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Crew of North Korean Pirated Vessel Regains Control
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
1 00:00 Frank G [3] 
8 00:00 Slappy [6] 
5 00:00 Ron Jeremy [3] 
3 00:00 Frank G [8] 
7 00:00 Tibor [] 
9 00:00 Charles [2] 
2 00:00 McZoid [] 
18 00:00 JosephMendiola [2] 
6 00:00 remoteman [] 
7 00:00 wxjames [] 
3 00:00 Zenster [3] 
2 00:00 trailing wife [7] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
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14 00:00 Red Dawg [12]
1 00:00 JosephMendiola [3]
4 00:00 Old Patriot [5]
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2 00:00 ryuge [5]
6 00:00 Fred [4]
1 00:00 Jack is Back! [4]
17 00:00 ed [1]
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5 00:00 Thrairt Oppressor of the Lichtensteiners6029 []
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4 00:00 Abu do you love [5]
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30 00:00 Mike [5]
6 00:00 JosephMendiola [4]
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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10 00:00 JosephMendiola [6]
14 00:00 JosephMendiola [5]
1 00:00 Mike [2]
21 00:00 JosephMendiola [6]
19 00:00 mrp [2]
2 00:00 lotp [1]
4 00:00 DMFD [6]
1 00:00 Darrell [2]
2 00:00 JohnQC [6]
Page 4: Opinion
4 00:00 JosephMendiola [9]
8 00:00 DMFD [5]
11 00:00 JohnQC [2]
4 00:00 Canukistan [3]
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6 00:00 trailing wife [5]
5 00:00 Duh! [7]
5 00:00 Jonathan [2]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Performance Artist tries to Burn Historic Cathedral
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A man accused of prematurely torching the Burning Man festival's namesake effigy in August has been arrested on suspicion of trying to set fire to an historic cathedral, police said. San Francisco performance artist Paul Addis, out on bail in the Burning Man charges, was taken into custody on the top steps of the Grace Cathedral around 11:40 p.m. Sunday, police spokesman Sgt. Steve Mannina said Monday. Addis had an ammunition belt of small explosives strapped around his waist, he said.

Police were tipped by a caller who said they overheard Addis talking about a plan to set fire to the local landmark, Mannina said. No fire was set and there was no damage to the Episcopal church, a French Gothic structure that sits atop the city's Nob Hill.

Addis was booked on five felony charges - attempted arson, possession of arson materials, possession of a destructive device, arson of a church, violation of a court order - and a misdemeanor for altering a firearm, according to the sheriff's department. He remained in jail late Monday in lieu of $488,000 bail. A jail spokeswoman said she did not have any information on whether Addis had a lawyer.
Check out his mug-shot at link.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 10/30/2007 11:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What the hell are "small explosives" supposed to be? Is that a technical term?

And all the ammo belts I ever owned had pouches that fit only 1 thing - ammo.
Posted by: gromky || 10/30/2007 13:16 Comments || Top||

#2  This is the sort of asshole who qualifies as a genuine folk hero in san fran freakland...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 10/30/2007 13:20 Comments || Top||

#3  "performance artist "
'nuff said.
Posted by: Spot || 10/30/2007 14:08 Comments || Top||

#4  How come these "artists" never try to burn down their grant offices?
Posted by: ed || 10/30/2007 14:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Prematurely torching the Burning Man effigy was funny. Lots of burners advocate it all of the time.

Trying to immolate on of San Francisco's most beautiful churches isn't funny. This man is obviously very evil. Lock him away for a long, long time. Arsonists have really crappy recividism rates.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/30/2007 17:07 Comments || Top||

#6  "a misdemeanor for altering a firearm"

Sawed-off?
Posted by: mojo || 10/30/2007 17:18 Comments || Top||

#7  What an assmonkey.
Posted by: Tibor || 10/30/2007 19:59 Comments || Top||


Dog shoots Iowa man during hunt
A man out hunting in Iowa was shot in the leg after a hunting dog stepped on his gun, authorities said. The accident happened after James Harris, 37, put his gun on the ground to retrieve a fallen pheasant. One of a pack of hunting dogs following behind stepped on the trigger, and up to 120 birdshot pellets hit Mr Harris in the left calf at short range.

A local official told a news agency the injury was "not life-threatening, but will give him trouble for a long time".

Alan Foster, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, told AFP it was not uncommon for hunters to be shot by their dogs. "I hear about it a couple times a year," somewhere in the country, he said. "They'll step on the trigger assembly and, if the gun for whatever reason wasn't on safety, it doesn't take a whole lot to trip a trigger."

Mr Harris was treated at Grinnell Regional Medical Center and later transported by helicopter to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, following the accident in Poweshiek County on Saturday afternoon. An investigation into the accident is under way.
"Hokay Fido, let's go over this again. Now where exactly were you when Mr. Owner set down the bird gun ...."
Posted by: john frum || 10/30/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ya got nuttin' on me, Copper!
Posted by: Fido || 10/30/2007 1:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Who hunts upland game birds with a *pack*? Unless there were a group of hunters out there, each with his own gundog, this guy only needed 1 good dog to flush and retrieve birds.
Posted by: lotp || 10/30/2007 7:40 Comments || Top||

#3  "It was a revenge shooting. Fido didn't like the change from Bil-Jac to Alpo, and so he took matters into his own hands--er, paws."
Posted by: Mike || 10/30/2007 7:45 Comments || Top||

#4  And what's the guy doing picking up a bird from the ground anyway? A good gundog delivers to hand.

Maybe a union activity then??? LOL
Posted by: lotp || 10/30/2007 8:09 Comments || Top||

#5  I remember yewww...yer the one that shot my paw.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 10/30/2007 11:15 Comments || Top||

#6  Um, doesn't matter how many dogs he had, or what he was doing. If you put your weapon down, it better have the chamber open, safety on.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 10/30/2007 11:17 Comments || Top||

#7  Next time, if the pheasant doesn't come out of the bush, shoot him again. Or, if you must put your gun on the ground, always aim it toward Dick Cheney.
Posted by: wxjames || 10/30/2007 11:34 Comments || Top||


Muslims File Lawsuit Against Protesters in Texas
The shockwaves continue from a small protest this month against a Muslim Family Day at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. A court hearing is set for today on a request for a preliminary injunction against the Florida man who organized the protest. And appointment of another of the protesters to a Carrollton board has ruffled feathers in that city.

The groups have filed a lawsuit accusing the protest organizer, Joe Kaufman, of defamation and slander and have obtained a temporary restraining order that prohibits him from harming, threatening or inciting violence against them.

Mr. Kaufman, president of Americans Against Hate, didn't return e-mail messages seeking comment, and no phone number could be found for him.

Posted by: Snavins Gleamble6357 || 10/30/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Joe's a lawyer; lots of luck in suing him.
Posted by: McZoid || 10/30/2007 3:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The groups have filed a lawsuit accusing the protest organizer, Joe Kaufman, of defamation and slander ...

I'm no lawyer, but I thought defamation and slander could only be claimed by individuals or corporate entities (legally individuals) - not class actions like this, unless they're threading a legal needle here.

If these perpetually aggrieved Muslim groups don't quit this lawfare BS, there's going to be some serious backlash - at least I hope so.
Posted by: xbalanke || 10/30/2007 13:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Get them into court and perform discovery down to proctological levels. They'll drop the matter faster than a live grenade. Do you think any Muslim group can honestly say that all their fund raising and donation targets are squeaky clean? Its the nature of taqiyya that will have used it to hide something they most certainly do not want revealed. American Muslims need to be spanked over and over again with their stinking Master Race™ bullshit until they are afraid even to fart near a collection plate.
Posted by: Zenster || 10/30/2007 13:50 Comments || Top||


-Obits-
RIP Robert Goulet
Robert Goulet, the handsome, big-voiced baritone whose Broadway debut in "Camelot" launched an award-winning stage and recording career, has died. He was 73.

The singer died Tuesday morning in a Los Angeles hospital while awaiting a lung transplant, said Goulet spokesman Norm Johnson.

He had been awaiting a lung transplant at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after being found last month to have a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis.

Goulet had remained in good spirits even as he waited for the transplant, said Vera Goulet, his wife of 25 years.

"Just watch my vocal cords," she said he told doctors before they inserted a breathing tube.

The Massachusetts-born Goulet, who spent much of his youth in Canada, gained stardom in 1960 with "Camelot," the Lerner and Loewe musical that starred Richard Burton as King Arthur and Julie Andrews as his Queen Guenevere.

Goulet played Sir Lancelot, the arrogant French knight who falls in love with Guenevere.

He became a hit with American TV viewers with appearances on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and other programs. Sullivan labeled him the "American baritone from Canada," where he had already been a popular star in the 1950s, hosting his own show called "General Electric's Showtime."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/30/2007 21:05 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  RIP - an entertainer with a sense of place and humor - a pleasure
Posted by: Frank G || 10/30/2007 22:21 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Squirrels safe to eat again in New Jersey
TRENTON - You may now resume eating the squirrels.

"No, Bullwinkle, no! No! Nooooooo!"
Posted by: Mike || 10/30/2007 14:49 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  NUTS !
Posted by: Gen. McAuliffe || 10/30/2007 15:17 Comments || Top||

#2  "The Environmental Protection Agency said a blender used to process the squirrel's tissue samples was defective"

Just what we need an Oxymoronic taste treat:
I present the "Rocky Smoothie"
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 10/30/2007 15:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Just like dark meat turkey.
Posted by: no mo uro || 10/30/2007 18:29 Comments || Top||

#4  at least beaver's always on the menu
Posted by: Frank G || 10/30/2007 18:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Considering my property taxes here in NJ we may all start eating them soon.
Posted by: jds || 10/30/2007 19:09 Comments || Top||

#6  Yeah, I'm heading down to the toxic waste dump...anybody hungry?
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/30/2007 19:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Ringwood... which exit is that?
Posted by: Dave D. || 10/30/2007 20:19 Comments || Top||

#8  That blender must have come from China
Posted by: Slappy || 10/30/2007 21:56 Comments || Top||


Sex Not Allowed in Airbus A380 Double Bed Suites
Photo may be slightly not safe for work.
Even though Singapore Airlines has equipped its new A380 jets with private double bed suites, company officials are saying you'd better not do the bouncy bouncy in there or you'll meet with their stern disapproval. What are they going to do? Throw you off the plane? The first couple to book one of the double suites wasn't too impressed with the airline's prudish demeanor.

"So they'll sell you a double bed, and give you privacy and endless champagne -- and then say you can't do what comes naturally?" asked Tony Elwood, a 76-year-old passenger who booked the suite with his wife, Julie. "Seems a bit strange."

Let's not forget that Singapore Airlines is based in a country which still deems it okay to smack people with a rattan cane for even the slightest transgression, so you'd better keep that johnson in your pants, big boy. "There are things that are acceptable on an aircraft and things that aren't, and the rules for behaviour in our double beds are the same ones that apply throughout the aircraft," proclaims Stephen Forshaw, a Singapore Airlines official. He warns, "If couples used our double beds to engage in inappropriate activity, we would politely ask them to desist."

Since the doors close on the suites, how on earth are Singapore Airlines flight attendants going to know who is engaging in the old in/out and who isn't? It's always so noisy in aircraft anyway, you could be screaming to high heaven and no one would ever know.

We're thinking one of the most difficult temptations to resist aboard a Singapore Airlines double-bed flight is avoiding asking one of those gorgeous flight attendants, known as "the Singapore Girls," to join us inside the comfy suite. But then, for the $14,320 price for two tickets in one of the suites, we'd hope a good swift caning would be included in the ticket price.
Posted by: Delphi || 10/30/2007 13:49 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "So they'll sell you a double bed, and give you privacy and endless champagne -- and then say you can't do what comes naturally?" asked Tony Elwood, a 76-year-old passenger who booked the suite with his wife, Julie.

His 26-year-old "wife", Julie.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/30/2007 16:42 Comments || Top||

#2  At his age, the only thing that comes naturally is a nap.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 10/30/2007 17:15 Comments || Top||

#3  Two Words: "Too Late."

willing to bet that there was more than just history being made on that first flight last week.........
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 10/30/2007 17:27 Comments || Top||

#4  Do they serve squirrel?
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 10/30/2007 17:31 Comments || Top||

#5  Rats! I am cancelling the flight!
Posted by: Ron Jeremy || 10/30/2007 19:23 Comments || Top||


Paris Hilton to head to Rwanda next year to do good stuff
Her trip to Rwanda has been postponed, but Paris Hilton is still determined to use her celebrity status for good causes. "I want to travel the world," the 26-year-old socialite says in an interview posted on the Web site of the syndicated entertainment TV show "Extra." "I feel like there's a lot I can do, and a lot I can do to help."
She could expose herself on five continents!
The Playing for Good Foundation announced last week that Hilton's philanthropic trip to Rwanda has been postponed due to restructuring of the children's charity. On her itinerary: visits to schools and health-care clinics.

Hilton told "Extra" she will now pack her bags for the African country sometime next year. "We were supposed to be going in November, but then the charity is doing restructuring and figuring things out. It's going to be for next year," she said. "I know (Rwanda) went through a lot of traumatic experiences, and I feel like if I go there, I can help save some people's lives."

Hilton announced the mission in September, several months after serving a 23-day jail sentence for violating probation in an alcohol-related reckless driving case. "I want kids to know, even if you're 15 or 16 years old, you can do something," she said in the interview.
"Look at meeeeeee!"
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/30/2007 13:45 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Last I read her Rwanda trip was cancelled.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/30/2007 18:12 Comments || Top||

#2  She could be of service to the UN troops.
Posted by: RWV || 10/30/2007 21:28 Comments || Top||

#3  #2 She could be of service to the UN troops.

great. Another STD transmitted to the third world
Posted by: Frank G || 10/30/2007 21:42 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Dubai deports hundreds after strikes
Hundreds of Asian labourers working in Dubai have been deported after thousands downed tools and staged an illegal strike at the weekend over poor wages and working conditions, reports said on Monday. The authorities took the decision after several thousand manual workers occupied and reportedly vandalised a building before attacking police and vehicles with stones on Saturday.

The government denounced the “barbaric behaviour” of the strikers and gave them an ultimatum to return to work or be deported without pay with their contracts cancelled and being forbidden to return. A senior labour ministry official said the prime minister and deputy premier had put in place measures to help foreign workers.
Posted by: Fred || 10/30/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We did the same thing in Indonesia once. Sent 800 Filipinos home and then brought in 800 SKor's to replace them. Happens all the time. Mostly over the kind and quality of the rice.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 10/30/2007 9:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Who, precisely, is we, Jack?
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/30/2007 13:25 Comments || Top||


Europe
Wajda's "Katyn" shown in Moscow
Posted by: mrp || 10/30/2007 07:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Ukrainians just reburied 2000 mostly Ukrainian and Polish victims from a mass grave of 30,000 executed by the NKVD from 1937 until the German invasion. Lots of skeletons still to dig up courtesy of Lenin and Stalin.
Posted by: ed || 10/30/2007 10:25 Comments || Top||

#2  At that time, Stalin was already thinking of the imperial-satellite system in Eastern Europe. Most of the massacres occurred while the Soviets and Nazis were complying with a non-aggression pact. After World War 2, the Allies captured several communiques directly from Stalin to Hitler. One of them referred to Germany's "beloved Fuhrer," and concluded with, "I drink to his health."
Posted by: McZoid || 10/30/2007 21:18 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Cleveland Imam Quits Before Starting; Bloggers Blamed
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 10/30/2007 06:20 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Alzaree, 38, the former spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Omaha, was to be the mosque's first permanent imam since Fawaz Damra. Damra was deported to the Middle East in January on charges that he falsified his citizenship application by failing to disclose ties to extremist groups.

Leaders of the Parma mosque said that they investigated Alzaree's background and that a major reason they hired him was his commitment to interfaith work. Reports from the Omaha mosque and others in the religious community in Nebraska confirmed Alzaree was committed to explaining Islam in churches and synagogues.

But no sooner did the mosque announce his hiring than bloggers posted part of a 2003 "end times" sermon in which Alzaree quoted the Prophet Muhammad saying one sign of the approach of the Day of Judgment is that "the Muslims will kill the Jews." Bloggers also reported that Wagdy Ghoneim, a controversial cleric, spoke at the Omaha mosque.



"and it would've worked, too, if not for those meddling kids bloggers!"
Posted by: Frank G || 10/30/2007 9:41 Comments || Top||

#2  "...was committed to explaining Islam in churches and synagogues. "

Why do these half-wits insist on seeing this behavior as an example of "Muslim tolerance" (Mr. Oxy, meet Mr. Moron)?

If he was explaining Judaism and Christianity (positively) to Muslims in mosques that's one thing.

But this way, all he's doing is spreading Taquiya (sp?) and propaganda to suppor the Islamofascist invasion.
Posted by: AlanC || 10/30/2007 11:21 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm betting the next imam installed in the cleveland mosque will have an authentic track record of hate toward non-muslims. It just won't be a track record so easily exposed.
Posted by: Mark Z || 10/30/2007 11:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Leaders of the Parma mosque said that they investigated Alzaree's background and found him to be a pious muslim.
Posted by: ed || 10/30/2007 11:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh, the pathos, it burns us!
Posted by: mojo || 10/30/2007 15:18 Comments || Top||

#6  If this "imam" wants to demonstrate his interfaith bonafides, then lets see him lead the call for churches and synagogues to open in muslim countries. Until he does that, and gets results, he is full of caca.
Posted by: remoteman || 10/30/2007 19:23 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Fisherman nets shark 200 km from sea. US to blame
A two-metre shark has been caught in a river in southern Iraq more than 200 km (160 miles) from the sea. Karim Hasan Thamir said he was fishing with his sons last week when they spotted a large fish thrashing about in his net. "I recognised the fish as a shark because I have seen one on a television programme," he told Reuters.

The shark was pulled from the mouth of an irrigation canal that joins the Euphrates River. The Euphrates joins the Tigris River further east to form the Shatt al-Arab waterway which flows south past Basra into the Gulf.

Dr. Mohamed Ajah, assistant dean of the college of science at Thi Qar University in Nassiriya, said barriers in river estuaries usually prevented sharks swimming upstream. "In this case, I think this animal was there for a long time but no one had managed to see it," he said.

Locals blamed the U.S. military for the shark's presence.
Tahseen Ali, a teacher, said there was a "75 percent chance" Americans had put the shark in the water. "This is very frightening for us. Our children always swim in the river and I believe that there are more sharks. I believe that America is behind this matter," said fisherman Hatim Karim
Posted by: tipper || 10/30/2007 07:53 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  did he have a friggin' laser beam on his head?
Posted by: Frank G || 10/30/2007 8:57 Comments || Top||

#2  LOL Frank - help me out here!
Posted by: Spot || 10/30/2007 9:06 Comments || Top||

#3  What was an American lawyer doing in the river?
Posted by: Darrell || 10/30/2007 9:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Client diving.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 10/30/2007 9:45 Comments || Top||

#5  "Locals blamed the U.S. military for the shark's presence."

Excellent…next step…the Rio Grande.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 10/30/2007 10:00 Comments || Top||

#6  Just some field testing - the dolphins and seals work well, given their intelligence, so we're working our way down to the more aggressive, yet less intellectual, sea creatures.
Posted by: Haliburton - Border Control Divison || 10/30/2007 10:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Swimming Rappers next for HBCD?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 10/30/2007 10:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Signs & Portents

Fisherman nets shark 200 km from sea.

IOW, the shark haz jumped Iraq.

I blame engineers, bio!
Posted by: Red Dawg || 10/30/2007 12:25 Comments || Top||

#9  Tahseen Ali, a teacher, said there was a "75 percent chance" Americans had put the shark in the water.

Based on prior empirical evidence, of course.
Posted by: Mad Eye Thrineger4793 || 10/30/2007 12:33 Comments || Top||

#10  Wait till they see the SIZE of the bedbugs America is putting under Arab mattresses.
Posted by: ed || 10/30/2007 12:36 Comments || Top||

#11  Mo don't surf.
Posted by: rhodesiafever || 10/30/2007 14:02 Comments || Top||

#12  Well, if they stopped murdering each other and dumping the bodies in the river. If you don't want to fish, don't chum.

This makes complete sense. With the fall of Saddam came the return of the marshes that were dammed up.

It is our fault. They should be thanking us for returning their wildlife.
Posted by: Penguin || 10/30/2007 15:35 Comments || Top||

#13  Udai's waste management program included vicious pets. Prolly crocodiles, too. Saddam even had a mini sub with escape hatch for tooling around the River.
Posted by: Danielle || 10/30/2007 17:11 Comments || Top||

#14  "Hey Achmed! Wanna see me pull a shark outta my net?"
Posted by: mojo || 10/30/2007 17:16 Comments || Top||

#15  Some sharks can handle brackish water for quite a while. Bull sharks have been found WAY up the Mississippi - a lot more than 160 miles. They don't need American help getting up the Euphrates.
Posted by: Glenmore || 10/30/2007 17:28 Comments || Top||

#16  My copy of Shadows In The Sea says that sharks routinely swim all the way up to Baghdad. They also state the British recorded 27 attacks between 1941 to 1949, half of them were fatal. These attacks were in the Karun River near Ahwaz.
Posted by: bruce || 10/30/2007 19:00 Comments || Top||

#17  Bruce, I don't care if it was in 1941, it is still GW Bush's fault. And the US's.
Posted by: Rambler || 10/30/2007 19:08 Comments || Top||

#18  REDDIT > DECLINE IN PIRACY LEAD TO GLOBAL WARMING, aka BULLWINKLE > PIRATE HI-TECHNOLOGY ANGERING THE SUN + NORTH POLE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 10/30/2007 22:00 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas boy band to bring harmony to Gaza
As well as motivating serving Hamas members, the group also performs in prisons to try to re-educate criminals. "There is a strong psychological effect in music and we use it to try to improve the spirit of those who have committed crimes," Maj Abu Abdu said
Hamas militants have launched a new weapon in their struggle with Israel: a troupe of honey-voiced singers known as Protectors of the Homeland. Wearing crisply pressed fatigues in urban camouflage blue, the six band members gather each day to practise in an old office within the Gaza City police headquarters.

The small room throbbed with energy as their dusty 12-track amplifier screeched with feedback before being tamed by an engineer. To the accompaniment of a backing track from a laptop computer, the men then started polishing their routine of songs, almost all of which have strong Islamic and militaristic content and titles like Change and Reform. Such uplifting lyrics as "By the shrouds of the dead we are inspired" are typical.

"It is our job to inspire the foot soldiers," said Maj Hosam Abu Abdu, a 40-year-old former police officer who now fronts the band. "We want to urge the soldiers and officers to push on, to make the effort needed in the struggle to end the occupation [of Palestinian land by Israel]."

Formed in the summer as part of the arts department of Hamas's domestic security service, the Executive Force, the group has performed for police units around Gaza City. But Maj Abu Abdu, who also uses his fine voice to call the faithful to prayer at a mosque, outlined ambitious plans for Protectors of the Homeland — to produce their first recordings for distribution, to build a theatre in Gaza City and even to start public dancing.

Being an Islamic group, the plans do not involve women and the band leader looked slightly shocked when asked if any of the activities might be unisex. "Not possible," he said.

All the band members said the work beat the regular duties that included, back in June, helping Hamas in its bloody and ultimately successful battle with the Fatah faction for control of the Gaza Strip.

Music has always played a large role in the culture of Hamas, with songs praising the group and its leaders, including the wheelchair-bound Sheikh Ahmed Yassin who was killed by the Israelis in 2004.

As well as motivating serving Hamas members, the group also performs in prisons to try to re-educate criminals. "There is a strong psychological effect in music and we use it to try to improve the spirit of those who have committed crimes," Maj Abu Abdu said.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/30/2007 09:59 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They're probably all gay.

Not the Western kind of gay but the Islamic kind of gay.
Posted by: danking70 || 10/30/2007 11:43 Comments || Top||

#2  How come all their fans are drooling 50 year old Arafat look a likes?
Posted by: ed || 10/30/2007 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Isn't popular or modern music (of any kind) 'Haram' for mooselimbs? Didn't the talibs cut peoples' ears off (and worse) for such infractions?
Posted by: Mulla Richard || 10/30/2007 12:29 Comments || Top||

#4  it's well-known that Mo himself enjoyed a Karaoke night once in a while, singing such hits as: "By the shrouds of the dead we are inspired"

sounds like a real curly-toed-slipper tapper
Posted by: Frank G || 10/30/2007 12:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Since when is a 40 year old former policeman a boy?
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/30/2007 13:27 Comments || Top||

#6  Nothing like a tamborine and flute jam session!
Posted by: Phinater Thraviger || 10/30/2007 13:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Mullah Richard, it's all about the da'wa.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/30/2007 13:44 Comments || Top||

#8  Why do visions of beturbaned Beach Boys singing such hits as "Help Me Mullah," and "Be True to Your Mosque" keep running through my feeble brain cavity??????
Posted by: USN,Ret. || 10/30/2007 17:31 Comments || Top||

#9  In response the Tel Aviv Boys Band for Catholic Adolescents, Hamas has installed a campaign against the evil Zionist drum-solo's.

A senior official was quoted as saying "Their costumes are ragged, look, they don't even have dark blue. And the trims on the cuffs look like my mothers beard!"
Posted by: Charles || 10/30/2007 20:55 Comments || Top||



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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
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Two weeks of WOT
Tue 2007-10-30
  Crew of North Korean Pirated Vessel Regains Control
Mon 2007-10-29
  Baghdad: Gunmen kidnap 10 anti-al-Qaida tribal leaders
Sun 2007-10-28
  80 Talibs escorted from gene pool at Musa Qala
Sat 2007-10-27
  Pakistani forces launch offensive against militants in Swat valley
Fri 2007-10-26
  Mehsuds formally ask army to leave Tank compound
Thu 2007-10-25
  India jails 31 for life over 1998 blasts
Wed 2007-10-24
  Binny demands reinforcements for Iraq
Tue 2007-10-23
  PKK offers conditional ceasefire
Mon 2007-10-22
  Bobby Jindal governor of Louisiana
Sun 2007-10-21
  Four dozen Talibs banged in Musa Qala area
Sat 2007-10-20
  Waziristan to be pacified 'once and for all'
Fri 2007-10-19
  Binny's handler was incharge of Benazir's security
Thu 2007-10-18
  Benazir Bhutto survives bomb attack
Wed 2007-10-17
  Putin warns against military action on Iran
Tue 2007-10-16
  Time for Palestinian State: Rice


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