September 23, 2008
Tancredo Get's It! We Need Leaders Like This!
Jihad Prevention Act Proposed to Protect US Courts
Tancredo Proposes Anti-Sharia Measure in Wake of U.K. Certification of Islamic Courts
Friday, 19 September 2008
“Jihad Prevention Act” would deny U.S. visas to advocates of ‘Sharia’ law, expel Islamists already here.
WASHINGTON, DC
Amid disturbing revelations that the verdicts of Islamic Sharia courts are now legally binding in civil cases in the United Kingdom, U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) moved quickly today to introduce legislation designed to protect the United States from a similar fate.
According to recent news reports, a new network of Sharia courts in a half-dozen major cities in the U.K. have been empowered under British law to adjudicate a wide variety of legal cases ranging from divorces and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.
“This is a case where truth is truly stranger than fiction,” said Tancredo. “Today the British people are learning a hard lesson about the consequences of massive, unrestricted immigration.”
Sharia law, favored by Muslim extremists around the world, often calls for brutal punishment – such as the stoning of women who are accused of adultery or have children out of wedlock, cutting off the hands of petty thieves and lashings for the casual consumption of alcohol. Under Sharia law, a woman is often required to provide numerous witnesses to prove rape allegations against an assailant – a near impossible task.
“When you have an immigration policy that allows for the importation of millions of radical Muslims, you are also importing their radical ideology – an ideology that is fundamentally hostile to the foundations of western democracy – such as gender equality, pluralism, and individual liberty,” said Tancredo. “The best way to safeguard America against the importation of the destructive effects of this poisonous ideology is to prevent its purveyors from coming here in the first place.”
Tancredo’s bill, dubbed the “Jihad Prevention Act,” would bar the entry of foreign nationals who advocate Sharia law. In addition, the legislation would make the advocacy of Sharia law by radical Muslims already in the United States a deportable offense.
Tancredo pointed to the results of a recent poll conducted by the Centre for Social Cohesion as evidence that the U.S. should act to prevent the situation in Great Britain from replicating itself here in the United States. The poll found that some 40 percent of Muslim students in the United Kingdom support the introduction of Sharia law there, and 33 percent support the imposition of an Islamic Sharia-based government worldwide.
“We need to send a clear message that the only law we recognize here in America is the U.S. Constitution and the laws passed by our democratically elected representatives,” concluded Tancredo. “If you aren’t comfortable with that concept, you aren’t welcome in the United States.”
Wild Thing's comment..........
Yep he gets it and he takes a lot of flack for doing so, yet, he keeps at it. I wish he would stay in office. I heard this is Tancredo’s last year in office...he’s quitting. Duncan Hunter is rather strong on the same issues as well.
Like every other leftist ideal it leads to nothing but the destruction of our civilization as we know it. And if they do not do something now, not a few years from now that would be too late. Our politicians in Washington are too worried about being PC with the Muslims and this will destroy us and our country.
According to some of the CAIR-sponsored legislation now being proposed in Congress, Tom Tancredo’s words would constitute a defamation of Islam and be a form of hate speech.
....Thank you Tom for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 06:48 AM | Comments (11)
September 15, 2008
UK’s First Official Sharia Courts
"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity.
The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die. But the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.”
- Winston Churchill
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Revealed: UK’s first official sharia courts
ISLAMIC law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases.
The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.
Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court.
Previously, the rulings of sharia courts in Britain could not be enforced, and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims.
It has now emerged that sharia courts with these powers have been set up in London, Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester with the network’s headquarters in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Two more courts are being planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Sheikh Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi, whose Muslim Arbitration Tribunal runs the courts, said he had taken advantage of a clause in the Arbitration Act 1996.
Under the act, the sharia courts are classified as arbitration tribunals. The rulings of arbitration tribunals are binding in law, provided that both parties in the dispute agree to give it the power to rule on their case.
Siddiqi said: “We realised that under the Arbitration Act we can make rulings which can be enforced by county and high courts. The act allows disputes to be resolved using alternatives like tribunals. This method is called alternative dispute resolution, which for Muslims is what the sharia courts are.”
The disclosure that Muslim courts have legal powers in Britain comes seven months after Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was pilloried for suggesting that the establishment of sharia in the future “seems unavoidable” in Britain.
In July, the head of the judiciary, the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, further stoked controversy when he said that sharia could be used to settle marital and financial disputes.
In fact, Muslim tribunal courts started passing sharia judgments in August 2007. They have dealt with more than 100 cases that range from Muslim divorce and inheritance to nuisance neighbours.
It has also emerged that tribunal courts have settled six cases of domestic violence between married couples, working in tandem with the police investigations.
Siddiqi said he expected the courts to handle a greater number of “smaller” criminal cases in coming years as more Muslim clients approach them. “All we are doing is regulating community affairs in these cases,” said Siddiqi, chairman of the governing council of the tribunal.
Jewish Beth Din courts operate under the same provision in the Arbitration Act and resolve civil cases, ranging from divorce to business disputes. They have existed in Britain for more than 100 years, and previously operated under a precursor to the act.
Politicians and church leaders expressed concerns that this could mark the beginnings of a “parallel legal system” based on sharia for some British Muslims.
Dominic Grieve, the shadow home secretary, said: “If it is true that these tribunals are passing binding decisions in the areas of family and criminal law, I would like to know which courts are enforcing them because I would consider such action unlawful. British law is absolute and must remain so.”
Douglas Murray, the director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, said: “I think it’s appalling. I don’t think arbitration that is done by sharia should ever be endorsed or enforced by the British state.”
There are concerns that women who agree to go to tribunal courts are getting worse deals because Islamic law favours men.
Siddiqi said that in a recent inheritance dispute handled by the court in Nuneaton, the estate of a Midlands man was divided between three daughters and two sons.
The judges on the panel gave the sons twice as much as the daughters, in accordance with sharia. Had the family gone to a normal British court, the daughters would have got equal amounts.
In the six cases of domestic violence, Siddiqi said the judges ordered the husbands to take anger management classes and mentoring from community elders. There was no further punishment.
In each case, the women subsequently withdrew the complaints they had lodged with the police and the police stopped their investigations.
Siddiqi said that in the domestic violence cases, the advantage was that marriages were saved and couples given a second chance.
Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “The MCB supports these tribunals. If the Jewish courts are allowed to flourish, so must the sharia ones.”
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Wild Thing's comment.............
This is a bad, bad thing. Rule Britannia. Not. Rue Britannia. Adios, England. It was jolly good while it lasted. Good Bye to a once great nation, and may the chains of enslavement rest lightly. However once the chains are about your shoulders, the master without fail will tighten the chains of power and your great nation will cease to exist.
"The rulings of arbitration tribunals are binding in law, provided that both parties in the dispute agree to give it the power to rule on their case."
A person would have to be a serious moron to submit to Sharia rather than British law.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: --
"We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that pays it is lost!"
-Kipling
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:55 AM | Comments (13)
August 11, 2008
Massive Explosion in North Toronto, Ontario
Toronto propane depot explosion ( (Go to 1:50 for HUGE explosion)
Firefighter dies battling huge fire at propane depot
A veteran firefighter died trying to extinguish a massive fire at a propane depot in north Toronto early Sunday, a blaze that closed major highways and forced thousands to flee their homes.
Residents said the explosion was terrifying.
Toronto police ordered the evacuation of neighbourhoods within 1.6 kilometres of Sunrise Propane. Thousands of people living between Keele Street, Dufferin Street, Sheppard Avenue and Wilson Avenue were ordered to leave their homes.
"My whole house shook. The front door came off and I saw fire," said Shelby Degan, who lives less than a block away from the depot.
"Next thing you know, I've got glass in my head and I'm running down the road."
O'Hallarn said the explosion sent large pieces of metal — likely from tanks that exploded — flying into nearby streets. Homes were damaged, windows shattered and doors were ripped from their hinges. About 200 firefighters battled intense heat to fight spot fires that continued to burn into Sunday evening.
The cause of the fire was still unknown. The area was still too unstable for Ontario Fire Marshal's Office investigators to enter the site and begin their probe.
Mayor David Miller, on vacation in Vancouver, was rushing back to Toronto to help co-ordinate the relief efforts. In a telephone news conference Sunday afternoon, he said his top priority is to ensure the area is made safe.
A no-fly zone was ordered over the area, as emergency workers feared that propane tankers parked on the site might spark further explosions, although those fears were diminishing by noon.
Natural gas and hydro were shut off to the area as a precaution.
The first explosion, which could be heard seven kilometres away, shook nearby homes and buildings, waking residents.
Robert Halman, who lives on Murray Road, said his ceiling crashed on top of him, and the doors and windows of his home blew out. Flames were everywhere, with fireballs exploding into the sky.
He escaped, but his shirt caught fire, burning his back. His forehead was covered in blood from the debris that hit him.
"I'm lucky that I got out of there alive," he said, scratches visible on his forehead.
ARTICLE SNIPPET:
“Police said the company stores and distributes a number of highly flammable welding supplies and gases such as acetylene, argon, nitrogen, propane and oxygen which police say is “highly explosive.”
The cause of the explosion has not been determined.”
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Wild Thing's comment........
The lack of media coverage of this so far is astonishing. It is so good that few were hurt and killed in this horrible explosion.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:45 AM | Comments (4)
August 10, 2008
Labor Day Reinstated At Tyson Foods!!
Labor Day Reinstated At Tyson Foods!!
Your Calls and Emails Made a Difference!
Chalk up another victory for people power.
When we sent you the email informing you of the Tyson Foods union agreement replacing Labor Day with Eid al-Fitr, so many of you contacted the company that we were told Tyson stopped answering customer service calls, diverting them to voice mail.
Thank you for taking action !!
Now this morning Tyson Foods has announced that it went back to the union and reached a new agreement that reinstates Labor Day. Clearly, the grassroots pressure and negative publicity “encouraged” Tyson Foods to do the right thing. Just as many of you told us you would no longer buy Tyson Foods because of the original agreement, let’s now reward Tyson Foods for taking this action by buying their products.
And remember this – other companies are watching what just happened.
This is just one more example of how informed and organized grassroots action can make a difference. It’s just one more example of why the mission of ACT! for America is absolutely essential to the long-term objective of stopping the spread of radical Islam.
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Labor Day Reinstated as Paid Holiday at Shelbyville, TN, Plant
Tyson Foods Requested Change from Union
Springdale, Arkansas – August 8, 2008 - Tyson Foods, Inc. announced today it has reached a new agreement with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), an American union, reinstating Labor Day as one of the designated paid holidays under the contract for covered employees in the Shelbyville, Tennessee, plant.Tyson made this request on behalf of its Shelbyville plant employees, some of whom had expressed concern about the new contract provisions relative to paid holidays. In an effort to be responsive, Tyson asked the union to reopen the contract to address the holiday issue, and the union agreed to do so.
The union membership voted overwhelmingly Thursday to reinstate Labor Day as one of the plant’s paid holidays, while keeping Eid al-Fitr as an additional paid holiday for this year only. This means that in 2008 only, Shelbyville employees will have nine paid holidays.
For the remainder of the five-year contract period, the eight paid holidays will include: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and a Personal Holiday, which could either be the employee’s birthday, Eid al-Fitr or another day requested and approved by their supervisor.
This issue concerns only the plant at Shelbyville, Tennessee. Labor Day has always been celebrated, and continues to be, at the other 118 Tyson plants across the country.
The Shelbyville complex employs approximately 1,200 people. Approximately 1,000 workers are covered by the RWDSU union agreement at that location.
Wild Thing's comment........
Well they added Labor Day back and will keep the Muzzzzlem holiday too. LOL What can I say. At least they added Labor Day back.
This really does show us once again how fighting back does work almost every time. I hate that it has to be done, that we can't just have people do the right thing, the best thing for America, but that just is not the case any longer. Now we have to be in the know of what is going on and keep after the left that want to cave in to things that willl destroy our country step by step.
.....Thank you Darth for sending this update.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:47 AM | Comments (13)
August 08, 2008
Russian Army Moving Against Georgian Forces
Russian Army Moving Against Georgian Forces Controlling Capital of Breakaway Province South Ossetia
Reuters reports the Pentagon says it has had contact with Georgian officials but have not received a request for assistance..
Parts of Russia's 58th Army — including 150 tanks and armored vehicles — reportedly were moving Friday on the capital of South Ossetia after Georgian troops entered the city in an attempt to crush separatist forces seeking to control the breakaway province.
Kakha Lamaia, a member of Georgia's National Security Council, told Reuters the two countries are "very close" to war, if not already at war.
"If it's not war, then we are very close to it," Lamaia said. "The Russians have invaded Georgia and we are under attack."
President Bush and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reportedly were discussing the Georgia crisis after attending the opening of the Beijing Olympic games.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov told Reuters that he is "receiving reports of ethnic cleansing in villages of South Ossetia."
Fighting escalated between Georgian and Russian forces escalated earlier in the day with Georgia claiming to have downed four Russian combat warplanes, and Russian planes bombing the Vaziani airbase outside the Georgian capital of Tblisi.
Russian Ground Forces spokesman Col. Igor Konashenkov said that 10 Russian peacekeepers were killed and another 30 wounded durring Georgian shelling of their barracks.
Georgian officials denied firing on the Russian forces.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow was receiving reports that villages in South Ossetia were being ethnically cleansed.
"We are receiving reports that a policy of ethnic cleansing was being conducted in villages in South Ossetia, the number of refugees is climbing, the panic is growing, people are trying to save their lives," he said during televised remarks in Moscow from Russia's Foreign Ministry.
Georgian troops launched their offensive to regain control over the South Ossetia.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili accused Russia, which has close ties to the separatists, of bombing Georgian territory.
Saakashvili also said it was in the United States' interest to help his country.
But Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the Georgian attack will draw retaliation and the Defense Ministry pledged to protect South Ossetians, most of whom have Russian citizenship.
Russia's Channel 1 television earlier showed a convoy of Russian tanks that it said had entered South Ossetia. The report said the convoy is expected to reach the provincial capital within a few hours.
There has been no immediate comment from Russian officials.
Separatist officials in South Ossetia said 15 civilians had been killed in fighting overnight. Georgian officials said seven civilians were wounded in bombing raids by Russia.
Georgia declared a three-hour cease-fire to allow civilians to leave Tskhinvali. Georgia's Interior Ministry spokesman said troops were observing the cease-fire, which began at 3 p.m. local time (7 a.m. EDT).
A spokesman for President Bush said Russia and Georgia should cease hostilities and hold talks to end the conflict. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he is seriously concerned about the fighting and that the alliance is closely following the situation.
Georgia, which borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the Soviet Union. The country has angered Russia by seeking NATO membership — a bid Moscow regards as part of a Western effort to weaken its influence in the region.
Saakashvili long has pledged to restore Tbilisi's rule over South Ossetia and another breakaway province, Abkhazia. Both regions have run their own affairs without international recognition since splitting from Georgia in the early 1990s and built up ties with Moscow.
Relations between Georgia and Russia worsened notably this year as Georgia pushed to join NATO and Russia dispatched additional peacekeeper forces to Abkhazia.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it is seeking to open a humanitarian corridor to guarantee safe access to Tskhinvali. Maia Kardova, ICRC spokeswoman in Tbilisi, said military vehicles are being given priority on the main road leading to the South Ossetia capital and this is making it difficult for rescue vehicles to get through.
Saakashvili urged Russia to immediately stop bombing Georgian territory.
"Georgia will not yield its territory or renounce its freedom," he said.
A senior Russian diplomat in charge of the South Ossetian conflict, Yuri Popov, dismissed the Georgian claims of Russian bombings as misinformation, the RIA-Novosti news agency reported.
Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev later chaired a session of his Security Council in the Kremlin, vowing that Moscow will protect Russian citizens.
"In accordance with the constitution and federal law, I, as president of Russia, am obliged to protect lives and dignity of Russian citizens wherever they are located," Medvedev said, according to Russian news reports. "We won't allow the death of our compatriots go unpunished."
More....................
Russian jets bomb Georgian airbase - Tbilisi
TBILISI, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Russian jets bombed the Vaziani military airbase outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi on Friday, a senior Georgian security official told Reuters.
"No one was wounded but some buildings have been destroyed," said Kakha Lamaia. The airbase is some 25 kilometres (15 miles) from Tbilisi.
"They have declared war against us," said Lamaia. (Reporting by Matt Robinson, editing by Tim Pearce)
Reuters reports Turkey has agreed to supply Georgia with electricity amid the conflict...
Unofficial separatist sources have claimed that if the conflict was protracted they would be prepared to sabotage the Baku-Supsa pipeline that runs between Azerbaijan and Turkey through Georgia and is a key provider of energy for the EU and the United States *snip* FoxNews reports parts of Russia's 58th Army — including 150 tanks and armored vehicles — reportedly were moving on the capital of South Ossetia after Georgian troops entered the city.
AFP reports Georgia has lost control of parts of the South Ossetian rebel capital of Tskhinvali amid Russian bombardment ... “hundreds of civilians” killed in Tskhinvali.”
Wild Thing's comment.............
Russia is starting to act like the old USSR. Since then, Georgia has shot down 4 Russian military aircraft, and Russia has retaliated by sending a column of 150+ tanks into Georgia.
We have a military presence in Georgia, and they are an ally.
This could get real ugly, real fast.
We not only have military personel in Georgia, we have had personel at the Vaziani training center since 2002.
Marines and Georgians move to the Field
VAZIANI TRAINING BASE, Georgia-Hungry Marines and Georgians finally arrive at the end of the chow line giving them their first hot meal of the day and allowing them to continue their conversations over dinner.
....Thank you John 5 (VN 69/70) for sending this.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:55 PM | Comments (8)
August 04, 2008
Political Columnist Robert Novak Retires
Sun-Times political columnist Robert Novak retires
Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement following the diagnosis of a brain tumor, a prognosis the Sun-Times' political columnist describes as "dire."
"The details are being worked out with the doctors this week, but the tentative plan is for radiation and chemotherapy," Novak said.
The Evans-Novak column was first distributed by Publishers Newspaper Syndicate on May 15, 1963, with the New York Herald-Tribune, the flagship newspaper. When the Herald-Tribune folded in 1966, the Chicago Sun-Times became their home newspaper.
Wild Thing's comment..........
Prayers for Robert Novak and his family.
Posted by Wild Thing at 05:45 PM | Comments (6)
Ant and the Grasshopper ~ Old and New Version
The Ant and the Grasshopper
There is an 'Old Version' and a 'Modern Version'
Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals!
OLD VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed.
The grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!
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MODERN VERSION:
The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.
The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the s ummer away.
Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.
CBS, NBC, PBS, CNN, Fox and ABC show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast.
How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?
Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing, 'It's Not Easy Being Green. '
Al Sharpton stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing, 'We shall overcome.' Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake.
Nancy Pelosi & Barack Obama exclaim in an interview with Larry King that the ant ha s gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his fair share.
Finally, the EEOC drafts the Economic Equity & Anti-Grasshopper Act retroactive to the beginning of the summer.
The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government.
Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill Clinton appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients.
The ant loses the case.
The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant' s food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it.
The ant has disappeared in the snow.
The grasshopper is found dead in a drug related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood.
MORAL OF THE STORY: Be careful how you vote in 2008!!
....Thank you Mark.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:45 AM | Comments (7)
August 02, 2008
Tyson Drops Labor Day Holiday For Eid al-Fitr
Tyson drops Labor Day holiday for Eid al-Fitr
Workers at Tyson Foods' poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day, but will instead take the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr in the fall.
A recent press release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) stated that a new contract at the Shelbyville facility "implements a new holiday to accommodate the ... Muslim workers at the plant."
The RWDSU stated that "the five-year contract creates an additional paid holiday, Iidal Fitil, a Muslim holiday that occurs toward the end of Ramadan."
Eid al-Fitr falls on Oct. 1 this year.
Tyson's Director of Media Relations, Gary Mickelson, stated that while the new contract does not provide an additional holiday, as the union claimed, "the new contract includes eight paid holidays, which is the same number provided in the old contract."
"However, the union leadership did request and receive Eid al-Fitr (which is apparently spelled various ways including Id al-Fitr and Eid ul-Fitr) as a paid holiday in place of Labor Day," Mickelson confirmed in an e-mail to the T-G.
"Since all Team Members will still have eight paid holidays, the change will not affect production," Mickelson said.
Eid al-Fitr means "Festival of the Breaking of the Fast" in Arabic, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, and marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.
The festival "is distinguished by the performance of communal prayer (salat) at daybreak on its first day. It is a time of official receptions and private visits, when friends greet one another, presents are given, new clothes are worn, and the graves of relatives are visited," the encyclopedia said.
Mickelson said that "Eid al-Fitr is one of eight paid holidays for all Team Members covered by the contract, while Labor Day is not a paid holiday."
"Based on the contract, the other paid holidays include: The Team Member's birthday, New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day," Mickelson said.
"Implementing this holiday was a challenge, since it falls on a different day every year and is declared on fairly short notice," RWDSU Representative Randy Hadley said in the press release. "But the negotiating committee felt this was extremely crucial, since this holiday is as important to Muslims as Christmas is to Christians."
Wild Thing's comment........
What the heck??!!!
Come to America and WE will conform to YOUR ways instead of the other way around. So that is what Tyson is doing. I could care less about Tyson Foods, but it does not matter. This is wrong no matter who or what company it is.
This is an outrage and a slap in the face of every American, especially those that have worked the factories, served their country, and have stood tall for the things that represent what our founding fathers envisioned when this great nation was found and came of age. I am disgusted.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:40 AM | Comments (18)
July 30, 2008
Bush Signs Housing, Economic Recovery Bill
Bush signs housing bill in private
With none of the fanfare that usually attends a landmark bill becoming law, President Bush signed the huge housing rescue bill just after 7 a.m. Wednesday, shortly after he arrived in the Oval Office.
Only a few aides and administration officials were present, including Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Steve Preston and James B. Lockhart III, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
The White House announced the signing by e-mail moments later.
The bill, the biggest overhaul of housing law in decades, provides a lifeline for an estimated 400,000 homeowners facing foreclosure, and provides assurances to the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose books are loaded with bad mortgages.
Usually such a bill signing is accompanied by a self-congratulatory ceremony, with souvenir pens for congressional leaders and for members, senators and chairmen who spearheaded the legislation.
But Bush initially vowed to veto the bill as being overly socialistic. He finally dropped his objection when he decided that it was better than nothing. In a rare split, House Republicans opposed the bill and business interests like home builders and bankers favored it.
The White House had said there would be no bill-signing event, with one administration official noting ruefully that they had no desire to trumpet the accomplishment of the committee chairmen, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).
Here are some of the things that our nitwits just voted for: (from various news sources)
"The bill includes several cherished Democratic priorities, including the creation of a permanent affordable housing fund to be financed by Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's profits and the neighborhood grants."
"Democrats won concessions as part of the compromise, including a permanent affordable housing program to be financed by the two companies' profits and the $3.9 billion in grants."
"The 694-page bill would establish the $300-billion fund under the Federal Housing Administration to help distressed homeowners get more affordable, government-backed mortgages and get out from under exotic mortgages they cannot afford."
"Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said the housing bill had positive aspects. But she added, "I am troubled by the inclusion of an unlimited U.S. Treasury credit line to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac" and possible government stock purchases."
"The bill would also create a new regulator for the GSEs with sharper teeth than the existing one, including authority over how much money the companies pay their top executives."
"The legislation also offers tax breaks to spur home-buying; sets up the first national licensing system for mortgage brokers and loan officers and raises the limit on the size of mortgages that can be guaranteed by federal agencies."
How they voted: House roll call on housing bill
The 272-152 roll call Wednesday by which the House passed a bill that aims to help homeowners facing foreclosure and to prevent mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from collapsing.
A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill.
Voting yes were 227 Democrats and 45 Republicans.
Voting no were 3 Democrats and 149 Republicans.
X denotes those not voting.
ALABAMA
Democrats — Cramer, Y; Davis, Y.
Republicans — Aderholt, N; Bachus, N; Bonner, N; Everett, N; Rogers, Y.
ALASKA
Republicans — Young, N.
ARIZONA
Democrats — Giffords, Y; Grijalva, Y; Mitchell, Y; Pastor, Y.
Republicans — Flake, N; Franks, N; Renzi, N; Shadegg, N.
ARKANSAS
Democrats — Berry, Y; Ross, Y; Snyder, Y.
Republicans — Boozman, N.
CALIFORNIA
Democrats — Baca, Y; Becerra, Y; Berman, Y; Capps, Y; Cardoza, Y; Costa, Y; Davis, Y; Eshoo, Y; Farr, Y; Filner, Y; Harman, Y; Honda, Y; Lee, Y; Lofgren, Zoe, Y; Matsui, Y; McNerney, Y; Miller, George, Y; Napolitano, Y; Pelosi, Y; Richardson, Y; Roybal-Allard, Y; Sanchez, Linda T., Y; Sanchez, Loretta, Y; Schiff, Y; Sherman, Y; Solis, Y; Speier, Y; Stark, Y; Tauscher, Y; Thompson, Y; Waters, Y; Watson, Y; Waxman, Y; Woolsey, Y.
Republicans — Bilbray, N; Bono Mack, Y; Calvert, Y; Campbell, Y; Doolittle, N; Dreier, Y; Gallegly, Y; Herger, N; Hunter, Y; Issa, N; Lewis, Y; Lungren, Daniel E., Y; McCarthy, N; McKeon, Y; Miller, Gary, Y; Nunes, N; Radanovich, N; Rohrabacher, N; Royce, N.
COLORADO
Democrats — DeGette, Y; Perlmutter, Y; Salazar, Y; Udall, Y.
Republicans — Lamborn, N; Musgrave, N; Tancredo, N.
CONNECTICUT
Democrats — Courtney, Y; DeLauro, Y; Larson, Y; Murphy, Y.
Republicans — Shays, Y.
DELAWARE
Republicans — Castle, Y.
FLORIDA
Democrats — Boyd, Y; Brown, Corrine, Y; Castor, Y; Hastings, Y; Klein, Y; Mahoney, Y; Meek, Y; Wasserman Schultz, Y; Wexler, Y.
Republicans — Bilirakis, N; Brown-Waite, Ginny, X; Buchanan, Y; Crenshaw, N; Diaz-Balart, L., Y; Diaz-Balart, M., Y; Feeney, N; Keller, Y; Mack, N; Mica, N; Miller, N; Putnam, Y; Ros-Lehtinen, Y; Stearns, N; Weldon, N; Young, N.
GEORGIA
Democrats — Barrow, Y; Bishop, X; Johnson, Y; Lewis, Y; Marshall, Y; Scott, Y.
Republicans — Broun, N; Deal, N; Gingrey, N; Kingston, N; Linder, N; Price, N; Westmoreland, N.
HAWAII
Democrats — Abercrombie, Y; Hirono, Y.
IDAHO
Republicans — Sali, N; Simpson, N.
ILLINOIS
Democrats — Bean, Y; Costello, Y; Davis, Y; Emanuel, Y; Foster, Y; Gutierrez, Y; Hare, X; Jackson, Y; Lipinski, Y; Rush, X; Schakowsky, Y.
Republicans — Biggert, Y; Johnson, N; Kirk, N; LaHood, Y; Manzullo, N; Roskam, N; Shimkus, N; Weller, Y.
INDIANA
Democrats — Carson, Y; Donnelly, Y; Ellsworth, Y; Hill, Y; Visclosky, Y.
Republicans — Burton, N; Buyer, N; Pence, N; Souder, N.
IOWA
Democrats — Boswell, X; Braley, Y; Loebsack, Y.
Republicans — King, N; Latham, N.
KANSAS
Democrats — Boyda, N; Moore, Y.
Republicans — Moran, N; Tiahrt, N.
KENTUCKY
Democrats — Chandler, Y; Yarmuth, Y.
Republicans — Davis, N; Lewis, N; Rogers, N; Whitfield, N.
LOUISIANA
Democrats — Cazayoux, Y; Jefferson, Y; Melancon, Y.
Republicans — Alexander, N; Boustany, Y; McCrery, Y; Scalise, N.
MAINE
Democrats — Allen, Y; Michaud, Y.
MARYLAND
Democrats — Cummings, Y; Edwards, Y; Hoyer, Y; Ruppersberger, Y; Sarbanes, Y; Van Hollen, Y.
Republicans — Bartlett, N; Gilchrest, Y.
MASSACHUSETTS
Democrats — Capuano, Y; Delahunt, Y; Frank, Y; Lynch, Y; Markey, Y; McGovern, Y; Neal, Y; Olver, Y; Tierney, Y; Tsongas, Y.
MICHIGAN
Democrats — Conyers, Y; Dingell, Y; Kildee, Y; Kilpatrick, Y; Levin, Y; Stupak, Y.
Republicans — Camp, N; Ehlers, N; Hoekstra, N; Knollenberg, Y; McCotter, N; Miller, N; Rogers, N; Upton, N; Walberg, N.
MINNESOTA
Democrats — Ellison, Y; McCollum, Y; Oberstar, Y; Peterson, Y; Walz, Y.
Republicans — Bachmann, N; Kline, N; Ramstad, N.
MISSISSIPPI
Democrats — Childers, Y; Taylor, Y; Thompson, Y.
Republicans — Pickering, Y.
MISSOURI
Democrats — Carnahan, Y; Clay, Y; Cleaver, Y; Skelton, Y.
Republicans — Akin, N; Blunt, N; Emerson, N; Graves, N; Hulshof, X.
MONTANA
Republicans — Rehberg, N.
NEBRASKA
Republicans — Fortenberry, N; Smith, N; Terry, N.
NEVADA
Democrats — Berkley, Y.
Republicans — Heller, Y; Porter, Y.
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Democrats — Hodes, Y; Shea-Porter, Y.
NEW JERSEY
Democrats — Andrews, Y; Holt, Y; Pallone, Y; Pascrell, Y; Payne, Y; Rothman, Y; Sires, Y.
Republicans — Ferguson, Y; Frelinghuysen, N; Garrett, N; LoBiondo, N; Saxton, N; Smith, Y.
NEW MEXICO
Democrats — Udall, Y.
Republicans — Pearce, N; Wilson, N.
NEW YORK
Democrats — Ackerman, Y; Arcuri, Y; Bishop, Y; Clarke, Y; Crowley, Y; Engel, Y; Gillibrand, Y; Hall, Y; Higgins, Y; Hinchey, Y; Israel, Y; Lowey, Y; Maloney, Y; McCarthy, Y; McNulty, Y; Meeks, Y; Nadler, Y; Rangel, Y; Serrano, Y; Slaughter, Y; Towns, Y; Velazquez, Y; Weiner, Y.
Republicans — Fossella, N; King, Y; Kuhl, N; McHugh, Y; Reynolds, Y; Walsh, Y.
NORTH CAROLINA
Democrats — Butterfield, Y; Etheridge, Y; McIntyre, Y; Miller, Y; Price, Y; Shuler, Y; Watt, Y.
Republicans — Coble, N; Foxx, N; Hayes, Y; Jones, N; McHenry, N; Myrick, N.
NORTH DAKOTA
Democrats — Pomeroy, Y.
OHIO
Democrats — Jones, Y; Kaptur, N; Kucinich, Y; Ryan, Y; Space, Y; Sutton, Y; Wilson, Y.
Republicans — Boehner, N; Chabot, N; Hobson, Y; Jordan, N; LaTourette, Y; Latta, N; Pryce, Y; Regula, N; Schmidt, N; Tiberi, Y; Turner, Y.
OKLAHOMA
Democrats — Boren, Y.
Republicans — Cole, N; Fallin, N; Lucas, N; Sullivan, N.
OREGON
Democrats — Blumenauer, Y; DeFazio, N; Hooley, Y; Wu, Y.
Republicans — Walden, N.
PENNSYLVANIA
Democrats — Altmire, Y; Brady, Y; Carney, Y; Doyle, Y; Fattah, Y; Holden, Y; Kanjorski, Y; Murphy, Patrick, Y; Murtha, Y; Schwartz, Y; Sestak, Y.
Republicans — Dent, N; English, Y; Gerlach, N; Murphy, Tim, Y; Peterson, X; Pitts, N; Platts, N; Shuster, N.
RHODE ISLAND
Democrats — Kennedy, Y; Langevin, Y.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Democrats — Clyburn, Y; Spratt, Y.
Republicans — Barrett, N; Brown, Y; Inglis, N; Wilson, N.
SOUTH DAKOTA
Democrats — Herseth Sandlin, Y.
TENNESSEE
Democrats — Cohen, Y; Cooper, Y; Davis, Lincoln, Y; Gordon, Y; Tanner, Y.
Republicans — Blackburn, N; Davis, David, N; Duncan, N; Wamp, N.
TEXAS
Democrats — Cuellar, Y; Doggett, Y; Edwards, Y; Gonzalez, Y; Green, Al, Y; Green, Gene, X; Hinojosa, Y; Jackson-Lee, Y; Johnson, E. B., Y; Lampson, Y; Ortiz, X; Reyes, Y; Rodriguez, Y.
Republicans — Barton, N; Brady, N; Burgess, N; Carter, N; Conaway, N; Culberson, N; Gohmert, X; Granger, N; Hall, N; Hensarling, N; Johnson, Sam, N; Marchant, N; McCaul, N; Neugebauer, N; Paul, N; Poe, N; Sessions, N; Smith, N; Thornberry, N.
UTAH
Democrats — Matheson, Y.
Republicans — Bishop, X; Cannon, N.
VERMONT
Democrats — Welch, Y.
VIRGINIA
Democrats — Boucher, Y; Moran, Y; Scott, Y.
Republicans — Cantor, N; Davis, Tom, N; Drake, N; Forbes, N; Goode, N; Goodlatte, N; Wittman, N; Wolf, N.
WASHINGTON
Democrats — Baird, Y; Dicks, Y; Inslee, Y; Larsen, Y; McDermott, Y; Smith, Y.
Republicans — Hastings, N; McMorris Rodgers, N; Reichert, N.
WEST VIRGINIA
Democrats — Mollohan, Y; Rahall, Y.
Republicans — Capito, Y.
WISCONSIN
Democrats — Baldwin, Y; Kagen, Y; Kind, Y; Moore, Y; Obey, Y.
Republicans — Petri, N; Ryan, N; Sensenbrenner, N.
WYOMING
Republicans — Cubin, N.
.
Wild Thing's comment...........
I wish he had held onto his veto threat! This sure is some way to build a nation of self reliant citizens, isn’t it? What a bunch of crappola.
They don’t care how much of our money they have to spend to bail out the people who foolishly bought more house than they could afford and speculators who bought houses in hopes of making a quick buck but are now stuck with them.
Our beloved country has decided to fold up shop. This country has withstood a lot over 2 plus centuries. This however I fear will come back to hunt us. This is not just a step in the wrong direction it is a giant leap off from a cliff!
God help us all
I have to say this..........Not only has Bush redefined and dumbed down conservatism, he is about to redefine and dumb down capitalism as well.
Those who voted yes must go. Out the bad in with the new.
We The People are no longer considered the sovereigns of this nation, by the Congress sitting atop ‘the hill’. We have become their subjects and unless we throw the bastards out of office and require our elected representatives hereafter to abide our goals and values, we will in fact be merely subjects.
Posted by Wild Thing at 12:55 PM | Comments (9)
July 29, 2008
Bush OKs Execution of Army Death Row Prisoner
Bush OKs execution of Army death row prisoner
President Bush on Monday approved the execution of an Army private, the first time in over a half-century that a president has affirmed a death sentence for a member of the U.S. military.
Bush said yes to the military's request to execute Ronald A. Gray.
Gray had had been convicted in connection with a spree of four murders and eight rapes in the Fayetteville, N.C., area over eight months in the late 1980s while stationed at Fort Bragg.
"While approving a sentence of death for a member of our armed services is a serious and difficult decision for a commander in chief, the president believes the facts of this case leave no doubt that the sentence is just and warranted," White House press secretary Dana Perino said.
In the military courts, "Private Gray was convicted of committing brutal crimes, including two murders, an attempted murder and three rapes. The victims included a civilian and two members of the Army. ... The president's thoughts and prayers are with the victims of these heinous crimes and their families and all others affected."
Unlike in the civilian courts, a member of the U.S. armed forces cannot be executed until the president approves the death sentence. Gray has been on death row at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., since April 1988.
Members of the U.S. military have been executed throughout history, but just 10 have been executed by presidential approval since 1951 when the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military's modern-day legal system, was enacted into law.
President Kennedy was the last president to stare down this life-or-death decision. On Feb. 12, 1962, Kennedy commuted the death sentence of Jimmie Henderson, a Navy seaman, to confinement for life.
President Eisenhower was the last president to approve a military execution. In 1957, he approved the execution of John Bennett, an Army private convicted of raping and attempting to kill an 11-year-old Austrian girl. He was hanged in 1961.
The death penalty was outlawed between 1972 and 1984, when President Reagan reinstated it.
Gray was held responsible for the crimes committed between April 1986 and January 1987 in both the civilian and military justice systems.
In civilian courts in North Carolina, Gray pleaded guilty to two murders and five rapes and was sentenced to three consecutive and five concurrent life terms.
He then was tried by general court-martial at the Army's Fort Bragg. In April 1988, the court-martial convicted Gray of two murders, an attempted murder and three rapes. He was unanimously sentenced to death.
The court-martial panel convicted Gray of:
_Raping and killing Army Pvt. Laura Lee Vickery-Clay of Fayetteville on Dec. 15, 1986. She was shot four times with a .22-caliber pistol that Gray confessed to stealing. She suffered blunt force trauma over much of her body.
_Raping and killing Kimberly Ann Ruggles, a civilian cab driver in Fayetteville. She was bound, gagged, stabbed repeatedly, and had bruises and lacerations on her face. Her body was found on the base.
_Raping, robbing and attempting to kill Army Pvt. Mary Ann Lang Nameth in her barracks at Fort Bragg on Jan. 3, 1987. She testified against Gray during the court-martial and identified him as her assailant. Gray raped her and stabbed her several times in the neck and side. Nameth suffered a laceration of the trachea and a collapsed or punctured lung.
The six-member court-martial panel returned its unanimous verdict after about two hours of deliberations. The panel also reduced Gray from Spec. 4 to private, forfeited all his pay and ordered him to be dishonorably discharged from the Army.
Gray has appealed his case through the Army Court of Criminal Appeals (then known as the U.S. Army Court of Military Review) and the Court of Appeals for the Armed Services. In 2001, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Silas DeRoma, who left active duty in 1999, was one of several military attorneys who represented Gray on appeal.
"It's disappointing news, as you can imagine," said DeRoma, who now works as a regulatory attorney in Honolulu for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He said the basis for some of Gray's appeals focused on the prisoner's mental competency and his representation at trial.
Bush got the secretary of the Army's recommendation to approve Gray's death sentence in late 2005. Since then, it's been under review by the Bush administration, including the White House legal counsel.
Complicating the administration's deliberation was a case under review this year by the Supreme Court.
The court ruled in April to uphold the most common method of capital punishment used across the United States. The justices said the three-drug mix of lethal-injection drugs used by Kentucky and most other states does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. The ruling in the case of Baze v. Rees cleared the way for a resumption of executions nationwide.
It was unclear where Gray would be executed. Military executions are handled by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Bush's decision, however, is not likely the end of Gray's legal battle. Further litigation is expected and these types of death sentence appeals often take years to resolve.
Wild Thing's comment..........
This man needed a bullet between the eyes a long time ago. I hope his sentance is carried out quickly. He’s eaten too many free meals at our expense already.
....Thank you Jack for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:50 AM | Comments (9)
July 26, 2008
Two Muslim Women Complain They Were Denied Jobs Over Hijabs
Two Muslim women filed a lawsuit today against a McDonald's restaurant, saying they were denied jobs because of their Islamic headscarves, known as hijabs. Standing near the restaurant in Dearborn from left to right are Quiana Pugh, 25, of Dearborn, one of the plaintiffs, Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations, Nabih Ayad, attorney for the women and the second plaintiff, Toi Whitfield, 20, of Detroit.
Two Muslim women said they were denied jobs at a McDonald's restaurant in Dearborn because they wore Islamic headscarves, according to a discrimination lawsuit filed today in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Toi Whitfield, 20, of Detroit, and Quiana Pugh, 25, of Dearborn, said they applied for jobs at the McDonald's on Ford Road in the eastern section of Dearborn, but were told by the store manager "you're not going to work here if you don't remove" the headscarf, known as hijab. According to the women, he also said he couldn't "really hire you due to your scarf."
A spokeswoman for McDonald's did not immediately comment on the lawsuit, but said a statement would be coming soon.
The Dearborn restaurant happens to be one of only two stores in the U.S. that sells Chicken McNuggets that are halal, the Muslim equivalent of kosher.
Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said that it's upsetting that a restaurant with such a large Muslim customer base would discriminate against Muslim women employees.
"They'll take Muslim dollars, but won't hire Muslim female employees," Walid said.
The case was filed in Detroit against the store manager, a management company, and McDonald's. It alleges the restaurant violated a state civil rights law.
The store is located in an area with one of the largest Arab-American and Muslim communities in the U.S.
Walid said the two Muslim women were African-Americans born in the United States.
.
Wild Thing's comment........
Muslims? Hygiene? Bwahahahahahahah
Why do they want to work at a restaurant serving non-halal meat? These stupid Muslims keep trying to make us change our way of life.
Islam is creating a lawyers paradise here in America sheesh and CAIR is leading the way.
My guess is the local mosque put these people up to this. These women no more wanted to work there than a vegan in a slaughtering house. They knew they would be turned down, just another step in tearing down our nation.
By the time they get done, the menu will feature:
Achmed Cola
Big Muhammed
Egg Bin Muffin
Qatar Pounder
Double Cheese Burqa
Medium Chocolate Sheikh
Infidel Delectable
McSheik’n Sandwich
Camel Dung Biscuits
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:55 AM | Comments (18)
July 15, 2008
Hateful-Smearing Against Tony Snow
Bill O'Reilly responds to Hateful-Smearing against Tony Snow
Frontpage Magazine please CLICK link to read entire article.
snipet --
The DailyKos: The Worst of the Worst
None so offended as the far-Left’s most popular blog, The DailyKos.
The hate site has long voiced its unbridled glee over Snow’s affliction with cancer. After the disease that would ultimately kill him returned last March, one DailyKos blogger tried to head-off the inevitable cheers for Snow’s blood. The post even falsely charged the blog’s enemies with its own behavior: “We at Dailykos do not swim in the Rush Limbaugh pool of scum. We do not wish ill-health on our political opponents or their families.” However, Kos posters inundated the blog with expressions of joy. The same day, a Kos diarist argued that since Snow had opposed medical marijuana and euthanasia, his cancer was “karmic.” A year later, after another downturn, the DK klan wrote: “Fuck Tony Snow. Not to wish ill of his cancer or anything, but perhaps it is Karma.” And again, “Tony Snow is a cancer upon our culture.” Another “Kossack” declared, “He deserves whatever is in his future.” Months later, one Kos scribbler asked, “Should I Care That Tony Snow Has Cancer?”
.
Wild Thing's comment.......
It is truly shocking and I pray people like this learn somehow what they are and do is so hurtful and cruel.
There is a kind of being that exists on this earth that has no feeling for others. People like the ones that are mentioned in the video and at Frontpage Magazine are the kind of people you and I would never know.
They have no shame, no feeling of what others feel when a loved one has passed away.
....Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:47 AM | Comments (9)
July 14, 2008
Stella Firm Buys Budweiser ~ It Creates The World's Biggest Brewer
.
The US brewer Anheuser-Busch has agreed to be taken over by Belgium-based InBev, in a move that will create the world's largest beer maker.
The $50bn (£25bn) takeover bid by InBev, which makes Stella Artois beer, was accepted by Anheuser's board.
The combined company will now be called Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Anheuser makes Budweiser - the most popular beer in the US - and some US politicians had expressed anger at the prospect of a foreign takeover.
'Unrivalled brands'
In a concession to political concerns about the deal, Budweiser's headquarters will remain in St Louis, Missouri while none of Anheuser's US breweries will be closed.
It will bring a host of popular brands including Beck's, Hoegaarden and Staropramen - in addition to Budweiser and Stella - under one roof.
InBev, itself formed by a giant merger several years ago, described the deal as "historic".
"Together, Anheuser-Busch and InBev will be able to accomplish much more than each can on its own," said InBev boss Carlos Brito, who will become chief executive of the new firm.
"This combination will create a stronger, more competitive global company with an unrivalled worldwide brand portfolio and distribution network, with great potential for growth all over the world."
Anheuser boss August Busch said the transaction would "enhance global market access for Budweiser, one of America's truly iconic brands".
Job concerns
There are widespread fears that the deal will lead to substantial job losses in the US Midwest at a time while the threat of recession is hanging over the economy.
The two firms have said the deal will generate annual savings of $1.5bn but have suggested that job losses will be kept to a minimum because there is little current overlap between the two businesses.
Anheuser currently controls nearly half of the US market, while InBev is strong in Western European and Latin American markets. Anheuser also owns stakes in Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo and Chinese brewer Tsingtao.
The deal should give Budweiser a platform to boost its growth in Europe where, apart from a number of markets like the UK, it has been relatively weak.
The beer market has been rapidly consolidating in the face of cost pressures and declining sales in many mature markets.
Scottish & Newcastle, the UK's largest brewer, was recently bought out by Heineken and Carlsberg
Wild Thing's comment.......
I was wondering if INBEV associated with Cuba and I saw this from Reuters:
"InBev, through a subsidiary, has a partnership with the government of Cuba to produce and distribute products in Cuba, Anheuser-Busch said."
....Thank you Cheryl for the article.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:45 AM | Comments (8)
UPDATE: Two Taliban-backed Madrassa Students Return Home To Atlanta
U.S. Teens Released From Pakistani Madrassa, Flying Home to Atlanta
Two American teenage boys, allegedly kept against their will at a radical Islamic madrassa in Pakistan, have been released and are on their way back to the United States.
The boys' release followed an appeal by Republican Rep. Michael McCaul and Democratic Reps. Gene Green and Henry Cuellar. The Texas congressmen had called on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to intervene.
Noor Elahi Khan, 17, and Mahboob Elahi Khan, 16, are from the Atlanta area. Noor and Mahboob were born in the United States to Pakistani parents and lived in this country until being sent to Karachi several years ago by their father, an Atlanta taxi diver.
A family member said that the boys were sent to the Binoria Institute to learn to memorize the Koran, which the family believed would enable the entire clan to gain entry to heaven. A source told FOX News that the family wanted the boys back but were afraid to speak out because of potential religious and political repercussions.
FOX News learned Thursday that the boys were released and are scheduled for an afternoon landing at the airport in Atlanta.
The boys' story became known after documentary filmmaker Imran Raza went to the madrassa and filmed the boys' alleged radicalization.
Raza fears that despite these two boys' release, dozens or even hundreds more U.S. citizens might be going through similar ordeals.
"This pipeline to jihad must be closed," Raza said Thursday in a written statement.
The three congressmen brought the issue up with Musharraf during a trip last week to Pakistan to discuss military affairs. Musharraf told the congressional delegation that he has been trying to close this particular madrassa, according to Green.
McCaul told FOX News that Pakistan has 20,000 madrassas, and he knows of at least 80 Americans studying in them.
The director of the documentary who found them says "I am grateful for the safe return of the two American children from Atlanta from a Taliban-backed madrassa but the mullah claims to have up to 78 more in his institution. The headmaster comes to the United States once a year and personally recruits American children to enroll in his madrassa. This pipeline to jihad must be closed. Let me be clear – these children do not learn math, or science, or grammer or liberal arts. They learn one thing – they memorize over the course of seven years every verse of the Koran coupled with the radical interpretation of their teachers. This is just the first step in integrating these children back to American society. I am proud we did our part so we could say ‘Welcome Home.” It is imperative that Members of Congress and the State Department undertake an accounting of just how many Americans are in the other 20,000 madrassas in Pakistan. Hundreds if not thousands remain behind."
The Karachi Kids is a documentary about American children in the Jamia Binoria madrassa in Karachi Pakistan. A trailer of the film is available at www.karachikids.com. Facts About the Madrassa • Located in Karachi, Pakistan, the Jamia Binoria madrassa was founded by Mufti Muhammed Naeem and espouses Deobandism -- the religion of the Taliban. • The institution houses over 3,000 students including children from the United States and Canada. • Selig Harrison, the Director of the Asian Program for the Center for International Policy recently gave a speech reaffirming the link between the Jamia Binoria and the Taliban: "In Karachi, the Jamia Binoria, with some 10,000 students enrolled in eight affiliated madrassas, displays a banner at its main gate urging Muslims to join the Taliban." • A large number of graduates from the Binoria have become senior figures in the Taliban. • Right before 9/11, Osama bin Laden addressed the students emphasizing the importance of jihad. • Mufti claims to have graduated over 100 Americans from his institution and asked what they teach the children, Mufti relied, "Islam, not math or anything else, only Islam."
HERE is a sample of the VIDEO of The Karachi Kids .....what they call these children sent there from America.
Wild Thing's comment........
I am just going to say it. I would prefer these two students be left there, I do NOT want them back in the USA. The father that sent them there as well as the other families that have done this ..... they have allowed their childrens souls to be sold to the devil. They will be coming back here totally brain washed.
Our troops do NOT deserve this kind of thing happening when they risk their lives 24/7 in this war against Islam the death cult. Our troops do not deserve our country to allow these freaks back into our country to cause more harm to our citizens later on.
A congressman from, I believe Texas, said he was very fearful of what they may do when they return to the US.
Also I want to know WHY this headmaster is being allowed in the U.S. to start with!!!
“The headmaster comes to the United States once a year and personally recruits American children to enroll in his madrassa.”
What good is it if we’re winning in Iraq and losing the war at home?
....Thank you Darth for the Fox News article that had more information.
.
The boys change from naive schoolchildren to solemn teenagers who assert that no Muslims were involved in 9/11.
Source ....for complete article
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) cited a Pakistani law that prohibits foreigners from enrolling in madrassahs. However, the principal of the school, Mufti Mohammed Naeem, is shown on film saying that 29 nations, including the United States, Britain and France, are represented at his school. He also said his madrassah does not promote hatred or militant activity.
In Atlanta, the Khan brothers loved to watch "The Simpsons" and skateboard. They said in the film that their father grew angry with their habits and once threw the television out of the house. They said their father decided to send them to Pakistan after he discovered dust on their Quran, a sign they had failed to pick it up in a while.
The brothers arrived in Pakistan in 2004, unable to speak Urdu and communicate with others. They faced the daunting task of memorizing a 600-page Quran. Noor estimated it would take him eight years.
"My dad told me, 'I am not bringing you back until you memorize the Quran,'" he said on camera.
In the last on-camera interview in March, Noor said he is glad his father sent him to the madrassah. "I'm a better person," he said.
He goes on to say that he believes no Muslims were behind the attacks of 9/11. "Not one Jew died that day. That is what they say," he said.
Christine Fair, a senior political scientist with the nonprofit research organization RAND Corp., said children in Pakistan's Islamic schools are not subjected to math, English, social studies or other secular topics emphasized in public schools in Georgia.
Wild Thing's comment.......
There are a few comments from NON approved commenters I have allowed through the last few days. Only a few out of the many that have tried to get through,LOL, and tell us all how evil the USA is and how evil our military is and how wonderful Islam is which of course is baloney.
I wonder now long will it take for themse bolys that were releasesd to come back to America to unlearn that muslims were, indeed, the perpetrators of September 11? Or that Jews were killed as well on that day?
Here the trailer from the film:
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:40 AM | Comments (29)
July 03, 2008
Hostage Rescue from Columbia ~ 3 U.S. Defense Department Contract Workers and Others
Colombia rescues Betancourt, 3 U.S. hostages
The freed Americans are former Defense Department contract workers Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell and Thomas Howes.
http://www.northropgrumman.com/
and Ingrid Betancourt and the others.
U.S. military contractor Keith Stansell
BOGOTA, July 2 (Reuters) - Colombia said on Wednesday it rescued three Americans and French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt from leftist guerrillas who had held them for years in secret jungle camps.
And this from our local newspaper:
Up to 15 hostages held by FARC terrorists for more than 5 years have been released in Colombia.
One of them is a local, a U.S. military contractor Keith Stansell, whose family lives in the Sarasota-Bradenton area was among the 15 hostages held for 5 years.
Stansell and two colleagues from Northrop Grumman Corp. had been the longest-held U.S. hostages in the world.
Stansell, 44, Marc Gonsalves and Thomas Howes were captured after their plane crashed and held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by the Spanish acronym FARC.
Their rescue, along with 11 Colombian police and soldiers and former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, dealt the most serious blow ever to the 44-year-old Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which viewed the Americans among their most valuage bargaining chips.
Stansell, captured in 2003 while flying anti-drug operations for an American company, was turned over immediately to U.S. officials in Colombia and reported heading to the United States soon, according to a statement from his Los Angeles-based employer.
The rescure:
Betancourt, who was seized while campaigning for president six years ago, called her surprise rescue “absolutely impeccable” and said she and 14 other hostages had no idea they were being rescued until they were airborne in disguised military helicopters.
“They got us out grandly,” Betancourt told Colombian army radio.
Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said military intelligence agents infiltrated the guerrilla ranks and led the local commander in charge of the hostages, alias Cesar, to believe they were going to take them by helicopter to Alfonso Cano, the guerrillas’ supreme leader.
The hostages, who had been divided in three groups, were taken to a rallying point where two helicopters piloted by Colombian military agents were waiting. The helicopters took off with the hostages, Cesar and one other rebel, and those two “were neutralized” during the flight, Santos said.
Betancourt said her hands and feet were bound on the way to the helicopters, and that only when the choppers had taken off did military crewmembers reveal their identity.
The rest of the rebel captors had dropped off the hostages and retreated into the jungle.
Stansell’s family had not heard from him since he was taken hostage but had seen a few “proof-of-life” videos, one taken by a journalist a few years ago. Every week they sent letters and called a Colombian radio station to leave messages that they believed reached Stansell in captivity.
“We just sent him a letter last week,” Coady said.
Coady and her children moved to Sarasota about three years ago to be closer to Stansell’s parents.
And there is this:
McCain had advance knowledge of Colombian raid
ON BOARD THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN PLANE, En route to Mexico City (CNN) — After a scheduled meeting between John McCain and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Tuesday, the presumptive Republican nominee was briefed on the upcoming hostage rescue raid carried out Wednesday.
As he left Colombia Wednesday afternoon, McCain learned that raid had been successfully completed, and congratulated Uribe by phone.
Senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham, both traveling with McCain, were also briefed. Lieberman said McCain's advance knowledge of the raid signals a vote of confidence by foreign leaders.
UPDATE: John McCain released a statement on the operation later Wednesday afternoon.
“Today, I spoke by phone to President Uribe. He told me some of the details of the dramatic rescue of the people who were held hostage. Three Americans are now free and Ingrid Betancourt is now in good condition. I’m pleased with the success of this very high-risk operation. Sometimes in the past, the FARC has killed the hostages rather than let them be rescued.
“So I congratulate President Uribe, the military and the nation of Colombia. It is great news. Now we must renew our efforts to free all of the other innocent people held hostage. With regard to the three Americans and Ingrid Betancourt — they had been held many years, as many as six years.
“Last night, President Uribe and the defense minister did brief us that the operation was going to take place today.”
Wild Thing's comment........
Betancourt said that when she saw the men to whom they were being transferred, they were wearing Che t-shirts, like FARC members. When she got on the helicopter, she saw the man who had been the commander of the camp on the floor of the helicopter, bound, and with his eyes covered. That's when she realized something was up, and after they took off, the men explained that they were being rescued. She said they thought they were going to bring the helicopter down because they were jumping up and down and hugging each other.
The story also said that the US govt. didn't have any part in the operation, though Uribe's govt. informed the US about it a few days ago. Uribe is really kicking butt and taking names of these rebels lately! Good for him.
I heard on CNN there are still something like up to 40 were also being held. Then on the radio they said there may be some 700 hostages. Weird how the news can't get it straight.
I am just glad these people are free and can come home!
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:55 AM | Comments (21)
June 30, 2008
Murderer Dictator Robert Mugabe Sworn In The Unleashes Death Squads
Dictator: Robert Mugabe on his way to be sworn in, accompanied by guards
Mugabe hails his hollow victory with an oath on the Bible ... then unleashes his death squads
With pomp, ceremony and a massive dose of defiance, His Excellency Commander Robert Gabriel Mugabe was yesterday sworn in as Zimbabwe's president.
Inside the oak-panelled rooms of State House, as fighter jets roared overhead, he declared himself winner of an election in which he was the only candidate.
Even before he took the oath, he had set in motion bloody recriminations against those who worked against him.
Secret documents outlining the strategy against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change have been seen by the Mail.
They reveal that, in the runup to the polls, Mugabe had plotted to 'eliminate MDC agents' and ensure that the identity numbers of all voters were taken - so they could be found later if they voted for the opposition.
The documents are from Mugabe's Joint Operational Command, a group of military leaders tasked with ensuring he remained in power.
They state that forces are to 'kill MDC MPs' and that 'postal ballot boxes were to be stuffed in remote areas by death squads (who) have been instructed to abduct and kill whoever gets in his way'.
Mugabe has now issued a chilling warning that more violence is to come.
His election posters have been removed and replaced with signs stating: 'This is the final battle for total control.'
The dictator, 84, had just as carefully choreographed yesterday's ceremony.
Mugabe sang the national anthem as his troops fired a volley of shots in a tent erected on the lawn.
Amid unprecedented security for the inauguration, with soldiers patrolling the streets and helicopters hovering overhead, he then took the oath for his sixth term in office.
As he spoke, Chinese-built MIG fighter jets screamed overhead.
In an extraordinary act of brazen cheek, Mugabe invited Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the MDC, to the swearing-in ceremony.
Mr Tsvangirai pulled out of the elections a week earlier fearing a bloodbath, and has been given refuge in the Dutch embassy in Harare ever since.
He turned down the yesterday's invitation.
After the ceremony, Mugabe's official Mercedes swept out of State House, flanked by armoured vehicles with sirens blaring.
The toll of his victory was laid bare at one Zimbabwe hospital yesterday, in wards choked with victims of appalling brutality by the secret police.
Most had shattered limbs after being beaten with iron bars. Burning plastic had been dripped on others.
Some had iron hooks pushed through their faces and arms.
And gangrene is widespread: many victims took days to reach the hospital after being warned they would be killed if they showed anyone their wounds.
Their president was last night heading off for a meeting of African leaders in Egypt.
Wild Thing's comment.........
Jimmy Carter must be soooo happy!!
I don't understand 'why' this man is still alive. He has stolen, violated, abused, murdered, tortured an entire country. He signaled long ago; that as a violater and threat to humanity that he challenges and invites a 'moral Justice' of the most determined kind.
Maybe it is because they are already on the UN Human Rights Commission, but unleashing the death squads could very well put them in position to head the commission. The UN likes nothing better than third-world dictatorships, the more brutal the better.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:40 AM | Comments (9)
June 22, 2008
Liquid Explosives In Mailboxes
Postal Service Warns Maine Residents of Liquid Explosives In Mailboxes
The United States Postal Service is warning residents of Maine about liquid explosives placed in curbside mailboxes.
Residents received a postcard informing them that postal carriers do not place soda bottles or other plastic containers containing liquid into mailboxes. They are warned to use extreme caution if anything suspicious is found in their mailboxes.
According to the postcard isolated incidents of vandalism involving the mixing of common household materials together have occurred throughout the country, including in Maine. The result can be a powerful explosion, with the potential for serious injury.
Tom Rizzo, public affairs officer for USPS in Maine, said there have been a small number of incidents in Maine towns and the post office is simply being proactive.
“There’s been no pattern,” Rizzo said. “We attribute it to teenage pranks or personal conflicts between neighbors. We have put these (postcards) out statewide so if you get one it doesn’t necessarily mean it happened in your community. We’re just doing the best we can to get our customers’ attention and alert them that there is a small threat, in the hopes that it will prevent an injury from happening.”
Rizzo said the postal service is aware of incidents across the country.
Wild Thing's comment.......
When I saw this I thought of how different the world is today. When I was growing up we lived in the country but even so my parents would leave the keys in the car and the door to our house unlocked. I doubt there are many places where a person can do that anymore.
This is concerning about the mailbox's because sometimes when driving some place, I have even seen children around the age of 9 or 10 going out to get the mail for their parents. I would hate for anything to happen to anyone.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:47 AM | Comments (7)
June 10, 2008
Salmonellosis Outbreak in Certain Types of Tomatoes
Please go to their website for any UPDATES that may come in or to find our which States are OK.
Salmonellosis Outbreak in Certain Types of Tomatoes
The Food and Drug Administration is alerting consumers nationwide that a salmonellosis outbreak appears to be linked to consumption of certain types of raw red tomatoes and products containing raw red tomatoes. The bacteria causing the illnesses are Salmonella serotype Saintpaul, an uncommon type of Salmonella.
The specific type and source of tomatoes are under investigation. However, preliminary data suggest that raw red plum, raw red Roma, or raw round red tomatoes are the cause. At this time, consumers should limit their tomato consumption to tomatoes that have not been implicated in the outbreak.
At this time, FDA is advising consumers to limit their consumption of tomatoes to the following types of tomatoes.
The following types of tomatoes listed below are NOT likely to be the source of this outbreak.
cherry tomatoes
grape tomatoes
tomatoes sold with the vine still attached
tomatoes grown at home
Consumers who are unsure of where the tomatoes are from that they have in their home are encouraged to contact the store or place of purchase for that information.
Since mid April, there have been 145 reported cases of salmonellosis nationwide caused by Salmonella Saintpaul, an uncommon form of Salmonella. At least 23 hospitalizations have been reported.
Wild Thing's comment........
I used to grow my own and this has been the second year I have not. Yum they were delicious and having them right there to pick was wonderful.
It is weird that the website doesn't tell where the tomatoes are coming in from...Mexico maybe, just wondering. I guess it isn't politically correct to tell where the problem starts from.
Posted by Wild Thing at 01:45 AM | Comments (8)
June 02, 2008
Angelina Jolie and Brad All For Firearms and "not afraid to use them."
'I've got my Tomb Raider guns - and I'm not afraid to use them,' says Angelina
"Angelina Jolie has revealed she owns real versions of the guns she toted in the movie Tomb Raider - and she and partner Brad Pitt wouldn't be afraid to use them. The actress, who is rumoured to have given birth to twin girls Isla and Amelie, says she and Pitt keep a firearm in their house to protect themselves and their expanding brood..."
A solid gold pendant nestles in the plunging neckline of Angelina Jolie's black dress.
Forgive me if this is the first thing I notice when she rises to greet me.
But it leaps out because it’s no ordinary bauble; it has the unmistakable shape of a machine gun.
Apparently it was made by a jeweller based on a drawing by her son, Maddox, and given to her as a Mother's Day present by her partner, Brad Pitt.
I suppose I'm mostly taken aback because of our situation; Jolie is very pregnant, with twins expected any day now, and we are in the rarefied surroundings of a suite in the Carlton hotel in Cannes.
It's old-school luxury: yellow Provençal wallpaper, a salmon-pink sofa upon which Jolie perches and a matching chair for me.
As it happens, she is even more rarefied than the setting – and this suite costs £1,600. Despite the Carlton being the temporary home of all the big Hollywood studios and production companies during the film festival, she and Pitt are actually staying in a £4,000-a-night villa at the Hotel du Cap, a 30-minute drive from Cannes on the outskirts of Antibes, where Harrison Ford, Robert De Niro and Madonna are also staying. A helicopter is on standby there for a swift maternity-hospital transfer.)
But as it happens, the machine-gun motif is entirely apt, as we begin by talking about guns and how she would kill for real if compelled to do so. One of the movies she's in Cannes to promote is Wanted, in which she plays assassin Fox, part of a shadowy team called the Fraternity who kill the bad guys before the bad guys get to kill anyone else.
James McAvoy plays a nerd who's hauled out of a boring, nine-to-five existence to be trained up. McAvoy said he felt odd handling the weapons in the film.
Jolie had no such qualms. And she says intense training in various combat techniques for films such as Wanted and Mr & Mrs Smith – the action thriller on which she met Pitt – means she could protect herself in a fight if she had to.
'If anybody comes into my home and tries to hurt my kids, I've no problem shooting them,' she says with a dry candour.
'I bought original, real guns of the type we used in Tomb Raider for security. Brad and I are not against having a gun in the house, and we do have one. And yes, I'd be able to use it if I had to. I could handle myself. I think there are certain combat skills that would come out. I tend to want to throw an elbow. I don't know why. I've learned all the punches, head butts and kicks – yet getting someone with my elbow is my first instinct.
'I think it's good for anybody to learn a skill when it comes to fight training – be it kung fu, boxing or kick-boxing – because self-defence is important. Brad and I want our kids to learn it. They're going to get into a fight some day, so they might as well learn how to take care of themselves.
I was kind of a punk when I was a kid, but I didn't get picked on. I was left alone because I was a bit of a loner. I would get into fights on behalf of other people. I wasn't a pushover. So I wasn't the one who was targeted.
'There's a side to me that people know is humanitarian, and there's a side to me that's a mummy. But there's also the side that likes to get down and dirty and run and jump around and fire guns. I don't want to lose touch with that. That's one of the reasons I like to do action movies. It's good for me every once in a while.'
Looking at her now, I believe she could handle herself. She's looked thin, but not any more; Jolie is impressively big – she rests a protective hand on her mighty bump during our talk – and her arms are no longer bony.
She's 33 in a few days' time; her exotic face, with those skyscraper-high cheekbones and naturally full lips which must be on the wall of every plastic surgeon in Hollywood, look just as good in real life.
She has a deep West Coast drawl and is refreshingly direct – ask a question and she bats it right back .
She is still completely redolent of the girl who looked sensational in Lara Croft's spray-on latex tankini, complete with a Magnum in each thigh holster, or the sexy, heavily tattooed, gun-toting assassin she plays in Wanted.
Based on the Mark Millar comic books, the film contains violent action throughout, but Jolie has no issue with this.
'If the Fraternity was just a bunch of people that killed for fun and enjoyed torturing people, then I wouldn't be interested. But I liked this idea that if there were people who you knew were going to kill others in the future, should you take them out? And that's interesting in a bigger political way.
'For example, we have an international criminal court that can issue arrest warrants for Darfur, the Congo and other places. But are we ready to back it up? And if we don't back it up, what's the other solution? 'Do we just go to war and kill a bunch of civilians in the process? I think there does need to be something to prevent other kinds of violence.'
These days, when Jolie kicks loose it's on a film set in action movies. It's also a good way of impressing the children, apparently – Maddox, seven, whom she adopted as a baby before she started seeing Pitt; Pax, four, and Zahara, three, who are both also adopted; and two-year-old Shiloh, her biological daughter with Pitt.
'Maybe they'll finally think I'm cool, because now, for them, I'm just Mum. My son asks me to play a video game and I'm appalling at it, and so is Brad.
We don't even understand it properly. So maybe one day my kids will see films like Wanted and see that Mum is not a total dork.'
But what about the violence? 'It's just not a reality in this day and age to say, "I'm never going to let my kids watch a movie that has a gun in it." It's important to know that this exists. But I'm very clear with my children about who's a good guy and who's bad. If they're watching a movie at home and they say, "Is that a bad guy, Mummy?", I say, "Well, is he trying to hurt somebody?" If you see somebody picking on a person or starting the fight, that's the bad guy.'
She didn't prepare as intensely for Wanted as she did for the two Tomb Raider films. 'I didn't get into such great shape, because I just don't have the time, with the kids. I used to be able to train all the time, but it's different now. My body has changed, I've had a baby and I've breast-fed, although bringing up four children is harder than making an action movie.
'In Wanted, James and I have a fight, and I get to kick his ass – it's always fun to do that stuff. I like doing the risky stunts. It's an adrenaline rush and it's fun. It's very much in our family. Brad and I met doing that kind of thing on Mr & Mrs Smith. We have a healthy competition in the house for craziness.'
That love of an adrenaline kick extends to driving and flying. Not for her a girly party to celebrate her pregnancy:
'My girlfriends rented a sports car for me instead. So Brad and I just drove around LA in this Mercedes all day. It was fantastic. I love to drive, but I don't get to do it very much these days, because I don't like being followed by the paparazzi.'
Freedom and security are constant themes with her..
She and Pitt own a single-prop Cirrus aircraft and both have a pilot's licence. 'I've now got an instrument rating, which means I can fly in bad weather and at night.
'The plane has a parachute – like a rocket chute – in case you get into trouble. I love the idea of just being up in the air, but I think it's more about the travel for me, the freedom it represents.
Her work as a goodwill ambassador for the Office of the UN High Commissioner For Refugees began after filming the first Tomb Raider movie in Cambodia.
She then started visiting other troubled countries – more than 20 to date – and along with Pitt has donated millions of dollars to humanitarian projects.
'When you've been raised around Hollywood and you suddenly find yourself with a backpack in a war zone, where people are dying and crying because they don't have enough food for their kids, you very quickly realise what matters.
At the time it was like being smacked in the face and told, "What are you so upset about?" From that moment on I never lost that focus. 'On my first trip to Sierra Leone I ended up in a convoy with just one other woman.
'Another truck broke down, the group became separated and suddenly we were responsible for truckloads of people. It was getting dark and we were going through roadblocks that were just some guys with guns.
'And that was the country where they were cutting everybody's arms and feet off. And I remember thinking, "God, they could just decide to kill us… What am I doing here?" I remember having this bizarre feeling of being very far from home and feeling very vulnerable.'
.
Wild Thing's comment.......
Good, I am glad to read this. I am so glad that she is almost a spokesperson for defending her family like this. And this most certainly wasn’t Liberal talk coming out of her. Good! Maybe one day she and her Dad, Jon Voight will see more eye to eye about politics as well. He is not a conservative but he at least is a Republican and we can always hope he will move more to being a conservative the whole way.
Jolie is not your ordinary Hollywood airhead. She has done a lot of work on behalf of refugiees, including going to Iraq and meeting with US military commanders. She came out against a US withdrawal.
Maybe some of the other celebs in Hollywood will stop wanting to make TV shows with an agenda of banning guns. There are some that do have guns in their homes and know how to use them. But we seldom hear about them so that is why this article is good for it to get out, to encourage others to realize how important it is to be protected and know how to use a gun. Maybe she could even use her influence to stop the Small Arms garbage at the UN. Just a thought anyway.
I wish she would speak to the idiots in our government that are so bound and determined to try and push the ban on guns. I am also glad to see this was published in the UK news outlet. they need more then even people in the USA that guns are more then necessary in the world we live in now.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:55 AM | Comments (17)
June 01, 2008
Putin: " US, frightening monster "
Putin: US, frightening monster
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has urged France to distance itself from America, comparing the US to a 'frightening monster'.
"How can one be such a shining example of democracy at home and a frightening monster abroad?'' Putin said in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde in Paris released on Saturday.
"France, I hope, will continue to conduct an independent foreign policy,'' said Putin.
He said the US was creating a new Berlin Wall in Europe by pushing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to expand into ex-Soviet states Georgia and Ukraine.
The former Russian President also voiced concern over the fact that the West's "military infrastructure is coming closer to our borders,'' and denounced the US for seeking a "monopoly in world affairs.''
Under Putin's eight-year presidency, Russia clashed with the US and the European Union over matters such as NATO expansion and a plan to station a US missile-defense system in Eastern Europe.
And this:
May 31, 2008 - "I don’t think the Iranians are looking to make a nuclear bomb. We have no reason to believe this. The Iranian people are very proud and independent. They are trying to implement their legal right to develop peaceful nuclear technologies." - Vladimir Putin
Source:
Russia Today
Wild Thing's comment.......
Take heart Putin, if B. Hussein Obama wins the Presidency the U.S. will no longer be a monster superpower, and you will probably be invited to the big surrender party.
Posted by Wild Thing at 04:45 AM | Comments (11)
May 20, 2008
The Latest U.N. Insult
With the world awash in disaster, the United Nations is spending money to send a "special rapporteur" to look into racism in one of its member nations. The country? Why, the United States, of course.
The rapporteur in question, Senegal's Doudou Diene, will investigate "contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance" in a number of American cities.In fact, the U.S. is the least racist nation on Earth. Diene's visit is a calculated insult to both the American people and President Bush, and an attempt to influence the upcoming U.S. election.
Sure we have our problems. But it's hard to say a country where the leading candidate for president of one party is an African-American, while the other party has in the past eight years named highly accomplished blacks, Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans — Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Carlos Gutierrez, Alberto Gonzales and Elaine Chao — to the highest federal positions they've ever occupied, is actively racist.
The U.S. also has 40 million immigrants from virtually every nation on the globe, easily the largest such population of any nation. Will Diene look into that, too?
To see what a canard this idea is, one has only to look how America behaves globally. Each year, we spend billions of dollars, both public and private, to help less fortunate people around the globe — including people who don't share our predominant skin color or our majority religion or our main ethnic heritage.
In the past two decades, the U.S. has intervened militarily on behalf of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Bosnia and Kosovo, none of which is exactly American — by race or religion.
When the tsunami hit Thailand in 2004, U.S. aid flooded the country — though some of the beneficiaries included those who applauded Osama bin Laden's 9/11 attack on America. A U.S. Navy ship dutifully anchored off the coast to dispense badly needed emergency goods. U.S. aid workers are still there today.
In Burma, a country that bears virtually no cultural, racial or ethnic propinquity to the U.S., we have aggressively sought to save lives following Cyclone Nargis.
American planes and ships filled with emergency aid and workers have been forced to wait while the murderous Burmese regime lets its people die. Why no U.N. action on that?
The record is clear: Total public and private sector aid from the U.S. to others totaled $130 billion in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available. That's a 6% increase from the year before, and four times what the next biggest giver delivered.
Add in $500 billion-plus in defense spending — much of which goes to protect other nations from the threat of war, terror or violent cutoffs of trade — and the U.S. is far and away the most generous nation on the planet. Not exactly a sign of rampant racism.
Meanwhile, the U.N. itself is no paragon. It's directly responsible for holding Palestinians in camps for 60 years while passing inane resolution after resolution condemning the only peaceful, prosperous and completely democratic regime in the Mideast — Israel.
The U.N. should investigate other members' rampant racism, which takes the form of extreme hatred for the West and its values.
Take South Africa, the country that hosted the U.N.'s Durban I Conference that, among other actions, equated Zionism with racism. Once the poster child for the left's politically correct kumbayaism, South Africa is wracked with violent ethnic cleansing as armed thugs rampage against immigrants.
Where, we ask, is the special rapporteur for South Africa? Or the one for Zimbabwe, where Robert Mugabe has engaged in a brutal ethnic cleansing to remove white farmers and kill his foes?
How about one for the Arab world, which has spent the last half-century expelling and denying rights to Jews and Christians?
As we said, the timing of special rapporteur Diene's visit is highly suspect. Could the U.N. be playing the Barack Obama card here, tweaking Americans' consciences over alleged racism to influence the outcome of our upcoming election?
Keep in mind that Obama's rival, John McCain, has proposed a new League of Democracies that would circumvent the U.N.
America no doubt will welcome Diene and engage in a Mao-like frenzy of self-criticism. But we shouldn't. Instead, we should politely but firmly ask him to leave. Then we should ask the same thing of the organization that employs him.
Wild Thing's comment........
Screw the UN and this asshole from Senegal. What a bunch of bull this is.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:50 AM | Comments (18)
May 18, 2008
Quran Pushers Coming To America's Neighborhoods
Abdikarim Maye distributes English translations of the Quran on Thursday in Wheaton , ILLINOIS, on behalf of the Book of Signs Foundation.
Qurans given out for free
Muslim group hopes people will find understanding in the holy book, ditch common misconceptions. 'I'd read it just to see what it says,' a recipient says
As Marcia Macy chatted with her dog walker in the driveway of her Wheaton home Thursday, a young Muslim man passed her and hooked a plastic bag containing a Quran on her doorknob.
Unlike most religious solicitors, the man didn't try to speak with her or engage her in debate. He simply left her a 378-page paperback English translation of the holy book of Islam.
"I'd read it just to see what it says, but I believe in Jesus, not Allah," said Macy, a longtime Christian. "They have a right to do it . . . but I feel pretty strong in my faith."
If Macy reads the text, she will have fulfilled the goal of the Book of Signs Foundation. The Addison-based Muslim organization says that since July it has distributed more than 70,000 free English Qurans to homes in the Chicago area and another 30,000 around Houston.
The Christian stronghold of Wheaton is the group's latest stop. The foundation spent the previous three weeks in Chicago's Hyde Park and Jackson Park neighborhoods.
Organizers said their aim is to help people develop their own opinions about Islam instead of being misled by common misconceptions about the faith that have been especially egregious since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"We're just trying to be honest brokers of information," said Wajahat Sayeed, founder and director of Book of Signs, which also is known as the Al-Furqaan Foundation. "You make your own judgment."
Distributing free scripture is not new, of course. Many Christian groups pass out Bibles; Gideons International distributed almost 450,000 in September in a weeklong " New York Bible Blitz." And other Muslim groups have given away free Qurans. Lake County's Ahmadiyya Muslim Community reports distributing more than 1,000 since 2005, with a boom in requests for Spanish-translated Qurans in the last year.
But the Book of Signs' long-term goal is particularly ambitious: that each household in the U.S. possess a Quran, even if the residents are not Muslims.
On Thursday, two teams—each with two walkers and one person driving a minivan full of books—crisscrossed the manicured neighborhoods of Wheaton.
Wild Thing's comment........
I sure hope they don't bring that garbage here.
Posted by Wild Thing at 03:45 AM | Comments (12)
May 12, 2008
Congratulations and God Bless Jenna and Henry
Jenna and Dad
Jenna Bush and Henry Hager
President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush and Mr. and Mrs. Hager pose with the newly married couple, Jenna and Henry Hager, in front of the altar on Prairie Chapel Ranch Saturday, May 10, 2008, near Crawford, Texas.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:44 AM | Comments (10)
May 01, 2008
May 1st National Day of Prayer
About the National Day of Prayer:
Recognizing that prayer has been and continues to be an integral part of our nation's history, Congress established the National Day of Prayer in 1952. This observance is currently held on the first Thursday each May, when all Americans are encouraged to exercise their religious freedom by gathering publicly to worship and pray for our land.
This is a critical time to be in prayer for our country.
Tens of thousands of prayer events are planned across the country on Thursday May 1, 2008 in recognition of the 57th Annual National Day of Prayer. In churches, parks and on courthouse steps, citizens will pray for our nation; government leaders, media, military, schools, churches, businesses and families.
This year's theme of the Natioinal Day of Prayer, "Prayer! America's Strength and Shield," is based on Psalm 28:7: "The Lord is my strength and shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped."
New events are being added every day and can be found at www.nationaldayofprayer.org. To highlight a few:
• Chapel Hill, N.C.: While the campus is still reeling from the murder of their student-body president, UNC will host a student-led community event on May 1.
• Prayer Flight: Private pilots from around the country are banding together to fly over and pray for all 50 state capitols.
• A first-time event held in Shanksville, Penn. at the 9/11 crash site of United Flight 93.
• Friday, May 2nd, from 9:00 A. M. to 4:00 P. M.
Prayer at:
The White House
The Supreme Court
U. S. Capitol Building
Lincoln Memorial
Fort Myers, FL, 6/2002
"It is a spiritual enemy we have to contend with. Now is the time to fight. We've got to defeat them on our knees. Pray for our leaders. Pray for our nation. God is alive. God is real. God will answer the prayers of those who humble themselves before Him.
"Bin Laden is not the enemy. No mortal is the enemy. It's the enemy you can't see. It's a war against the forces of darkness. The battle won't be won with guns. It will be won on our knees. Don't let go of this country. Stay on your knees and don't ever give up."
— Major General William G. Boykin, commanding general of the U.S. Army's John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School in Fort Bragg, N.C., including Special Forces and Delta Force.
Talking about his darkest hour, Boykin asked God to protect his men when he sent them into Somalia during a 1993 covert operation, which resulted in a firefight that claimed 18 Army Rangers and was portrayed in Black Hawk Down.
"My heart was broken," said Boykin, noting that he went to his bunk where he cried for his men and was angry with God. "I said there is no God. If there was a God, He would've been here to protect my soldiers." Then, Boykin said he heard God's voice saying: "If there is no God, there is no hope." Boykin described his change of heart after that.
Before every mission, Boykin, who recommitted his life to Christ following the tragic 1993 events in Somalia and portrayed in "Black Hawk Down," said he prays with his men.
"I always pray for God's blessing on these warriors, for His protective hand around them. Then we sing God Bless America. God has been faithful and has held us in His hands." Source: Boykin at Fort Myers, FL, Community Prayer breakfast.
Posted by Wild Thing at 02:47 AM | Comments (8)
April 30, 2008
Military NASCAR Sponsorships
Dale Earnhardt Jr. with a Navy-sponsored car he will drive at a future race during a ceremony at the Talladega Superspeedway. (Photo by Mark Almond)
Military Hopes NASCAR Sponsorships Rev Up Fans' Interest
TALLADEGA, Ala. — NASCAR racing is a sport built around loyalty to the product brands that sponsor racing teams.
It's a loyalty stronger than in most other major sports. Fans of driver Tony Stewart are more likely to eat at Subway than New York Yankees fans are to wear Adidas shoes.
The idea of a company brand becoming an athletic logo has also attracted branches of the military to become NASCAR sponsors.
The Army and National Guard each sponsor a car in the top Sprint Cup Series, and the Navy sponsors a