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Paleofactions agree to form unity govt
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Natural causes? Bullet holes in man's head suggest otherwise
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Police and medical examiners who thought a man died of natural causes changed their minds after funeral-home workers found bullet holes in his head.

The Kansas City Star reported Thursday that three bullet wounds -- two of them in Anthony Crockett's head -- were noticed after the man's body was embalmed Friday. The funeral home returned the 49-year-old Kansas City man's body to the Jackson County medical examiner's office, and police counted the death as a homicide.
Posted by: Mike || 02/27/2009 17:05 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  when the head's leaking embalming fluid like a watering can, you gotta wonder if anybody's awake at the ME's office, much less doing a Quincey impression
Posted by: Frank G || 02/27/2009 17:14 Comments || Top||

#2  Three bullet holes in the head? Quincy and the CSI guys said it was a suicide.

What surprised me is that the holes weren't discovered until he was embalmed.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/27/2009 17:30 Comments || Top||

#3  Sounds like natural causes to me.

He was shot in the head, and naturally he suffered trauma and died.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 02/27/2009 17:34 Comments || Top||

#4  Snowy Thing, you've clearly got a second career awaiting when you're ready to make the change... although you'll prob'ly have to shave a bit so as not to startle the punters.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/27/2009 22:22 Comments || Top||

#5  This is Kansas City. The unnatural causes threshold is crossed when someone has to stop and reload.
Posted by: ed || 02/27/2009 23:22 Comments || Top||


Wal-Mart Employee Burns Himself to Death Because He 'Couldn't Take it Anymore'
A 58-year-old Wal-Mart employee lit himself on fire in a strip-mall parking lot Thursday night, saying only that he "couldn't take it anymore," ChicagoBreakingNews.com reported.

The man, who wasn't identified, died later at the hospital.

The employee, who worked the overnight shift, doused himself in lighter fluid around 10 p.m. outside the Chicago-area discount store before setting himself on fire, according to ChicagoBreakingNews.com.

At least 10 people witnessed the act and several attempted to rescue the man by throwing their jackets on him in an effort to put out the flames — but he refused assistance.

"He said he didn't want any help and threw the coats off," said Randy Sater, a watch commander with the Bloomingdale fire department.

When questioned by a police officer at the scene as to why he was committing suicide, the man, who was by that time severely burned, said, "I just couldn't take it anymore," ChicagoBreakingNews.com reported.

A store manager said he didn't know why the employee took his life and said he hadn't recently been laid off.

The victim was rushed to a local hospital before being transferred to the burn unit at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago.

He was pronounced dead there at 12:42 a.m.
Posted by: Beavis || 02/27/2009 14:44 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Muslim whackjob arrested for targeting Obama with HIV-infected blood
A man from President Obama's hometown of Chicago has been arrested for allegedly sending Obama and his staff envelopes containing HIV-infected blood, in the hopes of killing or harming them.

In the weeks leading up to Obama's inauguration, Saad Hussein, an Ethiopian refugee in his late 20's, sent an envelope addressed to "Barack Obama" to offices of the Illinois government in Springfield, Ill., according to court documents. The envelope contained a series of unusual items, including a letter with reddish stains and an admission ticket for Obama's election-night celebration in Chicago's Grant Park. Court documents said Hussein, who takes drugs to treat a mental illness, later told FBI agents he is "very sick with HIV" and cut his fingers with a razor so he could bleed on the letter.

Hazmat teams were called in after the envelope was opened, and offices of the Illinois Department on Aging and the Department of Revenue were locked down for nearly two hours, locking 300 staffers in their offices, court documents said.

Hussein, with his brother acting as an interpreter, told FBI agents he was actually "an admirer" of Obama and was "seeking help from the government," according to court documents. He also told them he was hoping to obtain tickets to the inaugural ceremonies in Washington, the documents said.

Days after sending the letter to Obama, Hussein allegedly placed two more letters in the mail, one addressed to "Emanuel," an apparent reference to Obama's current chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel. The two letters contained what appeared to be dried blood, the court documents said.

Hussein, who has never held a job in the three years he's been in the United States, was arrested last month. An affidavit filed at the time accused Hussein of "knowingly" mailing letters "containing HIV-infected blood, with the intent to kill or injure another," in violation of federal law. The affidavit does not address whether the letters could have actually killed or injured anyone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HIV is spread only through sexual contact with an infected person, through sharing needles with an infected person, or through blood transfusions of infected blood.

The spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Peter Rendina, expressed confidence that the U.S. mail system is safe. "To me the U.S. Postal Service is the most secure form of communication in the world," he said. "In no way are we seeing a trend."

After Hussein's arrest, he was placed in a Chicago correctional facility. He has yet to be formally charged. A judge ordered he receive a mental examination to see if he's fit for trial, but as of two weeks ago the court couldn't locate a translator to conduct the examination, according to court documents. A publicly-appointed attorney representing Hussein declined comment, saying he was "not at liberty to discuss pending criminal matters."

This is not the first time law enforcement officials have had to take Hussein into custody. He was arrested by police in 2006 after starting a fire in the middle of a crowded Chicago intersection. When officers arrived on the scene, he was waiving the Koran in the air and yelling "Allah Akbar," or "God is Great" in Arabic. Court documents said he was transported to a hospital, where he called President Bush a terrorist and criticized American foreign policy. He was not formally charged, but he did spend time in the mental health unit of the hospital.

The latest case marks the second time HIV-infected blood has been sent through the U.S. mail. In 2006 a "disturbed individual" placed a plastic vial of HIV-infected blood in the mail, according to Rendina. The unidentified individual was arrested and charged, and is now receiving psychiatric treatment at a federal medical detention center, Rendina said.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/27/2009 13:32 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Never held a job in the U.S.? How did he get in? What kind of visa? Was he a student? Tourist? Religious worker? Raising money for charity?

Problem with the news is, reporters forget to ask basic questions. This would seem to be one of them. How did he get into the country? How did he support himself? Where did he live?

Who, what, when, where, why. It's not hard.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/27/2009 14:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Heh. Not hard for you, Doc. Combined rocket science/neurosurgery/quantum physics to the actual practitioners of the art of today's "news" reporting...
Posted by: PBMcL || 02/27/2009 14:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Never held a job in the U.S.? How did he get in? What kind of visa? Was he a student? Tourist? Religious worker? Raising money for charity?

Problem with the news is, reporters forget to ask basic questions. This would seem to be one of them. How did he get into the country? How did he support himself? Where did he live?


In whose guest house was he staying?
Posted by: Seafarious || 02/27/2009 15:17 Comments || Top||

#4  God what a sick bastard. I used to be friendly with Muslims at local barber shops, but after all the nasty things ive read about them throughout these last few months i've decided not to really think they want to portray the Qu'Ran, but portray themselves in nasty malicious ways. What kind of animal would knowingly want to infect others with HIV?
Posted by: Annonoymous || 02/27/2009 21:30 Comments || Top||

#5  That's not a Muslim thing as such, Annonoymous. There have been homosexual animals like that, and hetero ones too, taking revenge on the world they are going to leave sooner than they wanted to -- and none of them doing it for jihad. Not to mention the crazy idiots who can't live without trying to kill someone famous. One question unanswered is whether Mr. Hussein really is infected with HIV at all.

Nonetheless, this is yet another strike against those who insist Islam is exclusively a religion of peace and peaceful adherents.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/27/2009 22:09 Comments || Top||


Cops: Trio Swapped Kids For Bird
A trio of Louisiana nitwits agreed to swap two young children for a $1500 cockatoo and $175, police charge. The deranged exchange was hatched after Donna Greenwell, a 51-year-old trucker, learned that the bird was being offered for sale by Brandy Romero, 27, and Paul Romero, 46. According to Evangeline Parish Sheriff's Office investigators, Brandy Romero told cops that Greenwell contacted her and said that while she could not afford the cockatoo's price tag, she did have children to trade (in a bid to sell the bird, the Romeros posted a flyer at a barn, where Greenwell spotted the notice, which included a photo of the cockatoo). Investigators have determined that Greenwell is not the mother of the children, a four-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy. It appears as if the children, whose mother is a criminal fugitive, have resided with various families over the past several years, and have spent the past year in the custody of Greenwell, a convicted pedophile with a lengthy rap sheet. Greenwell and the Romeros, pictured below in photos released by the Evangeline sheriff, have each been charged with aggravated kidnapping. The children swapped for the bird are now living with a temporary foster family, according to investigator Keith Dupre, who added that the cockatoo was recovered from Greenwell's home, where two other birds resided. When confronted by deputies, Greenwell denied trading the children for the bird, which she claimed was simply given to her by the Romeros.
Posted by: Beavis || 02/27/2009 09:39 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  All three look like pillars of the community.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/27/2009 11:42 Comments || Top||

#2  That story just about beats all.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/27/2009 17:21 Comments || Top||


Homeowners Open Fire With AK-47 On Car Thieves
The ATL not the Swat valley
A well-armed couple opened fire with an assault rifle and pistol early Friday morning on some car thieves in southwest Atlanta.

The couple at a home in the 1900 block of Childress Drive told police that after somebody tried to steal their car last week, they rigged up a homemade alarm in their carport using string and cans.

Police told Channel 2 Action News reporter Ryan Young that about 2 a.m. Friday the cans started making noise, indicating intruders were in their carport. The couple swung into action. The husband picked up a pistol and ran outside to confront the thieves. The wife grabbed an AK-47 assault rife and joined her husband outside.

They found several men driving off in their car. They told police when the car thieves tried to shoot at them, they opened fire with his pistol and her AK-47.

The thieves took off, leaving the couple's car behind.

When police arrived they found shell casings littering the driveway and front yard, and the couple's car riddled with bullet holes. There was no blood at the scene so police don't think any of the thieves were hit.
Need more time at the practice range ...
There's no word on if the homeowners will face any charges.
Posted by: Beavis || 02/27/2009 08:50 || Comments || Link || [11 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There's no word on if the homeowners will face any charges.

hmmm....
Posted by: Omolugum Prince of the Platypi2692 || 02/27/2009 9:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Lies, all lies! There are NO assault weapons in Georgia. I have forwarded this bogus posting to the Obamastapo for the appropriate follow-up and action.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/27/2009 9:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Did you see the freaking hoopty-mobile that was being stolen? No way that thing is worth more than $800. Unless it had rims, or a $3000 stereo system in it.
Posted by: gromky || 02/27/2009 10:04 Comments || Top||

#4  They found several men driving off in their car. They told police when the car thieves tried to shoot at them, they opened fire with his pistol and her AK-47.

The thieves took off, leaving the couple's car behind.


So they were driving off in the car, got shot at, so they got out of the car and fled?

Seems a little odd. Most people would have put the petal to the metal.
Posted by: DoDo || 02/27/2009 10:57 Comments || Top||

#5  There are NO assault weapons in Georgia.

Ha! Take a drive down Stewart Ave...oops.. Metropolitan Parkway.. renaming it cleaned it up

lol
Posted by: Beavis || 02/27/2009 11:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Broke into the wrong God damn rec room, didn't ya you bastard!
Posted by: Burt Gummer || 02/27/2009 11:37 Comments || Top||

#7  That's a lotta firepower to protect what looks like an '84 Cutlass.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/27/2009 11:39 Comments || Top||

#8  If it's your only wheels and you drive to work, losing it is a lot more costly than book value.

Could also be they've had other problems with the punk thieves and were making a point.
Posted by: lotp || 02/27/2009 12:48 Comments || Top||

#9  I don't think we're hearing the whole story.

/sarc
Posted by: Whurong Gonque4146 || 02/27/2009 13:13 Comments || Top||

#10  She fires an AK on full-auto at a car maybe 20 feet away and doesn't hit anybody? Geeze, give somebody else the assault rifle, huh? This broad's a worse shot that the jihadis.
Posted by: mojo || 02/27/2009 13:34 Comments || Top||

#11  She fires an AK on full-auto

What cracks me up from an european perspective is that the weapon used most probably was a legal (or at least, not THAT illegal) semi-auto knock-off of the AK pattern... just like tens (possibly hundred) of thousands upon ten of thousands of US people legally and peacefully own semi-auto rifles or carbines from the AR-15 pattern, with only a comparatively few owning full-auto actual military rifles.
Yet, this american journalist, who should know better, uses "assault rifle" and "AK47", conjuring up images of mags emptied in wild, long bursts.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/27/2009 14:24 Comments || Top||

#12  Family Fued question today, "If someone was breaking into your house, what would use to scare the burgler off?"

#1 Answer - Gun (74)
Posted by: swksvolFF || 02/27/2009 14:31 Comments || Top||

#13  and the couple's car riddled with bullet holes.
Now, who would have done that?
Insurance job, maybe?
Posted by: tipper || 02/27/2009 14:35 Comments || Top||

#14  Then there are repossession/shootouts: "With the economy in shambles, auto reposessions are expected to rise, and violence along with them.
The shooting death of Alabama resident Jimmy Tanks by a repo man in the wee hours of June 26 points to part of the problem. The local sheriff says Tanks did what anyone would have done at 2:30 a.m.—he went outside, armed, to check on the noise.
The repo man, Kenneth Alvin Smith, who faces murder charges, says Tanks fired first."
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/27/2009 15:20 Comments || Top||

#15  The car doesn't look exactly like a premo grade car to steal. Looks like the kind of car you would donate to the Kidney Foundation to get it hauled off; otherwise you would have to pay to have it hauled off. Most likely the AK-47 wasn't on "full auto" although you can legally own a fully automatic weapon in this country if you want to register it with BATF and pay the fee. That may change under Obama. The lifted "assault" weapons ban under George W. Bush has expired. It's not clear what will happen now.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/27/2009 16:44 Comments || Top||

#16  If yu can't control your rifle any better than that you had better swap it for a shotgun.
Posted by: Glenmore || 02/27/2009 18:19 Comments || Top||

#17  Did you see the freaking hoopty-mobile that was being stolen? No way that thing is worth more than $800. Unless it had rims, or a $3000 stereo system in it.

When you live in a crappy neighborhood, driving a nice-looking car is an invitation to car thieves. Jalopies are the way to go under those circumstances - preferably a domestic make for which labor and parts are cheap. That particular area of Atlanta is more dangerous than parts of Newark, NJ.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 02/27/2009 22:48 Comments || Top||


Germans get in on Car-B-Q scene
When Berlin resident Simone Klostermann returned from vacation and couldnÂ’t find her Mercedes SLK, she thought it had been towed. Police told her the 35,000- euro ($45,000) car had been torched.

“They’d squirted something flammable into the car’s engine block in the gap between the windshield and the hood,” said Klostermann. “The engine was completely destroyed.”

The 34-year-oldÂ’s experience isnÂ’t unique in the German capital. At least 29 vehicles were destroyed in arson attacks this year, most of them luxury cars, according to police. The number is already about 30 percent of the total for 2008. The latest to go up in flames was a Porsche, on Feb. 14, two days after a Mercedes was set alight in a public car park.

While youths in Athens protest by throwing Molotov cocktails, in Paris by toppling barricades, and in Budapest by hurling eggs at politicians, protesters in Berlin rage at their economic plight by targeting the most expensive cars -- symbols of German wealth and power.

A group calling itself BMW -- the initials stand for Movement for Militant Resistance in German -- has claimed responsibility for several attacks in left-wing magazines and Web sites, police spokesman Bernhard Schodrowski said.
Typical leftist cowards - arson in the night, and then gone. Wouldn't want to have any actual risk, any face-to-face confrontations where they could be held responsible for their actions.
Posted by: gromky || 02/27/2009 08:50 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So will Germans play it like the Frogs ? Or will they man up like Atlantans and open fire ?
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 || 02/27/2009 11:27 Comments || Top||

#2  Anger rises in Germany as the economy falls. Trade unions and globalization-critical protesters are planning demonstrations in Berlin and Frankfurt under the banner: "We're not paying for your crisis."
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/27/2009 15:29 Comments || Top||


Jack Straw's lost his wallet; lend him some money
UK Justice Secretary Jack Straw was targeted by internet fraudsters who sent emails to his contacts claiming he was in need of emergency money while on a foreign trip, according to a report Wednesday.

Straw told his local constituency's newspaper, the Lancashire Telegraph in northern England, that the scammers had emailed ministry officials, ruling Labour Party members, and constituents asking for $3 000 because he had lost his wallet while in the Nigerian capital of Lagos.

The fake email, issued under the heading "The Right Hon Jack Straw MP", said: "I misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept.

"I would like you to assist me with a soft loan urgently to settle my hotel bills and get myself back home."

It claimed that Straw, a former home secretary and foreign secretary, was visiting Lagos for a project called Empowering Youth to Fight Racism, though he was in fact in the UK.

One constituent apparently replied to the email, but no money was offered.

The account, a hotmail email address that he used to deal with constituency matters, was suspended by Microsoft.

"The internet is wonderful in many ways, but these gangs put a lot of effort in because they make money from it," Straw told the newspaper. "In a lot of cases they do get people to cough up. But I think it was so obviously ridiculous that I could go off trekking in Africa and I would lose my wallet."
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One constituent apparently replied to the email, but no money was offered.
That goes without saying, I mean who on Earth would pay to get him back? Now if these people had claimed to be holding the Man of Straw & threatened to release him unless cash was received it could all have been rather different...
Posted by: Whusomble Grundy3757 || 02/27/2009 14:10 Comments || Top||

#2  What do they mean by a "soft" loan, anyway.
Suppose a politician was lost and broke in a foreign country, and nobody could care less.
Posted by: Grunter || 02/27/2009 19:44 Comments || Top||

#3  I can think of a way Jack could earn that money he lost, and it's no worse than what he's been doing all these year to the UK citizens and her allies

/I know, it was a hoax
Posted by: Frank G || 02/27/2009 20:06 Comments || Top||


Dallas Gun Buyback
Guns for groceries

Your gun for groceries.

That's the goal of a gun buyback from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Reunion Arena. Each unloaded, operational firearm surrendered will fetch a $50 Kroger grocery gift card. People trading in their guns must present identification, city officials say.

"It would be a failure on our part if we do not take an initiative," said Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, who is helping lead the effort.

Dallas is not using public money to purchase the gift cards. Kroger is providing them at a 30 percent discount to several event sponsors, Dallas spokesman Frank Librio said.

Meanwhile, Dallas writer and gun rights advocate Trey Garrison says he may conduct an alternative gun buyback of his own -- with better prices for sellers. He says he'll pay in cash, too.

How much might Garrison spend?

"Depends on what the hardware is," he said Wednesday.
Posted by: DLR || 02/27/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah..haha, that ain't gonna work!
Posted by: Skidmark || 02/27/2009 1:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Only fifty bucks? AND gotta get my ID run through the police computer? Uh, that's not the best way to accomplish this.
Posted by: gromky || 02/27/2009 2:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Must be a slow sales month in the Kroger liquor section. Increased traffic, sales, free law enforcement presence and publicity, what's not to like?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/27/2009 8:06 Comments || Top||

#4  New findings from FBI about cop attackers and their weapons. HERE
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/27/2009 8:39 Comments || Top||

#5  Sell it to the cartel for 10X.
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 || 02/27/2009 11:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Smart Move. They are just stocking up for the coming demand when the Feds decide to do something like imposing sales tax in massive amounts. In just the last 18 months the costs of ammunition have jumped enormously by imposing a lot of minor charges. Just one example is the massively increased cost in posting ammo to shops from suppliers. I carry ammo in a shop and the costs of just procuring it have jumped significantly. Straws in the wind.
Posted by: Omoter Speaking for Boskone7794 || 02/27/2009 11:30 Comments || Top||

#7  I think I'll sponsor a gun "buy back". I could use a few more guns.
Posted by: Iblis || 02/27/2009 11:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Maybe they can use the profits to fund midnight basketball...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/27/2009 11:37 Comments || Top||

#9  This city is so damned liberal now. The people in charge these days have actually said they want it to be another San Francisco. Instead of a San Francisco Bay with a Golden Gate Bridge, they approved building a High Dollar Bridge over the Trinity River Bottom. Which most of the time is dry.

Bunch of mindless morons!
Posted by: Crolulet Darling of Dallas || 02/27/2009 14:36 Comments || Top||

#10  Each unloaded, operational firearm surrendered will fetch a $50 Kroger grocery gift card.

Unless the gun is stolen, what's the motivation for taking this deal. Most firearms would sell for far more than $50 bucks in the Trading Times or at a gunshow.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/27/2009 17:11 Comments || Top||

#11  And just where do think they will go after the cops buy them? Off to be sold to other people to provide money for the department.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 02/27/2009 17:43 Comments || Top||

#12  My Father-in-Law was a Sherrif's Deputy in Jefferson County, Alabama for many years. He told me of a no questions asked gun by-back that Jefferson County conducted. He said there was an amazing rise in home break-ins with guns being main things stolen. He said all the police and Deputies thought it was a hige farce but the County Athourities hailed it as a huge success because of the number of firearms turned in.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/27/2009 17:53 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Smith & Wesson recalls James BondÂ’s weapon of choice
James BondÂ’s gun of choice has been targeted for a recall.

Smith & Wesson said yesterday that itÂ’s recalling all Walther PPK and PPK/S guns manufactured between March 2002 and early this month. The Springfield firm said a defect could allow the $605 weapon to go off without anyone pulling the trigger.
Ooooh. Sounds exciting...
“While we have no reason to believe that the condition affects every pistol produced during the designated period, we have chosen in the interest of safety to replace the hammer block in every (weapon) that is returned,” Smith & Wesson said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. In a memo to customers posted on its Web site, the Springfield firm advised owners of the gun to “STOP USING YOUR PISTOL AND RETURN IT TO SMITH & WESSON AT ONCE.”
Anybody have one?
Company Vice President Liz Sharp told the Herald that Smith & Wesson engineers discovered the problem during routine tests, and that the firm “has not reported” any consumer injuries. However, Granite City, Ill., police officer Jeremy Hunter sued the gunmaker last fall over wounds sustained in 2006 when his PPK/S allegedly went off on its own. Smith & Wesson has denied any responsibility for the accident.

Still, the firm plans to fix all PPK and PPK/S guns for free, including covering shipping costs to and from Smith & WessonÂ’s factories. The company estimates the recall will cost a total of $900,000 to $1.3 million.

The Walther PPK is famous the world over as Agent 007Â’s pistol, appearing in most of the 22 James Bond movies released since 1962. Local gun dealers say the German-designed weapon is also popular with real-life consumers, as itÂ’s small, easy to carry and holds seven rounds.

Jim Wallace of the Northboro-based Gun Owners’ Action League said he hadn’t heard any of his group’s members complain about the PPK, “but it sounds like Smith & Wesson is doing the right thing.”
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/27/2009 12:32 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Pop quiz, smart guy:

Which pistol did 007 prefer before M forced the PPK on him?
Posted by: mojo || 02/27/2009 13:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Berretta.
Posted by: Gabby || 02/27/2009 13:55 Comments || Top||

#3  A .25 ACP, IIRC, which Bond reluctantly swap with the "more manly" .32.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/27/2009 14:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Beretta, and I believe a .22 (.25 is actually weaker)M forced him to trade it for a 9mm. claiming he had to use several shots and missed some kills.

('Oh and Bond, leave the beretta'.)

Bond resisted the forced change and tried to sneak it out of M's office.
What I thought interesting, he wasn't given a holster, apparently the Beretta and the 9mm were the same overall size.

(PS I've got a .22 beretta, the Montgomery cops use them as backup weapons, usually in an ankle holster, what's good enough for both Bond and the local law is good enough for me, it's a beauty, light, accurate, and small.)
Posted by: Rednek Jim || 02/27/2009 14:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Nope, IIRC, it is .25 and .32, though, obviously, the movies has had to keep up with an ever-increasing firepower, especially now, to keep that "heroic" image.
But, back in the olden days, a .32/7,65 was an acceptable choice for a novel hero. Bond is not Mack Bolan, let's just say that.

List of James Bond firearms
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/27/2009 14:30 Comments || Top||

#6  And I've read more Bolan than Bond, which you american might find weird, but the serie (part of it, anyway) actually was translated and well-diffused, as "train station literature", and my grandpa used to have quite a few, which were a delight for a young teen.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/27/2009 14:33 Comments || Top||

#7  I haven't kept up with S & W. They were an American firm and then a British firm and then an American firm. I did not know they were manufacturing the PPK and PPK/S. I have an older Walther PPK .380 and like it fine. It does not have a "happy trigger." I had read that the Mossad, at one time, used .22s while on the job. I don't know if that is still true today.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/27/2009 16:00 Comments || Top||

#8  A) Beretta model 418, .25 automatic
Posted by: mojo || 02/27/2009 17:38 Comments || Top||

#9 
Q: Now Bond PAY ATTENTION, we've modified this so that you don't even have to pull the tr ...
Bond: BANG
Q: Ouch!!! Bond, would you kindly call for a medic.
Posted by: DMFD || 02/27/2009 21:40 Comments || Top||


Teenager burned trying to kill head lice with gas
Police say a teenager who soaked her hair in gasoline to try to kill head lice was severely burned when the gas fumes ignited and set her head ablaze.
Well, that's one way to do it.
Eighteen-year-old Jessica Brooks was in serious condition Thursday at the burn unit at University Hospital in Louisville, Ky. She was burned Sunday night at her apartment in Evansville, Ind. Police said Brooks was in her bathroom letting her hair soak in gasoline just before a pilot light from a water heater ignited the gas fumes and her hair.
Wonder if she had time to say, "Oh shit!" after hearing the "Fwump"?
Investigator Richard Howard said Brooks suffered second- and third-degree burns over more than half of her body.
I'm deeply sorry for this poor girl and hope she pulls through. But, damm, that's just about the stupidest thing I've ever heard of doing.
Brooks was taking high school night classes in hopes of graduating this year.
Posted by: Steve || 02/27/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That is beyond sad. I pray she pulls through.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/27/2009 8:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to turn off the "boy, was that stupid" commentary and pray. Now. The pain this girl will have, and the lasting scars are horrific.

Youngest son, at age 18 months, grabbed a cup of hot water just out of the microwave and dumped it on himself. We spent the next three months getting outpatient therapy from the burn unit. Some of the people in the burn unit had done things equally dumb, but the suffering is way out of proportion to the dumbness.
Posted by: mom || 02/27/2009 10:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Thanks mom. Lots of good folks down Evansville way. I did some pretty stupid things at 50 18 too. She's just a poor kid going to night classes. Just makes me want to sob.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/27/2009 10:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Well, this has long been one of the myths as to how to get rid of lice. I'm surprised this is the first instance I've heard of of fire. Poor girl.
Posted by: sjb || 02/27/2009 10:30 Comments || Top||

#5  It did get the lice, didn't it ?
Posted by: Woozle Elmeter 2700 || 02/27/2009 11:30 Comments || Top||

#6  According to my mother, this was the way they did it back in the old days. However, you do not need the match.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/27/2009 11:34 Comments || Top||

#7  I spent some time volunteering in a burn unit / regional trauma center years ago. The pain from a burn like this is unbelievably intense and unremitting. I truly wouldn't wish it on my worst enemies, and I have a few I'm tempted to hate deeply .....

Treatment in the burn center where I spent time involved, among other things, abrading off the dead skin and making sure it doesn't grow back too *quickly*. With extensive burns there isn't enough healthy skin to do grafts, so recovery is difficult, slow and excruciating.

Today there are burn coverings / artificial skin dressing that help a lot, but it's still one of the most long lasting and painful experiences a person can endure.
Posted by: lotp || 02/27/2009 12:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Laura Ingalls Wilder mentioned combing lamp oil through her hair as a cleanser in one of the later Little House on the Prairie books (The Long Winter, if I recall correctly). Although she didn't talk about head lice, clearly that was the unmentioned reason, since they had soap to wash clothes. They, too, would have dried their hair before the fire, although no doubt they had enough experience to better estimate the required distance. The poor girl was working to make something of herself outside the common path. My prayers for her quick recovery.

Would something like whatever it was that Rush Limbaugh was addicted to help with the pain?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/27/2009 13:38 Comments || Top||

#9  When I was a kid, kerosene was the treatment of choice for us po'folk when a lice outbreak occured.

Gasoline is far too volatile - my mother, being a farm girl, knew better
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 02/27/2009 14:32 Comments || Top||

#10  Would something like whatever it was that Rush Limbaugh was addicted to help with the pain?

In acute burn cases I believe morphine is often used.
Posted by: lotp || 02/27/2009 14:51 Comments || Top||

#11  #8 Laura Ingalls Wilder

Had not heard that author's name in many years. Nice mention TW.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/27/2009 17:20 Comments || Top||

#12  I've spent some time in a burn unit. Even the morphine didn't help much at first. The next worse thing was getting the skin at my joints to streatch. That took a lot of work. I had to be very careful and wear long sleaves because some of the skin was only 2 couple of layers thick and the least little friction would create an area like when you skinned your knee. I'm not going to laugh or poke fun at burn victims. I hope she recovers.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/27/2009 18:14 Comments || Top||

#13  My grandmother used kerosene occasionally as a hair "Enhancer" She said it made her hair glossy,
75 and still had coal black hair, so ?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/27/2009 19:11 Comments || Top||


-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Mexican Refugee Camp Memorial Unveiled at Ft. Bliss
Wed. a marker at Fort Bliss was unveiled. It commemorates a 27 acre internment camp where 6000 refugees from a Mexican civil war were housed in 1914. The refugees spent 6 months there & were transferred to Ft. Wingate NM for another 4 months. In 1910 Mexico's population was about 15 million, now it's 100 million.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/27/2009 16:07 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Chinese buying L.A. one house at a time.
The new subdivisions around us have decorated the Model Homes with Asian family pictures.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 02/27/2009 03:12 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They're ignorant buyers with too much money and too little common sense. They'll get some good properties, but they'll also get fleeced. Look for more "we Chinese feel humiliated by you slick Americans" talk as soon as the stories start to hit print.
Posted by: gromky || 02/27/2009 3:38 Comments || Top||

#2  California is fine, but don't forget Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver! Oh, you already have Vancouver, sorry.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/27/2009 8:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Well, can we assume they're Chinese that believe in the fruits of capitalism? If so, sell as many home as you can to counter the migrants that come here only for the socialist redistribution. I think the Chinese have the numbers to make it happen.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/27/2009 8:10 Comments || Top||

#4  The Asian invasion occurred a long time ago, this is just the continuation of a major trend because house prices are lower. My kids' schools here in Orange County are filled with every Asian race (huge Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean populations) because they all say they can get the best, cheapest education here.

Luckily the Asians seem, for the most part, to be a very nice people. Wish they'd leave some room in the honors classes for other people though. (We also have a huge Islamic population, although significantly less prominent since 9/11).

Caucasians in California are becoming a distinct minority. The barn door was opened a long time ago and has never been shut.
Posted by: One Eyed Slins3386 || 02/27/2009 11:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Just a matter of time before they move in next door to me. How do you say "May I borrow a cup of sugar?" in Chinese?
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 02/27/2009 11:53 Comments || Top||

#6  A friend, bought a property about ten years ago for his daughter who was studying at Melbourne Uni(my job was to keep an eye on her) She sublet bedrooms to other Chinese students, so she never needed any pocket money from him. His two sons then used the property under the same scenario.
He sold two years ago at the height of the property boom.
So basically educated his three children for free, got them permanent residence status and made a nice profit, all from the one gambit.
Posted by: tipper || 02/27/2009 15:31 Comments || Top||

#7  #5:
"請允許我借了一杯糖嗎?" or "请允许我借了一杯糖吗?"
Posted by: George Jimble4265 || 02/27/2009 18:21 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Turkish cafe owner in NZ apologizes for ejecting Israelis
A row that erupted after an Invercargill cafe owner ejected two Israeli customers during the fighting in Gaza in January has been settled with an apology.

The Turkish owner of the cafe refused to serve two Israeli women in January when he discovered where they were from. The cafe owner, a Muslim, man said it was his protest against Israel because of the death and destruction that was happening in the Gaza Strip. Local residents later protested outside his cafe saying he was wrong to ban the Israelis.

The Human Rights Commission had about 20 complaints about the ban. The commission says all issues between the two parties have been settled. It says the parties have met and reached a mutually satisfactory agreement.

An apology has been offered and accepted in the spirit in which it was intended, the Commission says in a statement. It says in arriving at the agreement the parties have come to a greater understanding of the discrimination provisions of the Human Rights Act. "The parties recognise that this has been a matter of public interest and they want it known that they both value and support harmonious race relations," the commission says.

As part of the terms of the agreement, both parties have agreed that the details of the agreement will remain confidential, the commission says.
Posted by: ryuge || 02/27/2009 06:08 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As part of the terms of the agreement, both parties have agreed that the details of the agreement will remain confidential, the commission says.

Free baklava and Turkish Koffee for life? Or was there real money involved?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/27/2009 7:57 Comments || Top||

#2  A Canadian human rights commission would have fined the Jews.
Posted by: Excalibur || 02/27/2009 8:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Hey Caliburn, long time no see.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/27/2009 8:49 Comments || Top||

#4  "The parties recognise that this has been a matter of public interest and they want it known that they both value and support harmonious race relations," the commission says.

I suspect the Israelis are actually darker of skin than the Turkish New Zealander. But leave us not let reality get in the way of a popular meme.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/27/2009 14:07 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Antaboga-Century scam tallies up Rp 2.8 trillion in losses
Financial losses are tallied now at Rp 2.8 trillion (US$235 million) for Robert Tantular's alleged scams as a shareholder of PT Antaboga Delta Securitas and Bank Century, a National Police representative said Thursday.

"We are looking at two cases similar in nature. The Antaboga case has incurred losses of Rp 1.4 trillion and the Century Bank case Rp 1.4 trillion," National Police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Susno Duaji said, as quoted by Antara news.

He added the investigation has so far revealed various illegal practices Tantular repeatedly conducted to Bank Century's detriment, including a plan in 2008 to cash in an obligatory note worth US$65 million issued sometime in 2005-2006, though "the money never came through in the end".

Between January and Novermber 2008, Tantular is said to have embezzled $18 million worth of foreign currency. In October 2008, he allegedly had a false letter of credit worth Rp 97 billion given to PT SCI.

"He would use his position as a bank owner to blackmail the branch managers. This was his modus operandi," Duaji said, adding several other instances of abnormal activities have been reported.

As for the amount of money generated from the Antaboga scam, Duaji said Rp 276.7 billion had been channeled to Tantular and Rp 248 billion and Rp 854 had been distributed to Anton Tantular and Hartawan Alwi, respectively for a total of Rp 1.38 trillion.

The Antaboga-Century saga began late last year when hundreds of worried investors were unable to redeem their Antaboga investments after its selling agent Century was taken over by the government amid signs of financial distress.

Tantular, who also owns Antaboga, is suspected of having diverted customers' funds into 62 bank accounts. The central bank has reportedly frozen these accounts, but has not yet calculated the total amount involved as the case is still being investigated by PPATK and the police.
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Christians can use 'Allah'
THE Malaysian government has softened an earlier ban on the use of the word 'Allah' by Christian publications to refer to God and is allowing them to use it as long as they specify the material is not for Muslims, a church official said on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred || 02/27/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Finally they are able to name their pigs.
Posted by: Icerigger || 02/27/2009 8:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Ah yes, the religion of peace and tolerance speaketh.
Posted by: JohnQC || 02/27/2009 15:49 Comments || Top||


Home Front Economy
Retiree health debt can't be ignored
Posted by: tipper || 02/27/2009 16:18 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:



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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2009-02-27
  Paleofactions agree to form unity govt
Thu 2009-02-26
  Bangla: At least 50 feared dead in sepoy mutiny
Wed 2009-02-25
  Lanka: Troops enter last Tamil Tiger-controlled town
Tue 2009-02-24
  Mulla Omar orders halt to attacks on Pak troops
Mon 2009-02-23
  100 rounded up in Nineveh
Sun 2009-02-22
  1 European killed, 9 others wounded in Egypt blast
Sat 2009-02-21
  Handcuffed JMB man pops grenade at press meet
Fri 2009-02-20
  Tamil Tiger planes raid Colombo
Thu 2009-02-19
  MPs visit Swat to pay obeisance to Sufi Mohammad
Wed 2009-02-18
  Four killed, 18 injured in Peshawar car bombing
Tue 2009-02-17
  Surprise! Pervez Musharraf was playing 'double game' with US
Mon 2009-02-16
  Another Wazoo dronezap
Sun 2009-02-15
  Talibs: Pak will surrender in Swat
Sat 2009-02-14
  Suspected U.S. Missile Strike Zaps 27
Fri 2009-02-13
  Canadian Muslim sentenced for firebombing Jewish institutions


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