WASHINGTON Two groups of tourists were robbed at gunpoint on the National Mall, just hours after the police chief declared a crime emergency in the city in response to a string of violence that included the killing of a British activist. The activist, Alan Senitt, was attacked in the Georgetown area on Sunday, his throat was slit and police say the attackers attempted to rape his companion. It was the 13th homicides in the city this month. Robberies are up 14 percent, and armed assaults have jumped 18 percent in the past 30 days.
Quagmire! Redeploy our troops to North Carolina!
On Wednesday, U.S. Park Police were looking for connections between the latest Mall robberies and three similar incidents in the area in late May. There have been no arrests in any of those cases.
On Tuesday night, two women from Texas were robbed at gunpoint by two men dressed in all black, said U.S. Park Police Sgt. Scott Fear. About 15 minutes later, a family of four from Missouri was robbed by suspects with the same description, he said. Though no one was injured, Fear said there were similarities to three violent attacks on the National Mall in May. In one case, a 17-year-old woman was sexually assaulted. "We try to prevent this from happening,'' Fear said. "We're going to reallocate our resources. We're going to see what improvements we can make.''
District of Columbia Police Chief Charles Ramsey declared a crime emergency in the city after Senitt, a volunteer for the potential presidential campaign of former Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner, was killed. The crime emergency declaration allows commanders more flexibility to adjust officers' schedules and reassign them to high-crime areas.
Gonna ask the governor to send in the National Guard? Oh, wait...
The tourist-friendly National Mall, which is under the jurisdiction of Park Police rather than D.C. police, is usually considered safe. But the recent crimes against tourists have raised calls for a larger police presence. Police are asking Mall visitors to "be our eyes and ears,'' Fear said. "We're going to ask them to be vigilant.''
Asking tourists to spy on D.C. residents? Did you clear this with congress?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/12/2006 12:05 ||
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#1
Quagmire! Redeploy our troops to North Carolina! LOL!
It kinda ticks me though that they only decide to take action when a gov's aide is killed. Be nice if they did it for all of the rest of us citizens too. Whatever it takes, I suppose.
Throat slit makes me wonder if it was "disaffected youths".
#2
The Capitol Police are far too busy looking out for Congresscritters McKinney and Kennedy (both of them) to be bothered taking care of a few tourists.
#3
1. DC does too have a National Guard unit, though I believe the mayor does not have authority to call them up.
2. Even before 9/11, DC was the capital of Cops Sitting Around in Squad Cars Waiting For Something To Happen, and it has truly gotten ridiculous ever since. There are a phenomenally large number of them posted around and near the Mall, at the monuments, near Congress and near the White House. Fleets of them, in fact.
3. It's very disturbing if not entirely surprising that these incidents are happening, DC had been improving tremendously and I'm not keen to see the regression.
4. We're due for a new mayor in the fall, and I'm not really impressed with the contenders.
Part of the reason behind DC's slight improvement, although July '06 has gotten off to a rotten start, is that a lot of the criminals have shifted on over to next door Prince George's County. That county's annual homicide totals have gone from 70 in 2000 to a record-shattering 175 in 2006.
Hundreds of people bare their behinds to them in the 27th mooning of trains.
LAGUNA NIGUEL - Dismiss them if you like, but these people baring their behinds to passing trains are your neighbors, your children's teachers, your attorneys, your policemen, your World War II veterans and yes, even your mothers! My brother lives in Laguna Niguel. I wonder if he's down there?
Once they were a bunch a small bunch of crazies. Now they are a nation.
You had ladies from the Red Hat Society standing next to members of the Hessians motorcycle gang, standing next to a group of nudists, standing next to a 70-year-old (normally sedate) mom standing next to an avowed libertarian.
All laughing, chatting and waving. With their pants down. And their behinds up against a chain-link fence every time an Amtrak train passed.
"It's the greatest feeling in the world," said Robin Felton, 52, of Anaheim, a manager for ICC in Cerritos. "I pay my taxes. I follow the laws. I pay the high gas prices. This is my one day to say, 'I live with it, but you know what guys? Here. Have a little of it back. Here's to everything I don't like.' "
Legend has it that this all began as a dare 27 years ago in the Mugs Away Saloon on Camino Capistrano. Patron K.T. Smith vowed to buy a drink for anyone who'd join him mooning the train across the street. A handful did. A tradition was born. On Saturday, that handful had grown to an estimated 5,000 people.
Kids sold lemonade. Motor homes raised American flags, tiki torches flared and smoke issued from barbecue pits. Rock bands drove in from Vegas,. Vendors hawked jewelry and T-shirts from booths.
Nobody organizes this thing. Nobody promotes it.
"It's an amazing group of people," said Christine Anderson, manager of Mugs Away Saloon. "From World War II vets to Korean and Vietnam vets to currently enlisted men, to policemen, firemen and U.S. Customs. There are generations of families here."
Not to mention women like Wanda Brace, 66, of Anaheim, a queen mother of the Red Hat Society known more for tea parties than moon parties.
"It's just pure fun and losing one's inhibitions," said Brace, who wondered aloud if her Anaheim chapter might get expelled for its actions.
No matter. After the third train mooning, she turned and mooned the crowd.
"You wouldn't believe how many people have stopped and asked to take our picture," she said. "We're just older ladies out having fun like them. There's not that much difference between us."
By noon Camino Capistrano was packed with pedestrians. Each distant whistle would evoke the shout of "Train!" Followed by another. Followed by cheers and a swelling of the crowd toward the hurricane fence: Those propped up against it, waiting. And those watching, cameras held high.
Many trains slowed as they passed. Passengers waved and snapped pictures. A few mooned back, according to those at the fence.
For some, this was a first-time experience.
"It's something you have to do before you die," said Ronni Armstrong, 70, a retired loan broker who drove from Sun City without telling her kids.
For others, it was long tradition. Attorney Charlene Dryer, 59, of Newport Beach attended the very first Amtrak mooning 27 years ago and returned Saturday for "good, clean fun."
Mooning is not condoned in public, yet not really harmful, many said, making it just rebellious enough to unite them. A backward nation maybe, but a nation nonetheless.
#1
Wow. Another poster child for the far left. Maybe she could join Sin-dee in her "fast"?
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/12/2006 7:02 Comments ||
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#2
Good news that UA forced her out. Good job to all the folks that sent emails of protest, it worked. Now we gotta get that moonbat that says 911 was an inside job.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/12/2006 7:34 Comments ||
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Now we gotta get that moonbat that says 911 was an inside job.
Errr... which one? There is a lot of them, out there...
#5
Interesting thing to note over at DKos: there's a "diary" (blog entry) up condemning Deb Frisch, and all of the commenters are pretty much in agreement:
I hope we'll all second your motion to denounce that kind of behavior. Too bad that Deb Frisch had to stoop so low.
I don't care WHOSE children are in question, this kind of crap is unconscionable.
Before this comment, I would have never imagined a so-called left winger promoting this type of violence (against an innocent, that is). I'll take a conservative jerk over a leftwing nutjob anyday.
There's a couple of expressions of skepticism, and one half-hearted attempt at moral equivalence, but nobody really sticking up for Frisch--and since the post is several days old, I don't expect we'll see anything more added to it.*
I yield to no one in my disdain for the Kossacks, but if you're gonna slag 'em when they're wrong, you gotta be big enough to give 'em props when they get it right. Give them credit for policing their own, at least this time.
*There appears to be nothing on the whole affair over at DU. Oh well, at least they're not starting a Deb Frisch Defense Fund, so I suppose that's positive.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/12/2006 9:09 Comments ||
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#6
Mous5089 the guy from Wisconsin that is teaching Islamic relations at one of the colleges there. He said 911, the embassy bombings, and all the AQ IEDs are a secret government Army plot. The trouble with this jerk is he is teaching this crap at a land grant college and our taxes are paying for it. I think creitical analysis of our government is necessary but this is just crap.
But then your right, I'm sure there are hundreds out there that agree with him.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/12/2006 9:33 Comments ||
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#7
I also think I need to learn to spell! LOL!!!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/12/2006 9:34 Comments ||
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#8
So, a left winger crashes and burns and the 'movement' remains motionless. You see, kids, there is no real movement toward the liberal side of things, there is only rhetoric, bloviation, and criticism of the right. The nut cases have joined the left long ago, and now there are not enough thinkers left to mask the oddballs. Yall should have seen it coming when Slick Willy was face bangin the teeny bopers.
#9
Btw, notice how the article itself is biased toward giving the impression there's a moral equivalency there, as JG points out with the curious choice of the "I'll just shoot you" quote (not mentioned in phone) and wrong time frame by the journalist?
#10
Mous5089 the guy from Wisconsin
49Pan, the one talked about here a few days ago with his teevee interview, ok I remember.
Still, I agree with you, there's a whole industry on that conspiracy theory; by the way, I'm pretty sure there is some uncovered truth about the 9/11, some cover ups, some nasty secrets by the US authorities, but IMHO, this goes rather in the way of the actual State sponsors (Pakistan, Iraq and Iran?), the identity of the famous "speculators" who played the markets (soodies and/or islamic financiary orgs?) along with the fact it SHOULD have been prevented except for the PC-induced intelligence ineptness coming from the Clinton's 90's,... rather than the typical NWO drivel, which is lacking in its most basic motive : why the 9/11???
If this was a conspiracy, then it was the most unsuccessful, costly, elaborate, and unbalanced in the mean/result department conspiracy ever.
My own CT is I think we're being hidden the scope of the attack, IE we're not just at war with AQ and "terror", but with a whole part of the arab/muslim world, and the stakes are much higher than a "simple" terror wave, it's survival of the western civilization against the "3rd jihad" which is in play.
#11
Blog BLUNDER? Blunder?? Please. That wasn't a blunder, it was mental illness in action. Maybe Goldstein didn't feel threatened but he should have. Lots of people say lots of bad things they shouldn't say (including myself) becuase of the anonoymous nature of posting on the internet - especially late at night or maybe after one drink too many - but that wasn't an anonymous threat - it was specific, targeted and personal.
I think she should be prosecuted. The FBI gets involved over throwing a bullet ridden Koran at a mosque - but this was a much more serious and real threat. The woman is deranged and dangerous. Does she have to hurt someone before they take serious such an obvious fact?
An actual obit he wrote himself. A little different from those lefty, "His only regret was that he didn't live long enough to see Bush assassinated" obits...
Frederic Arthur (Fred) Clark Frederic Arthur (Fred) Clark, who had tired of reading obituaries noting other's courageous battles with this or that disease, wanted it known that he lost his battle as a result of an automobile accident on June 18, 2006. True to Fred's personal style, his final hours were spent joking with medical personnel while he whimpered, cussed, begged for narcotics and bargained with God to look over his wife and kids. He loved his family. His heart beat faster when his wife of 37 years Alice Rennie Clark entered the room and saddened a little when she left. His legacy was the good works performed by his sons, Frederic Arthur Clark III and Andrew Douglas Clark MD, PhD., along with Andy's wife, Sara Morgan Clark. Fred's back straightened and chest puffed out when he heard the Star Spangled Banner and his eyes teared when he heard Amazing Grace. He wouldn't abide self important tight *censored*. Always an interested observer of politics, particularly what the process does to its participants, he was amused by politician's outrage when we lie to them and amazed at what the voters would tolerate. His final wishes were "throw the bums out and don't elect lawyers" (though it seems to make little difference). During his life he excelled at mediocrity. He loved to hear and tell jokes, especially short ones due to his limited attention span. He had a life long love affair with bacon, butter, cigars and bourbon. You always knew what Fred was thinking much to the dismay of his friend and family. His sons said of Fred, "he was often wrong, but never in doubt". When his family was asked what they remembered about Fred, they fondly recalled how Fred never peed in the shower - on purpose. He died at MCV Hospital and sadly was deprived of his final wish which was to be run over by a beer truck on the way to the liquor store to buy booze for a double date to include his wife, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter to crash an ACLU cocktail party. In lieu of flowers, Fred asks that you make a sizable purchase at your local ABC store or Virginia winery (please, nothing French - the *censored*) and get rip roaring drunk at home with someone you love or hope to make love to. Word of caution though, don't go out in public to drink because of the alcohol related laws our elected officials have passed due to their inexplicable terror at the sight of a MADD lobbyist and overwhelming compulsion to meddle in our lives. No funeral or service is planned. However, a party will be held to celebrate Fred's life. It will be held in Midlothian, Va. Email fredsmemory@yahoo.com for more information. Fred's ashes will be fired from his favorite cannon at a private party on the Great Wicomico River where he had a home for 25 years. Additionally, all of Fred's friend (sic) will be asked to gather in a phone booth, to be designated in the future, to have a drink and wonder, "Fred who?"
Since the obituary appeared in the newspaper, the family has been flooded with e-mails -- a few from old friends, but most from people who never knew Clark but were touched by his final words. In addition to Alice and Fred III, he is survived by son Dr. Andrew Clark and his wife, Sara.
"He was a person who loved his family, and that was his life's focus," Fred III said. "You have to read the humor for what the humor was, but that's what he was like."
Clark's obituary harkened back to a rowdier man.
"In his younger days, he fancied the bourbon much more than later days," Clark's son said. "In fact, I don't know when was the last time he had a bourbon."
But one detail is 100 percent true: Clark's ashes will be shot from a cannon this summer at a family gathering.
He's going out with a bang.
"It's not a huge cannon, not one of those old military cannons," Clark's son said. "It's just 2 or 3 feet long. But it's enough to make a good noise."
Jeb Bush for vice president? The governor just smiled Monday when asked about teaming up with Arizona Sen. John McCain as Republicans hope to come up with a ticket to keep the White House -- now occupied by Bush's older brother.
"I like Sen. McCain. I think he's a good guy," Bush said.
Bush has been the subject of recent speculation that his popularity in vote-rich Florida, his image as a conservative tax-cutter and his age (53) could prompt the 70-year-old McCain to welcome him as a running mate.
"There's all sorts of time to worry about the 2008 election," he said.
#2
"There's all sorts of time to worry about the 2008 election," he said.
If he is anything like his brother, who had the republican primary sewed up before primary season had even begun, that has got to rate right off the irony scale.
I suspect Jed is going to sit this one out, figuring that America has "Bush fatigue" after eight years.
The real finesse comes in for the 2012 elections, how he might position himself for best effect.
#3
I'll do you one better BH6, I won't vote for McCain. He lost me years ago. The GOP needs to have a better plan than to nominate a RINO, or I'll be gone for good.
#6
Jersey, I personally don't like McCain either so I don't disagree about not voting for him but that all depends on who the competition is. I voted for W twice and before him Perot twice. (Looking back it was dumb not to vote for Dole who I know more about now - ahh, youth.) I have no problem voting third party if I have to. I'd vote Libertarian but they're usually weak on the border situation so I'll have to see what their candidate does this time around.
#7
I would vote for another Bush ong before I vote for a Clinton, Gore, Kerry, Biden, Reid, or Kennedy. If McCain gets the nod (and that is a BIG if) I would vote for him long before I Indy or Dhimi.
#8
Well for what its worth, I've been trolling around the Constitution Party site and forums. They are unfortunately beset by internal strife over abortion since a sizable part of their memebership seems to be fundies. But as far as the rest of the platform goes it really gets back to the basics, which I would love to see.
Have a look:
#10
Voting Indy is the same as voting for a Dem. FYI Bill Clinton NEVER got over 50% of the popular vote in either election. 3rd party poopers skim off just enough votes to give him the edge in key states.
AUSTIN Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle is suing to keep secret the details about his investigation of indicted former House majority leader Tom DeLay. The Houston Chronicle filed a request under Texas' open records law in March seeking vouchers, hotel and airfare receipts, budget documents, memos and e-mails describing the expenses for the DeLay inquiry and related investigations.
DeLay, indicted last year on conspiracy and money laundering charges connected to the financing of 2002 state legislative races, resigned from Congress on June 9. Earle, in his attempt to keep details of his investigation out of public view, appealed to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, arguing that releasing the information could compromise the prosecution. The state's lawyer, who reviewed examples of the information, generally ruled that Earle didn't have to disclose secret information related to grand jury investigations. But the attorney general noted that the public records law requires disclosure of "information in an account, voucher, or contract" relating to the expenditure of public monies, the Austin American-Statesman reported Tuesday.
Earle sued last week to overturn the legal opinion. "The first obligation of law enforcement is the protection of the public," Earle said in a statement Monday. "This opinion makes that job harder."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2006 00:00 ||
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Somone needs to run that criminal Earle out of office. Sue him for prosecutorial misconduct.
Probably end up having to do it at gunpoint - that asshat ignores the law and breaks it when ti suits him, so when he's removed he will hole up like Koresh.
Hey Earle - you CANNOT hide your criminal misconduct - the State Attny will not let you.
Sucks to be you, f*ckwad. I hope DeLay sues you when he is exonorated, and takes you PERSONALLY for all you have.
#2
Well -- having been around this guy for years, (standing off on the sidelines of a very high value target of the politicians of this state) this guy went after my brother-in-law to get to his then wife (high value target politician)... he does what he does... and has costs lots of folks lots of money... but, in the end, the talley of just what he has cost the county (tax payers) with all his law suits, and all that he has lost (brother-in-law came out okay), folks might just take a different look at his success rate. He's lost more than he has won. Court cost after court cost, after court cost, attempting to get what he wants. Mighty expensive to maintain. But, it is Travis County, and this liberal bastion of the Democrat party lets him do his thing, then, attempts to deal with the "crazy uncle." He's here, till he is gone.
Humm... a new project... To take all the numbers of all the costs of his suits, weighted against what he has won and what he has lost.. and his record would be one, any CEO would have long ago fired.
#4
We need to overhaul the Judiciary system in this country. This jerk and Elliot Spitzer of NY are both out of control. They slander and advance charges against otherwise normal people, and use the PR to advance themselves and bring down innocent victims. Further, lawyers in general can cause massive costs by filing motions endlessly. The Clintons managed to escape prosecutions and still do, by the endless delays. This is not justice, and a mature America should not accept it any longer.
All future cases should be swift and all involved, even the judge should pass a lie detector per each case.
Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D) failed to appear at two televised debates over the weekend, fueling criticism from two opponents who are challenging the controversial incumbent in a July 18 primary in the Georgia's 4th District.
CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY reports: DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson and architectural firm project manager John Coyne, who are challenging McKinney, debated Saturday on WSB-TV and also participated in a second debate Friday that was sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club and which will air tonight at 7 p.m. Johnson's campaign said that McKinney's absence was a "slap in the face" to her constituents.
McKinney prob'ly has nothing to worry about, having a firm lock on the 2-digit IQ vote in her district.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/12/2006 00:00 ||
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Maybe she was really there in mind only
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/12/2006 1:00 Comments ||
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Hey - she was busy! It takes a professional team hours to get her hair to look like that!
#3
If she were to be tragically killed in a fully televised, firey I-285 high-speed crash tomorrow morning, she'd she still win re-election. She's the Robert Mugabe of Atlana.
#6
She got un-elected back in the 2002 primary, but the lady who unseated her (can't recall the name; by all accounts, she's a grown-up, rational liberal Democrat) ran for senate instead of for re-election, and Cynthia sneaked back in.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/12/2006 10:07 Comments ||
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Well, if I looked like that I wouldn't want to be seen in public let alone on TV!
Posted by: Gir ||
07/12/2006 11:17 Comments ||
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With a little luck maybe she won't show up for the election either.
#9
Mike, that woman was Denisse Majette. Many speculate the only reason she won (the primary, where she beat McKinney for the Donk ticket) was because enough North DeKalb voters switched parties (from Repubs to Demos) and voted in the Donk primaries. Georgia law allows you to "switch" parties (if you're a registered member) and vote in the other party's primary.
Posted by: BA ||
07/12/2006 14:07 Comments ||
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1 - meets the critera of 'People may think you're stupid, but once you open your mouth, you remove all doubt'.
2 - if Georgia has the option of write in, how many 'empty chair' votes will be cast?
Using the active ingredient in illegal hallucinogenic mushrooms, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have induced a lingering sense of spirituality that they believe has the potential to help patients struggling with addiction or terminal cancer.
Researchers said that the 36 subjects in the tightly controlled experiment none of whom had ever taken the drug before already had deep religious convictions, which primed them for a mystical experience.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/12/2006 10:59 ||
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Mmm... north facing sheep pasture in October. Three months and counting.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/12/2006 13:02 Comments ||
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We are constantly surrounded by massive amounts of sensory input. We can only make heads or tails out of reality by ignoring most of it. Then from that fraction we allow in, we have to further discriminate by interpreting that fraction with very strict abstracts, such as size, shape, color, etc.
If it can't be made to fit our abstracts then we ignore it. Then, finally, that little bit that is left goes into the memory and computational part of our brains. And both of those are very lossy and prone to error.
Drugs can interfere with this carefully tuned system, and briefly remind us that we don't have a clue to what is really going on around us.
Some years ago, a very potent anti-depressant, desipramine hydrochloride, was approved for use in the US as one of the few anti-depressants they had back then. Even though it had all sorts of serious side-effects.
The Japanese continued to test this drug long after as many as 2 million Americans had been taking it. They reached the disturbing conclusion that the drug "softened" those rigid abstracts that we use for perception, with utterly unknown and unpredictable consequences.
In real terms, by injecting this drug into the optic center of the brain of ordinary cats, within a few weeks the cats' brains were re-taught to see with monocular vision. Their other eye still worked, and still sent signals to the brain, but those signals were utterly ignored.
That powerful. It is still prescribed in the US, in much reduced quantity from its heyday. And we still have no idea as to its long-term consequences.
Question though ... how can it "make" them spiritual if they already hold deep religious convictions. Sounds like it just allows them to escape the bonds of their bodies and get closer to the spiritual world.
Soo...the Indians and other ancient tribes were on to something!
#9
"If you take psilocybin and go watch 'Friday the 13th,' I can guarantee you won't have a mystical experience," he said.
Unless you're Charles Manson.
These drugs are tools - very powerful tools. Their effects run the gamut from the most harrowing paranoid nightmares to the most beatific bliss. And most people significantly adjust their worldviews accordingly after especially powerful experiences.
Google "DMT" and "god molecule" for more related info.
My best New Years ever - A South China Sea beach, an M16, and magic mushrooms.
And they can be a hell of a lot fun under the right circumstances - or so I've heard.
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.
AUSTIN Travis County District Attorney 
The Houston Chronicle filed a request under Texas' open records law in March seeking vouchers, hotel and airfare receipts, budget documents, memos and e-mails describing the expenses for the DeLay inquiry and related investigations.
Rep. 
