Hi there, !
Today Mon 12/17/2007 Sun 12/16/2007 Sat 12/15/2007 Fri 12/14/2007 Thu 12/13/2007 Wed 12/12/2007 Tue 12/11/2007 Archives
Rantburg
532926 articles and 1859674 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 73 articles and 332 comments as of 6:07.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Operations    WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion       
Khamenei appoints Qassem as Hezbollah military commander
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
3 00:00 Rob Crawford [4] 
6 00:00 tu3031 [5] 
5 00:00 Frank G [4] 
2 00:00 Rambler [3] 
8 00:00 ed [4] 
4 00:00 Steve White [3] 
4 00:00 Whomong Guelph4611 [3] 
6 00:00 bigjim-ky [5] 
Page 1: WoT Operations
1 00:00 bigjim-ky [5]
8 00:00 Querent [3]
2 00:00 tu3031 [3]
35 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [4]
12 00:00 ed [4]
8 00:00 twobyfour [6]
8 00:00 USN,Ret. [3]
4 00:00 dan [8]
2 00:00 Ebbang Uluque6305 [3]
2 00:00 tu3031 [4]
0 [3]
3 00:00 Steven [5]
3 00:00 3dc [3]
0 [4]
0 [4]
0 [8]
0 [3]
0 [4]
6 00:00 Mitch H. [4]
0 [3]
3 00:00 tu3031 [14]
1 00:00 Liberalhawk [5]
0 [5]
Page 2: WoT Background
3 00:00 ed [4]
3 00:00 Mike N. [4]
3 00:00 tu3031 [3]
5 00:00 Old Patriot [5]
12 00:00 Mitch H. [3]
16 00:00 Mike N. [7]
0 [3]
2 00:00 tu3031 [3]
3 00:00 g(r)omgoru [8]
0 [3]
0 [3]
7 00:00 USN,Ret. [4]
1 00:00 Clem Sluns3730 [7]
1 00:00 Whomong Guelph4611 [4]
1 00:00 Bobby [10]
3 00:00 Bobby [7]
2 00:00 Mark Z [3]
14 00:00 Mike N. [5]
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 [3]
10 00:00 Beavis [5]
20 00:00 GK [6]
4 00:00 Querent [4]
10 00:00 Redneck Jim [5]
3 00:00 ed [3]
21 00:00 Frank G [4]
2 00:00 Bright Pebbles [4]
4 00:00 BrerRabbit [4]
6 00:00 swksvolFF [9]
4 00:00 Pappy [3]
6 00:00 Ebbang Uluque6305 [4]
0 [3]
0 [4]
2 00:00 Besoeker [3]
3 00:00 Frank G [3]
7 00:00 Redneck Jim [3]
2 00:00 Redneck Jim [3]
Page 4: Opinion
1 00:00 CrazyFool [4]
0 [3]
0 [3]
5 00:00 eLarson [3]
3 00:00 Steve White [3]
7 00:00 trailing wife [4]
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Rev. Al Outraged Over Financial Probe
(Predictable) follow-up.
Clearly, the Reverend believes this is another situation of indignation from the exploitation and inflammation of his reputation. How long before his obfuscations and explanations will be motivations for reparations?
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Rev. Al Sharpton angrily denounced federal authorities Thursday for investigating him and his civil rights organization, suggesting that the Justice Department was retaliating against him for his civil rights advocacy. "I have probably been under every investigation known to man and I can't remember a time that I've not been under investigation," Sharpton said at the Harlem headquarters of his civil rights organization.
One may suppose he is implying that whenever the black man speaks truth to injustice the White power structure has to keep him down. Or another explanation might be because throughout his entire life, the Reverend, has been caught red-handed on the wrong side of the law.
He continued: "The issues raised are issues that we've learned over and over again, particularly when we are approaching an election season."
Good Point Al. Hmmm…maybe it’s because the “issues” pertain to “election fraud”?
Sharpton, 53, called the news conference after reports emerged Thursday of a federal probe into his finances. The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, where the investigation is based, declined to comment. The FBI and the IRS are investigating Sharpton for tax fraud and possible campaign finance violations stemming from his 2004 presidential bid, according to a person familiar with the investigation. They also are investigating the National Action Network and several businesses he runs. A grand jury is scheduled to begin hearing evidence in the case at the end of the month. Alright everybody…you know the drill.
First…don’t nobody say nuthin ta nobody! Next…call the Panthers and tell them to get their asses up here from Texas. People…we got to protest!
Sharpton said he thought the timing of the investigation was suspicious, coming just weeks after he led a march on the Justice Department to demand federal intervention in the Jena Six case in Louisiana and better enforcement of hate crimes.
That is suspicious indeed…on the other hand some might see that as an alibi. Naww…he wouldn’t do anything like that. After all, that Tawanna Brawley thing was just one big mix-up.
Sharpton and his lawyer, Michael Harding, said between eight and 10 Sharpton associates, employees and former employees - including one man who worked for him 12 years ago - received subpoenas Wednesday asking them to produce documents related to the Sharpton's finances and those of his civil rights organization. Neither Sharpton nor his spokesman, Charlie King, received a subpoena. Sharpton said he was cooperating with the probe.
Why wouldn’t he cooperate? As you will hear over and over...“he has nothing to hide”.
Sharpton agreed in 2005 to repay the government $100,000, plus interest, for taxpayer money he received during his failed effort to win the Democratic presidential nomination the year before, though he denied wrongdoing. The Federal Election Commission had determined that he spent more of his own money on the campaign than the qualifications for federal matching funds allow. In 1993, Sharpton pleaded guilty to not filing a state income tax return in 1986.
If you recall, before he copped a plea bargain, he said he was innocent of those trumped up race biased charges as well.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/14/2007 10:10 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'll be happy when his postal address reads as follows:

US Federal Prison - Marion
Route 5, PO Box 2000
Marion, IL 62959

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/14/2007 11:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Tell it to the Marines, slick.
Posted by: mojo || 12/14/2007 13:16 Comments || Top||

#3  I blame THE MAN! I always blame THE MAN!!
Posted by: The "Reverend" Al Sharpton || 12/14/2007 13:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Rev. Al Outraged Over Financial Probe

"Dammit, they just might find something".

QUICK, find somebody else to blame.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/14/2007 21:35 Comments || Top||

#5  BUT DAMMIT, I'M ENTITLED. (Translation FROM JIVE TO HONKY,)BLACK.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/14/2007 21:37 Comments || Top||

#6  Don't worry, Rev. I'm sure you'll be pardoned by President McKinney...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/14/2007 21:42 Comments || Top||


Another Bus Attack Reported, still no sign of Sharpton or Jackson
This is so stupid. I'd usually say the white guys were lying just so they could get on TV but it looks like there is footage of this incident!
Patrick Green and Robert Rothe told WBAL TV 11 News that they were antagonized and attacked after boarding the No. 64 bus late Monday night in south Baltimore.
I'm sure they wandered unarmed onto a bus full of black folks and called one of them a ni99er. Happens all the time.
The men, who are white, said the attackers yelled racial slurs and that no one on board, including the driver, stepped in to stop the attack. MTA surveillance cameras captured four men boarding the bus at the Hanover Street stop Monday night, moments before Green and Rothe got on. Green and Rothe said they believe other passengers were afraid to help and that the driver refused to call for help.
Sounds so, Islamic. Now we know why the moderates are hiding.
"We were saying the whole time to the driver, 'You need to help us, call the police,'" Green told 11 News reporter Kerry Cavanaugh. "He said, 'I can't. I'll get in trouble.'"
Now you're not working. Not that unemployment is like trouble or anything.
Roth said the driver closed the door and drove away, even though the attack continued once they got off the bus.
At which point he called the cops, right?
"We could've been left on the side of the road, dead," Rothe said.

MTA officials said the driver of the bus is currently not operating a vehicle while the incident is being investigated. MTA officials said they're not currently classifying the incident as a hate crime. They said they're simply calling it a common assault.
Uh, whatever avoids with dealing with reality, I guess. I'm sure folks won't be able to figure it out if you don't label it properly.
Green and Rothe said they're mad it took MTA officials three days to release photos of the suspects.
They were afraid they'd get into trouble, too.
Anyone with information is asked to call MTA police at 410-454-7720.
Offer some rock for a reward and you'll get them a lot quicker.
In a similar incident, Sarah Kreager said she suffered broken facial bones and other injuries after she was punched, kicked and dragged off a bus Dec. 4. Kreager's companion, Troy Ellis, was also attacked, but not beaten as severely.
So don't put them in jail as long.
That incident is still under investigation.
. . . until the heat is off.

What is so effing hard? Find the ba$tards, stick them in jail. Do it with gusto. Now. If their family wants to cough up $20,000 for each of them they can get out. Put facial recognition cameras on the buses and you'll stop this kind of crap instantly. If they use the bus once, they'll have to use it again or walk for the next ten years.

And the drivers should have an inconspicuous "incident" button they can push. I understand that they don't want to get their a$$es kicked by six nothing-to-live-for-yet ignorant 220# teenagers and their terrorist sympathizers any more than I do, but something has to be done. It's not often you have such good footage of the perps, use it like you mean it. Fix the problem or it will get worse, not go away. And it's time to call a racist a racist.

Any ideas WTF is going on here? I'm beginning to think there is a suppressed tribal gene that seems to be on the verge of expressing itself, or the exploitive rantings of the Right Reverends Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson's have come home to roost. Maybe it will go away once these folks can be forced to look in the mirror for a while.
Posted by: gorb || 12/14/2007 02:52 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "We were saying the whole time to the driver, 'You need to help us, call the police,'" Green told 11 News reporter Kerry Cavanaugh. "He said, 'I can't. I'll get in trouble.'

Which is a tort on the part of the bus company.

If the authorities will not do anything this leaves vigilantes the window to create their own law; anarchy, in other words.
Posted by: Excalibur || 12/14/2007 10:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Two Words:

Concealed Carry
Posted by: OldSpook || 12/14/2007 12:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Two more words:

Steady hands.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/14/2007 12:46 Comments || Top||

#4  Let's not forget punishing the offenders.

I say my two words are:

Public Flogging.

Not just of the perps, but if they're under 18, you flog Mom and Dad too. Maybe then they'll care enough to actually raise their kids.

Heinlein had the right idea.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 12/14/2007 13:15 Comments || Top||

#5  Concealed carry has the direct effect of weeding out the genepool AND a wonderful side effect: Nothing like the sight of their hooligan buddies dead at the hands of the would-be victim pour encourager les autres
Posted by: OldSpook || 12/14/2007 15:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Concur OS. CCW is the way to go. An armed society is a polite one.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 12/14/2007 16:03 Comments || Top||

#7  We'll be seeing more of this until it's stepped on. Baltimore, where Pelosi's daddy was Mayor in the '60s, needs some Giuliani tough love.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 12/14/2007 16:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Sounds like a good opportunity to sue the Baltimore MTA into bankruptcy. Show a pattern of racial attacks and refusal of the MTA to come to aid or take measures to prevent attacks. Let the authorities lose their cushy tax paid jobs and the animals walk. In the rain and snow.
Posted by: ed || 12/14/2007 17:43 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Muslim helps Jews attacked on New York subway
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/14/2007 15:47 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thanks, TW. This is the kind of thing we need to see from time to time to remind us that not everyone who is Muslim decapitates grandmothers and 7-year old boys and hangs teens over a fire to burn to death (though that does remain the safest first assumption.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 12/14/2007 17:02 Comments || Top||

#2  One member of the group allegedly yelled, "Oh, Hanukkah. That's the day that the Jews killed Jesus," she said.

Ah. The Mensa meeting must've just broken up...

Posted by: tu3031 || 12/14/2007 21:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Any bets on the identities of the attackers? Not Muslim; the other massively anti-semitic population here in the US.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 12/14/2007 22:23 Comments || Top||


Today's Idiot
Posted by: GK || 12/14/2007 05:42 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "I'm sorry, you can't take that Drano on the plane."
Posted by: gorb || 12/14/2007 5:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Why do I suspect that he was not cold sober before he started drinking the vodka?
Posted by: Rambler || 12/14/2007 11:35 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Kenyan first lady slaps official after name mix-up
Kenya’s first lady Lucy Kibaki on Wednesday slapped an official who confused her name with that of a woman who has been reported as being the president’s second wife, a report said.
I can see how that would be a problem.
Lucy Muthoni Kibaki slapped an under-secretary in the office of the president after the official referred to her as “Wambui” during a presidential awards ceremony, independent NTV reported. The undersecretary, whose name was not disclosed, immediately stopped officiating the ceremony at the State House in Nairobi and was whisked away by security forces, NTV reported. The report said security forces confiscated the camera that captured the moment and erased the clip. President Mwai Kibaki ignored the incident and the awards ceremony continued, the report added. The woman whose name was mentioned has been widely reported as being the president’s second wife, though he has not confirmed it. In 2004, the first lady provoked uproar when she issued a statement to the press denying widespread speculation that her husband had more than one wife. The influential first lady has earned a reputation for being controversial.
Posted by: Fred || 12/14/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  controversial = crazy? Who knew?!
Posted by: gorb || 12/14/2007 3:49 Comments || Top||

#2  immediately stopped officiating the ceremony at the State House in Nairobi and was whisked away by security forces

Heh, heh, heh. Oopsie!

If he doesn't have a second wife, then why is it such a big deal, eh?
Posted by: gromky || 12/14/2007 3:55 Comments || Top||

#3  I would have been delighted to have received only a slap.
Posted by: Vince Foster || 12/14/2007 11:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Cynthia McKinney School of Charm™
Posted by: Frank G || 12/14/2007 13:30 Comments || Top||

#5  I suspect there is more to the story. It might have been a set up to humiliate her, with the under-secretary making a highly unlikely mistake, like saying "The President and First Whore", instead of "Lady".
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/14/2007 15:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Sent to the Gulag for "Political Re-education"?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/14/2007 23:47 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Unpopular in Iraq, unwanted in California
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 12/14/2007 08:32 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bring it to Lubbock. We have lots of space, a couple of good airports, a shortage of moonbats, low overall costs, and (contrary to popular assumption) a variety of terrain for training.
Posted by: Dick Arbusto, CEO of Hallibushwater || 12/14/2007 11:38 Comments || Top||

#2  Lubbock? Okay, that cinches it.

o/ Shiplord Kirel o
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 12/14/2007 12:33 Comments || Top||

#3  *AC* mr woof?

welcome back AC [plz accept my regrets] gud to sees ya!

~:)
Posted by: RD || 12/14/2007 14:35 Comments || Top||

#4  I have to wonder what Blackwater is thinking. California? Why not build it in the 70% of the US that would appreciate it instead of the loopy 30% that hate it?

In fact, with the vagaries of the federal government, while they should keep most of their operations in the US, they should move their headquarters out of the US, in case they have to leave before a hostile government decides to abuse them.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/14/2007 15:15 Comments || Top||

#5  the area in question is in east San Diego County, where most people move to get away from the City. Anti-war opponents have done a good job of whipping up hysteria about traffic, black helicopters, jack-booted thugs, free-fire zones...etc. Hopefully the County Board of Supervisors will show backbone and issue the land-use change (it's zoned agricultural, IIRC). Don't, believe that just because it's in California, that it's reflexively anti-military. San Diego county has more armed forces than most countries, and they are good neighbors
Posted by: Frank G || 12/14/2007 17:30 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Director of Veterans Charity in Hiding
The director of a national charity for veterans has gone into hiding after defying a congressional subpoena.

Roger Chapin, head of the California-based charity, Help Hospitalized Veterans, refused to appear today before a congressional hearing chaired by Congressman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who is investigating how the charity's money was spent. Waxman said Chapin had evaded attempts by U.S. marshals to find him for the past week to serve a warrant to compel Chapin to answer questions before Congress about his charity, which raised more than $98 million last year.

"There have been serious allegations against Mr. Chapin, including allegations that he is paying exorbitant salaries to himself and his wife, using donations to pay for questionable expenses, such as new condos, shifting funds among his various groups to skew reporting numbers and concealing millions of dollars in payments to for-profit fundraising corporations," Waxman said.

Help Hospitalized Veterans was one of more than a dozen charities for veterans rated "F" by a leading charity watchdog group, the American Institute of Philanthropy. At today's hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Waxman criticized these charities for "intolerable fraud" and "a sickening betrayal of our most fundamental values."
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/14/2007 02:14 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Henry, you'd better be ready to go into hiding alongside Roger if Nancy finds out!
Posted by: gorb || 12/14/2007 3:47 Comments || Top||

#2  While there is a certain irony that Waxman is leading the investigation, should this be true, then I hope one of those crazed ex-Navy Seals with post traumatic stress syndrome, you know, the kind we always see in the Hollywood movies, finds Roger first.
Posted by: Whomong Guelph4611 || 12/14/2007 4:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Ooooohhh, WG4611 - sounds like a movie deal in progress to me!
Posted by: Bobby || 12/14/2007 6:15 Comments || Top||

#4  I'd be one of the last people to praise Mr. Waxman, but I'm hoping the House Committee will shine a light on these disreputable charities, and then make sure the FBI and DoJ run them all down.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/14/2007 11:29 Comments || Top||


Reservist Convicted of Killing Iraqi
Follow-up.
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - A Marine reservist was found guilty Thursday of killing an Iraqi soldier while they stood watch together at a guard post in Fallujah. Lance Cpl. Delano Holmes, 22, of Indianapolis, was convicted of negligent homicide, but acquitted of the greater charge of unpremeditated homicide. He was also convicted of making a false official statement.

A panel of three officers and five enlisted Marines returned the verdict after two days of deliberating over whether the Dec. 31, 2006, killing of Pvt. Munther Muhammed Hassin was an act of murder or self-defense. Holmes made no remarks in court immediately after the verdict, a Marines spokeswoman said.

A sentencing hearing began immediately following the verdict but recessed for the evening a few hours later, said 1st Lt. Lisa Lawrence of Camp Pendleton public affairs. The hearing was scheduled to resume Friday morning. Holmes faced up to eight years in confinement, reduction to the rank of private, forfeiture of pay and allowances and dishonorable discharge.

Holmes was accused of stabbing to death Hassin. His attorney claimed it was an act of self-defense after Hassin allegedly opened his cell phone and then lit a cigarette. Prosecutors contended it was murder.

Holmes' attorney, Steve Cook, told jurors the men were not supposed to display any illuminated objects because of the threat of sniper fire, and Holmes tried repeatedly to get Hassin to extinguish the cigarette.

Holmes told investigators he knocked the cigarette from the soldier's hand and the two got into a fight, falling to the ground. During the struggle, Holmes felt Hassin reaching for his loaded AK-47, so he stabbed him with a bayonet that doubles as a utility knife that was attached to his jacket, Cook has said.

Prosecutors, however, said that Holmes killed the soldier and then set up the scene, firing the soldier's AK-47. Capt. Brett Miner said Holmes ``mauled'' Hassin with 17 stab wounds, 26 slashes and a chop to the face that nearly severed his nose. ``Not a scratch. Not a blemish. ... There is not a mark on him. There is no self-defense,'' Miner said. ``There can be lawful killings during a time of war. This is not a lawful killing.''

Holmes, who is being held in the brig at Camp Pendleton, enlisted in the Marine reserves in May 2004 and was on his first deployment in Iraq, Cook said. He is from the 1st Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, based out of Lansing, Mich.
Posted by: Steve White || 12/14/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  It sounds like the coverup was what assured his guilty verdict.
Posted by: Whomong Guelph4611 || 12/14/2007 4:24 Comments || Top||

#2  unpremeditated murder, ummm wouldn't that just be a murder charge
Posted by: sinse || 12/14/2007 9:04 Comments || Top||

#3  17 stab wounds, 26 slashes and a chop to the face that nearly severed his nose.

Seems pretty damning to me.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 12/14/2007 10:03 Comments || Top||

#4  oookay. okay. I just meant he might have had a shot at the self-defense defense.
Posted by: Whomong Guelph4611 || 12/14/2007 10:11 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
46[untagged]
5Govt of Syria
4Taliban
3Govt of Iran
2Hezbollah
2al-Qaeda
2al-Qaeda in North Africa
2Iraqi Insurgency
2Islamic Courts
1TNSM
1Islamic Jihad
1Palestinian Authority
1Hamas
1Fatah

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2007-12-14
  Khamenei appoints Qassem as Hezbollah military commander
Thu 2007-12-13
  Leb car boom murders top general
Wed 2007-12-12
  Qaeda in North Africa claims Algiers blasts
Tue 2007-12-11
  Taliban abandons Musa Qala
Mon 2007-12-10
  al-Abssi is in Syria and Fatah al-Isalm is in Gaza
Sun 2007-12-09
  Fierce battle rages for Taliban stronghold
Sat 2007-12-08
  Berri postpones Lebanon presidential election to Tuesday
Fri 2007-12-07
  Pak troops capture Mullah Fazlullah's base
Thu 2007-12-06
  Suicide attack on army bus in Kabul kills 16
Wed 2007-12-05
  Somali leader taken to hospital
Tue 2007-12-04
  Abu Maysara Positively Deader Than a Rock
Mon 2007-12-03
  40 Taliban killed, 14 held in Afghanistan
Sun 2007-12-02
  Walkout in Iraq parliament over Sunni leader raid
Sat 2007-12-01
  Binny: Euroleaders 'like living under shadow of White House'
Fri 2007-11-30
  Perv Sworn In as Civilian President


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.
3.133.141.6
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Operations (23)    WoT Background (18)    Non-WoT (18)    Opinion (6)    (0)