Archive for January, 2010
Sunday, January 31st, 2010
Human sacrifice on the increase:
THE number of people killed in human sacrifice is on the rise.
According to a report obtained from the Police, the number of people killed in human sacrifice increased from three in 2007 to 25 in 2008 and 29 in 2009.
In addition, a total of 123 people were still missing by the end of 2009, the majority of them, or 90, were children. Most of them are suspected to having become victims of human sacrifice.
To date, 125 suspects have been arrested and 54 were taken to court. They were charged with criminal offences such as murder, abductions, kidnap, causing harm and attempting to sell children. However, nobody has been convicted so far.
Altogether 1,213 people went missing in the course of last year but the majority of them were traced.
Kampala district emerged as the most dangerous place, with 956 people gone missing for at least a few days during 2009. This was followed by Wakiso district with 98 missing people, Mityana with 19 and Kayunga with 16 missing people. Masaka, Mukono and Jinja each had 14 cases.
Of the 29 confirmed ritual murders last year, three were in Kampala while Jinja, Mukono and Mityana each had two.
Posted in Cultural Oddities | No Comments »
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Benito Mussolini speeches become Apple iTunes hit
A collection of speeches by Benito Mussolini has become an unlikely and controversial hit on the internet.
The speeches, the last of which was delivered in 1938 when Italy introduced laws which discriminated against Jews, are the second-most downloaded application on the Italian version of Apple’s iTunes website.
The popularity of the application, called iMussolini, caused outrage among some Italians in the week that the country commemorated Holocaust Memorial Day – the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet forces.
The website was inundated with comments condemning the continuing fascination with Mussolini and a member of the Italian Communist Party called the application “disgraceful”.
It contains 100 of Il Duce’s speeches and can be bought for 79 euro cents, or 68 pence. It was downloaded more than a video game based on the blockbuster science fiction film Avatar.
Posted in Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
The Roman Army Knife: Or how the ingenuity of the Swiss was beaten by 1,800 years:
The world’s first Swiss Army knife’ has been revealed – made 1,800 years before its modern counterpart.
An intricately designed Roman implement, which dates back to 200AD, it is made from silver but has an iron blade. It features a spoon, fork as well as a retractable spike, spatula and small tooth-pick.
Experts believe the spike may have been used by the Romans to extract meat from snails.
The 3in x 6in (8cm x 15cm) knife was excavated from the Mediterranean area more than 20 years ago and was obtained by the museum in 1991.
The unique item is among dozens of artefacts exhibited in a newly refurbished Greek and Roman antiquities gallery at the Fitzwilliam Museum, in Cambridge.
Experts believe it may have been carried by a wealthy traveller, who will have had the item custom made.
A spokesman said: ‘This was probably made between AD 200 and AD 300, when the Roman empire was a great imperial power.
Posted in Historical Oddities | No Comments »
Saturday, January 30th, 2010
Impala’s a cat toy:
It’s a scene out of the Bible.
Not a lion lying down with a lamb, but three powerful cheetahs becoming friends with a baby impala antelope.
They met in Kenya’s Masai Mara, a world-famous game preserve known for its habitat of big cats, like these adult male cheetahs.
Photographer Michel Denis-Huot was on safari last October when he snapped these amazing shots in a grassy savanna.
“These three brothers have been living together since they left their mother at about 18 months old,” he said. “On the morning we saw them, they seemed not to be hungry, walking quickly but stopping sometimes to play together.”
The preferred diet of cheetahs begins with small antelope. But these cats weren’t hungry because they normally hunt in the daytime, either in the early morning or late afternoon.
Posted in Animal Weirdness, End of the World Update | No Comments »
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Man dies after setting himself on fire outside fur store
A man set himself on fire after pouring gasoline on himself outside Nicholas Ungar Furs at 12th and Yamhill Wednesday morning before police used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.
He later died from his injuries at the hospital, police said.
The man was identified as 26-year-old Daniel Shaull from Kansas, according to the Multnomah County medical examiner.
It was not immediately clear whether Shaull was protesting against the store, which has had problem with animal rights activists in the past, but witnesses said he was screaming about the treatment of animals.
“There are animals dying! Animals dying!” witnesses said Shaull was screaming as flames engulfed his body and shot above his head.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity, Fire, Idiot Activists, Suicidal Tendencies | No Comments »
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
The iPad? Also available with wings?:
Twitter users responded snarkily Wednesday to the name of Apple’s latest innovation the iPad, pushing the phrase “iTampon” to a number two “trending” topic on the microblogging site.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the new gadget amid high expectations, and Twitter users followed his announcement online, with both “Steve Jobs” and “Official Apple iPad” scoring high on the site’s trending topics.
But by late afternoon, joking messages drawing attention to the connotations many associated with the name iPad were being uploaded by Twitter users all over the world, in a variety of languages.
Posted in Oops | No Comments »
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
Machu Picchu tourists ‘stuck without food’:
Travellers trapped at Machu Picchu complained of a lack of food and shelter today as they spent a fourth day stranded at the site in Peru.
About 1,600 are in villages near the Inca citadel, with more arriving, after mudslides cut off the railway.
Rain is hampering helicopter rescues and the railway could take three days to fix.
Officials had hoped to reopen the railway and rescue tourists by Tuesday, but now say they will need two or three more days.
Choppers have flown out more than 1,000 tourists over the last two days, but 250 more arrived yesterday and more were expected today.
Authorities closed the Inca trail, the track that finishes at Machu Picchu, on Tuesday after a mudslide killed two people, but many who started the four-day trek before that will arrive in the coming days.
“It’s worrisome. We didn’t think it would take this long,” said tourism minister Martin Perezy. “We can evacuate 120 tourists per hour, now the only thing we need is for the climate to help us out a little bit.”
Posted in I hate it when that happens | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Koreas exchange fire near sea border, markets drop:
North and South Korea on Wednesday exchanged what appeared to be artillery fire near a disputed sea border with the South off the west coast of the peninsula, Yonhap news agency reported government officials as saying.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House said both sides were firing into the air and there were no casualties, according to Yonhap.
It has called a meeting of top national security officials.
The rare exchange of fire rattled markets, with Seoul’s main stock exchange extending losses and the won wiping out early gains against the dollar.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, War | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Police: Man sold teen daughter into marriage for cash, beer, meat
A California man sold his 14-year-old daughter to an 18-year-old man for cash, beer and meat — then called police when the prospective bridegroom didn’t live up to his end of the deal, authorities said Tuesday.
Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, 36, of Greenfield, California, was arrested Monday and booked into the Monterey County Jail, Greenfield police said in a statement.
He faces felony charges of receiving money for causing a person to cohabitate, police said.
Martinez had arranged through a third party to have his daughter marry the older teenager, identified by authorities as Margarito de Jesus Galindo, of Gonzales, California.
In exchange, Galindo was to pay Martinez $16,000 and provide him with 160 cases of beer, 100 cases of soda, 50 cases of Gatorade, two cases of wine, and six cases of meat, Greenfield Police Chief Joe Grebmeier told CNN.
Posted in Bad Parents, Concentrated Stupidity, Idiot Criminals | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
S.C. politician blasted for welfare remarks:
When things looked their darkest for Gov. Mark Sandford — when he was in danger of being impeached for running off to Argentina to see his mistress — his best insurance policy may well have been South Carolina’s lieutenant governor, Andre Bauer.
Lawmakers knew if they removed Sanford, they would end up with Bauer, a fiercely ambitious Republican with a reputation for reckless and immature behavior.
Now Bauer has folks shaking their heads again, after he likened government assistance to the poor to feeding stray animals.
At a town hall meeting Thursday, Bauer, who is running for governor in his own right now that Sanford is term-limited, said: “My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed! You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that.”
Posted in Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Moscow mayor calls gay pride march ‘Satanic’:
The mayor of Moscow, known for his overtly homophobic statements, said Monday that he would never allow a gay pride parade in the city, calling it “Satanic” and saying marchers should be punished.
“A gay parade… cannot be called anything but a Satanic act,” Yury Luzhkov told an education conference, quoted by Interfax news agency.
“We haven’t permitted such a parade and we won’t permit it in the future.” Luzhkov called for gay marchers to be punished.
“It’s high time that we stop propagating nonsense discussions about human rights, and bring to bear on them the full force and justice of the law,” he said.
Gay rights campaigner Nikolai Alexeyev reaffirmed that plans for this year’s gay pride parade will go ahead despite the ban.
“We don’t plan to make any changes. We still plan to hold a gay parade on May 29,” Alexeyev told AFP.
Posted in Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Hackers target friends of Google workers:
Personal friends of employees at Google, Adobe and other companies were targeted by hackers in a string of recently disclosed cyberattacks, raising privacy concerns and pointing to a highly sophisticated operation, security experts said.
Cybersecurity experts analysing the attacks said the hackers spied on individuals and used other sophisticated techniques, making them extremely difficult to stop. The disclosures come amid renewed alarm over cybersecurity after Google said it had been the target of a series of cyberattacks from China.
The most significant discovery is that the attackers had selected employees at the companies with access to proprietary data, then learnt who their friends were. The hackers compromised the social network accounts of those friends, hoping to enhance the probability that their final targets would click on the links they sent.
Posted in Hackers and Hacking | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
Colorado Nazi group’s adopt-a-highway raises eyebrows
It’s a small sign igniting a big debate.
An official state of Colorado Adopt-a-Highway placard announcing that a one-mile long stretch of US Highway 85 is sponsored not by the Boy Scouts or the Lions Club, but by the Nazi Party of Colorado.
Members call themselves the National Socialist Movement. They are inspired by teachings of Hitler, believe interracial relationships and homosexuality should be crimes, and they want to start a separate all-white country.
The Adopt-a-Highway program, they say, is a good PR move for them and a recruiting tool.
“We want to let them know that we’re here and we do good things,” Unit leader Neal Land told FOX 31 News.
“We’re upstanding citizens, try to be good people, and try to portray ourselves that way.”
Posted in Nazis, Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
Jets’ road gang mobs Indy bars:
It is a basketball town, after all.
Raucous Jets fans took over Indiana’s sleepy capital city this weekend, turning bars and hotel lobbies green with envy in preparation for a playoff showdown to keep their Super Bowl dreams alive.
Despite the home field advantage, Indianapolis Colts fans were outnumbered – and shouted down – in more than a few local venues including a downtown hotel where public computers were adorned with Jets screensavers.
“I can’t stand Jets fans,” said one barfly in a Peyton Manning jersey. “They’re so obnoxious.”
What he obviously didn’t realize is that it was a compliment.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent | No Comments »
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
Patterico’s Pontifications » Who is Mark Spivey? Another Obama Astroturfer; UPDATED With Still More Astroturfing:
I joined a Facebook group called “Who is Ellie Light?” This morning I was invited to join a new group: “Who is Mark Spivey?”
Who is Mark Spivey? I know only this: that he is the author of this pro-Obama letter that has appeared in numerous publications:
A recent Associated Press article stated that President Barack Obama’s hesitancy on the Afghan war buildup implies weakness. I wish world leaders had more of that kind of weakness.
Clearly, Obama does not want to send soldiers into harm’s way without a clear goal, a solid plan and an exit strategy, three aspects sorely missing from former President George W. Bush’s military ventures. I know that we Americans are used to presidents who play cowboy, who say things like “bring ’em on” and “mission accomplished” without a second thought; presidents who send Americans into battle on falsified weapons reports.
But it seems our current president understands that you don’t send soldiers into battle without first nailing down what they’re supposed to be doing, and why. So hats off to Obama’s “hesitation.” Soldiers are human beings, not chess pieces. It’s about time we get a president who understands that.
— Mark Spivey
The letter has appeared — at a minimum! — at The Minnesota Daily, at the Baltimore Chronicle (on the same page as Ellie Light’s letter!), at the San Diego Union-Tribune (where he claims to be from San Diego), at the Naples News (where he claims to be from Naples, Florida), and at Buzzflash.com. And there are more. You know what to do.
…
Also: Ed Morrissey forwarded me an e-mail he received from Ellie Light several days ago. The mail appears to have been routed through the IP address 212.24.236.50, which comes back to Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia??
Posted in Greed is Good, Most Mysterious, Spooky, Treason is as Treason Does | No Comments »
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
Revealed: The secret British mistress that Tiger Woods paid $500,000 to keep quiet
Tiger Woods allegedly paid a British woman almost half a million pounds to keep quiet about their affair.
According to a newspaper report today, the golfer gave mother of two Emma Rotherham $500,000 (£310,000) in cash after she promised never to speak about their 18-month fling.
Blonde Emma, 42, is said to be 34-year-old Tiger’s 19th conquest and his most recent mistress, was reportedly handed a bag by a member of the sportsman’s security team, which was stuffed with $100 bills.
And according to source close to Tiger, Emma had to sign a confidentiality agreement upon taking the money which bought her silence.
They said: ‘She’s very happy and walking round with a big grin on her face – like the cat that’s got the cream.’
Posted in Sexual Deviants | No Comments »
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
Ohio Man Arrested on Charges of Urinating on $600-Worth of Steaks
An Ohio man is in jail after police arrested him on charges of urinating on a meat counter at a Wal-Mart store, Cleveland’s Fox8.com reported.
Robert T. Jenkins, 21, of Canton, Ohio, was arrested at 1:30 a.m. local time on Friday morning, Lt. Linda Brown of the Canton Police Department told Fox8.com.
Jenkins was charged with felony vandalism and disorderly conduct.
Jenkins was arrested after police responded to a call from an employee at the Wal-Mart store telling authorities that a man walked up to the meat counter and began urinating on the steaks, police told Fox8.com.
The disorderly conduct destroyed more than $600 dollars in meat.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Crazy is as Crazy Does, Yuck! | No Comments »
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
Russian Ice Skaters Cause Outrage With Aborigine Costume
Two of Russia’s champion ice skaters have caused outrage after dressing as Aborigines for a competition.
The couple, who are favored to win gold at next month’s winter Olympics, wear skin-toned suits with red loin cloths, white body paint and eucalyptus leaves.
But experts in Australia say Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin’s movements and body decorations bear no resemblance to that of the Aborigines’ 60,000 year old culture.
“They have got the whole thing wrong,” said Stephen Page, artistic director of the respected indigenous group, the Bangarra Dance Company.
Page said the two and half minute routine’s didgeridoo music sounded more like it came from India or Africa.
Posted in Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
Skydiver to break records with space dive
Austrian-born Felix Baumgartner will plummet 125,000 feet in a fall that will see him break the sound barrier.
His jump, which is being assisted by former Nasa and US Air Force engineers, will feature in a documentary to be shown on BBC
It is 50 years since American Joe Kittinger made history by leaping from a balloon at 102,800ft.
Mr Baumgartner, who is known for stunts such as jumping off the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will travel up to 125,000ft in a specially designed capsule suspended beneath a helium balloon.
His freefall will last for more than five minutes and he will have to wear a specially made pressure suit and helmet to protect his body in the extreme cold and thin air.
It is hoped that the jump will answer a number of important scientific questions.
Reaching speeds of over 690mph (Mach 1) in just 35 seconds his body will experience some of the most arduous conditions ever experienced in freefall.
His team also hope to use the “space dive” to gather data about the stratosphere and how the body copes with the extreme conditions.
Posted in Crazy is as Crazy Does | No Comments »
Saturday, January 23rd, 2010
Obama has suspicious number of letter-writing fans named ‘Ellie Light’
Ellie Light sure gets around. In recent weeks, Light has published virtually identical “Letters to the Editor” in support of President Barack Obama in more than a dozen newspapers.
Every letter claimed a different residence for Light that happened to be in the newspaper’s circulation area.
“It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything,” said a letter from alleged Philadelphian Ellie Light, that was published in the Jan. 19 edition of The Philadelphia Daily News.
A letter from Light in the Jan. 20 edition of the San Francisco Examiner concluded with an identical sentence, but with an address for Light all the way across the country in Daly City, California.
Variations of Light’s letter ran in Ohio’s Mansfield News Journal on Jan. 13, with Light claiming an address in Mansfield; in New Mexico’s Ruidoso News on Jan. 12, claiming an address in Three Rivers; in South Carolina’s The Sun News on Jan. 18, claiming an address in Myrtle Beach; and in the Daily News Leader of Staunton, Virginia on Jan. 15, claiming an address in Waynesboro.
Her publications list includes other papers in Ohio, West Virginia, Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Pennsylvania and California, all claiming separate addresses.
Posted in Concentrated Stupidity | No Comments »
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Two Bronx men free after ‘drugs’ turn out to be candy
Two Bronx men were locked up and left to rot in a filthy jail cell for nearly a week after a pair of cops mistook their candy for a bag of crack.
The “drugs” were finally tested five days later and determined to be popular Coco (coconut) Candy. The charges were dropped.
The trouble began the night of Jan. 15, as José Pena, a 48-year-old plumber, and his longtime pal and colleague Cesar Rodriguez, 33, were headed to a party, and decided to stop at a bodega on 181st Street and the Grand Concourse.
When they came out, cops were waiting and asked to search their Ford minivan.
“I said ‘Go search.’ I even opened the door,” Rodriguez told The Post. An officer rummaged around, came out holding a “Hello Kitty” sandwich bag, and shouted “Bingo!” the men said.
“It’s only candy!” Rodriguez said, as the cops handcuffed him and Pena, and several other police cars rushed to the scene.
Rodriguez said he buys a 50-cent bag of Coco Candy, a hard coconut-based treat, almost every day. Because it easily crumbles, he puts it in a sandwich bag.
“Can you test it? Can you taste it?” Rodriguez asked the cops.
“Shut up!” they replied.
Posted in Career Limiting Move, Concentrated Stupidity, Idiot Authorities | No Comments »
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
NY dairy farmer kills 51 cows, commits suicide:
State police in New York say an upstate dairy farmer shot and killed 51 of his milk cows in his barn before turning the rifle on himself.
State police found the body of 59-year-old Dean Pierson in his Copake barn on Thursday.
A visitor found a note Pierson had left on the barn door that said not to come in and to call police.
State police would only say that Pierson was having personal issues.
The Columbia County hamlet of Copake is about 115 miles north of New York City.
Local farmers buried the cows outside the barn Friday.
They would not discuss Pierson or what had happened, but one of the men said these are hard times to be a farmer.
Posted in Suicidal Tendencies | No Comments »
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
N.J. bowling manager charged after rival lanes burn
Hardcore bowlers don’t just call their main alley their lanes — it’s their house.
A beloved house burned down last week after 50 years on the edge of Vineland, a city in a part of New Jersey far from the historical home of the mob and the teeming chaos of the shore, a place where the state nickname, the Garden State, seems apt.
Sadness turned to anger Wednesday, when authorities announced that the manager of a rival bowling alley, the only other one in Cumberland County, had been charged with arson in the destruction of Loyle Lanes.
Steven Smink, the lessee-manager of Pike Lanes Family Fun Center in Deerfield, hired another man, Felix Manzano, 21, and a teenager to torch Loyle Lanes, police said.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Fire, Greed is Good | No Comments »
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
Tree sex man ordered to leave park:
A MAN has been banned for life from a public city park after he allegedly dropped his pants and tried to have sex with a tree.
William Shaw, 21, has been ordered by a court not to enter Central Park in Airdrie, Scotland after claims he attempted to have intercourse with the plant.
It is alleged he dropped his trousers and underpants while in the visitor attraction in September last year.
It is claimed he then tried to have simulated sex with the tree while his trousers were around his ankles.
Shaw, of Airdrie, pleaded not guilty to an act of public indecency at the town’s sheriff court.
Posted in Sexual Deviants | No Comments »
Monday, January 18th, 2010
Open and shut case: Italian border guards discover illegal immigrant hiding inside a suitcase after he sneezed
This was the amazing sight that greeted Italian immigration police during routine spot check – a teenage boy hidden in a suitcase as he tried to illegally enter the country.
The 15-year-old Afghan boy was discovered curled into foetal position inside the case while his 17-year-old brother was hidden in the foot well covered with blankets.
Officers immediately arrested the Greek driver of the car, Alexandros Lepesiotis, 42, and charged him with illegally smuggling people into the country. This Afghan illegal immigrant, 15, was discovered hiding in a zipped suitcase in the boot of a Peugeot 207 by Italian border guards
The discovery was made at the Adriatic port of Bari, a well known entry point for people smugglers, on a ferry which had just arrived from Greece, the Sea Trade.
Officers pulled over Lepesiotis for a spot check in his Peugeot 207 and became suspicious of him as he reacted nervously when they began examining the car.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Weather is stunning for Florida turtles sent into coma by the chill
A mass rescue was continuing yesterday for more than 2,000 endangered sea turtles that were shocked into a coma by freezing weather in Florida.
Temperatures may be rising after the rare cold weather but scores of turtles are still being found unconscious on beaches and in lagoons.
A phenomenon known as “cold stun” sets in when water temperatures drop below 50F (10C) because the turtles cannot regulate their metabolism.
More than 750 were taken to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, at the Nasa Kennedy Space Centre. “We’ve seen cold-stun events before but never on this scale. This is ten times the normal magnitude,” said Terry Norton, the director and veterinary surgeon at the Georgia Sea Turtle Centre in Jekyll Island.
Posted in End of the World Update | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Sheep Gives Birth to Human-Faced Lamb in Turkey
A sheep gave birth to a dead lamb with a human-like face. The calf was born in a village not far from the city of Izmir, Turkey.
Erhan Elibol, a vet, performed Cesarean section on the animal to take the calf out, but was horrified to see that the features of the calf’s snout bore a striking resemblance to a human face.
“I’ve seen mutations with cows and sheep before. I’ve seen a one-eyed calf, a two-headed calf, a five-legged calf. But when I saw this youngster I could not believe my eyes. His mother could not deliver him so I had to help the animal,” the 29-year-old veterinary said.
Posted in Animal Weirdness, Yuck! | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Google may pull out of China over cyber attacks:
Google said Tuesday that it may pull out of China because of a sophisticated computer network attack originating in China and targeting its e-mail service.
The company said it had evidence to suggest that “a primary goal of the attackers was accessing the Gmail accounts” of Chinese human rights activists. The attack was discovered in December. Based on its investigation to date, Google said it does not believe the cyber attack succeeded.
“Only two Gmail accounts appear to have been accessed, and that activity was limited to account information (such as the date the account was created) and subject line, rather than the content of emails themselves,” the company said in a blog posting.
But David Drummond, Google senior vice president and chief legal officer, added that the attacks “have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China.”
Google has further decided it is no longer willing to continue censoring its search results in Chinese Google sites, Drummond said, and over the next few weeks it will discuss with the Beijing government how it may operate “an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all,” he said.
Posted in Crazed Dictatorships, Greed is Good | No Comments »
Monday, January 11th, 2010
Game over: The Clintons stand alone
A new book is out with a highly critical but unsourced portrait of Hillary Clinton. This familiar occurrence — it’s happened too many times to count over the years — has usually been greeted with an equally familiar response: A fast and furious counterattack from the Clinton inner circle.
What’s notable about the highly publicized release of “Game Change,” however, is the virtual silence from the Clinton camp. The lack of public outrage seems to mark the sputtering end of what was once known as the Clinton political machine and underlines a fact that onetime Clinton loyalists acknowledge: The book’s primary sources about the former candidate and current secretary of state are her own former staffers and intimates.
As a result, there is no campaign of veteran Clintonites spinning the press corps and trying to pre-emptively discredit the book’s scathing depiction of Hillary Clinton as a rudderless candidate and a cheerleader for vicious tactics against eventual winner Barack Obama. There is no team of Clinton proxies going on cable television to denounce authors Mark Halperin and John Heilemann as scurrilous and unworthy of belief.
This time, Bill and Hillary Clinton are virtually alone.
While the low-key response to a brutal portrayal of Clinton in part reflected a decision to keep a prominent face of the Obama administration’s foreign policy above the fray, it was also a recognition of reality: The same senior aides who had leaked damaging gossip could hardly be expected to rebut it.
Posted in Idiot Celebrities, Politico Follies, Se7en Deadly Sins | No Comments »
Sunday, January 10th, 2010
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid was impressed by ‘light-skinned’ Obama’s lack of ‘Negro dialect’
Oh, Harry, Harry. Have you lost another submarine?
Harry Reid, the Democrat Senate Majority Leader and the national government’s highest-ranking Mormon, has admitted now remarking apparently with some amazement on the nation’s highest-ranking black Democrat as being notably “light-skinned” and having “no Negro dialect unless he wanted to have one.”
The stunning quotation, which occurred during the 2008 presidential campaign, was noted/acquired by Mark Halperin of Time and John Heilemann of New York magazine. But for some reason not reported at the time or subsequently.
Instead, it was saved for their upcoming book, “Game Change.” Let’s see how their news magazine bosses are with that decision in coming days.
Although the radioactive quotation was apparently not included in the book’s promotional materials, it appeared on the Atlantic online on an obscure winter Saturday and was picked up in a Washington Post story.
Posted in Politically Incorrect | No Comments »
Sunday, January 10th, 2010
Nervous Venezuelans buy TVs after devaluation
Shouting “buy, buy, the world is going to die,” Venezuelans went on a frantic shopping spree on Saturday following a sharp currency devaluation that is expected to drive up prices.
President Hugo Chavez announced a dual system for the fixed rate bolivar Friday night while much of the country was watching a baseball game.
But Saturday, word spread quickly as people read the morning papers and listened to the radio in Caracas cafes.
Shoppers crammed into electronics stores, eager to snap up imported televisions and computers ahead of the anticipated price hikes.
“I’ve been lining up for two hours outside to buy a television and two speakers because by Monday everything is bound to be double the current price,” said Miguel Gonzalez, a 56-year-old engineer standing in the tropical sun outside a popular store.
Posted in Commies, Crazed Dictatorships | No Comments »
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
Mexico man’s face skinned and stitched onto a soccer ball in Sinaloa in threat to Juarez drug cartel:
In a new incident of grisly drug war violence, a man’s face was skinned and stitched onto a soccer ball as a threat to members of Mexico’s Juarez drug cartel.
The unknown assailants cut up the body of Hugo Hernandez into seven pieces and left him on a street in the northern city of Los Mochis, a spokesman for Sinaloa prosecutors, Martin Robles, told the Associated Press.
Hernandez’s torso was found in a plastic container in a separate location from another box that contained his arms, legs and skull.
The macabre soccer ball was discovered a plastic bag near Los Mochis’ City Hall in Sinaloa.
Posted in A Bit of The Old Ultraviolent, Concentrated Criminality, Yuck! | No Comments »
Friday, January 8th, 2010
Snow stories: rare self-rolling snow balls found in UK :
They may look like winter’s answer to crop circles, but these mysterious snow rolls are in fact a rare natural phenomenon usually found only in the world’s most remote and frozen regions.
Also known as snowrollers, snow bales and snow doughnuts, they form mostly in unusual conditions created by a precise combination of snow, ice, wind, temperature and moisture on the prairies of North America.
But this week’s frozen weather has allowed the snow cylinders to make a freak appearance in the UK.
Ron Trevett, 55, and his wife Aileen, 54, readers of The Daily Telegraph, were stunned when they stumbled across the mysterious formations as they walked their dogs in a field near their home in Yeovil, Somerset.
“We saw them from a distance on the ridge of the field, and we thought some kids had been playing up there and making giant snowballs,” said Mr Trevett.
“But when we got up there we saw there were no footprints and there were hundreds of them – too many for children to have done it. We realised it must have been the wind.”
Posted in End of the World Update | No Comments »
Friday, January 8th, 2010
France backtracks on double-hyphenated names
France’s highest administrative body has ruled that double-hyphenated, double-barrelled surnames such as Bruni–Sarkozy must be abolished after imposing the unwieldy spelling on tens of thousands of children in the past four years.
In 2005, the French state – famous for laying down rigid language rules – declared that all new double-barrelled surnames must be spelt with two hyphens: the offspring of Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy, would in theory take the surname Bruni–Sarkozy.
The idea was supposed to distinguish, for administrative reasons, between old double-barrelled names, like Sarkozy de Nagy-Bocsa – the French president’s full surname – and new, so-called “composed” names.
These cropped up from 2002, when it became possible in France to simply create a “family name” by sticking together the mother’s and father’s surnames.
But parents horrified at the ugly double hyphen launched a crusade to overturn the decision.
The Conseil d’Etat, France’s highest administrative watchdog, has now sided with the single dash camp in a definitive ruling, saying the state had exceeded its legal powers and butchered the French language into the bargain with the double hyphen
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Wednesday, January 6th, 2010
Slovakia criticises gardaí over arrest
The Slovakian government has insisted the authorities in Ireland were aware a passenger was carrying plastic explosives in his bag on a flight to Dublin last Saturday morning before the plane even took off for Ireland.
A strongly worded statement has been issued by the Slovakian Ministry of the Interior defending its handling of the debacle and criticising the actions of the Garda.
The statement also criticised what it claimed was the inaccurate reporting of the case by the media in Ireland.
It pointed out that contrary to media reports in Ireland, plastic explosives had been planted in the luggage of just one passenger, and not eight as has widely been reported.
It said the explosives were planted in the luggage of a passenger, without his consent, at Poprad-Tatry airport in eastern Slovakia on Saturday morning as part of an airport security exercise.
Hat tip to Una!
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Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Bungling bank bandits top Darwin Awards
TWO bank robbers who blew themselves up trying to make a sizable withdrawal from an ATM have been declared the 2009 winners of the Darwin Awards.
Organisers say the annual “prize” is given to “those doing the most to improve the human gene pool … by removing themselves from it”.
They both were killed when the blast demolished the entire building the ATM was housed in.
Police only found the body of the second robber some twelve hours after digging through the debris.
They had initially assumed he had made a getaway.
The bankrobbers just edged ahead of Florida man Shawn Motero, who was stuck in a traffic jam when nature called.
He got out of his car and jumped over a concrete wall to find a more secluded spot.
Unfortunately, the 30-year-old had not realized he was on a bridge and fell 65ft (19.8m) to his death.
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Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
Police report: Beer in hand, he backs into 2010
A Memphis man went to jail New Year’s Day on a rash of charges after police found him drinking a 40-ounce beer while driving backward down a city street with a marijuana plant on the front seat.
At about 9 a.m. Friday, officers responded to a complaint that Tyrone Buckley, 51, was driving drunk around a parking lot in the 1000 block of Court in the Medical Center area.
According to an affidavit, officers spotted Buckley driving backward on nearby Waldran Boulevard.
According to police, Buckley smelled of alcohol and had a box on the passenger’s seat holding a marijuana plant.
Posted in Drugs, Fun with Alcohol | No Comments »
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
Shanghai Bridge Made of Rubbish Collapses
Citizens of Shanghai are aghast at the collapse of a major new bridge, pictured, which was revealed to be constructed partially out of rubbish instead of concrete.
The bridge, spanning the Wusong River in central Shanghai, was completed in 2009 and replaced a century old bridge with a more modern design.
However, after only a short period in operation the bridge began to collapse, with investigators finding such sturdy construction materials as bags of rubbish, Styrofoam, scrap wood and waste plastic used in the structure in place of reinforced concrete.
Posted in Concentrated Criminality, Greed is Good | No Comments »
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
Children who are smacked when young are more likely to be successful, study finds:
Children who are smacked by parents often turn out more successful than those who have not, research has found.
The study concluded that children who had been physically disciplined when they were young, between the ages of 2 and 6, were performing better as teenagers on almost every measure that was taken into consideration than those who had never been smacked.
It was only in cases where it continued beyond the age of 12 that the children were found to be affected negatively, resulting in a dip on performance indicators.
The results of the US-based study undermines the efforts of various campaigners who have been trying to have physical punishment outlawed in the UK, who have claimed that it causes long-term damage to the children.
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Friday, January 1st, 2010
Woman’s blood alcohol content topples state records:
A Sturgis woman had a blood-alcohol level of .708 percent, possibly a state record, when she was found earlier this month behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle parked on Interstate 90, according to Meade County State’s Attorney Jesse Sondreal.
A South Dakota Highway Patrol trooper discovered Marguerite Engle, 45, on Dec. 1 passed out behind the wheel of a delivery truck reported stolen in Rapid City.
Her blood-alcohol level was almost nine times South Dakota’s legal limit of .08 percent.
Checks with local and state labs where blood-alcohol levels are tested suggest Engle’s reading may be the highest ever recorded in South Dakota, Sondreal said.
Sondreal said a state chemist recalled a sample that tested .53, but nothing higher, in his more than 30 years on the job.
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Friday, January 1st, 2010
Local official tagged in ‘disaster tourism’
Albay Governor Joey S. Salceda on Tuesday issued a strong warning against a local official who is reportedly escorting tourists within the designated danger zone around Mayon Volcano.
Disaster officials were also furious after receiving reports that City Councilor Celoy Chan has been allegedly renting his all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) to foreign tourists.
“It’s stupidity,” said Salceda. “We have been spending a lot of money and exerting all our efforts to clear the danger zones and there he is, disregarding what was agreed upon.”
“If he does not stop, we will take action against him,” the governor warned.
Posted in Crazy is as Crazy Does, Idiot Authorities | No Comments »
