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Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
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7:51 am
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Wyoming candidate staffer appears to use fake name to question a rival during news conference
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) _ The press secretary for Republican U.S. House candidate Cynthia Lummis appears to have called in to a news conference held by her rival, using a fake name and identifying herself as a supporter of the Democrat.
The press secretary, Rachael Seidenschnur, acknowledged calling in to Tuesday's news conference and asking candidate Gary Trauner a question regarding U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But Seidenschnur denied using a fake name and said she did not identify herself as a Trauner supporter.
But an audio recording by The Associated Press shows THE ONLY CALLER to the news conference who asked about Pelosi identified herself as a Trauner supporter named "Sierra."
"I have a question," the caller said. "This is Sierra. I'm just a supporter. I was curious about whether Mr. Trauner supports, or if he'd been in the House, would have voted for Nancy Pelosi's and the rest of the Democrats' energy bill this past week."
Trauner asked the caller who she was. After the caller repeated that she was a supporter, Trauner steered the conversation to the topic of the news conference -- the $700 billion proposed federal bailout of the financial industry.
In an interview with the AP, Seidenschnur said she was curious about the Democrat's position on offshore drilling and reiterated that it was a public news conference.
"I was curious about getting information to people concerning the Pelosi question," Seidenschnur said. "And it's a public thing. And I was curious. I wanted folks to know. I think that was a fair question. I wasn't in any way, you know, derogatory."
[So she misrepresents herself under a fake name and claims to be "a supporter" -- ie: a Democrat -- and then tries to deflect the focus of the interview to a completely unrelated topic, simply because she's _curious_. BULLSHIT.
She was trying to derail the press conference by introducing a "stealth" topic, hoping to get a statement about the Democratic Speaker of the House and the Democratic energy bill. I gather that if she'd managed to deflect the discussion of the economic bailout to either Pelosi or the energy bill, this incompetent sneak and her chickenshit boss would have "spun" Trauner's comments for their own benefit. He failed to take her inept bait and threw her back into her cesspool.
What a sleazy, low-rent trashy piece of work. She stinks like a 3-days-dead fish and belongs in a cesspool, not a press pool.
If that's the level of professional behavior she thinks is acceptable, we don't need Republicans of her trashy kind in Washington, we've already got more than enough fully entrenched cockroaches in Congressional and executive staff offices. If Lumnis condones this behavior in her staff, or even thinks she can kick it under the table and hope it goes away, we don't need HER adding to the cockroach population, either.]
Phone records provided to the AP by the Trauner campaign listed eight numbers of people who called the news conference. The numbers included Seidenschnur's cell phone number.
Lummis declined comment when asked about Seidenschnur. Her opponent described Seidenschnur's conduct as "low."
"That's not the kind of thing I would ever do, and I think to myself, 'Is this really the kind of person we want to send to D.C.?'" Trauner said.
Trauner and Lummis are vying to replace seven-term Republican Rep. Barbara Cubin, who's not seeking re-election. Seidenschnur was Cubin's press secretary until a few weeks ago.
[So she's been one of the resident cockroaches already.... too bad, just have to make sure she and her chickenshit new boss don't get back in. ]
The Democratic bill Trauner was asked about would have provided, with conditions, for oil drilling in new offshore regions for the first time in 25 years. Lummis and other Republicans have criticized the bill for containing too many stipulations.
[ROFLMAO -- like Republican bills don't have stipulations, clauses, earmarks, and special addendums that are actually STEALTH ENACTMENTS that fall completely under the radar. Yeah, right.
What the Republicans (particulary those with ties to the Bushes and the oil industry) really wanted was a blank check to drill anywhere they wanted to for more oil and natural gas, but the Democrats have at least a modicum of concern for the environment and have no intention of allowing the oil companies to completely rape our coastlines in order to keep their executive bonuses and jets.
I think it's about time we had a Congressional investigation into the oil and auto industry's hoard of energy and transportation patents and how they've managed to derail any effective alternative energy development over the last 30 years. We wouldn't be in this mess, still dependent on foreign oil, if they hadn't bought up every patent in those fields as a way of maintaining their monopoly of the global energy structure.
Come to think of it, who's been contributing to the campaign coffers of this cesspool cockroach's boss, Ms. Lummis? That's supposed to be PUBLIC RECORD, right? Let's see where the money to pay this cockroach is coming from. ]
Trauner said he hasn't endorsed the Democratic drilling plan or any other proposal for offshore drilling besides his own plan.
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| Monday, September 22nd, 2008
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8:40 am
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Change of plans saved Pakistani leaders from blast
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) -- Pakistan's top leaders were to dine at the Marriott hotel that was devastated by a truck bombing over the weekend, but changed the venue at the last minute, a senior government official said Monday.
The blast in the capital Islamabad killed at least 53 people and underscored the extremist challenge facing nuclear-armed Pakistan. Two intelligence officials said Pakistani troops and tribesmen opened fire on two U.S. helicopters after they crossed from Afghanistan into the northwest tribal region, where Taliban and al-Qaida militants are operating.
In a further sign of the country's deteriorating security situation Monday, gunmen kidnapped Afghanistan's ambassador-designate and killed his driver in the main northwestern city of Peshawar, said a spokesman for the mission in the city.
The spokesman, who gave his name as Babri, said Abdul Khaliq Farahi was abducted as he traveled toward his home in the city. He gave no more details, but the kidnapping and killing was also confirmed by the Afghan charge d'affairs in Islamabad, Majnoon Gulab.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik did not specify why the prime minister and president decided to move the dinner from the Marriott to the premier's house but said the decision was kept secret.
"Perhaps the terrorists knew that the Marriott was the venue of the dinner for all the leadership where the president, prime minister, speaker and all entire leadership would be present," he told reporters. "At the eleventh hour, the president and prime minister decided that the venue would be the prime minister's house. It saved the entire leadership."
Some 270 people were wounded in the attack, while the dead included the Czech ambassador and two U.S. Department of Defense employees.
Most of the victims were Pakistanis, a fact likely to increase pressure on the government to stem the rising violence in the Muslim nation that many blame on the country's partnership with the U.S. in the war on terror.
Suspicion has fallen on al-Qaida or the Pakistani Taliban in the blast.
But Amir Mohammad, an aide to one prominent Pakistani Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, said the militant group was not involved and shared the nation's grief. Mehshud was blamed by the last government for a suicide attack that killed Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's wife, the pro-U.S. politician Benazir Bhutto. He denies that charge too.
"We have our own targets and we execute our plans precisely with minimal loss of irrelevant or innocent people," Mehsud was quoted as saying by his spokesman. "We have nothing to do with the Marriott hotel attack."
The government is under U.S. pressure to crack down on the militants, who are also blamed for staging rising attacks on coalition forces in neighboring Afghanistan.
The officials who described Monday's helicopter incursion into the border region spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. They said informants in the field told them it took place about one mile inside the disputed and poorly demarcated border in the Alwara Mandi area in North Waziristan.
The helicopters did not return fire and re-entered Afghan airspace without landing, the officials said.
Pakistan's army and the U.S. military in Afghanistan said they had no information on the reported incursion.
A week ago, U.S. helicopters reportedly landed near Angoor Ada, a border village in South Waziristan, but returned toward Afghanistan after troops fired warning shots.
The alleged incident will likely add to tensions between Islamabad and Washington and comes as Zardari heads to New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly.
Although no one has claimed responsibility for Saturday's hotel bombing, officials and experts said the scale of the blast and its high-profile target were hallmarks of Al-Qaida and its Taliban allies.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik Sunday said "all roads lead to FATA" in major Pakistani suicide attacks - referring to Federally Administered Tribal Areas close to Afghanistan, where U.S. officials worry that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri are hiding.
Senior al-Qaida leader Mustafa Abu al-Yazid threatened attacks against Western interests in Pakistan in a video timed with the recent anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
Mahmood Shah, a former government security chief for Pakistan's tribal areas, said while the attack had "all the signatures" of an al-Qaida strike, homegrown Taliban militants probably had learned how to carry out an attack of this magnitude.
Al-Qaida was providing "money, motivation, direction and all sort of leadership and using the Taliban as gun fodder," he suggested.
The blast prompted foreign diplomatic missions and aid groups in Pakistan to review their security status. British Airways said Monday it was temporarily suspending its flights to the country as a precautionary measure.
The airline, which offered six flights to Pakistan each week, did not face a direct security threat, company spokesman Suhail Rehman said.
Dramatic surveillance footage released Sunday showed how the explosive-laden truck sat burning and disabled at the hotel gate for at least 3 1/2 minutes as nervous guards tried to douse the flames before they, the truck and much of the hotel forecourt vanished in a fearsome fireball.
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The timing and scale of this bombing imply an inside job -- someone who was involved in planning the dinner meeting had to have passed the word about WHO was going to be there and WHEN they were going to be there. Apparently, the sleazy traitor either is not in the staff of the prime minister or the president and was unable, when the plans were changed, to alert his terrorist buddies that the meeting had been suddenly moved.
The Pakistani government now has a traitor to track down.
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| Saturday, September 20th, 2008
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11:28 pm
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Palin Disputed In Troopergate Probe
(CBS/AP) Just when it seemed the Alaska investigation into Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of a state official might have been scuttled by the pressures of presidential politics, another turn of events has kept it going.
Palin's firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan last July, allegedly after pressure by her, her husband and staff members on Monegan to fire her ex-brother-in-law was ignored, is at the center of the investigation (known as Troopergate) into whether Palin abused her power.
Palin originally agreed to participate in the investigation, authorized in July by the Republican-controlled legislature. She told Alaskans, "Hold me accountable." Once named to the McCain ticket, however, Palin backpedaled. She has since refused to testify.
Palin has maintained that she fired Monegan not over the status of Trooper Mike Wooten, but over budget disagreements - specifically a trip Monegan planned to Washington which she said was unauthorized.
Earlier this week the McCain campaign released a series of e-mails detailing the frustration several Palin administration officials experienced in dealing with Monegan. The "last straw," the campaign said, was a trip Monegan planned in July to seek federal money for investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases.
Palin, saying she did not authorize the expenses for the travel, cited that trip as a primary example of the insubordination that led to Monegan's firing.
However, Palin's chief of staff did authorize the travel to Washington.
A travel authorization document signed by Palin's Chief of Staff Mike Nizich on June 18 approved Monegan's trip to Washington for the purpose of meeting Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
The document's existence was first reported by ABC News on Friday.
Monegan told ABC that the travel authorization was explicitly to pursue funding for the anti-sexual-violence program, though the document does not state that as a reason for the trip.
McCain spokesman Taylor Griffin said Friday that the travel authorization was for a routine trip, and that state commissioners regularly travel to meet members of Alaska's congressional delegation.
"He was not authorized to lobby Congress," Griffin said.
The revelation came on the same day that several individuals subpoenaed to testify in Troopergate refused to appear as ordered.
Those who refused to answer their subpoenas (including Todd Palin, the Governor's husband; Randy Ruaro, the governor's deputy chief of staff; and aide Ivy Frye) will be referred to the full Senate for contempt, said Sen. Hollis French, who is heading the investigation.
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This is exactly the same kind of behavior exhibited by John Mitchell and the rest of Nixon's goons during the Watergate investigation. It's exactly the same kind of attitude -- that their power can be used for anything they damn well want to do, and what they want is what they are going to get, no matter what anyone else thinks.
The claim that she fired Monegan for insubordination related to a trip to DC is rank, arrant bullshit. It's a spin tactic, a form of distraction, and a substitute for the real reason for the firing -- the man refused to fire a cop because of his personal relationship with the bitch Palin's sister, and the failrure of that marriage. People get divorced all the time, marriages go bad -- most people don't expect the governor of the fucking state to walk in and take over the damn divorce proceedings and try to retaliate against one of the parties in the divorce. That is a level of arrogance and corruption that is mind-boggling, and the idea that she's trying to sweep the entire situation under the table with some bullshit excuse that's now been DEFINITELY PROVEN to be bullshit and flat-out fucking PERJURY is appalling.
I don't want this lying, heavy-handed bitch in the White House, or anywhere near any federal power at all. She belongs in a damn trailer park, she's that sleazy and corrupt.
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| Friday, September 19th, 2008
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12:03 am
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South Floridians Indicted On Weapons Sale To Iran
U.S. Says Electronic Parts Shipped By South Floridians Were Used To Make Roadside Bombs Planted By Anti-U.S. Forces In Iraq -- Improvised-Explosive Devices Have Killed 1,722 U.S. Troops In Iraq Since March 2003
MIAMI (CBS4) -- Electronic equipment sold to Iran which could make explosives and improvised explosive devices used in Iraq against U.S. soldiers were sold by South Floridian companies, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, on Wednesday.
A federal grand jury in Miami, FL, has returned an indictment charging eight individuals and eight corporations in connection with their participation in conspiracies to export U.S.-manufactured commodities to prohibited entities and to Iran.
According to the US Attorney, Alexander Acosta, the purchases were from suppliers in South Florida. These suppliers had no idea the chips were being used for terrorism. They were duped with fake documents and aliases and thought they were trading with Europe, China, and Malaysia.
The U.S. government further claims the goods were used to make roadside bombs planted by anti-U.S. forces in Iraq.
The indictment stems from an undercover investigation, headed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that exposed a ring selling U.S.-made ''dual use'' goods to Iran, in violation of a U.S. prohibition on such sales to that country, officials said.
The goods are called "dual-use" because they are considered technologies that have commercial application, but could also be used to further the military or nuclear potential of other nations and could be detrimental to the foreign policy or national security of the United States.
The indictment, issued on 11 September of this year, but revealed today, alleges that the defendants exported 120 field-programmable gate arrays, more than 5000 integrated circuits of varying types, approximately 345 Global Positioning Systems ("GPS"), 12,000 Microchip brand micro-controllers, and a field communicator. All of these items have potential military applications, including as components in the construction of improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
The charges are the result of an inter-agency investigation into the use of U.S.-made goods in the construction of IEDs and other explosive devices used against Coalition Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Charged in indictment are:
-- Ali Akbar Yahya, an Iranian national and naturalized British citizen;
-- F.N. Yaghmaei, a/k/a " Farrokh Nia Yaghmaei," an Iranian national;
-- Mayrow General Trading, Atlinx Electronics, Micatic General Trading, Madjico Micro Electronics, a/k/a "MME," and Al-Faris, all Dubai-based businesses;
-- Neda Industrial Group, an Iran-based business;
-- Bahman Ghandi, a/k/a "Brian Ghandi," an Iranian national;
-- Farshid Gillardian, a/k/a "Isaac Gillardian," a/k/a "Isaac Gill," an Iranian national and a naturalized British citizen;
-- Kaam Chee Mun, a/k/a "Brian Kaam," a resident of Malaysia;
-- Djamshid Nezhad, a/k/a "Reza," a resident of Germany;
-- Ahmad Rahzad, a/k/a "Saeb Karim," an Iranian national;
-- Majid Seif, a/k/a "Mark Ong,"a/k/a "Matti Chong," an Iranian national residing in Malaysia;
-- and Eco Biochem Sdn BHD and Vast Solution Sdn BHD, Malaysian businesses.
The defendants are charged with purchasing and causing the export of U.S. goods to Iran through middle countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, England, Germany, and Singapore.
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More grist for my contention that Moslems cannot be trusted and should never be "naturalized" as a citizen of any western nation. The rso-called eligion is and has been a terrorist cult since it's inception in the 7th century, and has not changed in its goals since then.
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| Thursday, September 18th, 2008
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11:48 pm
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SoCal Man Charged With Holding 13-Year-Old Sex Slave
VENTURA, Calif. -- A man accused of holding a 13-year-old girl as a sex slave in a remote motor home in Moorpark was arraigned on rape charges Wednesday.
Shawn Barth, 46, held the girl prisoner since May and sexually assaulted her daily, Detective Eric Buschow said. He said she was too afraid to report the abuse because Barth threatened her.
"She was a psychological prisoner," Buschow said.
Barth was charged in Ventura County Superior Court with a felony count each of child rape, continuous sexual abuse and oral copulation on a child.
The girl was taken into protective custody last week and her name has not been released.
She was the daughter of a woman Barth had dated in San Bernardino County, Buschow said. The mother is a witness in the case and is cooperating with police.
He could not provide further information on why the girl was living with Barth, who claimed to be her legal guardian. She was not reported missing.
Barth allowed the girl to attend school, but he kept her isolated in the motor home he parked in an orchard at least a mile from the nearest road, Buschow said.
Authorities began investigating Barth after the Moorpark school district asked for a routine transfer of the girl's records from her old school in San Bernardino County.
Yucaipa school officials said there had been previous molestation allegations against Barth. Moorpark school officials became suspicious and reported the girl to police.
Buschow said investigators believe Barth and the girl may have traveled around Southern California in the motor home before settling in Moorpark.
Sheriff's deputies trailed Barth for five days before arresting him Monday.
Officials said there could be other victims.
Barth was being held on $1 million bail. His next court date is Oct. 2.
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So why is the mother not under arrest for allowing this to happen? Her "cooperation" sounds a mite self-serving and way too late.
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11:31 pm
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Ex-lover of FORMER CHICAGO alderman pleads guilty
Donnell Jehan, ex-lover of former Ald. Arenda Troutman, agreed today to spend 25 years in prison after admitting to gang leadership and drug dealing.
Jehan, 40, of Chicago, had faced life in prison before making a deal with prosecutors.
His plea before U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo came hours before he was to shed his leg shackles and testify in another, ongoing trial involving Troutman.
Jehan pleaded guilty for his role in drug dealing and gang leadership in the violent Black Disciples street gang.
As a "street king," Jehan said he oversaw dealing of crack, heroin, cocaine and marijuana. He also admitted to being present when another gang member was shot in the hand as punishment for not following orders.
"We conducted drug sales in those areas between State and King Drive," Jehan told the judge.
When he found out about an arrest warrant in 2004, Jehan went on the lam for four years before turning himself in this summer and agreeing to cooperate with federal authorities in the high-profile case against Troutman.
Troutman later pleaded guilty to taking bribes in exchange for pushing through zoning changes or recommendations while she served as a South Side alderman.
Jehan's plea came on the heels of Wednesday's start of the trial of a Troutman codefendant.
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Wow, Chicago has some amazingly brazen corrupticos. First the mayor is forced to resign, now they've got another pol with her hand in the till, taking payoffs from rich developers for favors, and fucking a drug-dealing street gangster.
This one also tried to brazen it out, loudly proclaiming her innocence and insisting she was being framed:
After she was charged with corruption in early 2007, Ald. Arenda Troutman (20th) defiantly denied wrongdoing and suggested she had been targeted for political reasons.
"Folk in my community understand there can be false allegations when there is someone who is the voice of the people," Troutman told the Tribune at the time.
The "voice of the people" should know that the poor people whose lives are devastated by drugs and gangs don't want them in their neighborhoods... yet she was dating/fucking a drug dealer and gangsta prick.
The "voice of the people" would know that the people who voted for her and trusted her integrity would expect her to do her job HONESTLY.
The only voice she listened to was that of her own greed, not "the folk" in the 'hood.
Tacky low-rent bitch, fucking a drug dealer and taking payoffs, then using her position to get favors for her moneybag men.
Of course, we have corrupt white folks too... who do go to jail when they get caught, too. That's equality for you... and her lawyer can do his best to get her off, just like the rest of the corrupticos
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10:50 pm - Wannabe-ballplayer/actor turns cat-killer from jealousy
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Actor Accused Of Killing Girlfriend's Cat
A trial has begun in the case of a baseball player-turned-actor accused of brutally killing a cat in a jealous rage after complaining that his ex-girlfriend cared more for the feline than she did for him.
Assistant District Attorney Leila Kermani said the cat named Norman died with broken teeth, broken ribs, a broken leg, a torn tongue, massive internal injuries including bruised lungs and a bruised liver and a chest cavity filled with blood.
"The defendant, in a fit of anger and rage, beat a defenseless animal to death," Kermani told the jury in her opening remarks Wednesday. "The defendant killed Norman simply because he was an angry, jealous and drunken bully."
Former New York Mets baseball minor leaguer Joseph Petcka, 37, is on trial on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals for killing Norman on March 27, 2007, after a night of heavy drinking. He faces up to two years in prison if convicted.
Petcka's lawyer, Charles Hochbaum, admitted his client kicked the 8-year-old tabby and "swatted him really hard" after the cat bit him, but he said his client did not mean to kill him.
"This was a tragic accident," Hochbaum said. "It was not intentional."
[No, "accident" describes tripping over a black cat in the dark, which I've done. The injuries to this cat amount to deliberate mayhem and torture. There's nothing accidental about that, and his drinking binge does not make it an "accident". He's an arrogant and violent bully and needs to be jailed for the pain and suffering inflicted on that poor animal and on Norman's owner, who is now missing a vital part of her life, who's been her friend long before this arrogant, violent drunk showed up in it. ]
Hochbaum complained the district attorney's office never offered his client a plea deal. He said outside court he believes that was because of the publicity the case attracted and the urgings of cat fanciers.
Norman's owner, Lisa Altobelli, testified she had dated Petcka about six weeks before he killed her cat. She said one night they quarreled and he began drinking heavily. She said she went to bed to avoid him but he woke her around 3 a.m. by putting his knee in her ribs and complaining that Norman had attacked him.
Altobelli, a Sports Illustrated reporter, said she left the apartment after Petcka refused to calm down.
She said Petcka had complained, "You love that cat more than you love me," but she had no idea Norman would be in danger. When she returned home Norman did not meet her at the door as usual. She found his body under her bedside table.
Petcka, a pitcher briefly in the Mets' minor league system in 1992, later appeared in a paper towel commercial and had small roles in "Sex and the City" and other television shows. Hochbaum said his client had more recently worked as a bartender and waiter.
The former minor leaguer, a hulking 6-foot-3, 205 pound man rejected a plea offer from the Manhattan District Attorney's office in Dec. 2007. The deal would have allowed him to serve only three months in jail, but Petcka decided to take his chances at trial.
[His lawyer can't get his story straight, either. First he complains the asshole was NOT offered a plea bargain, but then it turns out the drunken bully WAS offered a plea bargain and turned it down. "Spin" and LYING are not the same thing, shyster. ]
Before the trial began, The New York Post reported that Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus was getting numerous phone calls letters from animal lovers dismissing Petcka's claim of self-defense, noting that it's ludicrous to believe that a 205-pound man was threatened by a 7-pound feline. Some even called the courtroom demanding his death by hanging, the Post reported.
A thread on a message board on the Internet Movie Database, where Petcka's acting credits are listed, is populated with cat lovers wishing Petcka bad luck at his trial. One poster on that board wrote "Norman was more of a man than he will ever be!"
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Given that the cat was probably fixed, that's hysterical, but probably true. Drunks can't get it up and keep it up. Neither can cokeheads or potheads.
And why shouldn't she love the cat more than the drunken jackass? She'd known the cat longer, and the cat didn't drink. I'll take fish breath over alcohol breath anytime.
MAJOR CLUE TIME: Yes, if your new girlfriend has a cat in her life, the cat is more important than you are. The cat is cuddlier, more attentive, purrs nicely, snuggles when she's watching TV or reading, never demands a blow job when she's tired, and doesn't drink and pick fights with her about bullshit asinine accusations. The cat won't hit on her best friend, won't fuck her best friend behind her back, won't embarrass her in public, won't call her at 4am wanting to be bailed out of jail, and won't wreck her car.
The cat is her baby. Mess with the cat at your peril.
Consider this a final warning to all jealous assholes. Go find a streetwalker who doesn't have a cat to fuck, or give your right hand a little exercise if you're feeling athletic.
I don't understand why the woman didn't dump the asshole the first time he started whining about the cat. Guys who hate and resent cats really DON'T LIKE OR RESPECT WOMEN. They have basically the same attitudes about cats and women, which I noticed the first time I had a cat of my own and was living with a guy who had serious control issues.
These men think cats are sneaky and untrustworthy because they're independent. Guys like this love dogs (which can be slavishly adoring, just what these assholes think they want in a woman), and abuse them too. Cats won't tolerate direct abuse, as this jackass discovered.
Poor Norman.... rest in peace, fuzzycat... your mom loved you.
UPDATE: Joseph Petcka (aka PETCATKILLER) now claims it was "self-defense"... yeah, a cat that's 10 lbs if it was soaking wet is a big threat to you at 6'3"/200+lbs. ROFLMAO. Wuss. I'd call him a pussy but it would be an insult to the poor cat.
You know, I tripped over my black cat in the dark once, and he bit me, which was actually understandable... he was a rescue cat, and had had a traumatic kittenhood. But I didn't feel the need to drop-kick him across the apartment in retaliation. I just left him along for awhile and waited for him to calm down. The only way a pampered cat (without a traumatic early life) would bite someone like this asshole was if the guy laid hands on the cat and caused it pain... in which case, the cat biting the guy would be self-defense. The guy killing the cat is torture and murder of a beloved family member,and YES, he should go to jail for it.
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10:26 pm
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Dallas Mavericks' Josh Howard disrespects national anthem
Josh Howard's decision-making has again come into question after he was filmed disrespecting the national anthem.
And the Mavericks are taking steps to help Howard and their other players avoid controversy in the future.
In a video posted on YouTube, the swingman is shown at Allen Iverson's charity flag football game in July. When the national anthem is being sung, various participants are shown mugging for the camera. When the camera gets to Howard, he says: " 'The Star-Spangled Banner' is going on. I don't celebrate this [expletive]. I'm black."
Howard goes on to make a difficult-to-discern comment that includes a reference to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
The video comes on the heels of his July arrest for a late-night street race in North Carolina and last season's admission that he is an occasional marijuana user. He also had a birthday bash for himself after the Mavericks lost Game 4 of their playoff series against New Orleans, even though coach Avery Johnson had asked the players to keep extracurricular activities to a minimum during the playoffs.
Owner Mark Cuban said the Mavericks dealt with Howard's flag football episode after it happened in July.
"That said, we will be going through some advanced communication-skill sessions together this training camp," Cuban said Tuesday. "I have explained to him that cellphone cameras are not your friend and that what you think you said on camera is never what people will hear when it shows up on YouTube or TV.
"There is only one universal response that works: 'Both teams played hard.' "
This is not the first time Howard has been cast in an un-American light. He rejected an offer to join the U.S. Olympic team when he said the initial training camp in 2006 conflicted with his summer camps.
Howard's agent, Mark Schwartz, did not return phone messages.
The Mavericks received numerous off-season trade offers for Howard, but almost all were from teams who presumed a low-ball offer might prompt a deal. Team officials have said repeatedly they're not interested in trading Howard.
"Josh really is a good guy with a great heart," Cuban said. "He just doesn't do a good job of showing that side of himself publicly. We will work on that."
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Well, there's white trash, and there's black trash. This jackass is a prime example of the latter.
My ancestors (including two great-granduncles, and a collateral relation who shared his name, HOWARD -- OLIVER OTIS HOWARD, a general for the USA, who lost an arm in one of the early battles in Virginia, and who later founded HOWARD UNIVERSITY in Washington DC) fought in the Civil War to free his ancestors, if he's actually got people who've been here more than one generation, and I deeply resent his arrogant bullshit. Maybe he's not an American, if he feels "black" means being more African than American -- if he feels that way, he should take his sorry sleazy self-important ass back to Zimbabwe or Nigeria and see how it feels to be a real AFRICAN instead of an American.
Given this prick's obviously low level of intelligence, "advanced" communications skills would be a bit much for him to handle. TRADE HIM? Please do -- to Mexico City or South Africa.
And the team owners and management who are more focussed on goal points than sportmanship really should get a re-education program going for the low-rent jackasses they recruit for their teams, and some keepers to corral and gag the assholes between games, since they can't be trusted not to act like gangsta trash and silly mouthy pricklets.
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8:12 pm
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China arrests 12 in milk scandal
Police in China have arrested 12 more people in a scandal over dairy products contaminated with melamine.
Three infants are known to have died, while thousands are ill, after being fed tainted baby milk.
On Thursday, officials in the north-western province of Xinjiang said a fourth person had died, but did not say whether it was a baby.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong is recalling products made by a Chinese dairy after some were found to contain melamine.
Eight out of 30 of dairy products made by the Yili Industrial Group Co, including milk, ice-cream and yoghurt, were found to be contaminated with the industrial chemical.
Widening crisis
Thursday's arrests bring the total number of people detained to 18, said police in the north-eastern province of Hebei.
Suppliers are believed to have added melamine, a banned chemical normally used in plastics, to watered-down milk in order to make it appear higher in protein.
The additive is blamed for causing severe renal problems and kidney stones.
The chemical was first found in baby milk powder made by the Sanlu Group. In total, melamine has been found in products made by 22 Chinese companies.
Nationwide checks on milk powder are continuing, and police in Hebei have confiscated more than 200kg (440lb) of melamine.
Of the 18 people arrested, six allegedly sold melamine, while the rest are accused of selling contaminated milk.
[... implying that they KNOWINGLY sold the melamine to food companies, fully aware of the fraudulent and lethal use of the chemical.]
Premier Wen Jiabao held a special cabinet meeting on Wednesday to address the crisis.
The State Council, or cabinet, admitted that regulations had failed to improve food standards.
[Well, there is a dichotomy between having safety standards and having a business culture that encourages greed and fraud and excuses it as "business as usual". China has some of the most egregiously sleazy spammers and net fraudsters on the planet, a dubious honor shared with Russia and, increasingly, Israel (Nigerian fraudsters are now more of a standing net joke than a real threat to anyone with half a working frontal lobe). There is, to my knowledge, nothing approaching the old motto "HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY" or THOU SHALT NOT STEAL in Chinese culture. The idea that stealing and fraud is dishonest and sleazy just doesn't percolate through, I don't think. They have a strange idea of honor, which involves appearances rather than reality. "Face" means more than character or integrity or honesty. ]
"The Sanlu infant milk powder incident reflects chaos in the dairy products market and loopholes in supervision, and administration which has not been vigorous," it said.
Chinese parents who can afford it have been buying imported milk powder, with some in southern China crossing into Hong Kong to stock up on foreign brands.
The milk scandal has sparked widespread anger among Chinese parents, many of whom rely on cheap baby formula to feed their infants.
A young child undergoes treatment at a hospital in Hefei, China - (photo)
It has also raised questions about China's ability to police its food production industries after a series of health scares - and fatalities - in recent years.
These have ranged from the contamination of seafood to toothpaste and, last year, to pet food exported to the US.
Parents are lining up for health checks on their babies.
They are also expressing anger at why Sanlu took so long to make the problem public.
Tests have shown that 69 batches of formula from 22 COMPANIES contained the banned substance.
[SO -- WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER COMPANIES.... 6 employees of the chemical suppliers arrested, and another 7 people who are also involved, apparently. With 22 companies involved in the poisoned milk products which have been KNOWINGLY produced and sold to the public, why haven't more arrests been made among company management and/or buyers?
I guess the management of the companies is either very well-connected with the CP upper levels or they're very wealthy businessmen who are considered to be untouchable by the chickenshit corrupt Chinese government and judiciary. ]
Two of the companies involved have exported their products to Bangladesh, Yemen, Gabon, Burundi, and Burma, although it is not clear if contaminated batches are involved.
The BBC's James Reynolds in Beijing says one mother told him that she was angry with both the milk producers and with what she called the "useless" quality inspection departments.
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Too bad the damn Chinese are too fucking stupid to tweak to the idea that the chemicals which are the poison of choice for these fraudsters SHOULD BE IMPOUNDED AND THEIR SALE AND USE REGULATED?
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| Wednesday, September 17th, 2008
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11:37 am
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Utah lawmaker wants to remove penalties for shelters that house runaway children
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) _ A state representative is seeking to change a law that forces homeless shelters to turn away runaways and homeless children seeking refuge for the night.
"The point is to allow the shelters to take care of these kids so they're not out on the street," said Rep. Lorie Fowlke, a Republican. "This will just allow them to have a safe bed, a safe meal, take a shower, access some information and help them get on their feet."
Employees at private shelters can currently be prosecuted for harboring a minor if they allow them to stay overnight. Runaway children over 10 can stay at a state-run shelter, but some refuse to for various reasons.
Lawmakers were scheduled to take up Fowlke's bill Wednesday. Under the measure, a runaway's parent or the Department of Child Protective Services would still need to be told where the child is within eight hours of a shelter learning the child's situation. But if a guardian, parent or a law enforcement officer fails to pick up the child, the shelter wouldn't be forced to kick out the runaway.
A child could also stay at the shelter if a parent intentionally fails to provide food, shelter or clothing or make reasonable arrangements to get the child home safely. Employees also wouldn't be prosecuted for providing shelter if there wasn't a reasonable way for the youngster to immediately notify parents and authorities.
Fowlke said many runaway children belong to parents who, because of drugs or other problems, don't care where their children are, leaving them no place to go.
"The shelters do describe these kids as throwaways and not runaways," Fowlke said. "In the past they've always had to throw them out at night, even if it's a blizzard or whatever. That sounds horrible to me."
Fowlke also said her bill might be able to help teenage boys referred to as "lost boys," who have either left or been kicked out of polygamist communities.
However, Shannon Price, director of the Diversity Foundation, which provides aid to so-called lost boys, says very few of those boys would be helped by removing shelter restrictions. She said other options are needed for such boys.
"It doesn't really come up that often because the children aren't going to tell you who their parents are because polygamy is illegal. Some may, but more often they won't," Price said. "What these kids need is stability. Most of them are not going to go back to their parents, so they need to have a permanent residence they can have some sense of belonging to."
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So the Mormon conservatives enacted a law that forces shelters to report kids to their parents/guardians.
This doesn't help the kids who are the product of broken homes with parents who are drug addicts and/or just low-rent trash who can't take care of their kids.
It's mainly a tool to serve the public image of the conservatives while kowtowing to the Mormon church elders, who appear to have an arrangement with the polygamist criminal families.
And this bill has the proverbial snowball's chance in hell of passing in the Utah legislature.
RANT ALERT!!!
Great, we're a supposedly secular democracy with one state completely dominated by a pseudo-religious bunch of scammers and self-appointed godlings who refuse to follow the laws of the rest of the nation (ie: polygamy - the other southwestern states bordering Mexico also have sizable polygamist groups, as does Mexico, where they are also protected by the political establishment in return for cash payoffs). They also have this schizoid attitude about the children their arrogant old pricks produce.
They don't want to keep the boys around, cause they can't fuck them and still maintain their patriarchal dignity, and they don't want the young men competing for the little girls the old pricks want to keep for their own stable of happy little breeding cows. They throw the boys off the family ranch/compound/whorehouse/breeding farm.
They also force the local shelters to report runaways (so they know where to get the kids they do want to take back, as unpaid labor), and to kick the little bastards out on the street to discourage others from running away in the first place.
The potential runaways they want to discourage are the girls... so the kids who want to run and get the hell out of the scamming cult are told that "no matter where you go, they won't let you stay, and they have to call us and report where you are so we can find you and drag you back". Most of the girls, who are carefully trained to be nice little obedient housemaids and breeding stock for the old men, will stay quietly in their breeding pens, and the few who do manage to find the guts to think for themselves and get the fuck out of the breeding farm get reported to their masters and retrieved.
The boys will probably think twice about staying in the state of Utah, since being reported means being taken back and probably beaten and starved as punishment for making the patriarch look bad... and once out of the state, the interest in what a runaway BOY says about the Mormons there is ignored. Only the testimony of a girl from one of these cult groups is considered newsworthy, because the sexual domination and abuse of teenage girls is titillating, which speaks volumes about the professional attitudes of the media.
Do we really want to elect a president who is hand-in-glove with Mormons? John McCain is a Republican from Arizona, which has a sizable contingent of the fundamentalist Mormons who persist in practicing the sleazy cult of polygamy. Their status in that state, as well as in Utah, appears to be protected by the political officials of the state, since those officials show little or no interest in extinguishing the illegal practice of polygamy. Anyone who conspires to allow this practice to continue has no place in public office, as this attitude and policy shows either a willingness to make deals favoring the polygamists, flat-out jackshit cowardice, or self-serving expediency. In fact, I would strongly suggest that campaign contributions to all politicians in these four states be audited on an annual basis, and that the personal property records and bank records of all public employees be audited.
Do we need another chickenshit sleazeball opportunist and dealmaker in the White House? I don't think so.
What we need is people (in the federal govt or in the states of Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas) with the balls to declare legal war on this scamming polygamist cult - to freeze their bank accounts, audit their tax returns, business records, and federal farm subsidy records, child support payments, child welfare payments, food stamps and other government-supplied support for their extended polygamist families, then force them to account for every woman and child on their property, prosecute them for bigamy, prosecute the women for conspiring to commit bigamy and fraud, confiscate their property, and remove their children.
As far as I'm concerned, Mormonism is just another cult scam like $cientology, and it deserves the same level of investigation and prosecution as the thieving bullies of that scamming cult. The personal bank accounts of all state employees in the states in which polygamists are located should be subject to oversight to prevent payoffs for turning a blind eye to these freaks, and anyone with personal ties to polygamists should be barred from public office or service to prevent further protection of their illegal acts.
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10:17 am - MORE POISONED CHINESE PRODUCTS, GOVT CORRUPTION
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China says tainted milk scandal spreading, with 3 babies dead and more than 6,200 sickened
BEIJING (AP) _ Tainted milk formula in China has killed three babies and sickened 6,200 in a spreading scandal that prompted three more companies, including China's biggest dairy, to recall products, the health minister said Wednesday.
Health Minister Chen Zhu said he expects the numbers of affected babies to increase as "more and more parents take kids to the hospital."
About 20 percent of the dairy companies tested nationwide had sold products tainted with melamine, officials said. Suppliers to the companies are thought to have added the banned chemical, normally used in plastics, to watered-down milk to make it appear higher in protein.
[So when are the jackshit, incompetent Chinese officials going to get around to arresting and charging some of these anonymous "suppliers" that add the chemicals to all these products like pet food, baby formula, and toothpaste? Not much has been done to police the supply chain, it appears, and the government (IE: Communist Party) officials appear to be either so incompetent or corrupt that nothing is being done to prevent further incidents like this. Another article in the news today concerns FURNITURE which is causing hundreds of cases of serious eczema in France -- people are being hospitalized for allergic reactions to the anti-mold packs placed in the furniture by the Chinese factory during the monsoon. Chinese manufacturers will throw anything into their products, no matter how harmful it is, no matter who the ultimate VICTIMS are, even Chinese babies. You would think that the overbearing emphasis on male children/babies in the Chinese culture would lead them to protect those that are actually born, but they are so greedy, cheap, and corrupt they don't even care about their own babies, much less the citizens of other countries who buy their crap products.]
The companies included Mengniu Dairy, China's biggest milk company, which said it was recalling its baby formula after government tests found melamine in the product.
The announcement said the recall covers three batches of formula made in January but gave no details on how much product will be affected. It did not say whether any of Mengniu's baby formula was exported.
Chen told a televised news conference that 6,244 babies had been sickened after being fed tainted milk formula, and that 158 were suffering from acute kidney failure. Chen reported the death of a third baby in eastern Zhejiang province but gave no details. The two earlier deaths had been reported in Gansu province.
So far, all the sick infants were found to have consumed milk powder produced by the company at the heart of the crisis, Sanlu Group Co., he said.
Free medical care will be provided to all affected infants and a hotline is being set up, he said. More than 1,300 infants remain hospitalized.
Sanlu's general manager Tian Wnehua was fired from her post and later detained by police, the official Xinhua news agency said. Four milk suppliers have been arrested.
Four officials from Shijiazhuang in Hebei province, where the company is based, were also fired, Xinhua said.
[ABOUT FUCKING TIME, YOU CHICKENSHIT SLEAZEBALLS.]
The head of China's quality control watchdog, Li Changjiang, said that in addition to Sanlu and Mengniu, two other companies, Guangdong-based Yashili and Qingdao-based Suncare, were recalling their products after melamine was found in their milk powder. Yashili and Suncare export their products to Bangladesh, Yemen, Gabon, Burundi and Myanmar.
The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine had already reported that its inspectors had found melamine "in 69 batches of milk powder manufactured by 22 companies."
The nationwide inspection took test samples from 109 companies that produce baby milk powder in China. Li said another 66 companies had stopped production before the melamine problem emerged.
In Taiwan, authorities said they were banning 22 Chinese companies from exporting dairy products to the island because the companies produced tainted baby formula.
And in Denmark, Arla Foods, the Denmark-based dairy group, said that production at a joint venture in China has been suspended amid the baby formula scandal. Arla and Mengniu Dairy have a joint production plant in Inner Mongolia.
The highest concentration of melamine was found in Sanlu's milk powder, he said. Among the other companies that had melamine was Olympic sponsor Yili Industrial Co., with one batch out of 35 showing the chemical's presence, Li said.
However, Li said that safety checks of food supplies going into the Olympic Village showed no problems. Inspectors were sent to regulate suppliers two months ahead of the Olympic Games, he said.
Starting immediately, 1,400 teams with 5,000 inspectors will be stationed at all companies producing baby milk to strictly oversee the process, Li said.
Li said the government is seeking more information after Hong Kong food inspectors ordered the recall of an ice cream bar made by Shanghai Yili AB Foods because melamine was found.
Amounts of the chemical found "would not pose major health effects from normal consumption of the bar, however, small children should not eat it," Hong Kong's Center for Food Safety said in a notice posted on its Web site.
It is the second crisis to raise questions about government accountability in China since the image-boosting Olympics ended Aug. 24. At least 258 people died last week when a retaining wall of a waste dump at an illegal mine in northern China collapsed.
The widening scandal is an embarrassing failure for China's product safety system, which was overhauled to restore consumer confidence and preserve export markets after a string of recalls and warnings abroad last year over tainted toothpaste, faulty tires and other goods.
It is the second major case in recent years involving baby formula. In 2004, more than 200 Chinese infants suffered malnutrition and at least 12 died after being fed phony formula that contained no nutrients.
Sanlu company officials as well as government officials share the blame for delays in reporting the contamination, said Hebei deputy governor Yang Chongyong, who spoke on the sidelines of the press conference.
Sanlu did not inform the Shijiazhuang municipal government until Aug. 2, after delaying for five months, Yang said. Then city officials waited until Sept. 9 to inform provincial officials, who then took a full day before contacting the central government, he said.
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Fine, now arrest all the company officials who knew about it and delayed reporting it, the city officials who sat with their heads up their asses, and the provincial official who dithered and bullshitted around before admitting they had a serious problem. Once EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE DAMN PROBLEM is charged as an accessory to criminal conspiracy, then maybe some of the Chinese greedheads and sleazeballs will get the idea that pulling shit like this will get your ass in a labor camp. And when someone's baby dies as a result of a criminal conspiracy like this, it's called MURDER. File murder charges and execute a few of these arrogant paper-pushers and scammers and they might actually decide to run an honest business and a responsible, honest government agency.
current mood: disgust
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| Tuesday, September 16th, 2008
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11:54 pm
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Autism 'may be missed in girls'
Girls with mild autism are less likely to be identified and diagnosed than boys, a study suggests.
Researchers examined 493 boys and 100 girls with autistic spectrum disorders.
They found the girls showed different symptoms, and fewer signs of symptoms traditionally associated with autism, such as repetitive behaviour.
The researchers, who presented their work to a Royal College of Psychiatrists meeting, said this might mean cases among girls are missed.
"We shouldn't assume autism or Asperger syndrome will look the same in both sexes - Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, University of Cambridge
Autism is thought to affect four times as many boys as girls - but the latest study suggests this might not be the case.
Most of the children featured in the study had been seen at the Social and Communication Disorders Clinic at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. Additional cases came from Sunderland and Finland.
All the children were classified as "high-functioning". They did not have classic autism, but did have difficulties with socialising and communication.
Relationship obsessions
The researchers, who have yet to publish their research, found that the girls were more likely to have obsessional interests centred around people and relationships.
However, these interests were more likely to be acceptable to their parents, and therefore tended not to be reported to doctors.
Characteristics such as shyness and over-sensitivity, common to people affected by autism, are sometimes deemed to be typically female traits -- Judith Gould, National Autistic Society</font>
In addition, these types of obsessions were less likely to be discovered using standard diagnostic questionnaires.
The investigators said more research was needed to analyse how autism spectrum conditions manifest differently in the sexes.
Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, an autism expert at the University of Cambridge, agreed.
He said: "This is an important clinical issue and there are too few studies addressing it.
"We shouldn't assume autism or Asperger syndrome will look the same in both sexes.
"There may be many factors leading to these conditions either being underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed in females, or leading females to require a diagnosis less often."
Judith Gould, of the National Autistic Society, said: "We hear from many women who have been diagnosed later in life.
"The way autism is presented in women can be very complex and so can be missed.
"It might be that due to misconceptions and stereotypes, many girls and women with autism are never referred for diagnosis, and so are missing from statistics.
"This may mean that many women who are undiagnosed are not receiving support, which can have a profound effect on them and their families."
Ms Gould said it was also possible that girls were better at masking difficulties in order to fit in with society.
"Characteristics such as shyness and oversensitivity, common to people affected by autism, are sometimes deemed to be typically female traits.
"However if a boy were to display such characteristics, concerns may be raised."
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Exactly like girls with ADD - the NON-HYPERACTIVE form, which afflicts most girls and adult women... we don't bounce off the fucking walls and therefore we don't fucking count, as far as the shrinks and social wonders running the human resources departments in cities and counties, where people like me go to ask for help. According to the city services dept when I asked to be tested for ADD, they tested me for the H/ADD form, but flat refused to test me for the NON-hyperactive form, claiming "it's over-diagnosed". I think it's probably UNDER-DIAGNOSED, and that they are systematically refusing to diagnose women because they can just fucking get away with such discrimination. I wonder if the ACLU has ever looked into the preferential diagnoses given to males in public health services?
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10:40 am
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France says no choice but to seek more Iran sanctions after latest nuclear report
PARIS (AP) _ The Security Council should impose more sanctions on Iran over its stonewalling of a U.N. investigation into allegations that Tehran tried to make nuclear weapons, France said Tuesday.
The U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, issued a damning report Monday that said Iran has repeatedly blocked an investigation into its nuclear program and the probe is now deadlocked.
"We have no other choice than to work in the days and weeks to come toward a new Security Council sanctions resolution," French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said.
He called the IAEA findings "very worrisome."
White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe also spoke Monday of "the possibility of new sanctions" if Iran continues to defy the U.N.
However, Russia and China, who like the U.S. and France have veto power over U.N. Security Council resolutions, would likely resist a fourth round of sanctions against Iran. Britain, the fifth veto-wielding member of the Security Council, is aligned with the U.S. and France.
The Security Council has already imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear defiance.
Regarding the IAEA report's findings on the amount of enriched uranium Iran has amassed, U.N officials said it was a third of what it needed to reprocess into the material for the fissile core of a nuclear weapon. But U.N officials familiar with the report emphasized that Iran — whose known nuclear programs are under IAEA supervision — has shown no indication it wanted to go that route.
The U.S. and its allies allege Iran wants to develop its uranium enrichment program to make nuclear weapons. But oil-rich Iran insists it only wants to make nuclear energy, and IAEA oversight and inspections of its known enrichment program has not found any evidence that contradicts that.
Ali-Ashgar Soltanieh, Iran's chief delegate to the IAEA, asserted Monday there was nothing for the agency to investigate as far as weapons programs were concerned.
China said Tuesday that imposing further sanctions on Iran will not resolve the nuclear impasse.
"I don't think sanctions are the way out," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu.
But Jiang also said China hoped Iran would keep cooperating with the IAEA.
"The solution of the Iranian nuclear issue is negotiation and dialogue," she told a regular news briefing. "We hope the relevant parties will step up diplomatic efforts and settle the issue peacefully through dialogue and negotiations."
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I've said all along that Madman Mahmoud is lying through his fucking teeth. He's a moron and an arrogant, jackshit, tinpot dictator who will be responsible for the first all-out nuclear war on this planet.
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9:56 am
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Pakistan orders troops to open fire if US launches air or ground raid across Afghan border
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) _ Pakistan's military has ordered its forces to open fire if U.S. troops launch another air or ground raid across the Afghan border, an army spokesman said Tuesday.
The orders, which come in response to a highly unusual Sept. 3 ground attack by U.S. commandos, are certain to heighten tension between Washington and a key ally against terrorism.
Pakistan's civilian leaders have protested the raid but say the dispute should be resolved through diplomatic channels.
However, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press that after U.S. helicopters ferried troops into a militant stronghold in the South Waziristan tribal region, the military told field commanders to prevent any similar raids.
"The orders are clear," Abbas said in an interview. "In case it happens again in this form, that there is a very significant detection, which is very definite, no ambiguity, across the border, on ground or in the air: open fire."
U.S. military commanders accuse Islamabad of doing too little to prevent the Taliban and other militant groups from recruiting, training and resupplying in Pakistan's wild tribal belt.
Pakistan acknowledges the presence of al-Qaida fugitives and its difficulties in preventing militants from seeping through the mountainous border into Afghanistan.
However, it insists it is doing what it can and paying a heavy price, pointing to its deployment of more then 100,000 troops in its increasingly restive northwest and a wave of suicide bombings across the country.
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Fine - I hope our commanders will just park their troops on their own side of the damn border and shoot any fucking Paki or any other jackshit asshole dumb enough to try to cross it.
Pakistan is carrying on its long tradition of harboring and encouraging Islamist terrorists, in direct contradiction to its public and very BOGUS stance of being an ally. Their bullshit is getting so deep they're choking on it.
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9:26 am
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Palin Won't Meet With 'Troopergate' Investigator
A campaign spokesman said Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin won't speak with an investigator hired by lawmakers to look into the firing of her public safety commissioner.
McCain campaign spokesman Ed O'Callaghan told a news conference Monday that the governor, the Republican nominee for vice president, will not cooperate as long as the investigation "remains tainted." He said he does not know whether Palin's husband would challenge a subpoena issued to compel his cooperation.
The campaign insists the investigation has been hijacked by Democrats. It says it can prove Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan was fired because of insubordination on budget issues - not because he refused to fire a state trooper who had divorced Palin's sister.
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This does not bode well for the future, if she is willing to use public office to pursue personal vendettas (something Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were also prone to do) and unwilling to cooperate with an investigation to establish whether or not such improper influence was exerted. You would think that, if she had nothing to worry about, she would cooperate and shrug it off. Unfortunately, her refusal to cooperate is giving the distinct impression that she is a petty, vindictive bitch who is willing to use her public powers for her own personal agenda.
As a woman, I certainly wouldn't vote for her. I admire McCain for having the guts to pick a woman, but this woman is an albatross, and the longer he keeps her as his chosen VP candidate, the greater the stink will get.
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1:28 am
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Broward County, FL considers resolution on iguanas
The never-ending showdown between man and beast will move to Broward County Commission chambers Tuesday when commissioners will ask one of the great questions of our time: What can we do about those darned iguanas?
County Mayor Lois Wexler wants to discuss a resolution -- similar to one passed by Pompano Beach and by Palm Beach and Monroe counties -- that would urge the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to classify the lizards as ``reptiles of concern.''
The classification would require people who buy iguanas to microchip them, as well as pay a $100 licensing fee each year. A Fort Lauderdale group that opposes the sale of exotic animals is pushing for similar resolutions across the state.
Whom would this resolution affect? Pet shop owners who worry about regulations, of course. Perhaps gardeners who plant hibiscus, which iguanas devour. And people who own docks, where iguanas burrow.
Who won't care? The iguanas themselves. Experts say they are so widespread in Florida that limiting their sale won't affect their breeding.
''This is locking the door to the barn after the horse has been gone for a week,'' said Bill Kern, a University of Florida professor and urban wildlife specialist.
The state wildlife regulation agency has already come out against the ''reptiles of concern'' classification, said Scott Hardin, the agency's exotic-species guru. He said the category was created for reptiles more than 12 feet long that cause some type of threat -- not for flower-loving iguanas.
Still, the resolution has opened up dialogue about what can or should be done about the creatures.
''When the resolution came across my desk, I became fascinated with it,'' Wexler said. ``People have been saying they are a nuisance, but nothing was being proposed to be done about it.''
Wexler hastened to add that she thought iguanas were ''pretty cool.'' But politically speaking, she said, she does believe some regulation is needed.
Iguanas, which are native to South America, were introduced to South Florida in 1966. What happened next is part science and part supposition.
The common theory is that lax pet owners freed the iguanas, locking them out of their homes and leaving them to roam the subtropical environment of South Florida. They started to settle and mate in canals, near trees and in subdivisions, polarizing neighbors who loved their exotic nature and those who saw them as nuisances.
Cold-blooded and docile, iguanas can't survive a wintry spell. But a string of unseasonably warm winters has allowed their population to swell, Hardin said. Experts say a female produces about 30 eggs during a gestation period.
Judy LaRose of the Broward chapter of the SPCA Wildlife Care Center says it receives 10 calls a day about iguanas, ranging from complaints about their burrows to worries that ''they'll eat the pet Chihuahua.'' (Don't worry, they won't.)
Strictly Reptiles, a Hollywood-based warehouse that buys local iguanas from trappers, has seen its intake quadruple this season alone.
So when Gov. Charlie Crist signed the ''reptiles of concern'' regulations into law June 2007, the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida began lobbying to have iguanas added to the pythons and anacondas on the list.
''Maybe they don't meet the same level of threat as a python would, but iguanas are of greater concern to local cities,'' said Nick Atwood, the group's campaign coordinator. ``We very rarely see a complaint about a python.''
Rian Gittman, owner of Underground Reptiles in Deerfield Beach, said he thought iguanas were getting a bad rap for their scaly skin and dry demeanor.
''Piece by piece, chip by chip, they are taking bites of the [reptile] industry until there is nothing left of it,'' Gittman said. ``First, the Burmese pythons and the anacondas. Now iguanas. But why don't they concern themselves with feral cats? More people get hurt by feral dogs and cats than have ever been from stray iguanas.''
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Well, my dad served in Peru during WW2 -- there weren't many chickens around during the war, but "chicken" was on alot of the small restaurant menus, he said... and everyone knew exactly what they were eating.
If they're self-sustaining as a local population now, they can be hunted/trapped for food. They're not endangered, and not native. Fair game and good eating, according to Dad... particularly good with barbecue sauce!
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| Monday, September 15th, 2008
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9:42 am
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Jury finds 6 Australian men guilty of being members of a terrorist cell
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) _ A jury Monday convicted a Muslim cleric and five of his followers of forming a terrorist group in Australia that allegedly considered assassinating the prime minister and attacking major sporting events.
Four other men were found innocent of being members of the group and the jury was still deliberating on charges against two more, as verdicts were delivered in Australia's largest terrorist trial.
No attack took place, but prosecutors alleged that the group, based in Australia's second-largest city of Melbourne, intended to undertake "violent jihad," and identified railway stations and sports fields as possible targets.
During the long-running trial, prosecutors alleged the group had talked about launching an attack at a football final that attracts close to 100,000 people each year, or the Formula One Grand Prix race held annually in the southern city.
They also allegedly discussed killing former Prime Minister John Howard, who ordered Australian troops to join the U.S.-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.
All of the suspects had pleaded not guilty. Defense lawyers painted the suspects as disgruntled men whose bravado led to talk about violent attacks but who had no ability to carry out such acts.
The men found guilty are yet to be sentenced. They face life terms in prison.
They included Abdul Nacer Benbrika, a 48-year-old Algerian-born cleric who was allegedly the leader of the terrorist cell.
Prosecutors alleged Benbrika urged his followers to launch an attack to force the Australian government to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. He allegedly told them that at an attack needed to kill at least 1,000 people to achieve this aim, and that it was permissible to kill women, children and the elderly.
Benbrika's lawyer Remy Van de Wiel told reporters outside the court he did not know yet if his client would appeal the verdict.
During the trial, Victorian Supreme Court Justice Bernard Bongiorno warned jurors that the testimony of at least one prosecution witness was unsafe because the witness was known to be a liar.
Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland welcomed the convictions. He said the government would take the advice of counterterrorism agencies on whether the trial showed that Australia's counterterrorism laws needed to be toughened.
"It is my view that the successful prosecution in the Pendennis trials is the most successful terrorist prosecution that this country has seen," McClelland told reporters in Canberra, referring to the Operation Pendennis counterterrorism police task force that charged the men.
"We must be alive to the fact that not only would a terrorist event cause injury and death and destruction, it would be enormously damaging to our social fabric," he said.
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No follower of Islam can ever be trusted as a citizen of any nation. They should be universally booted out of the civilized nations of the planet and confined to the dusty medieval hellholes of the Middle East where their primitive cult belongs. Islam is not and NEVER HAS BEEN a "religion of peace" and anyone who claims it to be such is an arrant liar who is ignorant of the history of the cult.
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9:32 am
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Saudi cleric wants death for TV "sorcerers"
RIYADH, Sept 14 (Reuters) - A senior Saudi cleric has said purveyors of horoscopes on Arab television should face the death penalty, a paper said on Sunday, days after another cleric argued death for TV owners.
"Sorcerers who appear on satellite channels who are proven to be sorcerers have committed a great crime ... and the Muslim consensus is that the apostate's punishment is death by the sword," Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan told al-Madina daily.
"Those who call in to these shows should not be accorded Muslim rites when they die," the prominent cleric added.
[ROFLMAO -- this from a bunch of ignorant, superstitious jackasses who worship 2 meteorites, perpetuating a cult that began in the Bronze Age, the assets and rituals of which were stolen by the thieving camel driver they call a prophet. The so-called "religion" of Islam has been responsible for terrorizing most of the Near/Middle East since the 7th century, and its so-called "clerics" are frothing maniacs who call for the blood of anyone who dares to question their prerogatives, much like the priests of ancient Judaism, another Bronze Age cult of thieving priests (even though their "prophet" claimed there weould be NO PRIESTS in his cult).]
Many of the hundreds of Arab satellite channels have sprung up in recent years specialise in horoscopes and other advice to callers on solving problems that is seen as "sorcery".
In their capacity as judges, clerics of Saudi Arabia's austere form of Islam often sentence "sorcerers" to death.
Fozan, a member of the Higher Council of Clerics, was responding to a controversy ignited by a Council colleague, Sheikh Saleh al-Lohaidan, who said last week that owners of Arab TV shows should be tried and face death over some shows.
Lohaidan, who is the head of Saudi Arabia's Islamic sharia courts, told Saudi radio: "I want to advise the owners of these channels that broadcast programmes with indecency and vulgarity and warn them of the consequences ... They can be put to death through the judicial process."
He was referring to comedy shows and soap operas airing in Ramadan, a month of fasting when Muslims are supposed to focus on God. Critics say Ramadan has become an orgy of food and television consumption once the fast ends at sunset.
Fozan said entertainment channel owners should be "banished" but stopped short of advocating the death penalty for them.
"The position of Muslims and their rulers about these channels is that they should be talked to and if they continue airing depravity and shamelessness they should be banished from this place and others brought in their place."
Turkish soap operas that became hugely popular in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries this year provoked a storm of anger among Saudi conservatives who fear the spread of secular culture in the key U.S. ally.
The government's official advisor on religious affairs, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdelaziz Al al-Sheikh, said in July it was not Islamically permissible to watch the Turkish serials.
The owners of Arab entertainment channels, including MBC, ART, Orbit, Rotana and LBC, are mostly Saudi royals and businessmen closely allied to them.
Concerned about the country's international image, some key members of the Saudi royal family have promoted liberal reforms. The clerics fear plans to limit their extensive influence in what is the world's largest oil exporter.
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The international image of Saudi Arabia is that of a dusty hellhole run by a bunch of ignorant religious idiots, dominated by a corrupt royal house of rich, self-indulgent and arrogant pricks.
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| Sunday, September 14th, 2008
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9:34 am
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Family's pit bulls fatally maul infant in Nevada home; grandmother hurt protecting her
LAS VEGAS (AP) _ A family's two pit bulls burst into the house from the backyard to attack a 4-month girl, mauling her to death even as her grandmother tried to escape with the baby into another room, police said.
The grandmother, who was baby-sitting at the time of the attack Friday, was hospitalized Saturday with non-life-threatening injuries.
The dogs apparently entered the house in North Las Vegas by bursting through a screen door and starting attacking the baby in her stroller, police said.
"They just went right for the little girl," North Las Vegas police Chief Joseph Forti told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The grandmother told authorities she tried to take the girl into another room, but the dogs forced their way in before she could close the door.
Police said the dogs were still acting aggressively when officers arrived. They shot and killed the pit bulls.
The names of the baby and her grandmother were not immediately released.
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I've met several pits which seemed very well-behaved, and whose owners told me were absolute sweethearts. Unfortunately, it's a breed that will flip on you in a damn heartbeat and rip your throat out for very little reason. As a working breed of terrier, pit bulls may be useful, but as pets, they are walking time bombs. Anyone who keeps pits as family pets should be well aware of the risk. They should be banned from being owned as family pets; owners should be required to certify that they are running either a security company or a cattle farm (the latter being their historical use as a breed). Breeding them should be regulated and shipping them should be banned as well.
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| Friday, September 12th, 2008
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1:21 pm
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Girl's Dad Whacks Naked Boy Found In Home
DELTONA, Fla. -- An angry Deltona father whacked his teenage daughter's boyfriend with a metal pipe after finding the boy naked in his daughter's room.
Authorities said Raul Colon, 45, didn't even know his daughter had a boyfriend or that the youngster had been sneaking into the home for more than a year.
When he heard noises coming from his daughter's bedroom Thursday morning and saw a stranger standing naked on the girl's bed, he swung a metal pipe. He then chased the teen out the front door and called police.
The boy was taken to the hospital where doctors closed a head wound with staples.
Colon was charged with aggravated battery on a child and bonded out on $10,000.
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ROFLMAO -- and now his sleazy little bitch-ho of a daughter is now "grounded for life". Serves her and her little prick boyfriend right. I'm sorry the dad was arrested -- the kid should have been arrested for statutory rape, as well.
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