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Another Wazoo dronezap
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
US Muslim TV boss arrested for beheading wife
The founder of an American Muslim television channel, launched to counter the negative stereotypes of Muslims after 9/11, was arrested in New York late Thursday for beheading his estranged wife.
We've had this story a couple times, now al-Arabiya's picked it up. So far it's not burning up the U.S. press, though.
Muzzammil Hassan, 44, was charged with second-degree murder hours after he went to the police and told them his wife's dead body was at the Bridges TV office in Buffalo, New York, local papers reported.

" Obviously this is the worst form of domestic violence possible "
District Attorney
Police, who are still searching for the murder weapon, identified the victim as Aasiya Hassan, 37, and said she had recently filed for divorce from Hassan and sought a restraining order barring him from the family home, Buffalo News reported.

"Obviously this is the worst form of domestic violence possible," the paper quoted District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III as saying.
Someone ought to ask the newspapers just how often beheadings occur in western New York, and then ask, if it is that uncommon, why they aren't covering this one.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They are parents and partners with media.
Posted by: newc || 02/16/2009 2:16 Comments || Top||

#2  American press covers for savage monster again. Ho hum. No news here. Move on people.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 02/16/2009 10:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Al Arabiya gave it more play than the WaPo or NYTimes.

Posted by: mhw || 02/16/2009 11:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Fox covers the story too.

From their story:
Muzzammil Hassan, who founded Bridges TV in November 2004 to counter anti-Islam stereotypes, surrendered to police Thursday. Hassan touted the network as the "first-ever full-time home for American Muslims," according to a press release.

"Every day on television we are barraged by stories of a 'Muslim extremist, militant, terrorist, or insurgent,'" Hassan said in the 2004 release. "But the stories that are missing are the countless stories of Muslim tolerance, progress, diversity, service and excellence that Bridges TV hopes to tell."


"As you can see, my story is the former. The latter are mostly fiction."
Posted by: Dar || 02/16/2009 13:27 Comments || Top||

#5  As an Upstate New Yorker, I can vouch that, except for hockey games, decapitations are exceedingly rare.
Posted by: JDB || 02/16/2009 14:26 Comments || Top||

#6  Now on, of all places, cnn.

So, what is the lag time for real media to mainstream media? 5 days?
Posted by: Jules 187 || 02/16/2009 21:45 Comments || Top||

#7  The local Buffalo news reported that that Mr. Hassan lived in Orchard Park, which is an upscale suburb in the southwest side of the city. What they didn't report because everybody their knows it, is that it is not far from Lackawanna, home of the famous Lackawanna Six terrorists. Of course, he and his wife hail from Pakistan, whereas I believe the Muslims in Lackawanna are almost exclusively Yemenis... many of whom conform to a great many of the negative stereotypes Mr. Hassan hoped to disprove.

Separately, it seems the Buffalo authorities were trying to contact the Hassan family in Pakistan, presumably to take responsibility for the four children, who I'm sure will not at all appreciate being returned to the ancestral home.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2009 22:13 Comments || Top||


-Short Attention Span Theater-
Outrage brewing over proposed 1,900% beer tax hike
Five Oregon state lawmakers want to impose a hefty tax on beer and have introduced a bill that brewers say would cripple them. Four Portland legislators joined a Springfield senator to introduce Oregon House Bill 2461, which would impose a $49.61 tax on each barrel of beer produced by Oregon brewers.

The tax would raise revenue for the state at a time when budgets are running in the red. Specifically, the bill says it would fund prevention, treatment and recovery programs for those addicted to alcohol and other substances. It also defends the tax by claiming alcoholism and "untreated substance abuse" costs the state $4.15 billion in "lost earnings" as well as more than $8 million for health care and nearly $1 billion in law enforcement-related expenditures.

HB 2461 claims Oregon ranks 49th among states in its malt beverage taxation rate, which has not been raised in 32 years.

Brewers say it's that low tax that makes Oregon such an attractive business climate for crafting beers, though. The state's brewery guild claims it would also amount to the single largest beer tax hike in the nation's history.

Laurelwood Public House & Brewing Co. owner Mike De Kalb said the tax may sound like a good idea in this economic climate, but that in reality it would cost more Oregonians their jobs and would only amount to about $140 million in new tax revenue for the state. Meanwhile, it would cost beer drinkers about $315 million as breweries are forced to pass along the tax increase.

"We're a family-owned, local Portland business. We don't want to see something cost taxpayers more than the revenue it would bring in," De Kalb said. "If that tax is passed it would mean consumers would pay $315 million more (in 2009) to buy the same amount of beer they bought in 2008. A pint of beer would go from $4.50 to $6."

De Kalb said Oregon would potentially lose its prominence as a craft-brew destination and that some small breweries could potentially go out of business. He said Laurelwood could possibly face job cuts as well.

Prior versions of the beer tax bill have exempted small breweries but this one does not, he added.

House Bill 2461 has been introduced by Portland Reps. Ben Cannon and Michael Dembrow, Portland Sens. Jackie Dingfelder and Diane Rosenbaum, and Springfield Sen. William Morrisette
Posted by: Beavis || 02/16/2009 12:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sh*t!

I live in Portland, and one of the few good things is the great local beers. I've always tried to use that as a balance against the high concentration of leftest nuggets, but now this?!?!?!

Where to move..

sigh.
Posted by: Francis || 02/16/2009 14:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Brewers say it's that low tax that makes Oregon such an attractive business climate for crafting beers, though.

Oh...ummmmmm, really? Is that how it works?
Well, I'm a politician and can't figure hard stuff like that out. But I doubt it's good "for the children", I'll tell ya that...
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/16/2009 14:32 Comments || Top||

#3  couldn't be the abundant hops growing there, huh? nahhhh
Posted by: Frank G || 02/16/2009 14:46 Comments || Top||

#4  As well as sharpening our cross-bow pointy things and loading 'round of bullet' ourselves, now we have to make our own beer.
Posted by: rhodesiafever || 02/16/2009 14:51 Comments || Top||

#5  I already make my own beer. Next they'll be taxing the crap out of beer-making supplies.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/16/2009 15:42 Comments || Top||

#6  Tax beer sold in the state, not just beer produced. Let all the beer companies share the pain.

If the Wisconsin Legislature ever gets out of the Tavern League's pocket and raises the beer tax, it'll be long overdue. I'm not going to cry over a raise in the beer tax; I will pony up some extra for my sixpack of Fat Squirrel.

As far as I know, Wisconsin is the only state in the union where a first time drunk driving offense gets only a ticket. Not surprisingly, we have a hellacious drunk driving problem in this state.

Raise the beer tax, and use it to pay for throwing the drunk drivers in jail for 30 to 180 days for the first offense, and quit monkeying around with people's lives and safety.
Posted by: mom || 02/16/2009 16:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Where to move..

Posted by: DMFD || 02/16/2009 18:20 Comments || Top||

#8  yeah thanks for that mom
Posted by: Hellfish || 02/16/2009 20:06 Comments || Top||

#9  You're very welcome, Hellfish.

You should have a beer with my friend the cop, so she can tell you what it's like to sweep a teenager's teeth and jawbone off the pavement.
Posted by: mom || 02/16/2009 21:31 Comments || Top||

#10  mom, you've managed to live a very unsheltered life.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/16/2009 22:05 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Egypt Copts decry attempt to "Islamize" Cairo
Egypt's leading Christians have accused the governor of Cairo of trying to Islamize the streets by changing the names of some of the country's oldest areas from Christian ones to Islamic ones.

The advisor of the Coptic Pope Shenouda III, Dr. Naguib Gebrael, filed a lawsuit against Governor Abdul-Azim Wazir for changing street names without any legal or historical reason.

Gebrael cited the example of Victoria Square in Cairo's densely populated Coptic area called Shubra whose name was changed to Nasr al-Islam or the victory of Islam, the name of a fundamentalist association that offers charity services in the area.

" This is an attempt at Islamizing the districts of Cairo...These decisions infuriate Copts and prove there is a plan by the government to Islamize Egypt...There is a committee in charge of naming streets and squares and its members include university professors of geography and history. Did fundamentalism infiltrate this scientific committee? "
Dr. Naguib Gebrael
"This is an attempt at Islamizing the districts of Cairo," Gebrael told AlArabiya.net. "These decisions infuriate Copts and prove there is a plan by the government to Islamize Egypt."

"There is a committee in charge of naming streets and squares and its members include university professors of geography and history. Did fundamentalism infiltrate this scientific committee?" he added.

Gebrael stressed that Copts have nothing against Islamic names and that the lawsuit is not out of fanaticism for Christianity, but rather keenness to preserve the history of Egypt and promote tolerance and multiplicity. Shubra is one of the oldest districts in Cairo and has a considerable Coptic population.

Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  For decades, Cairo Muslims have found it acceptable to drink beer at a Christian friend's house. The only way the Islamers could enforce sharia would be to enter Christian homes.
Posted by: Alistaire Greash5374 || 02/16/2009 4:39 Comments || Top||


Arabia
New Saudi info minister vows to reform media
The newly appointed Saudi Minister of Information and Culture Abdul Aziz Al-Khoja said he plans to reform the local media landscape so that it reflects messages of peace, tolerance and moderation worldwide, following his appointment yesterday as part of a major leadership overhaul in the kingdom.

King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud also replaced the head of the religious police and the central bank governor of 26 years and appointed the kingdom's first-ever female deputy minister in the first cabinet reshuffle since taking over the throne in 2005.

"The most important thing is that the Kingdom's voice should reach the entire world, convey the message of peace and stability and portray the Kingdom's stance of moderation, tolerance and flexibility," al-Khoja told Saudi Gazette.

"We will work hand in hand and shoulder to shoulder to give all aspects of media works a strong push so as to achieve the ambitions of our leadership," he added.

Al-Khoja told the paper he would cooperate with Saudi journalists and intellectuals to develop the local media and design a strategic vision for the development of media production.

"I welcome their opinions and suggestions because they constitute the pillar of the Saudi media and represent the shining face of the country within and outside the Kingdom," he said.

Al-Khoja, who served as deputy minister of information and culture, saidhe would build on his previous experiences with the ministry to move forward with his reforms.

"I was a deputy to the ministery for a long period and I was in charge of many gulf and Islamic media, including news agencies and UNESCO-related projects," he said.

"I consider all media professionals my friends and we are going to cooperate to develop the media work in the kingdom," he added.

Sweeping changes
Al-Khoja's statements followed his appointment yesterday as the head of the information ministry, which was part of a sweeping reshuffle of the Saudi leadership by King Abdullah on Saturday

Norah al-Fayez, currently an official at the Saudi Institute for Public Administration, became the first woman deputy education minister for female education affairs, the most senior ever granted to a woman in the kingdom.

Also named in the sweeping shakeup was a new head of the Muttawa religious police, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Humain who replaced sacked Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith.

The central bank governor Hamad Saud al-Sayyari was replaced with his deputy, Muhammad al-Jasser. The monarch also appointed Abdul-Aziz Khoja, who was ambassador to Lebanon, as information minister, replacing Iyad bin Amin Madani.

Sayyari had been at the helm of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), the kingdom's central bank, since 1983 when he was appointed acting governor before being confirmed at the post two years later.

The reshuffle did not affect either of the key ministries of oil or finance, official sources said.

Saleh bin Humaid, who was speaker of the advisory Shura Council, was appointed head of the Supreme Judiciary Court and was replaced by the outgoing justice minister, Abdullah al-Sheikh

The board of Muslim scholars was also expanded for the first time to include 21 members from all Sunni schools of thought.

Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
DU fine arts students beat six journos
‘No reporter allowed during ragging’
That's all it says. I have no idea what it means.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Down Under
Bushfire arsonist Brendan Sokaluk worships mother earth on spooky MySpace page
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/16/2009 14:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
India arrests Valentine's day attackers
Indian security forces have arrested at least 11 radical Hindus for attacking young couples across the country on Valentine's Day.

Five members of the radical Shiv Sena group were arrested on Saturday after they threatened couples in a New Delhi park, a police spokesman said. The protesters used scissors to cut the hair of what they called 'overtly romantic' couples in the park.

Another six radicals were arrested in the country's northern Agra city, media sources said on Sunday.

Some religious activists also burnt flowers and Valentine Day cards to mark their protest.

The Hindu group says Valentine's Day is a symbol of 'cultural corruption'. Shiv Sena says that it intends to protect Indian culture from Westernization.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Iraq bans Farsi signs in holy cities
Iraq's Interior Minister Jawad Bolani on Saturday imposed a ban on signs in foreign languages in Shiite holy cities, in an apparent reference to Farsi, the official language of Iran.

"Mr Bolani has ordered that all phrases in foreign languages be removed from public places and services in Najaf and all the other holy cities in Iraq," his ministry said.

Signs in Farsi are common in public restrooms and other facilities used by the hundreds of thousands of Iranian pilgrims who yearly visit Shiite Islam's holiest sites in the cities of Najaf and Karbala, both south of Baghdad.

Most Shiite Muslims visit Najaf, the home of Shiite Islam's most revered shrine of Imam Ali, and later tour Karbala, which is home to the shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas.

Bolani, himself a Shiite, is an independent secular politician.
Posted by: Fred || 02/16/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Big mistake/.
Posted by: newc || 02/16/2009 2:06 Comments || Top||

#2  There are some nuances here. If he is a Shiite, then it is probably sending any number of signals to the Iranians.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/16/2009 9:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Courageous move. It is also a move that reinforces the local clergy in supremacy against Iranian mullahs.

This allows Iraqi Shia complete control of the holy places of Shia. It is equivalent to putting the Iranian mullahs under the heel of Iraqi clerics. Iraq's Ayatollah Sistani is probably happy for this.
Posted by: Lagom || 02/16/2009 13:14 Comments || Top||

#4  Sistani has consistently stepped up as an ally to an Iraqi government free from Iranian influence.
He was probably the first cleric in Iraq to understand that partnership with the US was the only way to keep the nutjobs in Iran at bay.
I like the guy more everyday. He was a real pain in the butt until AQ blew up the Mosque in Najaf.
Posted by: James Carville || 02/16/2009 15:34 Comments || Top||

#5  I don't know, if I lived in Karbala or Najaf I'd be kind of pissed about this. Sounds like a recipe for hordes of Persian bumpkins pissing on my doorstep because they can't find the public toilets on account of all the Farsi "bathroom thataway" signs being torn down.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 02/16/2009 15:46 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
West Java Council says employees to read and write Arabic
Reading and writing in Arabic is a must for civil servants and village heads in Bogor.

The Regent of Bogor in West Java announced recently that employees of the Bogor Council are required to read and write in Arabic, to the point where they will be qualified and able to lead five-daily prayers. The ruling applies to all Muslim city employees of at least Echelon II rank.

H Rachmat Yasin, who is from Partai Persatuan Pembangunan (PPP) and ran for office in coalition with Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDI-P), says he made the new regulation because he felt obligated to reward the support of Muslim clerics for him: "They put their trust in me to lead Bogor, I'm committed to doing what is necessary to keep up the good work that clerics have done."

Rachmat Yasin says that many public servants are uneasy about having to lead prayers and that in the beginning some of them had to be forced, but overall: "It's turning out well, nowadays employees are busy learning how to read the Quran."

Rachman hoped that employees would learn to see their new duty as a joy instead of something onerous. The policy will shortly be applied to village heads in the regency. In future any person who seeks the position of village head will be required to demonstrate ability to read the Quran in Arabic.

Elsewhere in Indonesia similar policies are applied in Aceh, West Sumatra, and South Sulawesi.

Meanwhile the regent says his administration is gearing up for a new attack on social ills, primarily prostitution, with the Bogor-Parung route and Puncak areas to be targeted.
Posted by: classer || 02/16/2009 01:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Must also show ability to beat women and burn down schools.
Posted by: ed || 02/16/2009 11:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Indian muslim students spend 40% of their school day studying arabic and the quran. And they blame the Hindu majority for their backwardness. Islamic logic in action.
Posted by: Alistaire Greash5374 || 02/16/2009 14:22 Comments || Top||



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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
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GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
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Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
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Two weeks of WOT
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
Thu 2009-02-12
  Pak arrests 'main operator' in Mumbai attacks
Wed 2009-02-11
  Taliban Attack Afghan Government Buildings, Killing 20
Tue 2009-02-10
  FBI woman sexually harassed me: 26/11 accused terrorist
Mon 2009-02-09
  Female Tamil Tiger bomber kills 28 after hiding among refugees
Sun 2009-02-08
  India wants Pak declared terrorist state
Sat 2009-02-07
  Russia allows transit of US military supplies
Fri 2009-02-06
  Islamabad High Court frees AQ Khan
Thu 2009-02-05
  Thirty dead in Pakistan blast: hospital
Wed 2009-02-04
  Bridge Attack Severs Afghan Supply Route
Tue 2009-02-03
  Somalia orders recapture of Baidoa
Mon 2009-02-02
  Bomber in police uniform kills 21 Afghan policemen

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