#1
Larson broke into the house in the 700 block of Cromwell SW and then somehow ruptured a gas line which exploded, according to investigators. That blew out the walls and set the house on fire.
Now doubt attorneys have contacted his next-of-kin regarding a lawsuit against the homeowner for having a home that was unsafe to break into.
Former Russian president and apparent avid Abba-fan Vladimir Putin paid £20,000 ($29,000) to fly an Abba cover band from the UK to Russia to perform a private concert for him at a remote resort.
"It was the most bizarre gig I have ever done," said Jennifer Robb of the Björn Again Abba-cover band to the Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Plans for the concert, which took place on January 22nd at Lake Valdai resort, nine hours outside Moscow began taking shape sometime before Christmas when Björn Again founder Rod Stephens received a mysterious phone call.
"The voice on the end of the phone said, 'Kremlin... Russia... Moscow... we want your band'," he told the Telegraph. But the call was no joke, and about a month later the band found itself on a plane bound for Moscow.
Security at the resort was extremely tight, recalled Robb. "We arrived at a building which looked like a big stronghold with metal security gates. We had to put all our belongings through an X-ray machine," she said. "At one point I went outside to get some fresh air and there was a man with a machine gun who said something in Russian and made it very clear that I wasn't allowed to wander anywhere on my own."
And instead of taking the stage in front of a concert hall full of fans, the band members found themselves playing to a room featuring three couches.
"The prime minister was wearing a tuxedo and bow tie. The others were all men and wearing tuxedos too," said Robb, adding that she suspected the audience members were likely security guards.
But the surreal atmosphere didn't stop Björn Again from putting on a show dazzling enough to move the usually stone-faced Prime Minister Putin to burst into song during the band's rendition of Honey Honey, according to Robb. The band's set, which also included such hits as Waterloo, Money, Money, Money, Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia, apparently met Putin's expectations.
"At the end, the prime minister shouted 'bravo, bravo' and gave us great applause," said Robb.
Band founder Stephens initially thought £20,000 was a fair sum to earn for the private, hour-long show, but upon realizing the depth of Putin's love for Abba, he's having second thoughts. "I wish I'd asked for twice as much now," he told the newspaper.
It's not the first time Abba has emerged as a favourite among international leaders and politicians - John McCain also recently admitted he was a fan and Queen Elizabeth has even been reported as owning a number of Abba records.
#2
Lane Kiffin, for calling Urban Meyer a cheat without knowing that it is not a violation of NCAA rules to make a telephone contact of a recruit while he/she is visiting another campus. Right out the box he showed what a stupid ass he is - insulting the National Championship team's coach. And yes under full disclosure I am a proud member of the Gator nation.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/06/2009 11:47 Comments ||
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#3
Speaking of Clemens...from Joe Torre's book.
After reading the following passage about Clemens' pregame ritual following a steaming hot whirlpool bath, though, I simply cannot help sharing it.
"He'd come out looking like a lobster," Yankee trainer Steve Donahue said.
Then Donahue would rub the hottest possible liniment on (Clemens') testicles.
"He'd start snorting like a bull," the trainer said. "That's when he was ready to pitch."
So now we know why he was considered a "fire balling right hander".
#4
In today's Australian papers, there is video of footballer Setanta O'Hailpin knocking out a teammate in a practice match, and then kicking him as he is lying face down on the ground. Now that is special.
It's been a vintage year. They all are, I guess.
#6
"Then Donahue would rub the hottest possible liniment on (Clemens') testicles."
Good grief. That's far more information than I want to know.
Clemens couldn't do the rubbing himself?
Do any of you know ANY heterosexual man who would rub another man's testicles, liniment or not? (Outside of some kind of actual medical procedure, though I can't think of any that involves rubbing the testicles.)
Now I gotta go scrub my mind's eye with Brillo....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/06/2009 12:56 Comments ||
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#7
The junior senator from Illinois, Plaxico Burress.
Michigan head football coach Rich Rodriguez for his incredibly dumb comment about Michigan football players just before Ohio State kicked their collective asses in Flint.
I got $20 that sez following Michigan's third consecutive loss of the 2009-2010 season, Rodriguez will be sent packing.
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 -- June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981--1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967--1975). Born in Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s, where he was an actor, president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), and a spokesman for General Electric (GE). His start in politics occurred during his work for GE. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, he switched to the Republican Party in 1962, at the age of 51. After delivering a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but won both the nomination and election in 1980.
As president, Reagan implemented bold new political and economic initiatives. His supply-side economic policies, dubbed "Reaganomics," included deregulation and substantial tax cuts implemented in 1981. In his first term he survived an assassination attempt, took a hard line against organized labor, and ordered military actions in Grenada. He was reelected in a landslide in 1984. His second term was primarily marked by foreign matters, namely the ending of the Cold War, the bombing of Libya, and the revelation of the Iran-Contra affair. The president had previously ordered a massive military buildup in an arms race with the Soviet Union, forgoing the strategy of détente. He publicly described the USSR as an "evil empire" and supported anti-Communist movements worldwide. He negotiated with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, resulting in the INF Treaty and the decrease of both countries' nuclear arsenals.
Reagan left office in 1989. In 1994, the former president disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year; he died ten years later at the age of ninety-three. He ranks highly among former U.S. presidents in terms of approval rating.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/06/2009 06:33 ||
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#1
We need him more than ever.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/06/2009 11:59 Comments ||
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#2
Sadly, he isn't coming back.
We need to BE like him, not wish for his return.
Conservatives have the ideas that work in the real world. But in an age of mass media, good ideas aren't (unfortunately) enough. All conservatives need to learn to articulate, politican conservatives even more so. That's Reagan's legacy - articulate it, and they will come.
It seems most of today's Repubs don't get that message.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
02/06/2009 16:01 Comments ||
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#3
I sill miss him, his humor and his spine.
Both are lacking in the current GOP leadership in the Senate and the party in general.
Legislatures in Washington State have introduced legislation claiming state sovereignty. This legislation sends a strong message that many believe the 10th Amendment still stands.
Whereas the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 7 declares that the people of this State have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State... But why are they doing this?
CONCORD, N.H.A day after saying he was getting involved in a sales tax case between Massachusetts and a tire vendor in his state, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch is proposing a bill to protect businesses from having to collect sales taxes on behalf of the Bay State.
Massachusetts officials say the case before its Supreme Judicial Court applies only to Connecticut-based Town Fair Tire Centers Inc., and one set of circumstances. The company sold tires in New Hampshire to customers who appeared to be from Massachusetts, yet didn't collect the 5 percent sales tax that would have been levied on similar sales at one of Town Fair's Massachusetts stores.
Lynch said Friday his state needs to send a clear message that Massachusetts and other states shall not impose their sales taxes on New Hampshire businesses. New Hampshire does not have a sales tax.
#4
Leaving out the 10 most populous states and call a states convention as authorized under the Constitution, you can pass some really wicked changes to take back home and tell the boys in those other 10 to stuff it if they think they own the place.
#9
Sounds like a bunch of states are getting tired of 'unfunded mandates' from Washington, interference from other states (restrictions on gun rights, sales taxes, automobile purchases, etc.), and in the case of Michigan, people from other states coming to Michigan to cast ballots. One of the founding fathers (James Madison, IIRC) stated that "the role of the States and of the people is broad and unrestricted, the role of the Federal Government is small and restricted". Since those days, the Federal Government has encroached on many of the obvious states' and peoples' rights. These may be the first shots across the bow of the Feds, showing that a revolution is brewing. This is really gonna get Obambi in a huff!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/06/2009 20:16 Comments ||
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#10
Compare wid RENSE > STATE [ e.g. ILLINOIS = US$9.0Bilyuhn State Budget Deficit] CAN RUN OUT OF MONEY, BUT CAN'T DECLARE BANKRUPTCY.
CALIFORNIA = US$42.0Bilyuhn in the gross deficit red, wid US$340.0Milyuhn owed just for February 2009. STATE GOVT PLANS TO BEGIN MANDATORY
"FURLOUGH FRIDAYS" [aka "PAYLESS WORK/PAYDAYS"?]EVERY 1st + 3rd FRIDAYS OF EVERY MONTH THRU YEAR 2010???
#12
Shame of it is, the 9th and 10th shoudl have been asserted long before now, to stop the court-creep using the "commerce" clause that lets the feds stick their noses into all kinds of places it does not belong.
A strong 9th and 10th woudl reverse a LOT of the creeping statism from DC.
#1
I would doubt the quake was on a brand-new fault; more likely it was just one more quake on a fault that had shifted many times before in an area known for having earthquakes. In fact, the argument could be made that if indeed the dam did trigger the quake, the result was a less severe quake than would have occurred later, after more tectonic stress built up. (But if the fault was right under the lake, the increased water pressure might possibly have been transferred into the fault, allowing more stress relief than 'normal', but it is my understanding that this fault was some distance away.)
* WAFF > CHINA SPEEDS UP ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAMS. Domestic Nuclear Energy - PRC plans expansion of National NucPower Grid from current 9.0 GIGAWATTS to 70 GIGAWATTS over 11 Years, enuff to power 70 major Chin cities the size of America's = Amerika's San Francisco.
PROB > LT NUCLEAR SECURITY AS CHINA WILL LIKELY ACCUMULATE A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF REUSABLE = SALE-EABLE ADVANCED/HIGH-QUALITY PROCESSED NUCMATS [ Read, USEFUL FOR RADICAL MILITANT-TERRORIST AGENDUMS].
More than 200 people had to be rescued from their cars after they became trapped by heavy snow in Devon. The story neglects to mention the depth of the snow. The video shows a few inches at the most. A TV news program last week mentioned that the City of London hasn't a single snow plow. Maybe the US could send a C17 full of snow shovels to be dropped on the UK.
#2
No snowplows for London and just a few at the airports. I lived there for 6 years 1997-2003 and it only snowed once - the day we left, ironically. It was a duster, that's all. We played golf 12 months a year, rain or shine. I don't know if the NPV of buying, maintaining and underusing snowplows versus lost productivity is positive but I doubt it. Best to deal with wet leaves on the rail tracks and frozen points on the system to keep the Underground and NetRail running.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/06/2009 12:04 Comments ||
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#3
Why, there's so much support for Global Warming there, how are the puppets on BBC 4 dealing with this ?
#4
I'm from Winnipeg (AKA Winterpeg). There is snow on the ground 5 months of the year. Much of the snow removing equipment one sees clearing the roads are not specialty items just for show. You see front end loaders and graters used all the time. Seems to me that I see them more often than I see 'snowplows' or 'snowblowers'. Doesn't London have any of these?
#5
Hey Chemist!!! I thought I was the only 'burger from the Peg. Only two more months to go before we can start sandbagging against the floods, eh? From the floods come the mosquitos. From the mosquitos come the wish for winter and the snow. Ahh Winnipeg.
Grammy award-winning singer and Academy award-winning actress Cher told CNSNews.com that living under Republican rule almost "killed" her, and she does not understand why anyone would want to be a Republican.
She also said that President Barack Obama's "intelligence" and "spirit" are "so great" he will be able to do "more than anyone could possibly do."
"His intelligence is so great and his spirit is so great, I believe he will be able to do as much if not more than anyone could possibly do," Cher told CNSNews.com at the "Declare Yourself" inaugural ball.
"I just think he's totally the right person at this time in our history," she said. "He brings something more in his spirit than maybe another president could be even with the same intelligence. There's something about him that brings more with his spirit, and that's what Americans need right now. Republicans almost killed me."
When asked to explain how Republicans somehow "killed" her, Cher was not specific. "You know what? I have so -- I try to be charitable and there are some really good Republicans, but I just don't understand how anyone would want to be a Republican. I just can't figure it. I don't understand," she said. "If you're poor, if you're any kind of minority -- gay, black, Latino, anything. If you're not a rich -- I don't know. If you're not a rich born-again-Christian, I don't get it."
Cher also said President Obama will not end the war in Iraq right away. "I think as soon as he can. I don't think it will be easy. It would be kind of simplistic to think that's going to happen right away," she said.
#4
Still more proof that Sonny was the brains of the operation.
(Seriously, he was. He played the goof on stage, but that was all part of the act.)
Posted by: Mike ||
02/06/2009 17:22 Comments ||
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#5
Years ago, some wit made the headline that "Cher has disappeared".
In the story, according to her maid, Cher was in her steam bath, when she suddenly called out "Gatekeeper! Give me another year!!!", followed by a hissing sound.
The maid came to check on her, but found only a stinking, smoking pile of melted plastic on the floor.
#7
Cher isn't one of my favorite people to begin with. Now that she's suffering from dementia, she's even less of a favorite. Some people have no idea what the real world is all about, and never will. This moonbat has joined that group.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/06/2009 20:30 Comments ||
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Kashmir's Fruit Growers, who organised massive protests for opening of the Srinagar-Muzuffarabad road for the trade activities, now have stopped sending their apple consignments to Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
In Oct, 2008, cross LoC trade through Kaman Bridge on the Srinagar-Muzuffarabad road was started amid much fanfare. On the first day, 14 apple laden trucks crossed the bridge.
Three months later, the fruit trade had hit the road block as Valley growers have completely stopped dispatching their apples to Muzuffarabad.
General Manager, DIC Mohammad Ashraf Wani who also is custodian for the cross LoC trade confirmed that no apple truck was sent across the LoC in the latest cross LoC trading.
"On Tuesday, six trucks were dispatched from Kashmir to PoK. But, not a single apple box was in the consignment," he said.
Wani, however, said the trade on barter system, continues through Uri's Kaman Bridge on weekly basis. "So far, 6,000 apple boxes were dispatched by the growers. But, growers seem to have lost interest in the trade through LoC."
Before the start of cross LoC trade growers were curious to dispatch their apples to PoK. Now, they are not.
"We were eagerly waiting for the beginning of cross LoC trade, even dispatched thousands of apple boxes to PoK in the start. But, so far growers have not received a single penny in lieu of the apples," President Fruit Mandi Sopore, Bashir Beig said.
"After three months, we don't know what happened to apples in PoK," he said.
Beig said the growers have stopped sending their products to PoK. "This time, we only dispatch our apples to different mandies of the country as the market is good there," he said.
"The trade is useless unless government starts a permanent communication link between two parts of Kashmir," he said.
The growers who dispatched their apples on the first day of opening of the trade too are losing hope about future of the trade. "Unless growers are allowed to visit to Pok, this cross LoC business is meaningless," said Javid Ahmad, a trader who dispatched around 100 apple boxes on October 20, 2008.
"I don't know what happened to my apples in PoK. Government has to do more to sustain this trade, otherwise in coming months no trade will take place via Kaman bridge.
There is other reason that compelled growers not to dispatch their apples to PoK as the growers were offered lucrative rates by the Delhi based traders. "Soon after the cross LoC trade started, the rates of apples have gone up," said Beig, adding that this year all the losses got compensated by good rates.
Before the start of trade, the Union Ministry of Commerce has approved a list of 23 items from Kashmir. Pakistan, too, had sent a list of 26 items. The items from the Indian side include fruit (fresh and dry), spices, saffron, carpets, wall hangings, woolens, aromatic and medicinal plants, Cricket bats, black mushrooms, green tea, imli, dhania, rajmah.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/06/2009 00:00 ||
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Unless growers are allowed to visit to Pok, this cross LoC business is meaningless said Javid Ahmad.the shmock
A taste. Go read the whole thing. Seriously, go. We'll wait 'til you get back. :-)
'Fredrik' recently finished basic training in the 51st Battalion of the Golani Brigade. Together with thousands of other soldiers, he is waiting on a base a few miles from Gaza, ready to be deployed in case the cease-fire collapses. The only difference is that he is not an Israeli citizen, or even Jewish. He is a 29-year-old Swedish Pentecostal Christian.
Fredrik came here for the first time nine years ago as a tourist. "It was love at first sight. I stepped out of the airplane, looked around and felt that this was a country I could die for." He returned to his small Swedish hometown, where his father serves as a pastor in the local Pentecostal church. "I always commit 100 percent to things that I do and I felt strongly that this is where God wanted me to be," he explains, so he wrapped up his own career as a youth pastor and moved here.
Soon after his arrival, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up along with 21 young people in a discotheque in Tel Aviv. "Suddenly I realized that not everybody is nice," Fredrik says with a touch of irony. "When I was called up to do army service in Sweden, I had refused to carry a gun."
After having experienced terrorism up close, he stopped being a pacifist. "I realized that there are situations when one needs to use weapons to defend oneself."
That insight led him to an IDF conscription office in the summer of 2001, where he explained that he wanted to join the IDF. He received a resounding no for an answer, since he was not a citizen, nor Jewish. He was not even a legal resident, only a tourist. What follows is a classic tale of patient Swedish stubbornness, with a happy ending. 'Fredrik' even received his beret in the elite Egoz Unit, before being sent back to the 51st Infantry Battalion.
#2
Sounds like an intelligent young man that matured. Glad he understands that people sleep at ease because rough men are ready to do violence to others on his behalf.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/06/2009 20:09 Comments ||
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Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin on Thursday called on the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to exercise restraint in its issuance of fatwas. "I feel that the MUI doesn't know how to prioritize, issues like vote abstaining don't require a fatwa but, rather, a general encouragement for the public to participate in the general election," Syamsuddin told tempointeraktif.com. "That fatwa isn't based on sound judgment, and it's clear the MUI has erred in terms of legal priority," he added.
Syamsuddin, who is also the deputy chairman of MUI's central committee, reiterated that he had not been involved in the issuance of the Council's recent edicts. "The fatwa commission contained more members from the Nahdlatul Ulama," he explained, naming a dominant conservative Sunni Islam organization in Indonesia.
He urged the Council to issue edicts of real importance, such as the need for improvement of human resources, the urgency of fighting corruption by public officials and other more fundamental concerns.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/06/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
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.
