned under life sentences.
Atkins, who confessed from the witness stand during her trial, had apologized for her acts numerous times over the years. But 40 years after the murders, she learned that few had forgotten or forgiven what she and other members of the cult had done.
Atkins and her co-defendants were originally sentenced to death but their sentences were reduced to life in prison when capital punishment was briefly outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1970s.
The matronly, gray-haired Atkins who appeared before a parole board in 2000 cut a far different figure than that of the cocky young defendant some 30 years earlier. "I don't have to just make amends to the victims and families," she said softly. "I have to make amends to society. I sinned against God and everything this country stands for." She said she had found redemption in Christianity.
He gave her a cult name, Sadie Mae Glutz, and, when she became pregnant by a "family" member, he helped deliver the baby boy, naming it Zezozoze Zadfrack. His whereabouts are unknown.
The Manson slayings remained unsolved for three months, until Atkins confessed to a cellmate following her arrest on an unrelated charge. Police found Manson and other cult members living in a ranch commune in Death Valley, outside Los Angeles.
Atkins married twice while in prison. Her first husband, Donald Lee Laisure, purported to be an eccentric Texas millionaire. They quickly divorced. Whitehouse, her second husband, is a Harvard Law School graduate and had recently served as one of her attorneys.
#1
I feel very little sympathy. She was sentenced to life in prison. She served her sentence.
God may have mercy on her.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
09/26/2009 0:28 Comments ||
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#2
"the baby boy, naming it Zezozoze Zadfrack. His whereabouts are unknown"
If that were my name, you wouldn't find me either.
Yikes!
"diagnosed with brain cancer [then] had a leg amputated"
I think I see the problem here....
(And no, I have no sympathy. Sharon Tate couldn't be reached for comment.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/26/2009 0:31 Comments ||
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#3
Sounds okey dokey to me, but then I am rather heartless...
I catch spiders and put them outside, I would pay to put up a sign in my neighborhood that says, "watch for squirrels at play" and I think sticks and stones hurt bones but names have the ability to hurt even more.
However, I'm feeling cold on this one. She's in God's hands now. Good luck to her.
#6
She belatedly started doing the right things, but still ended her days in prison for her inexcusable crimes - and I think most people, anywhere, would agree with that as appropriate treatment. Compare and contrast Britain's New Labour and Scottish National lowlife politicians' 'compassionate' release of the arrogant and unapologetic al Megrahi.
Susan Atkins, who committed one of modern history's most notorious crimes when she joined Charles Manson and his gang for a 1969 killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles and put her in prison for the rest of her life, has died. She was 61.
The rest is in the duplicate with the commentary.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#4
I'm surprised the MSM isn't writing about what a changed person she was and how she should have been allowed to die at home. Just like Sharon Tate.
On the other hand, I hope she was lucid and in pain till the end.
This online database contains over 1 million historical newspaper pages from Stars and Stripes, the independent daily newspaper of the U.S. military.
At present the archive includes newspapers published from 1948 through 1999.
The full-page newspapers are searchable by keyword and date, making it easy to quickly explore this unique content. Because the publication history of Stars and Stripes spans several wars, its printing locations and the geographic regions it covered changed with the movement of American troops. It also published multiple editionsas many as 35 during World War II. To get a better understanding of this complexity, please visit the Regional Pages content.
Stars and Stripes is the only independent newspaper in the world to operate from within a nations Department of Defense. Although the paper is authorized by the DOD, its content and coverage is completely independent of DOD control or interference. Its singular coverage of the U.S. military offers first-hand accounts of life in peace and during times of war from the service members point of view.
Use the archive to gain a new perspective on military conflicts and news, to research the military service of a friend or family member, or simply to read about a person or event that interests you.
Please visit often the World War II content will be posted later this year.
#1
Although the paper is authorized by the DOD, its content and coverage is completely independent of DOD control or interference.
And I have a bridge to sell you too. While in Europe in the mid-70s S&S ran a multi-part report on the black market [largely alcohol and tobacco products]. The last installment was nicked by the European command because it implied that certain NATO member contingent was significantly involved in moving said items from the American system into the local economy.
[Mail and Globe] The land grabs that drove thousands of white farmers and their black workers off their land in Zimbabwe over the past decade were the "best thing that could ever have happened to an African country", according to President Robert Mugabe.
In an interview with CNN television in New York late on Thursday, a defiant Mugabe (85) defended the controversial land-reform programme, saying: "Zimbabwe belongs to the Zimbabweans, pure and simple."
Mugabe was in the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly, where he was due to give a speech on Friday.
While most of the white farmers that were thrown off the land are also Zimbabweans, Mugabe said the expropriations were justified because the farmers are mostly descended from British settlers, who took the land from black Zimbabweans during the colonial era.
"They occupied the land illegally. They seized the land from our people," he said.
Mugabe also defended his economic record, saying Western sanctions and not his mismanagement were to blame for the country's demise.
The US and European Union in 2002 slapped Mugabe and his inner circle with travel bans and asset freezes.
Mugabe, who was forced to cede some of his powers to his arch-rival, former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, after being beaten in elections last year, said the sanctions were "unjustifiable".
Although Mugabe's powers have been circumscribed by the power-sharing deal that made Tsvangirai prime minister in February, the US and EU say they want to see more reforms from the new government -- including an end to ongoing land grabs -- before lifting the measures.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
No, the best thing to happen to Zim is when lions tear apart Mugabe and do lunch.
[Bangla Daily Star] An alleged drug peddler died yesterday at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital in custody of Rapid Action Battalion.
Doctors on duty at the hospital declared Abul Kalam Azad alias Raju, 40, dead after a team of Rab-1 took him to the hospital at about 11:00am.
Commander SM Abul Kalam Azad, director of Rab's legal and media wing, told The Daily Star that Raju was caught red-handed selling drugs in the city's Uttara sector-13 early yesterday during Rab's anti-narcotics drive.
The Rab official said Raju himself was drug-addicted and was not in a sound physical condition.
Rab sources said after arresting Raju, he told them that he had kidneys ailments and was feeling ill. The law enforcement agency first took Raju to Tongi Hospital from where he was later shifted to DMCH.
Raju died on the way to the hospital, the Rab commander said.
Rab sources said the elite force recovered 30 Yaba tablets from Raju's possession.
DMCH sources said the body of Raju bore several marks of injuries.
Family members of Raju said Rab members brought him out of their rented house in Uttara-13. The law enforcers were also beating him severely, they said. Raju's father claimed that his son was a clearing and forwarding agent.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] One person was killed and ten others were injured--three critically--as a rival group of villagers attacked a wedding ceremony Thursday afternoon at Ghoshpur in Mohammadpur upazila of the district.
Police and locals said villagers led by Abdul Qaiyum Miah attacked Imanuddin's son's wedding around 3:00pm, as they were not invited.
The attackers+ stabbed and beat up the guests with iron rods and sticks leaving at least 10 people injured.
In a critical condition four of the injured were admitted to Magura Sadar Hospital while others to Mohammadpur Upazila Health Complex.
The severely injured were identified as Lutfur Rahman, 38, Lutfor Biswas, 40, Milon, 24, and Uzzal, 24.
Lutfur Rahman, son of Momtajuddin Ahmed, later succumbed to his injuries at 2:30am yesterday.
The death enraged the villagers so much that they repeatedly attacked the houses of the rival attackers.
Police have been deployed to avert further incidents.
Many villagers have reportedly fled fearing more clashes and police harassment.
A murder case has been lodged with Mohammadpur Police Station.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya confirms he has entered talks with representatives of the de facto government, saying the talks have not fruitful yet.
"They [the talks] have not advanced at all, but they have begun," Zelaya told AlJazeera on Thursday.
The deposed leader, who discreetly entered the country and sought sanctuary at the Brazilian Embassy, described the direct talks with the representatives of interim President Roberto Micheletti as positive.
However, he underlined that the talks could not be referred to as negotiations.
Despite calling the face-to-face talks a positive step, Zelaya remained to be less optimistic about the progress of talks in his interview with a Honduran television station, the Associated Press reported.
He told the television station that the interim government left no room for agreement.
According to UN officials, the Security Council is due to meet on Friday to discuss the political crisis in the impoverished Central American nation upon the request of Brazil.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
two frick'n billion dollars. The world has gone mad.
Hat tip, Instapundit
This study measures and reports the cost of regulation to small business in the State of California. It uses original analyses and a general equilibrium framework to identify and measure the cost of regulation as measured by the loss of economic output to the State's gross product, after controlling for variables known to influence output. It also measures second order costs resulting from regulatory activity by studying the total impact -- direct, indirect, and induced. The study finds that the total cost of regulation to the State of California is $492.994 billion which is almost five times the State's general fund budget, and almost a third of the State's gross product. The cost of regulation results in an employment loss of 3.8 million jobs which is a tenth of the State's population. Since small business constitute 99.2% of all employer businesses in California, and all of non-employer business, the regulatory cost is borne almost completely by small business. The total cost of regulation was $134,122.48 per small business in California in 2007, labor income not created or lost was $4,359.55 per small business, indirect business taxes not generated or lost were $57,260.15 per small business, and finally roughly one job lost per small business.
Hat tip Instapundit
Another Friday, another bank failure. The Georgian Bank, which 99% of most Americans had never heard of until today, will cost the FDIC approximately another one billion dollars. But there is a difference between the bank failures that have been announced during the past year and the bank failures (Lehman) and close calls (Wachovia, Washington Mutual, Merrill Lynch) that convulsed the United States financial system one year ago. The difference is that the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, having learned from the experience of 2008, are letting the air out of the balloon slowly now. Instead of a tidal wave of failures the United States government is simply allowing a slowly rising tide of financial insolvency to flood the U S economy.
It's going to continue, one way or another, until every single unacknowledged insolvency is worked through. We knew that when the dimensions of the problem became clear, last October or thereabout, so this isn't really news, just confirmation. The inside of President Obama's head must be an unhappy place, each day waiting for the next one to appear.
#1
Dead horse. should have rechartered Hamilton's First Bank of the United States for 12 years and simply absorbed all these institutions. At least the people would end up holding the assets as well as the absorbing the debts.
#2
The "soft landing" approach seems like a good idea, until you realize that there are about 1800 more banks that either need to go bust, or are terribly weak. The "zombie" banks include some really huge ones, like BoA.
The problem happens when suddenly there is a surge of banks that have to close *now*, generally because a group of major business leases have come due all at once. The FDI Act requires that the money can only come out of the FDICs account. So if too many banks fold too fast, they have to be part of a bank holiday until the funds are made available by the Treasury.
Combined with the FDIC having to "force" buyouts by stronger banks, weakening them.
#3
There seems to be a widely held although tacit agreement between the Fed, the legislature & the MSM not to talk about widespread bank insolvency for fear of triggering a national run on the banks. There is only a small fraction of currency available for people to withdraw from banks and carry as such. Even the Fed's printing presses have only printed so much.
#4
Even the Fed's printing presses have only printed so much.
Well, they can always outsource to the Norks. I understand they make some really nice copies. Money for food. There's a concept. On the other hand, if the Fed keeps inflating the money supply it'll just be cheaper for us to print the small denominations on our own computer printers at home and let the Fed handle the bigger bills.
Support for Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats has suffered a sharp drop in the run-up to tomorrow's general election as German voters look set to spurn her pleas for a fresh start in favour of another coalition with the Social Democrats of the Left.
The Chancellor's supporters were yesterday clinging to the hope of a dramatic last-minute intervention by the 56-year East German born leader when she addresses a closing rally at a Berlin stadium. But Mrs Merkel is a lacklustre speaker so the event was unlikely to reverse the collapse in her support.
A far more dynamic performance by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister who is chancellor candidate for the SPD, has made his party the big beneficiary in the opinion polls.
A Forsa poll released yesterday put Mrs Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) on 33 per cent, less than the disastrous 35.2 per cent it won in the 2005 election.
Combined support for her preferred coalition partners, the CDU and the Free Democrats, has dropped as low as 46 per cent down from a solid 52 per cent just three weeks ago. By contrast Mr Steinmeier's SPD has gained up to five points to 25 per cent.
Posted by: ed ||
09/26/2009 09:43 ||
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As arguably the most important energy project undertaken in EU history , the Nabucco pipeline was meant to bestow similar salvation on a continent becoming dangerously dependent on Russian gas. The pipeline would wean the EU off Moscow, which already accounts for a third of its imports, both by creating a major route along which non-Russian gas could flow and, more importantly, breaking Russia's stranglehold over transit from the east.
Yet if the rhetoric from Moscow seems little changed, positive signs are emerging for the EU. Thanks to a mixture of blunders and the effects of the financial crisis, the Kremlin has found that its energy weapon has become blunted. Energy prices are half what they were 12 months ago and projections for the amount of gas Europe will need have fallen sharply.
Moreover, in its attempt to deprive Europe of alternative supplies, Gazprom entered into an exorbitant deal to buy up all of central Asia's spare gas. Struggling to pay its bill, Gazprom was saved by a mysterious explosion in the pipeline from Turkmenistan. Suspecting foul play, the Turkmens are now offering to sell gas to Nabucco.
In June, Germany and the six countries through which the Nabucco pipeline will pass finally gave formal backing to the project. Meanwhile, Nabucco has hired Mr Schroder's former foreign minister Joschka Fischer as a consultant. With Schroder having sold his soul to Putin and Gazprom, this ought to make for a few interesting cocktail parties.
Construction is due to begin next year, with the first gas expected to flow in 2014. Some observers hope that the finalisation of Nabucco will teach the Russians that aggression is not always the best policy.
Posted by: ed ||
09/26/2009 09:23 ||
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[Dawn] Farahnaz Ispahani Spokesperson of President Asif Ali Zardari has said that President Zardari does not own any sugar mills in the country. "No more than Ten Percent, anyway..."
Responding to reports in the media that quote a National Accountability Bureau report on the sugar crisis in 2006, Farahnaz Ispahani completely rejected the impression created by the media.
While responding to these reports she said that President Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari do not own any sugar mills in the country. Years of investigation by the accountability machines of Nawaz Sharif and General Musharraf could not find any links between Zardari and any sugar mills, said the spokesperson. 'It is very interesting that a preliminary report prepared with no proper inquiry or investigation in the year 2006 by NAB has been given so much credence now.' The facts stand out that this report was prepared on the basis of newspaper clippings and no first hand report of NAB officials was part of the preliminary report.
She also pointed out that in the year 2006 Asif Ali Zardari was being persecuted by the Musharraf regime and all his assets were seized and frozen. Under those circumstances it is ironic that NAB concluded that mills allegedly owned by Zardari were responsible for the sugar crisis.
Farahnaz Ispahani said that some lobbies continue to try and malign the elected leadership of the country. 'These are the very people who have always benefited from the military dictatorships and are present in different sections of the society and keep twisting facts to suit their agendas'.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/26/2009 00:00 ||
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My theory of what happened to Iran's only AWACS:
Reporting from Beirut - When the managing director of a small, trouble-prone Iranian airline won official permission in March to lease a couple of aging Russian-made airplanes, the country's small circle of aviation professionals gossiped about the strings he must have pulled to get the government's approval.
And when one of the planes burst aflame on the runway in late July, killing the executive, Mehdi Dadpei, his son and 14 others, few in the industry were surprised. Proof that God does have a sense of humor!
"Aria was famous for not adhering to safety standards for years," said an Iranian aviation industry insider, who spoke extensively to The Times on condition of anonymity. "Every time they had a problem, the managing director knew someone high up in the government who made it possible for Aria to continue as before."
In the wake of the crash, a government official said the airline's permission to operate had been revoked.
Iranian officials have long accused the West of playing politics with people's lives by imposing sanctions that prevent upgrades to the country's aging aircraft fleet. On Saturday, an Iranian aviation official called the sanctions an "act against humanity." But the aviation insider charged that authorities in Tehran were also to blame for a recent spate of deadly crashes.
The airline industry official, who asked that his name and his company not be published out of fear for his personal and job security, accused politically motivated regulators of failing to adequately inspect and publicize aviation accidents, and of bending rules to accommodate well-connected airlines.
"It is apparent that many of our safety concerns and problems are due to U.S. sanctions," said the official, whose name and title The Times independently verified. "But when you look closer, you will note that mismanagement on behalf of the Iran civil aviation authorities is to blame for a majority of what is so sadly taking place."
He provided a rare insider view on a contentious issue between Iran and the West, as well as the inner workings of a key industry in an opaque country.
Iran has experienced 14 fatal civilian and military aviation accidents since 2000, a figure experts describe as one of the worst in the world. Since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to office in 2005, there have been at least seven fatal accidents.
"To have fatal accidents at 1.5 a year means Iran is experiencing 10% of world [aircraft hull] losses," said a London-based aviation accident investigator who probes crashes all over the world. He spoke on condition of anonymity. "That's well above the average."
In addition to the two major crashes that killed 184 people in July, a series of smaller aviation incidents over the last few weeks has raised concerns about the state of Iran's civil aviation. On Sept. 6, a Russian-made Tupolev-154 jet belonging to an unnamed airline made an emergency landing shortly after takeoff in Tehran because of unspecified technical problems, an official told state television.
Five days earlier, an Iran Air training plane crashed, seriously injuring the pilot, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported, while another training plane crashed Aug. 15, killing two.
"Overall, every week we hear of incidents that are far above the norms of the industry," the airline industry insider said. "They keep it secret."
In terms of safety, the Iranian airline executive said, the aviation industry is "at the lowest point" in its recent history. Human error, mostly by pilots, and not mechanical problems, was behind most of Iran's aviation troubles.
The problems are exacerbated by regulators at the country's Civil Aviation Organization who don't aggressively investigate accidents or make the results of inquiries available to the public or to airlines, and decline to blacklist incompetent pilots or politically connected airlines.
"There's a new approach to air safety worldwide based on openness, reporting, predicting incidents and sharing information," said Philip Butterworth-Hayes, editor of the British-based Air Traffic Management Insight, a biweekly newsletter. "None of those figure very strongly in Iran's civil aviation culture."
The Aria Air crash illustrated the extent to which politics has begun creeping into industry. Because of high demand for air travel, rules are bent to accommodate airlines with safety lapses, the insider charged.
Regulators previously pulled the airline's license "as its fleet was outdated," but allowed it to start business again under a slightly different name, Mohammad Ali Ilkhani, acting chief of the CAO, told the semiofficial Mehr news agency after the crash. Ilkhani said Aria Air's permission to operate had again been revoked.
"The norm is who you know and how high in the government is your backup," the insider said.
Poor government policies also put pressure on Iranian airlines to cut corners that affect safety, he said.
Even as operating costs increase, government regulators keep domestic airfares artificially low to please the public, and pressure airlines to operate money-losing flights to small towns and secondary airports with few passengers to "keep the parliament members from that area happy," said the industry insider.
Shades of Jack Murtha ...
"Authorities' indifference to repeated requests by airline firms to raise ticket prices has had an effect on recent plane crashes," Mehdi Aliyari, the head of the professional association of air transport companies, told the newspaper Jomhouri Eslami in late July. "When the government artificially keeps the price of air tickets fixed and airline companies' warnings on raising ticket prices are ignored, air accidents are not implausible."
Some Iranian officials say the country increasingly relies on Russian planes because U.S. sanctions on Iran forbid it to buy new Boeing or Airbus aircraft. Both the Aria Air crash and the July 15 crash of a Caspian Airlines flight that killed all 168 people aboard involved Russian planes.
Aviation professionals said they didn't think Russian planes were inherently any worse than the Boeing and Airbus planes used in the West.
But others said the post-sales training, support and parts provided for Russian aircraft were far weaker than those for Western planes.
"When an airline is operating Russian-type aircraft, the safety level of its operations will definitely suffer because the operations and technical safety will not be as good as an airline with an all-Western fleet," the Iranian airline source said.
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.
Susan Atkins, who committed one of modern history's most notorious crimes when she joined Charles Manson and his gang for a 1969 killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles and put her in prison for the rest of her life, has died. She was 61.
[Bangla Daily Star] One person was killed and ten others were injured--three critically--as a rival group of villagers attacked a wedding ceremony Thursday afternoon at Ghoshpur in Mohammadpur upazila of the district. 
[Dawn] Farahnaz Ispahani Spokesperson of President Asif Ali Zardari has said that President Zardari does not own any sugar mills in the country.
