Filibuster Catch-All

[EvilMonkey]

http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME01.YAM14330.html

 

UAE: BEHEAD MANNEQUINS, SHARJAH AUTHORITIES ORDER

(ANSAmed) - DUBAI, FEBRUARY 21 - Mannequins should be beheaded: this is the directive issued by the authorities of Sharjah to all the clothing shops in the emirate. "The mannequins should be headless and the clothing in the window should respect the rules of decency, according to the religious principles," stated a circular of Sharjah, one of the seven emirates which form the United Arab Emirates. The measure, according to Khalid Al Jaberi, head of market control at Sharjah Municipality, answers to a series of complaints advanced by the residents of the emirate annoyed by the increasing number of mannequins wearing scanty clothes or only underclothes. The plastic models, according to the local authorities, depict very faithfully the reality, including facial description, offending some values of Islam. Sharjah, which borders with liberal Dubai, maintains much more conservative style of living than the bigger emirate. Single men are not allowed to live in buildings where families are living and the consumption or possession of alcohol is liable to imprisonment. (ANSAmed).

 

[StrangeSox]

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10398317/3/...debit-card.html

[StrangeSox]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336849,00.html

 

Related to this article:

http://www.esquire.com/features/fox-fallon

The article credits Fallon with "brazenly challenging his commander in chief" over a possible war with Iran, which Fallon called an "ill-advised action."

 

A line states that if Fallon gets fired, we're going to war w/Iran.

Edited March 11, 2008 by StrangeSox

[knightni]

Parent of The Year Nominee

[knightni]

Til Death Do Us Part

[southsider2k5]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle3574672.ece

 

Dalai Lama threatens to 'resign' over Tibet violence

Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness The Dalai Lama offers prayers along with Tibetan supporters

 

(Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)

 

The Dalai Lama is engaged in an internal battle with other Buddhists as well as with the Chinese authorities

Jeremy Page, Kathmandu

 

1,000 Tibetans arrested in Chinese crackdown

 

The Dalai Lama hit back at Chinese leaders and Tibetan radicals today by threatening to “resign” if violence in Tibet escalated, insisting that independence was “out of the question”, and urging his people to live “side by side” with the Chinese.

 

He also challenged China’s Government to investigate his offices – and even his own pulse, stools and urine – to back up their allegation that he masterminded the riots that began on Friday in Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

 

"If things become out of control then my only option is to completely resign," Tibet's exiled spiritual leader told a news conference in the north Indian town of Dharamsala, the seat of his government-in-exile.

Related Links

 

* 1,000 Tibetans arrested in Chinese crackdown on rioters

 

* Radicals left frustrated by Dalai Lama’s tactics

 

* Q&A: Buddhism

 

Multimedia

 

* Video: rioting in Lhasa

 

* Pictures: Tibet rioters face Chinese military

 

"Even 1,000 Tibetans sacrificed their life, not much help," he said. "Please help stop violence from Chinese side and also from Tibetan side."

 

The Dala Lama cannot technically resign as he is revered as the re-incarnation of his predecessor, but he has often suggested that he will not be re-incarnated again.

 

His comments today appeared to be designed to re-assert his moral authority and to quell the unrest that has spread to neighbouring Tibetan areas as Chinese forces impose a security lockdown on Lhasa.

 

Prominent radicals, led by the leader of the Tibetan Youth Congress, criticised the Dalai Lama yesterday for advocating non-violence rather than independence or a boycott of the Beijing Olympics.

 

Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, then accused the Dalai Lama today of orchestrating the riots in Tibet in a deliberate plot to "incite sabotage" of the Olympics.

 

But the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959, defended his “middle way” of campaigning peacefully for greater autonomy within China rather than independence.

 

"On violence, it's wrong. We should not develop anti-Chinese feelings. We must live together side by side," he said. "Independence is out of the question."

 

He responded to Mr Wen by inviting him to send his officials to conduct an investigation in Dharamsala.

 

"Investigate thoroughly, so if you want to start investigating from here you are most welcome," he said.

 

"Check our various offices ...They can examine my pulse, my urine, my stool, everything."

 

His comments came as more than 2,000 Tibetans in northeastern India staged their biggest rally in years to demand a U.N. investigation into the violence in Tibet.

 

Led by monks in maroon robes, some as young as eight, they waved Tibetan flags and marched through the streets of Siliguri, chanting: "We want justice, we want freedom".

 

Western tourists who flew from Lhasa to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, this morning said that Chinese police and troops were manning checkpoints at almost every intersection in Lhasa.

 

They said that most schools, shops and other businesses had opened for the first time since Friday and that Tibetans and Chinese were moving around in the streets with no signs of further violence.

 

But they said there were very few young Tibetans on the streets following last night’s midnight deadline for rioters to surrender themselves.

 

“The Tibetans weren’t smiling any more,” said John Kenwood, a 19-year-old tourist from Canada who said he had been in Lhasa since March 10.

 

“There were soldiers everywhere. I saw some older Tibetan ladies, but there were fewer young guys wondering around,” he said. “Young Tibetans are all in hiding.”

[StrangeSox]

http://www.reason.com/news/show/125538.html

Imagine you're home alone.

 

It's 8 p.m. You work an early shift and need to be out the door before sunrise, so you're already in bed. Your nerves are a bit frazzled, because earlier in the week someone broke into your home. Oddly, they didn't take anything; they just rifled through your belongings.

 

But the violation weighs on your mind. At about the time you drift off, you're awakened by fierce barking from your two large dogs. You hear someone crashing into your front door, as if he's trying to separate it from its hinges. You grab the gun you keep for home defense and leave your room to investigate.

 

This past January that scenario played out at the Chesapeake, Virginia, home of 28-year-old Ryan Frederick, a slight man of little more than 100 pounds. According to interviews since the incident, Frederick says when he looked toward his front door, he saw an intruder trying to enter through one of the lower door panels. So Frederick fired his gun.

 

The intruders were from the Chesapeake Police Department. They had come to serve a drug warrant. Frederick's bullet struck Detective Jarrod Shivers in the side, killing him. Frederick was arrested and has spent the last six weeks in a Chesapeake jail.

 

He has been charged with first degree murder. Paul Ebert, the special prosecutor assigned to the case, has indicated he may elevate the charge to capital murder, which would enable the state to seek the death penalty.

 

At the time of the raid, Ryan Frederick worked for a soft drink merchandiser. Current and former employers and co-workers speak highly of him. He also recently had gotten engaged, a welcome lift for a guy who'd had a run of tough luck.

 

He lost both parents early in life, and friends say the death of his mother hit particularly hard—Frederick discovered her in bed after she had overdosed on prescription medication. After the deaths of both parents, Frederick grew close to his grandmother, who then died two years ago.

 

Friends and neighbors describe Frederick as shy, self-effacing, non-confrontational, and hard-working. He had no prior criminal record. Frederick and his friends have conceded he smoked marijuana recreationally. But all—including his neighbors—insist there's no evidence he was growing or distributing the drug.

 

According to the search warrant, the police raided Frederick's home after a confidential informant told them he saw evidence of marijuana growing in a garage behind the home. The warrant says the informant saw several marijuana plants, plus lights, irrigation equipment and other gardening supplies.

 

After the raid, the police found the gardening supplies, but no plants. They also found a small amount of marijuana, but not much—only enough to charge Frederick with misdemeanor drug possession.

 

Frederick told a local television station that he was an avid gardener. A neighbor I spoke with backs him up, explaining that Frederick had an elaborate koi pond behind his home and raised a variety of tropical plants. He'd even given his neighbors gardening tips on occasion.

 

One of the plants Frederick told the local television station he raised was the Japanese maple, a plant that, when green, has leaves that look quite a bit like marijuana leaves.

So far, Chesapeake police have given no indication that they did any investigation to corroborate the tip from their informant. There's no mention in the search warrant of an undercover drug buy from Frederick or of any extensive surveillance of Frederick's home.

 

More disturbingly, the search warrant says the confidential informant was inside Frederick's house three days before the raid—about the same time Frederick says someone broke into his home. Frederick's supporters have told me that Frederick and his attorney now know the identity of the informant, and that it was the police informant who broke into Frederick's home.

Chesapeake's police department isn't commenting. But if true, all of this raises some very troubling questions about the raid, and about Frederick's continued incarceration.

 

Special prosecutor Paul Ebert said at a recent bond hearing for Frederick that Shivers, the detective who was killed, was in Frederick's yard when he was shot, and that Frederick fired through his door, knowing he was firing at police.

 

Frederick's attorney disputes this. Ebert also said Frederick should have known the intruders were police because there were a dozen or more officers at the scene. But some of Frederick's neighbors dispute this, too. One neighbor told me she saw only two officers immediately after the raid; she said the others showed up only after Shivers went down.

 

What's clear, though, is that Chesepeake police conducted a raid on a man with no prior criminal record. Even if their informant had been correct, Frederick was at worst suspected of growing marijuana plants in his garage. There was no indication he was a violent man—that it was necessary to take down his door after nightfall.

 

The raid in Chesapeake bears a striking resemblance to another that ended in a fatality. Last week, New Hanover County, N.C., agreed to pay $4.25 million to the parents of college student Peyton Strickland, who was killed when a deputy participating in a raid mistook the sound of a SWAT battering ram for a gunshot, and fired through the door as Strickland came to answer it.

 

In the case where a citizen mistakenly (and allegedly) shot through his door at a raiding police officer, the citizen is facing a murder charge; in the case where a raiding police officer mistakenly shot through a door and killed a citizen, there were no criminal charges.

 

Over the last quarter century, we've seen an astonishing rise in paramilitary police tactics by police departments across America. Peter Kraksa, professor of criminology at the University of Eastern Kentucky, ran a 20-year survey of SWAT team deployments and determined that they have increased 1,500 percent since the early 1980s—mostly to serve nonviolent drug warrants.

 

This is dangerous, senseless overkill. The margin of error is too thin, and the potential for tragedy too high to use these tactics unless they are in response to an already violent situation (think bank robberies, school shootings or hostage-takings). Breaking down doors to bust drug offenders creates violent situations; it doesn't defuse them.

 

Shivers' death is only the most recent example. And Ryan Frederick is merely the latest citizen to be put in the impossible position of being awakened from sleep, then having to determine in a matter of seconds if the men breaking into his home are police or criminal intruders.

 

You wonder how many people can honestly say they'd have handled it any differently than he did.

 

Who needs actual police work to corroborate "informant" tips when you can just go in and bust some doors down?

Edited March 20, 2008 by StrangeSox

[Mplssoxfan]

Stalwart Service for U.S. in Iraq Is Not Enough to Gain Green Card

 

This is an article about a Kurd who was a translator in Iraq and finally got to emigrate here. He's now being denied a green card for some very convoluted reasons. You really should read the article.

 

Last month, however, the U.S. government turned down Ahmad's application for permanent residence, known as a green card. His offense: Ahmad had once been part of the Kurdish Democratic Party, which U.S. immigration officials deemed an "undesignated terrorist organization" for having sought to overthrow former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

 

Ahmad, a Kurd, once served in the KDP's military force, which is part of the new Iraqi army. A U.S. ally, the KDP is now part of the elected government of the Kurdish region and holds seats in the Iraqi parliament. After consulting public Web sites, however, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services determined that KDP forces "conducted full-scale armed attacks and helped incite rebellions against Hussein's regime, most notably during the Iran-Iraq war, Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom."

 

Ahmad's association with a group that had attempted to overthrow a government -- even as an ally in U.S.-led wars against Hussein -- rendered him "inadmissible," the agency concluded in a three-page letter dated Feb. 26.

 

The second youngest of five children, Ahmad was away at college when Saddam Hussein, striking at rebellious Kurds, launched a chemical gas attack against Ahmad's home town, Halabja, in 1988. The infamous assault, in which more than 5,000 died, was often cited by the Bush administration as part of its justification for invading Iraq. It left Ahmad without a single living relative, as he has recounted to Americans many times over the past six years.

 

Basically, the guy was part of an organization that tried to overthrow Saddam Hussein and, therefore, he's a terrorist.

 

I don't want to draw any parallels, but I sure don't like this line of thinking.

 

 

 

[Rowand44]

Anyone want to write a 6-8 minute speech about John McCain's military career for me? <_>

[knightni]

Anyone want to write a 6-8 minute speech about John McCain's military career for me? <_>

http://www.rd.com/national-interest/people...P1/article.html

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCain

 

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/2008/0...on-account.html

[NorthSideSox72]

Anyone want to write a 6-8 minute speech about John McCain's military career for me? <_>

Make sure to get a vid of him jumping off the front antenna array of his plane, leaping through a fire, on the Forrestal. Great visual to get the idea across, and it was caught on video.

 

[Gregory Pratt]

A friend and I were discussing, via the Internet, a cousin of hers that believed up until recently that the US had gained its independence from the Russians, not the British (what year, I don't know). This was, to say the least, a little upsetting to me as she is not a young woman so she does not have youthful lack-of-knowledge as an excuse but I said, "Well, wouldn't that be something if it were so?" I was thinking about it, wondering "How do I tease and explore this silliness?" and wound up writing up this "History." I hope you appreciate the nuggets in the story and the lump it makes up. (You likely won't understand it all the way unless you have a good grasp of American and Russian Revolutionary history, but even to the normal reader or the casual historian it should provide good humour.)

 

A Brief History of American Revolution

 

The Russian Revolution of America began when American colonists revolted against Russian rule over the Alaskan colony over their refusal to allow them drilling rights. It escalated during peace negotiations, held in Vancouver, when Madison warned Zinoviev against factionalism after the American delegation overhead him conspiring with Kamenev against his fellow Communists. Trotsky shot Hamilton in the ensuing argument for insinuating that there should be a separation of powers to ensure that everyone can co-exist in disagreement. With tensions rising, Stalin brought the declaration of independence to the table and ordered the execution of Jefferson for inciting the people to capitalism; this, he thought, would solve all problems. Washington intervened, thus irking Stalin's pride because the Man of Steel objected to the man whom he had armed against the Spaniards objecting to his peace proposal, and the ensuing war lasted seven years until Dolly Madison and Nadezhda Krupskaya sat down to broker an era of good feelings by which the Canadian provinces would suffice as replacement for the loss of ANWR profits, the American colony would be allowed to spread into what would become the continental United States, but only if they would aid the Soviets in defeating Napoleon's France in Quebec, which they joined the Germans in doing. Unfortunately, a good deal of double crossing occurred when Adams told a young Hitler, fighting for the Allies at the time, that the Russians did not intend to work with the Germans after the rebellion was defeated. Hitler never trusted the Russians again, and when Churchill (in the new world to observe the new world) criticized Hitler's artistry and drank his alcohol, the stage was set for the bloodiest conflict ever known to man. Hitler would never booze again.

[WilliamTell]

haha that's funny and I'm glad you got my favorite American James Madison involved.

[BigSqwert]

And we wonder why kids go on killing sprees at schools.

 

Mexico's Emo-Bashing Problem

[kapkomet]

This is priceless.

 

[Balta1701]

Not sure where to stick this but wanted to write it somewhere.

 

If you've never had the chance to be getting dressed in the locker room at the gym of an institute of higher education while at the same time2 there are 2 guys on the other side of the locker room going off on a quasi-racist rant which I believe included El Salvadorians, Russians, Ukranians, and most of all those nasty Muslims, during which an African American and a Nobel Laureate walk in to the same room, listen in for a moment, and roll their eyes in your direction after they realize what they've walked in on and then make a joke or two to each other...you should try it. It's quite an experience.

[Balta1701]

Vladimir Putin reportedly prepared to marry 24 year old Russian Olympic Medal winning Gymnast.

[Balta1701]

Why not stick this here.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Thursday that whoever wins the presidency in November, "at least we'll have an adult in office who can lead and accomplish something."

[BearSox]

watching mad tv last night, they had two fake political ads that made me laugh...

 

 

[BigSqwert]

ABC ratings take a plunge after their televised debate.

 

The ratings for last week's evening newscasts are in — and it appears that the angry viewers claiming that they would no longer watch ABC after last week's poorly-received debate made good on their promise: NBC beat ABC by over 600,000 viewers last week — an unusually wide margin for the dueling newscasts.

 

One reason for that wider-than-usual gap — averaging out Friday's numbers: On Friday, NBC beat ABC by 1.1 million viewers — a practically unheard of margin for an otherwise random Friday night. But it wasn't so random — by Friday, the post-debate backlash was in full swing, with reviews castigating moderators Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulous for their performance, and viewer complaints racking up over 17,600 and counting on ABC.com alone.

[jackie hayes]

A great quote from Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, on the election results in Zimbabwe. Nice to see someone state the obvious:

"If they had voted for Mugabe the results would already have been announced. Everyone knows what time it is."

Really, I just love the last part.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/25/world/af...25zimbabwe.html

[Kyyle23]

The man who owns the online gun shop that sold the guns to the Virginia Tech killer spoke at Virginia Tech about the right to carry concealed weapons.

 

I understand free speech, but this is just callous

[BigSqwert]

LINK

 

A new poll suggests that George W. Bush is the most unpopular president in modern American history.

 

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Thursday indicates that 71 percent of the American public disapprove of how Bush his handling his job as president.

 

"No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president's disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark," said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

 

"Bush's approval rating, which stands at 28 percent in our new poll, remains better than the all-time lows set by Harry Truman and Richard Nixon (22 percent and 24 percent, respectively) but even those two presidents never got a disapproval rating in the 70s," Holland added. "The previous all-time record in CNN or Gallup polling was set by Truman, 66 percent disapproval in January 1952."

 

CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider adds, "He is more unpopular than Richard Nixon was just before he resigned from the presidency in August 1974." President Nixon's disapproval rating in August 1974 stood at 67 percent.

 

The poll also indicates that support for the war in Iraq has never been lower. Thirty percent of those questioned favored the war while 68 percent opposed the conflict.

 

"Americans are growing more pessimistic about the war," Holland said. "In January, nearly half believed that things were going well for the U.S. in Iraq; now that figure has dropped to 39 percent."

 

The numbers on the Iraq war come on the five-year anniversary of President Bush's "mission accomplished" moment onboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, when Bush proclaimed that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."

 

The record low support for the war in a CNN poll could be one reason behind the president's unpopularity, but it probably is not the only one.

 

"Support for the war, the assessment of the economy and approval of Mr. Bush are all about the same — bad," Schneider said.

 

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted by telephone from Monday through Wednesday, with 1,008 adult Americans questioned. The poll's sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

[EvilMonkey]

I always seem to post the negative, so i want to give props where due. More of this, please!

 

http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/18756679.html

 

Mosques: We will not bury this Muslim

By KITTY CAPARELLA

Philadelphia Daily News

 

[email protected] 215-854-5880

 

The leadership of the Germantown Masjid has refused to conduct funeral services for Howard Cain, the bank robber who killed Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski with a Chinese-made semi-automatic rifle.

"No, we will not bury him at Germantown Masjid," said Tariq El Shabazz, managing director of the mosque. "We don't want one slight scintilla hinting that we condone his behavior."

 

On Sunday evening, a friend of Cain's family asked if Cain's burial could take place at the mosque on Germantown Avenue near Logan Street, El Shabazz said.

 

El Shabazz declined to conduct the service after researching Islamic law and meeting with Saadiq Abdul Jabbar, chief executive of the mosque; Imam Talib Abdullah, and others.

 

"We don't tolerate that kind of behavior," El Shabazz said. "Their actions are not from Islam. You don't dress like a woman, you don't rob people or transgress against them or commit murder. On all three grounds, they are dead wrong.

 

"We are not saying that Muslims should not bury him, or that he should not have Janaza [funeral prayers]," he added. "He is a Muslim and he has that right, but we don't want that here."

 

The religious leaders offered to "talk the family through the washing of the body and Janaza prayers," El Shabazz said, "but we didn't hear anything more from them after we stated our position."

 

El Shabazz, who is also a defense attorney, was just as adamant about fugitive Eric Floyd, who was arrested last night.

 

"That boy needs to . . . answer for what he did," El Shabazz said.

 

Since Sunday morning, Imam Abdullah has been preaching five times a day about the officer's murder.

 

Abdullah "is rough on his own people," Jabbar said. "He's an elder in the mosque, a religious teacher who has stature and he makes you feel the wrath of Allah."

 

At Friday's Jumah prayers, "Abdullah is going to deliver a very strong message about that kind of behavior, and take the position that the Muslim community has to stand against something like this," said Jabbar, referring to the killing of a police officer.

 

"You have to be clear and come out against them, even if they are in your flock," he added.

 

Asked if the burial service would take place at the Philadelphia Masjid, at 47th Street and Wyalusing Avenue, a source said: "I'm telling you now. We ain't burying him here."

[lostfan]

That's encouraging.