A bear cub drew a crowd of spectators at a Lake Tahoe neighborhood as it munched on barbecue-chicken-and-jalapeno pizza in the back seat of a vintage red Buick convertible.
It also apparently washed it down with a swig of a Jack Daniel's mixer, an Absolut vodka and tonic, and a beer taken from a cooler, the vehicle's owner said.
About 30 people watched the cub lumber around a parking lot in upper Kingbury Grade on Sunday before it homed in on the Buick and the spicy pizza on the floor.
The bruin was unfazed by the car's horn the blew nonstop as the cub pressed the seat into the steering wheel.
"The bear was loping along in the parking lot and then decides to get inside the car," said resident Jerry Patterson.
"People were screaming at him, the horn was going off, but he was completely unaware. He did what he wanted to do and the people didn't matter."
The bear remained inside the 1964 Buick Skylark for about 20 minutes and at times put his paws on the dash as if he were holding on for a ride, Patterson said.
The owner of the car, David Ziello of South Lake Tahoe, said the bruin didn't cause any damage, but slopped cheese and jalapenos on the seats and floor...
#2
the place we stay at in Tahoe had bear problems getting into the trash. Finally we got bearproof boxes for the cans....there's a LOT of black bears in the basin, and they understand doors and windows are simply small inconveniences in getting at food
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2006 17:18 Comments ||
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The owner of the car, David Ziello of South Lake Tahoe, said the bruin didn't cause any damage, but slopped cheese and jalapenos on the seats and floor...
NEIGHBOURS of a pensioner savaged by a cackling “cannibal” told last night how he enjoyed a peaceful village life until the sudden horrific attack. Doug Morgan, 75, and his wife Valerie were getting ready for bed when the maniac dived through a lounge window left open because of the heatwave. A fierce tussle broke out as the intruder punched the OAP — then bit him repeatedly. He chewed off Doug’s thumb and ATE it, police said. Where's ye olde hunting 12 gauge shotgun when you need it? Oh, wait, this is England, and Europe.
He is also thought to have ripped off the villager’s left nipple with his teeth — and tore chunks from his face and upper body.
Cops who arrived at the scene in Lyonshall, near Hereford, had to drag the nut off blood-covered Doug, who had passed out with shock. They then used CS gas to knock him out. One officer was bitten and needed hospital treatment.
A police source said it was like a scene from the horror film The Silence of the Lambs, in which cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter wears a gruesome mask. The source added: “There was blood on the walls and this guy was just laughing like a maniac.”
Last night Doug was in a serious but stable condition in BristolÂ’s Frenchay hospital. Shocked Valerie, who locked herself in the bathroom after witnessing the attack, was at his bedside. She is also in her 70s.
The psycho struck just after 1am on Monday.
Police yesterday sent a team of officers to the village to reassure locals it had been a “highly unusual and random attack”.
"All over folks, go back to bed, nothing to see, all over now ..."
But they remained rigid with fear. One neighbour said: “Everyone is scared witless. There is talk of a cannibal attack in the village and no one can quite take it in.
“The old chap lived a peaceful life with his wife, then someone jumped through his window and bit off his thumb. It doesn’t bear thinking about.”
Doug and Valerie had only moved to their “dream cottage” less than two years ago after he had a triple heart bypass.
Cops last night confirmed Doug had suffered serious bite wounds, had lost a thumb and chunks of flesh from his face and body. They do not think robbery was the attacker’s motive for entering the house. And it is understood he had no connection with his victim. The police source said: “It was a bizarre and appalling attack on an old man. We have no idea why the attacker chose their house but there are mental health issues in this case. "Brilliant! Holmes, how do you do it?"/RB staple
“Mr Morgan put up a brave fight but was set about in a cannibalistic way. His thumb could not be sewn back on because the attacker had literally eaten it.” Yummy!
Doug and Valerie live in a half-timbered cottage that was a gatehouse to an estate. The maniac is thought to have gone on the rampage before the attack — and the property showed signs of it last night. Smashed lounge and kitchen windows were boarded up. The windscreen of Doug’s silver Renault Megane was broken and the garden shed was trashed.
JAN Ometac, 27, a Slovak who has worked as a machinist in Hereford, has appeared in court charged with attempted murder. He was remanded to a secure mental unit. Strapped with an hockey mask?
Don't worry, given the seriousness with which the Brits take crime, he'll get ... twelve months, with half of that written off ...
#4
I don't know if this meant to be ironic or not, but to me this *is* funny in the sense that I don't have the slightest notion of what OAP actually means...
#5
They then used CS gas to knock him out. One officer was bitten and needed hospital treatment.
This is what happens when your cops are not armed. They should have just shot him at the scene and saved everyone a lot of trouble.
#6
OAP : Accepted United Kingdom shortened form of Old Age Pensioner (OAP) and used on official documents in this form.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/05/2006 9:01 Comments ||
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#7
Huh. It's different here in the US. Grandpa would have shot him and cleaned him up for cat food. Granny would have complained about cleaning up the mess.
#8
Doug Morgan, 75, and his wife Valerie were getting ready for bed when the maniac dived through a lounge window left open because of the heatwave.
I'm actually shocked that the Sun didn't blame this on Bush. Look for Al Gore to give a "Climate Change" speech here soon! I mean, if there had been no heat wave, this guy would've never attacked, I tells ya!
Posted by: BA ||
07/05/2006 10:21 Comments ||
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#9
Reminds me of the movie set in London, England: 28 Days Later.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
07/05/2006 10:46 Comments ||
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Britain's House of Lords ushered in a new era on Tuesday, abolishing the 1,400-year-old post of Lord Chancellor and for the first time electing a speaker to preside over parliament's upper house.
The election of Baroness Helene Hayman, a former Labor government minister, is a staging post in a constitutional shake-up that outraged traditionalists when British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced the plans in 2003.
It spells the end of the line for the venerable and influential role of Lord Chancellor, the oldest office in the land after the monarchy, and currently held by Charles Falconer, an old friend and appointee of Blair.
The job of Lord Chancellor combined the duties of speaker in the Lords, chief justice and minister of justice. It had been held over centuries by saints, schemers and traitors.
The Lord Chancellor traditionally wore a wig and stockings and sat on the woolsack — a ceremonial cushion stuffed with English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh wool, symbolizing the source of Britain's medieval wealth.
Hayman now takes up her seat on the woolsack but, unlike the current Lord Chancellor, she will be neither a member of the cabinet nor responsible for a government department. Nor will she have a judicial role.
Supporters of the change say the speaker will now be independent of government and elected, instead of being appointed by the prime minister, and this will cement the independence of the judiciary.
The Lord Chancellor was head of the judiciary until a 2005 reform of Britain's unwritten constitution handed this role to the Lord Chief Justice.
The changes also pave the way for a U.S.-style Supreme Court in the future.
"Today is one of those days of change. Rarely do we have days like this when the change is so visible. These days are days of great sadness," Falconer told the Lords.
"We change with the times, these times carry with them the seeds of our future," added Falconer, who is also Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs.
Nine candidates ran for the post of speaker, which comes with a substantial salary, an apartment and a gold and silk robe. Hayman will not wear a wig, but will act as an ambassador for the Lords at home and abroad.
The post of Lord Chancellor had been held by some of the most famous men in British history, among them St Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury who was killed in his own church on the orders of King Henry II in 1170.
Others included Thomas More, executed as a traitor for refusing to recognize King Henry VIII's claim to be head of the church, and the ambitious Cardinal Thomas Wolsey who built a lavish palace at Hampton Court which outshone Henry's.
An entrepreneurial spirit is helping the former Soviet satellite come back from collapse .
Long Guardian piece on how Georgia has been turning itself around. They did it by cutting taxes, fixing their tax law, ensuring private ownership of property, helping internal refugees find work, and, through international NGOs, funding small businesses. Surprise. The Guardian plays up the NGO work but can't help but notice the rest. Think the Brits will wise up?
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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On the other hand, NPR is concerned that the elected rulers of Georgia are returning to their autocratic tradition, and besides, Russia is actively funding the opposition. For what their analysis is worth.
AUSTRALIA'S Muslim spiritual leader, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, has lost his $40,000 cleric's allowance and been told to apply for the dole because the bitterly divided national Islamic council can no longer pay him.
The high-profile sheik has been instructed to "contact your local Centrelink office" by the nation's peak Muslim body, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, which is locked in a legal dispute over its leadership and has been denied access to its bank accounts.
"The Westpac Bank has informed us that we will not be able to draw any funds from the bank," AFIC's new president, Rahim Ghauri, told the mufti in a letter obtained by The Australian.
"Due to this restriction we have to curtail or suspend our staff salaries."
AFIC, which derives most of its income from rent on land that houses Muslim schools across the country, and the certification of halal food, is understood to have paid the salaries of about 10 imams in the country.
But Westpac froze the organisation's accounts last month after The Australian revealed the ethnic brawling that unfolded following the council's April elections, when a group of Pakistanis took control of the organisation, which had for years been controlled by Fijian Indians.
The Sydney-based Sheik Hilali was outraged by the instruction and sent a searing letter to the council's president.
"I would prefer to die 100 times over than to stand in line seeking welfare payments from Centrelink," he says in the letter, dated June 27.
"Does your dignity or Islamic manners permit you to direct such an insult to a spiritual leader who had spent his life in the service of the faith?
"You are very much mistaken if you believe that you can insult me, my dignity will not accept for me to be held hostage to the mercy of AFIC or anyone else for that matter."
The Egyptian-born cleric was receiving fortnightly payments from AFIC for his religious duties as Mufti - the nation's most senior imam - since his appointment to the position by the national council in 1989.
The nation's 150 imams earn their living through community donations generally given to them when they officiate at weddings and funerals. Some also receive money from other Islamic societies.
But the dispute comes as AFIC, the Islamic umbrella body, is in the middle of a fierce legal battle with members of the rebel executive board attempting to win the control of the organisation. It is understood the Mufti favours the rebel board over the new regime.
The Australian understands that the new Pakistani-led AFIC executive has since redirected the council's earnings to a Commonwealth Bank account.
But the letter from Mr Ghauri to Sheik Hilali, dated June 22, says: "Our records indicate that you have been on AFIC's payroll and your fortnightly salary is due on 30 June, 2006.
"In view of our inability to draw funds from our accounts we shall not be able to transfer the money into your account on that day and furthermore, until such ... restrictions are removed from our accounts.
"You may wish to contact your local Centrelink office to seek interim benefit ... However, any amounts received from Centrelink, until your payments from AFIC are reinstated, will be deducted from the accrued amount of salary that you will receive from AFIC subsequently."
Gov. Jon Corzine (D) hauled lawmakers in to work on the Fourth of July, imploring them to end a budget standoff that has shut down many government services. Tuesday's special session came after lawmakers missed the July 1 constitutional deadline to approve a new budget. Without a budget, the government cannot spend money. "Make no mistake, people are being hurt, and unfortunately more will be hurt in the days ahead," the governor told the lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Atlantic City's 12 casinos fought in court to keep from being dragged into the dispute. The shutdown means casinos will have to halt gambling at 8 a.m. Wednesday if no deal is reached at the Statehouse.
N.J. lawmakers reject Corzine compromise
Legislators opposed to Gov. Jon S. Corzine's proposal to raise the sales tax rejected a compromise sought by the governor Tuesday and began devising their own budget plan, which might involve an income tax increase. Members of the state Assembly budget panel planned to spend the night crafting a new plan, said Speaker Joseph Roberts Jr. Tuesday's special session came three days after Corzine started shutting down state government because lawmakers missed the July 1 constitutional deadline to approve a new budget. Without a budget, the government can't spend money.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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This is too bad. Governmant is supposed to be built on compromise. When men stop trying to work together failure is assured. The Boomer generation needs to get over the polarization and get to work or more states will fall into failure like NJ, KY, etc...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/05/2006 6:03 Comments ||
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#2
Hmmmm, sales tax increase or income tax increase. What a choice. Not even a mention of controlling spending. Time to clean house, New Jersey.
#3
NJ has the government they deserve, just like the Paleos. They vote'd them in. Now live with them. Of course, we just celebrated an anniversary yesterday that was premised on a tax revolt. Hint, hint.
#4
New Jersey had a tax revolt years ago. The people won, but elected Christien Todd Whitman by mistake. She governed like Dorothy of Kansas until a sympathetic Bush promoted her to a position she could not fill.
Next time, New Jersey, get it right.
In trying to earn a spot on the ballot in Pennsylvania this November, Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli has no better friend than the man he wants to topple: U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum. The Republican incumbent says that everyone in state politics should help Romanelli gather the large number of voter signatures - more than 67,000 - that he needs to qualify for the Senate race. Romanelli can use all the help he can get: Pennsylvania has among the toughest requirements in the country for independent or third-party candidates to get on the ballot.
Why should Santorum aid a potential foe? Vince Galko, his campaign manager, says it is because of his interest in free debate. Common political strategy suggests the likelihood of another Santorum motive - to divide and conquer. If Romanelli gained ballot access, he probably would draw some votes away from Bob Casey Jr., the Democratic nominee and far larger threat to Santorum's bid to win a third term.
In the primary, some Democrats who favor abortion rights made it clear they were uncomfortable with the antiabortion positions that Casey generally shares with Santorum. John Brabender, Santorum's media adviser, helpfully suggested Romanelli as an alternative in a recent chat on a Pittsburgh talk radio station. "People who don't agree with Rick Santorum and who don't agree with Bob Casey - if you happen to be strongly pro-choice or antiwar - they should be out there helping the Green Party candidate," he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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When McGovern conducted his embarassing Presidential run, Republicans would invite him to campaign in their districts. All is fair in love, war and politics.
#2
The Democratic Party of New Mexico constantly tries to get sympathetic judges and bureaucrats to keep the Green Party off the ballot in the state. That's without promotion from the Reps. The Dems only tolerate the two party system because they know that a naked display of power grabbing would result in a new Lincoln County War.
LEWISTON, Maine -- Muslim men praying at an Islamic center in Maine said they were shocked when someone threw a severed pig's head into the mosque.
Witnesses told the Sun Journal of Lewiston that a frozen pig's head slightly larger than a basketball was rolled into the Lewiston Auburn Islamic Center Monday night.
Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims, who are barred from eating pork, and the act was viewed as a deliberate insult against the religion.
When the incident occurred, about 40 men were bowed down as part of their prayer ritual. When the pig's head rolled in, the men got up and ran outside. None of them was hit by the animal head.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
07/05/2006 16:44 ||
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We have Rantburgers in Maine?
No, couldn't be. RBrs have better aim.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/05/2006 16:56 Comments ||
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#8
Just a few years ago, a civil war in the far-off African nation of Somalia was about the last thing on the minds of anyone in this nearly all-white New England town.
Then dark-skinned people began getting off the Greyhound bus - and staying.
As almost 1,400 Somali refugees poured in, the natives weren't quite sure what to make of them. Here were people who looked different, spoke little English and had little money. And expected this city of 35,000 to find them jobs and places to live.
"It slammed everybody against the wall," says Anne Kemper, the community's adult education coordinator.
Starting in 1991, when their country plunged into lawlessness, Somali refugees began arriving in Nashville, Minneapolis and greater Atlanta. But in one of the more unusual chapters in America's rich history of immigration, hundreds of Somalis decided in 2001 to move on their own to a small city whose population was 97 percent white and almost totally Christian.
Even today, people in Lewiston struggle to understand what drew so many Somalis here.
"It is the only example we know of where there has been this kind of rapid relocation, and for no other reason than the fact they just thought the city was a nice place to live," says Phil Nadeau, assistant city administrator.
Portland, 35 miles down the road, had long been a resettlement area for Somalis. In early 2001, Maine's largest city was running out of public shelter space; Lewiston agreed to take a few Somali families. That simple act of hospitality would change the city forever.
By phone and Internet, word spread among the 40,000 Somali refugees nationwide that Lewiston was a friendly town.
"We left our country because of civil war and we did not bring millions of dollars in assets - the only asset we brought was our children," says Abdiaziz Ali, among scores who have migrated from the Atlanta area. "That is why we came from a fast-moving city to a small town - to protect our children from some bad influences - gangs, drugs, violence."
Another factor drew Somalis north: Many had encountered racial prejudice in the South even though they felt they had little in common with African-Americans.
"Because of their kinship to the tribe of Mohammed, Somalis don't see themselves as Africans, but more closely aligned to Mideasterners and Arabs," says Heather Lindkvist, an anthropologist at Lewiston's Bates College and an expert on Somali culture. "One of the elders told me, "We don't think about race as you do.' "
Before long, though, the city was spending 50 percent of its welfare budget on them.
In an open letter in October 2002, then-Mayor Larry Raymond asked the Somalis to stop coming because the city was running out of money to take care of them. Lewiston "is maxed out financially, physically and emotionally" by so many new arrivals, the mayor wrote.
Several hundred people marched in support of the Somalis. But the letter struck a nerve. Although Lewiston was finding new uses for its old mills, competition for unskilled jobs remained stiff. The Sept. 11 attacks had stirred anger toward Muslims. And Somalis were in the spotlight because of the movie Black Hawk Down, about 18 U.S. soldiers - including one from the Lewiston area - killed in the Somali capital of Mogadishu.
On Jan. 11, 2003, thousands of Somali supporters and a few dozen white supremacists held competing rallies. But life settled down, and the Somalis and the natives of Lewiston got back to learning about each other.
"The circumstances were pretty much in place for everything to go wrong - this was post-9/11 and a homogenous city had to deal with taking in black Muslims," says Pierrot Rugaba of Catholic Charities Maine, which now works closely with the city to resettle Somalis in Lewiston.
"The recipe for disaster was there, but everyone stepped up to the plate phenomenally."
"A very fragile state'
At Lewiston's Adult Learning Center, 12 Somali men and women hunch over their English-language textbooks.
"Who wants to go next?" the instructor asks.
Nimo Dubed, a tall, fine-boned woman in taupe head scarf and faux leopard coat, raises her hand. She reads aloud: "Someone at the Social Security Office will help you pick out the right form."
Twice a week, Dubed comes to the center to perfect her English. She started learning it as a refugee in Minneapolis, but found the city too expensive. The move to Lewiston has been everything she hoped for - the cost of living is cheaper, language classes are free and, like many Somalis, she works as a packer at L.L.Bean, Maine's renowned outdoor apparel retailer.
Perhaps more than any other place in Lewiston, the learning center has been a point of both friction and friendship between Somalis and locals, who often compete for the same blue-collar work.
Many natives "lost jobs where they were earning $15 an hour and they will never have jobs like that again," says Kemper, the adult-ed coordinator. "So when they come here, they are in a very fragile state and are looking around for targets to blame."
Tension built up in one computer class where Franco-Americans struggled to grasp technology that came more quickly to the Somalis. But by the end of the course, the two groups were working so well together that the Somali women ululated in approval as an American was called to the head of the class for special recognition.
Unable to produce the same high-pitched sound, the American women clapped their hands over their heads when it was a Somali's turn to be recognized.
The center has also spawned cultural exchanges. Somalis and Americans eagerly try each other's dishes at potluck suppers. And several Americans turned out for Somali-taught classes in tying head scarves and painting hands with lacey patterns in henna.
In Lewiston's regular schools, fights and name calling have given way to growing friendships between Somalis and Americans. Kids in lower grades play with each other; Somali boys excel on middle school basketball teams.
"I think we have been very sensitive to a new population of kids and we enjoy them," says Janice Plourde, director of curriculum for the Lewiston school system, which now has 340 Somali students among a total of 4,600. "It makes our community look different and it's probably about time. Kids can learn from other kids, and cultures can learn from other cultures."
In what Plourde calls a "bacon-and-egg kind of town," the schools' food staff quickly learned to label any menu items containing pork, which Muslims are forbidden to eat.
Somali students, meanwhile, puzzled over their first invitation to an ice skating party. There is no word for "skating" in their language, so the schools' newly hired Somali coordinator tortuously translated it as "a piece of wood on wheels that drives through frozen water."
The mingling among students worries some Somali parents.
Ali, who moved from Atlanta, won't let his teenage son wear the baggy, low-slung pants favored by American kids. He also restricts his son's Internet usage to e-mails and school research.
Guarding against what Ali considers negative influences "is a real difficulty sometimes," he concedes. American "girls want to give him their phone numbers but he can't have a girlfriend because dating is not allowed in Islamic law."
Somalis are even stricter when it comes to their female children. They don't take part in sports or gym classes because parents think the uniforms are too revealing. After school, the girls are expected to head home immediately and help their mothers.
Plourde, the curriculum chief, wonders how long Somalis, especially the younger ones, will be able to resist the relentless pull of Americanization.
"How many teenage kids want to go home and cook supper with their mothers? How many parents can tell their kids what to do after they graduate from high school?"
"Don't want any tension'
A few decades ago, downtown Lewiston looked on the verge of death. The mills were closed, and hundreds of textile jobs had moved down south or overseas, where labor and fuel costs were cheaper.
Now, Muhamed Haidara's general store is one of a handful of Somali businesses contributing to a downtown revival.
A few doors away is a Somali restaurant. It gets its meat from the A&R Halal Market, which sells beef and goat slaughtered in accord with Islamic law.
The heart of Somali life is the mosque, in a rundown building not far from several Catholic and Protestant churches.
Linda Chamberlain, a gemologist in the jewelry store across the street, is impressed by how many Somalis regularly pray there. "I think it's important that people have a faith path - that grounds a community," she says.
Some natives, though, see the mosque more as evidence that the newcomers have little interest in assimilating. Employees of the nearby Caveman tattoo parlor complain that the Somalis have done nothing to spruce up the place, and that they hog the area's limited parking when they show up by the dozens for Friday prayers.
"I not only work here, but live here and have to walk between the crowds," says employee Dan Young. "I don't want any tension, but being such a different culture, it's hard to make a real strong connection with them."
Other employees, who would not be quoted by name, are far harsher in their comments, charging the Somalis are sponging off the welfare system. Unemployment among Somalis indeed remains high - 25 percent or greater - and many receive some form of public assistance.
Some employers have been reluctant to hire Somali women, ostensibly out of concern that their head scarves and voluminous skirts could get caught in machinery. Others worry Somalis will take too many prayer breaks or won't understand instructions in English.
But Nadeau, the assistant city administrator who is Lewiston's point person with the Somalis, says they are eager to work. He faults the federal government for not allocating enough money to assure refugees get a firm toehold in American society.
"There are some refugee groups that just need more attention through no fault of their own," he says. "I don't want to adopt the existing immigration relocation strategy of waiting a few generations and it will be better. We know it works but God, it takes a long time."
Although the influx of Somalis had slowed dramatically even before Mayor Raymond's 2002 letter, there are signs it may be picking up again. In January, four more families arrived; last month, there were 14, with a total of 56 individuals.
At the general store, Lewiston's newest resident - another Somali - is poking through a stack of winter wear.
From relatives already here, 18-year-old Abdulrazak Hussein had heard that Lewiston was a fine place to live. Three days ago, he, his mother, brother and sisters boarded a Greyhound bus in Dallas for the 48-hour trip to Maine.
First thing tomorrow, they will be at City Hall to apply for food stamps and housing, and register the older kids in school. But now, with the outside temperature at 20 degrees and several feet of snow on the ground, Hussein has a more pressing need.
"How much?" he asks in Somali, holding up a thick pair of gloves.
#9
Even today, people in Lewiston struggle to understand what drew so many Somalis here.
Generous jizya welfare payments. Somali migration transforms Lewiston "Maine is crazy cold," says Abdullahi Abdullahi, president of the new Somali Community Development Organization in Clarkston. But, he says, "the welfare system is much better." Indeed, in moving from Georgia to Maine, Somalis are trading one of the nation's least generous welfare systems for one of its most generous.
Lewiston provides general assistance to anyone in need, splitting the cost with the state. Such relief was unavailable in Clarkston. In Georgia, there is a four-year time limit for receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. In Maine it's five, but even that can be extended. About a quarter of Lewiston's Somali families receive that form of welfare, according to the state. And in Maine, a state-funded program assists single parents while they attend college.
Posted by: ed ||
07/05/2006 18:13 Comments ||
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#11
It was good o'boy Carter who allowed radical Islam to take hold in Iran by not backing the Shah [not any worse than backing Stalin in WWII].
It was good o'boy Clinton who coulda kicked ass in Somalia. Blackhawk Down pretty much reduced the main militia in the Mog to where the Marine Expeditionary Force in the area and other militias could have burned the remainder out. Instead, his retreat only encouraged not only the continuation of anarchy in Somalia, but Al Qaeda on its multi-nation, multi-year campaign leading to 9/11.
Both have by their failures only generated new problems for which someone else has to clean up. And in a royal case of arrogance, the same two men criticize the clean up crew.
#12
And it's the Bush administration who continues to let Somalis and other muslims into the US, even after 9-11, including 130,000 "Somalis" waiting in Kenyan refugee camps.
Posted by: ed ||
07/05/2006 18:32 Comments ||
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#13
Kim Du Toit was right when he said that the people in Maine who allowed this would live to regret it. The idiots who said this was working are the same lefty fools who work for government in most places. Everyone else--meaning the people who have to make their own living--knows it's an abject failure and that the Muzzies are just bloodsucking from an already poor state. I doubt you've heard the last of this.
Posted by: mac ||
07/05/2006 18:39 Comments ||
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#14
Future dead meat.
Oh?
Apostate? What say you?
Posted by: Rafael ||
07/05/2006 18:40 Comments ||
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#15
*sigh* There's really no more hope for America than there is for Europe.
#16
Actually, this happened about 10 minutes down the street from me. The guy they arrested for it looked like a punk skinhead. BTW, I've heard of NO problems from the local moslem population, either on the news, or in the ah, shops. On the welfare front, it seems that as soon as they learn English and can get a job they go off the rolls. I'm a STRONG advocate of the war against terror, but have been pleasantly surprised by our local Moslems.
Just watch out on the roads; they can't drive worth $%!&. :(
LAHORE: A dozen Ahmadi families forced to flee their village after it was vandalised by a mob protesting the alleged desecration of the Quran some two weeks ago, are not being allowed to return. The police had promised to provide security for the Ahmadi families, but have indirectly told them not to return to Jhando Sahi village in Daska tehsil, a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan team, which included this scribe, found on a fact-finding mission to the area on July 1.
A mob attacked the Ahmadi locality in Jhando Sahi village on the afternoon of June 24 and injured two people, burned down two shops, a few houses, and the worship place of the Ahmadis. The mob's anger stemmed from allegations that a couple of Ahmadi youths had burned copies of the Quran. District police arrested seven Ahmadis, and registered a case against them for desecration of the Quran. Three accused were later released, two - Zaheer and Shakeel — were sent to jail, and two - Waqar and Nawaz - are still in police custody.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/05/2006 00:00 ||
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About 25 idjitsfoolsmoonbats revelers celebrated their freedom of speech and welcomed the Fourth of July on Monday night with the "2nd Annual Old Time American Flag Burn." Around a burn barrel at Seabright State Beach, organizer Brent Adams, 41, of Santa Cruz, declared flag burning not a protest, but a celebration of the Constitution's First Amendment. "It seemed like a good idea to burn some flags just because we can," added fellow organizer Sha Lar, 32, of Santa Cruz.
At age 32 it's not clear to me that you've yet had a good idea ...
Some at the celebration noted that in other countries, they could be shot for torching the national flag.
Interesting idea. In our country, you can burn the flag, and that way we know precisely who the idjits are.
Poison Oak, 35, of Aptos, said he wanted to "reclaim the flag. Not only those who support President George W. Bush can wave the red white and blue."
So why aren't you waving it instead of burning it? And what exactly were your parents thinking, if anything, when they named you? I'll bet you're a 'part-time poet and waiter'. Nice ambitions, you middle-aged dumbass.
Still, not everyone on the beach appreciated stars and stripes melting over the fire. "I think they should keep it to themselves," said Bill Crawford, 16, of Aptos, who was on the beach with buddies Elijah Manchester and Jacob Kendall, both 16 and from Santa Cruz. The trio looked away as flames consumed the large and small flags.
More restrained than I would have been ...
"To me this is what represents our nation and what represents our freedom," Manchester said. He questioned why the group would want to burn the symbol of free speech.
Because they aren't very bright, they don't think issues through, and they were raised in a time and place of such creature comforts that they haven't had to think about what it means to defend what you have and what you are.
Despite their different views, those who didn't agree with flag burning were still welcome at the event, said Igliashon Jones, 23, of Santa Cruz. Free speech is what it was all about.
That's what they claimed it was about; what it was really about was self-indulgent performance art. It's simple, 'Look at me, I'm speaking truth to power' nonsense. You really want to be edgy? Go to one of those countries where flag burning is banned, and burn their flag.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/05/2006 00:13 ||
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#1
The Veterans for Peace were at our parade. Two ol' hippy geezers that reminded me of Santa Claus. Trailing wife would not have approved of their fashion sense, seeing as how tie-die unflatteringly enhances a beer gut. The hippy geezers were followed by about 5 straggly looking misfits, plus one super duper fat chick who may have been Mamma Cass (yes, I'm aware she died which makes it an even bigger insult).
Bunch of losers who can only get attention by being outrageous. If only I had had some tomatoes handy.
#3
bet the tatto-to-brain cell ration nearly approaches unity with these sub-geniuses
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/05/2006 10:02 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Go to one of those countries where flag burning is banned, and burn their flag.
How 'bout just going to their embassy, and burn their flag? I'm curious what the media and police response would be if you burned, say, the Soddy flag in front of the KSA embassy.
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.
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Gov. 
In trying to earn a spot on the ballot in Pennsylvania this November, Green Party candidate 
LAHORE: A dozen Ahmadi families forced to flee their village after it was vandalised by a mob protesting the alleged desecration of the Quran some two weeks ago, are not being allowed to return. The police had promised to provide security for the Ahmadi families, but have indirectly told them not to return to Jhando Sahi village in Daska tehsil, a Human Rights Commission of Pakistan team, which included this scribe, found on a fact-finding mission to the area on July 1. 
About 25 
