(AP) Rochester, Minn. America's Mattress co-owner Jim Sather is left puzzled after a rustler stole Serta Mattresses' inflatable 14-foot sheep from their store here. "I can't figure out what someone would do with a 14-foot sheep," Sather said. "It can't go in your basement and if it's in your back yard, your neighbor will notice. If it's target practice, it only lasts once."
All the thief or thieves left was a handwritten note at the scene of the crime that read: "For the sheep, bring peace to the earth."
Sather said their mascot is missed. "He's the granddaddy of all sheep and there's a whole flock that will miss him," Sather said. The sheep is labeled with a No. 1 and is worth an estimated $3,500.
I'd look for a really tall, really lonely Saudi
Gee Steve, OBL fits that description ...
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 13:17 ||
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Mickey Spillane, the macho mystery writer who wowed millions of readers with the shoot-'em-up sex and violence of gumshoe Mike Hammer, died Tuesday. He was 88.
I parked the Studebaker in the lot behind Eddie's fruit stand. Two sulky boys with hair that looked like it had been mayonnaised gave me the eye. I knew they were Corelli's muscle, so I ignored them. That made them sulkier.
I stopped into Mable's. It was a seedy place, but I'm a seedy kind of guy. I like a beer joint that smells of ancient beer.
"Hey, Fred!" Doris called. The place was still called Mabel's, but Sally Hannity had bought it from the old girl back in '59, and Doris bought it from Sally in '88.
"Long time no see!" she greeted me.
Patty the Aged Hooker slumbered at the far end of the bar. She was in the same condition, position, and outfit as the last time I'd seen her, four years before. The withered haunch protruding from her miniskirt was dusty. Aside from Patty and Doris the place was empty.
I put my hat on the bar and sat down, keeping an eye on the front door. Doris poured me a beer.
"Did you hear Mickey Spillane died?" she asked, cautiously.
I cracked her across the chops with my .45.
She spat blood, her eyes flaring, reaching for her gat. Then she froze as I trained the .45 on her ample belly.
"I guess you did," she said, raising her hands and baring broken, lipstick-stained teeth in a friendly grimace.
Spillane's death was confirmed by Brad Stephens of Goldfinch Funeral Home in his hometown of Murrells Inlet. Details about his death were not immediately available.
"Look, Doll Face," I told her, "he was 88 years old. I'm not surprised."
"I'm surprised they got his stiff into someplace called Goldfinch Funeral Home," she observed.
After starting out in comic books Spillane wrote his first Mike Hammer novel, "I, the Jury," in 1946. Twelve more followed, with sales topping 100 million. Notable titles included "The Killing Man," "The Girl Hunters" and "One Lonely Night." Many of these books were made into movies, including the classic film noir "Kiss Me, Deadly" and "The Girl Hunters," in which Spillane himself starred.
Doris wiped the blood from her lips with the back of her hand, then leaned thick arms on the counter, looking me in the eye. "He was a better writer than he was an actor, you know," she observed, wistfully.
Hammer stories were also featured on television in the series "Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer" and in made-for-TV movies.
"Yeah," Doris said. "I remember them. Had some good scenes, just like Mickey used to write. But then that numbnutz they had playing Hammer got arrested for being a cokey."
"And Mike Hammer didn't have a moustache," I agreed.
In the 1980s, Spillane appeared in a string of Miller Lite beer commercials.
"I liked some of those better than I liked his last few novels," I said, reaching for my hat. "Sorry for the busted teeth, Doris."
"I get off at 2," she told my departing back.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
For many years, the Bulwar-Lytton Bad Writing Contest has had a special award specifically for bad detective novels. One of my faves:
"Mike Hardware was the kind of private eye who didn't know the meaning of the word 'fear,' a man who could laugh in the face of danger and spit in the eye of death--in short, a moron with suicidal tendencies."
#5
*Raises a glass in honor of Mr. Spillane*
Definitely one of a kind.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/18/2006 6:27 Comments ||
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#6
A worthy tribute, Fred.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/18/2006 7:26 Comments ||
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#7
I feel like putting Sinatra on the jukebox, lighting up a cigarette, and knocking back a shot and a beer. Here's to you, Mike.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 10:20 Comments ||
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#8
Steve--I second the motion, and I haven't had a drink in 20 years. No doubt about it, the Mick was part of a very select crew including Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett (and maybe honorable mention of John D. MacDonald). Here's to them all!
Posted by: mac ||
07/18/2006 10:31 Comments ||
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#9
I feel like putting Sinatra on the jukebox
If my memory is any good, Sinatra lured Marilyn into a trap so his Don could rape her. Miked Hammer would have forced Sinatra to eat his own balls.
The rebel Ugandan Lords Resistance Army (LRA) has demanded the dissolution of the national army at peace talks to halt nearly two decades of fighting, but the government flatly refused the call and instead demanded the insurgents give up all their weapons. The LRA position paper, presented to southern Sudan mediators at talks here aimed at ending a 19-year-old insurgency in northern Uganda, said there was an urgent need of "reorganising of the army and other forces" as well as the signing of a comprehensive ceasefire agreement with the government.
"The present army, the Uganda People Defence Forces (UPDF), does not reflect a national character. It is ethnic, partisan and pledges its loyalty to President Yoweri Museveni personally and not to the nation," said the rebel position paper, obtained by AFP. "We demand its total disbandment so that an internationally supervised recruitment is done taking into account regional balance and integration of those in the LRA and other armed oppositions who have the qualification or are trainable and wish to join the army," it added.
In addition, the insurgents demanded the disbandment of camps in northern Uganda housing around two million people, respect for human dignity, protection of their land and compensation from the government, the document indicated.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Fyi, some pretty damn sharp Ugandan infantrymen in Viet era jungle fatiques, kevlars, and M-16's are manning guard posts in and around the Victory Base complex Iraq. Thank you Ugandan Army, I appreciate your service!
Task forces are being sent into primary schools to tackle the rise of inappropriate sexual behaviour in young pupils. Teachers are growing increasingly concerned that children as young as seven are interacting in a "sexualised" manner with each other, with old-fashioned games such as kiss and chase no longer being deemed innocent enough not to set alarm bells ringing. Now Birmingham council's inappropriate sexual behaviour unit has set up eight teams of experts that are being dispatched to schools across the city.
Stephane Breton, a social worker at the unit, said an increasing number of primary and secondary schools believed that they had a problem. He said: "Sometimes you have a whole school where all the kids are very flirty. They are seven and eight and they are flirtatious. We go with them and address the issue to make sure they know what they are talking about. We have been to at least eight schools. That is on request from the schools. At the end of the session there is an evaluation."
Mr Breton said some boys believed that girls wore short skirts to get attention because they wanted to be touched. In other cases, youngsters flirted because they had low self-esteem or to get rid of their anger. He said children were being ever more exposed to sexual images and messages through television, magazines and the internet, which they then copied and thought were acceptable. They were therefore becoming aware of sex at a much younger age.
Birmingham's sexual health charity, the Brook Advisory Clinic, also expressed concerns over children being exposed to sexual material. "I feel we do live in a very sexualised society," said Penny Barber, the charity's chief executive. "Both young men and women are subject to enormous pressure to be sexually attractive early on. They are bombarded with images when they're young. What they don't have is a counterbalance to that which is access to information and confidential advice."
#5
If 8 year old girls are flaunting their bodies "because they had low self-esteem" there is a problem.
My wife is a kindergarten teacher and sees this type of thing a lot. The girls come to school in outfits that you would expect on the backup singers of a gangsta rap video as young as second grade. We live in one of the most conservative areas of a bright blue state.
I do have a serious question for all the people in RB of the female persuasion. To the statement " girls wore short skirts to get attention " exactly what type of attention are these girls expecting? When teens or 20 somethings wear "attractive" clothes of the body revealing kind, what do these women think they will attract? What do they WANT to attract?
#7
Take cover, Alan, but I agree with you. Often times "the apple falls not far from the tree." Mom probably dresses the same way. I'm completely aghast at what the stores sell nowadays (especially to girls) as "clothes." Listen, I'm no puritan, but good grief. However, the free market side of me says, "Well they must be selling that stuff like hotcakes." So, I pin it on the parents. Often, the parents model that behavior themselves OR buy the crap. I mean, no 2nd grader is buying clothes by themselves if the parents really have any interest in their child's well being. Teenage years may be different, because the child has a job, makes $, and buys the clothes him/herself. But, 2nd graders (and I second your point about the younger kids...my wife taught kindergarten too, and saw this in some of her 5 year olds). Of course, long story short, she found out one of her girl's mom was a single-mom stripper who freakin' took her 5 year old to the club while she "worked."
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2006 10:23 Comments ||
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#8
(social progressive)
We can't stop them from acting like pole dancers. We'll just have to teach them poletrick safety, that's all.
(/social progressive)
#10
One Principle in Washington DC experimented. He arranged the class schedule so that the coed school had single-sex classes. Grades improved all around. Girls no longer were afraid of looking too smart in front of the guys. Guys were no longer afraid of looking foolish in front of the girls. Grades increased.
I think schools should be trying this sort of thing more-often. Perhaps entire districts could get into the game and make specific schools all boys and all girls if things work out.
BTW, the single sex class thing almost always gets shut down by the courts.
Some schools are taking this seriously. I was waiting in the admin office to speak at a high school a couple of years ago. There was a scantily clad maiden there whose mom showed up with a bag of more appropriate clothes so she could return to class.
#13
Lileks had a piece a few years back with a similar theme. He wrote something like, maybe I do think I'm a better parent than you when you allow your teenage daughter walks down the aisle in the airplane with "sexy butt" (or something like that!) plastered across the backside of her short, shorts.
#14
Are the fashions really more revealing than in the 1970s and 1980s? Truly? Because I remember wearing short skirts and cutoff tops, dance leotards and tight jeans, with never more thought than that it was fashionable and comfortable (I took a lot of dance classes). Granted, I was (and likely still am) naive and more than somewhat oblivious, so if I was garnering the wrong kind of attention nobody bothered to tell me. And certainly all the boys and young men I knew were perfect gentlemen always.
When I was young all the girls (except my sister and I) had Barbie dolls, each of which had a large wardrobe of fashionable and seductive clothing, often enough made by the girl's mother. Now they have Bratz dolls, ditto, but the girls (if the trailing daughters are anything to go by) get them at a younger age and get tired of them younger -- and think of the clothes only as "dress up" items without noting the skimpiness thereof.
I have seen very young girls dressed as if they are 18...or 25. That results from inappropriate parental or grandparental choices -- the girls like the colour, or the fancy trims, or the texture of the fabric, or that they are gifts, and have no thought of boyish (or manly) response because they aren't thinking in those terms yet. I've seen boys that age dressed inappropriatedly, too -- generally shorts and a t-shirt with no coat all through the winter due to similar mis-parenting... not a class or income-based thing as far as I can tell, but busy parents who don't want to fight with their kids in the morning. And the boys continue such nonsense all the way through high school -- I can't imagine what the district spends on heating to keep the buildings warm enough in winter, but they do.
Parents who want their children to be in single-sex situations generally send them to private schools. Which is great education-wise, but doesn't give them the opportunity to function comfortably in the presence of the opposite sex. (Think of the stereotype of the wild Catholic schoolgirl -- real enough, sadly.) Certainly I was shy enough as a child that if I'd been in that situation I wouldn't have known that males are people rather than sexual/romantic objects. So I'm grateful my parents didn't choose that for me.
#16
Which is great education-wise, but doesn't give them the opportunity to function comfortably in the presence of the opposite sex.
That's a bit of a canard. Two daughters through girls' school. They are two different people. The shy one is still shy. But at least she hasn't had to deal with 15 year old boys, which would probably have made her shier. The other one played only with boys when young and doesn't have trouble finding them now.
Based on my experience as a teen and parent, most guys 13-18 are jerks a large percentage of the time. It's a period we have to go through but that doesn't make it nice. Most girls that age will get competitive in their efforts to gain the boys' attention. Even at an all girls school.
Kids get plenty of time to see the opposite sex if they want to. religious groups, service groups, dances, etc. They never seem to have trouble finding each other.
But best to keep them seperated at that age as much as possible in the class room, in my opinion. They've got plenty of time for remedial education.
#19
What about dirty old men ? Nobody ever cares if we are drooling at young girls or our lip went to sleep. Where are all these girls, huh ?
Where's my glasses ?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 15:11 Comments ||
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#25
Wow, twenty more responces and there's been no incoming. I took cover for nuttin'.
I definitely agree with BA. The stores sell the stuff cause it sells and it's the parents buying it.
As a father of 3 "boys", 35, 24, 20, I paid particular attention to this and as I'm sure you all know, teenaged boys would find a full length burlap sack on a teenage girl sexy. So, it's obvious that the girls aren't dressing to attract the boys; so what ARE they doing it for?
And, more to the point, what are their PARENTS doing it for, in the case of the little ones?
#26
hopes their daughter will get a part in the next Roman Polanski film?
*ducks*
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 15:27 Comments ||
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#27
what are their PARENTS doing it for, in the case of the little ones?
Training. That's how mom got dad and she's got to teach the little one early. That's what dad found attractive in mom, so why would he suddenly object?
#28
What else is not being said is that it isn't that the stores are selling....that's ALL they are selling. Just try to buy jeans for a 10-13 yr old girl that aren't hipsters. It's almost impossible. We had to resort to buying jeans from Jrs dept and then getting them altered. That is truly sad commentary.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/18/2006 15:50 Comments ||
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#29
Very true, Rex. It seems that's ALL they sell. Probably some very heavily-invested agenda pushers up in corporate. Heck, I'm not that old (parent to 2 kids under 2), but I'm appaled at what's being displayed in Old Navy, Gap, and don't even get me started on the others like A&F. Heck, I still try to shop there for myself, but can't find any options. Seems to be the guys are headin' toward longer stuff (think about all the longer shorts you see now), while the girls stuff is getting shorter & tighter. Not any options.
Of course, I wore parachute pants back in the day, and some of them were tight :>)
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2006 16:12 Comments ||
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#30
BA, Rex Mundi, the trailing daughters (ages 14 and 16) wear the long boy shorts as often as they wear the tiny girl ones, and the baggy, multi-pocketed boy pants as often as the hiphuggers. Their friends dress the same -- they prefer not carrying purses for the cell phone, etc when they are out and about.
#32
Sounds like we're mostly discussing dress and swagger. Where I works the dress is poor but the behavior is more than outrageous. Raise your hand if you've dealt with a preganant 5th grader.
#34
Keep the girls home, and they are gotten pregnant at home, Muhammed Hupinerong Clegum1377. Isn't that why there are so many honour killings in Pakistan?
#35
Luckily...the Li'l Rexette is into Jr sizes where there's more choice. She still won't be caught dead in anything remotely associated with boy or hip hop. True about the cell phone thing. Refuses purse and case. Now, if I can just get her into camo (the real stuff) that would really increase our choices.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/18/2006 18:49 Comments ||
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#36
Ever seen a Bratz doll? Ever watch TV with your kid and truly let them pick the channel? Seen the magazine covers at the checkout stand? Listened to their friends talk? Watched even some Disney movies? Sometimes even looked in the mirror or listened to your own words? Duh. It's all right there in front of you. Kids go out and bring this stuff to their classmates, just like this blog goes out and brings back all the cool news, where they amplify it and try to take it to the next level. You're thinking too hard when you start believing in this low self-esteem crap. It's a way to put the blame on something completely out of your control, instead of putting it partially within your control, and partially within society's control.
#37
Got ya beat Rex: our youngin', a young teen, is into horses. Horses all day and all night. Horses seven days a week. She doesn't have time to a) go to the mall b) talk to boys c) hang out with the other mall rats etc, because she's always at the barn.
And the teen-aged yuppie slut clothes do not work at a barn. It's a T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and barn boots.
All the parents at our barn agree on this, and we're pleased as punch to pay through the nose to keep our girls there with their horses.
And I must say, if I were a 16 year old lad and looking for a chance to meet girls with no competition from other guys, I'd learn to ride a horse.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/18/2006 19:09 Comments ||
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#38
If you really want to get scared - go look and see what they are writing online.
As a youngen (20's) my wife ran her own small riding stable. That damn thing attracted girls the way the manure pile attracted flies! She "raised" more than a few teens (starting at about 10) whose parents had gone awol from their duties.
When she was away at college she used to get panic stricken calls from Mom or Dad asking how to deal with the little angel.
Oh yeah, on the boy front? The two that were "at the barn" were outnumbered about 8 to 1.
#40
Trailing daughter #1 has a pair of real camo pants, from the Army Surplus store. These are so popular here that each of the local high schools has its own preferred colour ways, I was told there -- the td's schoolmates wear red/white/black, but td#1 preferred the look of the blue/grey/black pair. (They come in pink, too, for that girl soldier look I guess.) I found the Army Surplus store in the Yellow Pages, Rex Mundi.
I had a reading student who'd had her first child, suddenly, when she was 15, and her first grandchild by the time she was thirty, but you've got be beat by a long shot, 6. That kind of thing is really dangerous for the child/mother; her parents ought to be jailed for endangerment, and the sperm donor castrated, in my gentle opinion.
Hundreds of soldiers patrolled three cities in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco in Mexico on Monday to restore security. The soldiers also looked for presumed drug traffickers who engaged in a shootout with police that left two officers dead and seven people injured.
The Army was keeping watch in Cardenas, Cunduacan and part of Villahermosa, the capital, about 400 miles southeast of Mexico City, said Tabasco Gov. Manuel Andrade, who did not reveal the number of troops.
The shootout took place before dawn on Sunday when a group of armed men believed to belong to the Zetas, a group led by ex-military men working for the Gulf drug cartel, killed a police commander and opened fire on others in an attempt to rescue two colleagues who had been detained, police said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/18/2006 1:21 Comments ||
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#3
Tabasco has a rich extreme left revolutionary history circa the 1920's and 30's. Zetas are far from leftists, rather narcoterrorists of the first order. The US has a narco-state on its southern border, which is ignored at our peril.
#4
The only reason they're steamed is because they were on the payroll too. These jackasses killed them anyway. That's enough to raise anyone's dander.
#6
First Tequila had to be "protected" (granted, only by the UN's Historical Preservation groupies) and now Tabasco? What in the world's goin' on down theres?
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2006 9:56 Comments ||
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#7
"Mexican State Overrun by Sorority" (?!)
the Zetas, a group led by ex-military men working for the Gulf drug cartel
#9
The Zetas were Mexican anti-drug commandos who sold their allegiance to the drug lords. They operate like a miltary force and have killed hundreds in Mexico. Some have set up shop to El Norte. 3 Dallas slayings indicate Mexico's Zetas moved north Not so much immigration, but an invasion.
Posted by: ed ||
07/18/2006 11:29 Comments ||
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A tsunami triggered by a strong undersea earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Java island on Monday killed at least 105 people, swept away buildings and damaged hundreds of fishing boats, officials and witnesses said. News of the disaster spread panic across a region still recovering from a tsunami less than two years ago in which nearly 230,000 people were killed or reported missing, mostly in Indonesia. But there were no reports of casualties or damage in any other country from Monday's tsunami.
"Our latest data shows 105 people have died while at least 50 are badly injured. The number can climb because many may have been swept away by the waves," Fitri Sidikah, an official at the Indonesian Red Cross disaster centre, told Reuters. "Around 650 fishing boats are damaged," she said. Waves up to five feet high crashed into Pangandaran beach near the town of Ciamis, 270 km southeast of Jakarta, killing 37 people, a local official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/18/2006 00:00 ||
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#2
Indonesia seems like a rather dangerous place to live, what with volcanos, earthquakes, tsunamis, Islamist terrorists, tropical diseases, .... In comparison even New Orleans looks safe.
#3
If you are standing on the beach admiring the ocean view and said ocean starts to recede, like a low tide that just keeps going out and out and out, turn your ass around 180 and head for high ground.
If you live by an ocean, you should know this. Particularly after the 2004 experience. Try teaching this in school. Try posting "Watch for signs of tsumani" warnings along beaches and coast roads, stores, etc.
But do not stand on the beach, admiring the view, scratching your ass, thinking "Whoa dude, cool! Where'd the ocean go? Oh look, is that a tuna?"
Officials in the Indonesian capital Jakarta failed to issue a tsunami warning despite receiving data about yesterday's earthquake 20 minutes before the first wave struck the island of Java, the Guardian has learned. The death toll rose to 327 today as rescue teams combed the devastated coastal communities. At least 160 people are missing. One official said they were too busy monitoring the aftershocks of the 7.7-magnitude quake that triggered the tsunami to raise the alarm.
Aerial television footage showed that virtually all wooden buildings, which make up the majority of the beachfront homes and hotels, were swept away, with about half the brick structures. Many of those that remained will have to be destroyed due to the severity of the damage. Buildings up to half a mile inland were damaged.
The Pacific Ocean tsunami warning centre in Hawaii issued a warning about 20 minutes after the main earthquake and 25 minutes before the first wave surged ashore. It was acted upon by people living in Australia's Christmas Island, 140 miles south of the epicentre.
Indonesia's one sensor in the area, near Cilacap, detected the earthquake and sent a report "in real time" to the Meteorological and Geophysical Agency in Jakarta, an official there, Sugun, said. "It was detected about 18 minutes after the earthquake but we were so busy monitoring all the aftershocks."
When asked if that was why they did not issue a tsunami warning to the coastal communities near Cilacap, Sugun said: "I guess it was something like that."
Posted by: Steve ||
07/18/2006 9:27 Comments ||
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Question: Why, with a billion dollars aid JUST FROM AUSTRALIA after the first Tsunami, with a western-funded international tsunami warning system up and running and sitting on a seismically active area, why why why weren't hte people warned?
Could it be the Javanese are as corrupt as they are Islamist?
Could it be they divide their time between praying to Allan (who punishes them regularly with volcanoes, tsunamis, earthquakes and floods) and paying off their family members and promoting incompetents to positions of power with bribes?
Could it be all that western aid money went to help Javanese Indonesian elites keep their hands on power? Perhaps it went towards the brand new fleet of war planes they are buying.
Certainly none of it went to help the peasants, did it?
FORT BRAGG, N.C. - Federal agents conducting a sweep aimed at illegal immigrants detained 58 civilian workers Tuesday as they tried to enter Fort Bragg with suspected false or fraudulently obtained identification, officials said.
Almost all of them were construction workers, officials said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, U.S. marshals and FBI agents worked with the military on the sweep, which was conducted between 6 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. when most of the thousands of soldiers and civilian workers who live off the post enter the gates.
"Today's operation was part of our ongoing force protection measures," said post spokesman Tom McCollum. "There were no incidents or accidents."
Some of the people detained were from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, ICE spokesman Marc Raimondi said.
Four people were arrested for drug possession, McCollum said.
People trying to enter Fort Bragg with false IDs can be charged with criminal trespass and presenting false identification, McCollum said. The garrison commander also can prevent contractors who knowingly hire such people from working at the base.
In the past year, more than 150 people have been detained as they tried to enter Fort Bragg without proper ID, McCollum said. The base is home to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and the 82nd Airborne Division. Is that a federal rap?
#1
"Almost all of them were construction workers the rest did yard maintenance"
Well, I for one am just shocked!
Hooda thunk it?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/18/2006 17:42 Comments ||
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#2
Well Barb, I worked in construction for 12 years. And if you ask their employers they will give you some line of shit about not being able get Americans to do the job, or not being able to pay more than minimum wage, or some other cock and bull story for why they hire wetbacks. The real reason is that they can pay them $10 an hour less than an American carpenter, stiff them on unemployment insurance and social security, and screw them on workers comp. They employers are every bit as culpable as the illegals, maybe more since they are the ones making all the money on the scheme.
#3
"The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 is a United States federal law which established the requirement for paying prevailing wages on public works projects. All federal government construction contracts, and most contracts for federally assisted construction over $2,000, must include provisions for paying workers on-site no less than the locally prevailing wages and benefits paid on similar projects."
The contractors should be fully investigated and, if among other things they are in violation of this act, their contract should be terminated and the firm barred from ever bidding on a federal contract again. Can you spell "bankrupty".
#7
It would be interesting to learn the backgrounds of the laborers who built the Pentagon 65 years or so ago. My guess is that it was 95% or more Americans - thankful simply to have a job following the depression decade.
NAACP Wants African-Americans To Stay Away From Target
Even companies that make an effort to work with minority-owned businesses typically spend barely 5 percent of their contracting dollars with them, the NAACP president said Monday as his group released report cards on several industries.
Blacks shouldn't spend money with companies that don't hire them or advertise in their communities, NAACP President Bruce S. Gordon said. "If corporations spend their money on us, we'll spend our money with those corporations," he said. "It's real simple."
Gordon's comments were part of his first keynote convention speech as head of the civil rights group; he took over as president last August. More than 4,000 people are attending the 97th annual meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which runs through Thursday.
The NAACP has graded corporations since 1997 on how well they work with blacks in employment, charitable giving, advertising, contracting and community service. This year, the civil rights group looked at the telecommunications, lodging, finance, retail and auto industries.
Most companies did best on charitable giving and community service, and worst on hiring and contracting. Gordon said the contracting numbers were "totally unacceptable."
A former division president at Verizon, Gordon said directing black consumer dollars will push companies to be more responsive. "I have a pretty unique perspective - 35 years working for a corporation with a purchasing budget in the billions and billions of dollars, and a chance to observe internally how the procurement process works," he said.
Telecommunications companies scored best with an overall B-minus grade.
For the second straight year, Atlanta-based BellSouth Corp. received the highest grade of any company - a 3.5 out of a possible 4.0. The company pushes its managers to look for vendors and employees who are black, said Valencia I. Adams, a BellSouth vice president. "They take it to heart and really work hard on it," she said.
Wachovia Corp. and SunTrust Banks were the highest-ranked banks with a 3.17 score. Wachovia got a perfect score on community relations. The company pays all employees to donate four hours a month to local charities, and employees volunteered for 650,000 hours in 2005, said G. Dewey Norwood Jr., an assistant vice president.
Of the 50 companies contacted by the NAACP, five ignored the survey, including four retailers: Dillard's Inc.; Kohl's Corp.; Sears, Roebuck and Co.; and Target Corp. All were given Fs for not answering. The other company that failed to answer was Excel, a telecommunications company; it also received an F.
Gordon called on blacks to stop shopping at Target, in particular, until they answer the NAACP's questions - though he stopped short of calling the action a boycott. "They didn't even care to respond to our survey," he said. "Stay out of their stores."
The NAACP focused on Target because they're one of the nation's most prominent national retailers, said John C. White, NAACP spokesman. However, the group does not plan to picket or leaflet Target, but will rely on word of mouth, he said.
A Target spokeswoman said via e-mail that the company opted out of the survey "because Target views diversity as being inclusive of all people from all different backgrounds, not just one group." The NAACP survey asks only about blacks. She added that minorities make up 40 percent of Target employees and 23 percent of all officials and managers.
During his keynote address, Gordon said black Americans should end their "victim-like thinking" and seize opportunities to help close gaps between the nation's rich and poor. "We may not have all the power that we want, but we have all the power that we need," Gordon said. "All we have to do is believe it and use it."
#2
No, the turf's been divided. Jesse gets Wal*Mart and NAACP gets Target. Regional players are to be fought out (figuratively of course) on a market by market basis.
#3
A Target spokeswoman said via e-mail that the company opted out of the survey "because Target views diversity as being inclusive of all people from all different backgrounds, not just one group."
Looks like I'm going to be doing more shopping at Target.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/18/2006 9:14 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I'm beginning to think we're turning the tide on these shakedown artists. Heck, my own middle-class cul-de-sac shows more REAL diversity than you could shake a stick at...my two immediate neighbors are black and Mexican, both married couples with 1 kid each. Across the cul-de-sac we have a married Asian (Chinese) couple with 3 girls. On the other side of my immediate neighbor, we have 2 married couples from Bosnia who've just moved in with 2 boys.
And, what do I see during the week? ALL of these kids playing together. And, this is in the "deep South" outside of Atlanta. As all of these "groups" move up the economic ladder into the middle class, they're shedding their "groupthink" mindset of being the constant victim and making things work day to day. They all have the same concerns I do...cost of gas, keeping the good job they have, cutting the yard, going to Target/Wal-Mart, etc.
Maybe, I'm being optimistic, but as this true melting pot continues to happen, I can't help but think they'll sway more toward the Republicans. We'll know more after November, but my County alone is now majority-minority (not just blacks, but huge groups of Bosnians, Hispanics, Asians, etc.) and yet, we appear to ALL shop at Target. And, seeing as how only 4,000 showed up to the NAACP Nat'l Convention, that gives me hope too (the MSM may have inflated that # too).
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2006 10:07 Comments ||
Top||
#5
wooops, meant to mention that my County swayed for GW Bush in 2004 by largest % of any GA county, and that includes the other very conservative county of Cobb (home of Bob Barr and Newt Gengrich).
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2006 10:08 Comments ||
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#6
there goes the huge fan base for the NASCAR Target race car....damn
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/18/2006 10:26 Comments ||
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#7
lol, Frank, I need to purchase some screen cleaning spray after that one. Ah well, guess I'll go to Target after work to pick it up.
Posted by: BA ||
07/18/2006 10:36 Comments ||
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#8
The UN and the NAACP are two organizations that have long outlived their usefulness, assuming they ever had any use in the first place. I mean, really, isn't "colored people" just a bit passe in the age of "rap niggaz?"
Posted by: mac ||
07/18/2006 10:42 Comments ||
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#9
Seething, angry, and biting the hands that feed.....
Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter
Corporate Communications
1955 Monroe Drive
Atlanta, Georgia 30324
404-876-3302
FAX: 404-575-3082
"FRIENDS" EVENTS PLANNED TO PROMOTE $1 MILLION NATIONAL CONTRIBUTION FROM TARGET IN CONNECTION WITH ITS "FRIENDS PARTY PACK"
ATLANTA The national American Red Cross has received a $1 million contribution from Target Stores in connection with the new Warner Home Video Friends Party Pack, available exclusively in Target stores nationwide to helps Friends fans across the country celebrate the May 6th series finale on NBC.
#10
I simply cannot fathom people whose sense of identity is entirely focused on the color of their skin. This is the antithesis of MLK's dream that men would not be "judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character". Yet these clowns persist. I also find it laughable that they preached against "victim-like thinking" and in the same breath claimed to be victims.
#11
FWIT: the local area Target stores refuse to allow the USMCR Toys for Tots collection and Salvation Army to set up at Christmas. I only visit the stores when I feel the need for a rest stop.
#12
Oh, and their name. What kind of response would whitey get if he referred to his fellow citizens as 'colored' these days? Could you imaging if the article had been typed up with 'colored' instead of 'black' in the narrative? Yet they still haven't gotten around to changing the very name they call themselves. Another, one set of rules for us and ...
#13
Gordon called on blacks to stop shopping at Target, in particular, until they answer the NAACP's questions - though he stopped short of calling the action a boycott. "They didn't even care to respond to our survey," he said. "Stay out of their stores."
Shoplift somewhere else.
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.
I parked the Studebaker in the lot behind Eddie's fruit stand. Two sulky boys with hair that looked like it had been mayonnaised gave me the eye. I knew they were Corelli's muscle, so I ignored them. That made them sulkier. 
Hundreds of soldiers patrolled three cities in the Gulf Coast state of Tabasco in Mexico on Monday to restore security. The soldiers also looked for presumed drug traffickers who engaged in a shootout with police that left two officers dead and seven people injured.
A tsunami triggered by a strong undersea earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Java island on Monday killed at least 105 people, swept away buildings and damaged hundreds of fishing boats, officials and witnesses said. News of the disaster spread panic across a region still recovering from a tsunami less than two years ago in which nearly 230,000 people were killed or reported missing, mostly in Indonesia. But there were no reports of casualties or damage in any other country from Monday's tsunami. 
