Senate legalizes bestiality in the Armed Forces

This had to come. Once the procription against Homosexuals serving in the Military was overturned by a pagan Senate and signed into law by an equally pagan president those portions of military law which outlawed sodomy and bestiality had to go as well. Unfortunately for the nbaby genuises the left in the General Article 134. which reads: "Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces, and crimes and offenses not capital, of which persons subject to this chapter may be guilty, shall be taken cognizance of by a general, special or summary court-martial, according to the nature and degree of the offense, and shall be punished at the discretion of that court." So this would have to be the charge used for inapproprate sex between and adult and a minor. Enlistment is open to youths at age 17.

Three conservative Senate Republicans – Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) – joined Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in voting “NO” on the bill. However don't get so ready to congratulate them for a moral desision. Their not voting for had morre to do with self promotio rather than the Glory of God. none of them spoke out in Senate debate against the sodomy/bestiality provision leading up to the vote. And none said they voted against the bill because of the provision.

“Dr. Coburn voted against the bill because it didn't do enough to fix the long term challenges at the Pentagon,” a Coburn spokesman told CNSNews.com asked McCain: “Senator, did you read the Defense authorization bill that was passed last week? Were you aware of the language that repealed the ban on sodomy and bestiality?” “On what?” McCain replied.

A spokesman for Lee, meanwhile, said that the senator does not support doing away with the Article 125 law on sodomy and bestiality, but his vote was prompted by concerns over the fact that the bill allows U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism to be detained in the U.S. by the military for an indefinite period.

In fact, only one member of Congress spoke out against the provision last Thursday night – and he was in the House of Representatives, not the Senate.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) took to the House floor to condemn the provision just as the Senate was voting.

“If the Senate language passes the House, they’ve stricken the language that prohibits bestiality in the military in their overzealous effort to try to advance same-sex marriage among our military and use it as a social experiment,” King said for the Congressional Record.

The Associated Press (via the Boston Globe) is reporting that the Democratic-controlled US Senate has passed the $662 billion 2012 NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act).

The NDAA covers everything from jet strike fighters to housing for military families.

It also de-criminalizes both sodomy and bestiality.

In a press release from the US Senate Committee on the Armed Services (Chairman - Sen. Carl Levin, D-MI) from June 17, 2011, under the Military Personnel Policy section (page 9), it clearly states that the Committee has added to the Fiscal Year 2012 NDAA the following;

Also repeals Article 125 of the UCMJ, relating to the offense of sodomy.

The Library of Congress has recorded and saved for posterity every letter and number associated Senate bill, S. 1867. Specifically;

S.1867National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012

Sec. 920c. Art. 120c. Other sexual misconduct
(d) Repeal of Sodomy Article- Section 925 of such title (article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice) is repealed.

On an official US Air Force website, Article 125 of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) formerly prohibited both sodomy and bestiality.

(a) Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration , however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense.

(b) Any person found guilty of sodomy shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

The official website for the US Senate has listed by name the 93-7 vote in favor of the NDAA.

Rome at its end could not have thought up a better way to bring about it's downfall.

Brantigny

Saudi Arabia and the woman driver.

In a country known for Washington politicians making the most obtuse connexions and repeating these "observations' as truth (see latest Bidenism), Saudi Arabia has raised the bar on stupid...

Here is the report by Muslim Clerics...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- If women were allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, sex and pornography would surge and homosexuality would be more prevalent, conservative Muslim scholars said.

So sex, pornography and homosexuality are pervasive in Saudi Arabia.

Academics at the Majlis al-Ifta al-Aala, the country's top religious council, said relaxing the rules concerning women drivers would eventually lead to "no more virgins," The Daily Telegraph reported Friday.

Huh? Post hoc ergo propter hoc. The lack of virgins is possible because the virgins would escape to Bahrain and hence to the west.

The scholars, working with a former professor at the conservative King Fahd University, presented their conclusions in a report to the country's legislative assembly.

The report said allowing women to drive would "provoke a surge in prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce."

Saudi Arabia is the only country that bans women from driving. Women caught driving can be lashed.

In September, Shaima Jastaniya was sentenced to 10 lashes after she was caught driving in Jeddah. International outrage about the sentence prompted King Abdallah to overturn it.

Despite criticism about the law by rights organizations and other leaders, resistance to reform is strong within the conservative royal family and among clerics.

The Saudi government is considering a proposal to ban women from displaying their eyes if they are deemed too "tempting," the Telegraph reported. Women already must cover most of their bodies in public.

Incidentally having been to that area of the world I have to say that Saudi women go to Bahrain to drive. Even in Muslim countries who have Shariah women are allowed to drive.

No word from the Administration how this will affect the economy, but that statement will be forthcoming.

Please step to the back of the car please.

Brantigny

MAMA Economy Explained

Brantigny

Wall Street Occupiers complain they are being robbed—by other protesters

Listed under the Law of Unintended Consequences. "When you voice the demand for property to be redistubuted, don't complain if your property is redistributed. That is what you intended."

There may be honor among thieves but not in Zuccotti Park, where, the New York Post reports, “brazen crooks within their ranks have been robbing their fellow demonstrators blind.”

One protester, a kitchen and legal-team volunteer from Fort Lauderdale, is quoted as saying: Stealing is our biggest problem at the moment. I had my Mac stolen—that was like $5,500. Every night, something else is gone. Last night, our entire [kitchen] budget for the day was stolen, so the first thing I had to do was … get the message out to our supporters that we needed food!

And here I would have thought Wall Street greed was the protesters’ biggest problem.

The cat burglars sneaked into the makeshift kitchen at the park overnight and made off with as much as $2,500 in donated cash from right under the noses of volunteers as they slept.

A security volunteer from Brooklyn told the Post he planned to get tough with the predatory perps: I’m not getting paid, but I’m not gonna stand for it. Why people got to come here and do stupid stuff? All it does is make people not wanna come here anymore.

The volunteer, whose name is Harry Wyman, didn’t clarify what he considered “stupid stuff,” a term some might broadly apply to everything that has gone on in the park since the protests began five weeks ago.

At one point yesterday, Wyman and other volunteers briefly scuffled with a man standing near a park entrance with a pail shouting “Donations!” and pocketing the cash people tossed in the bucket.

Why that was frowned upon is not clear since no code of conduct or manifesto exists, detailing protesters’ rights and responsibilities.

So let me get this straight, the anarchists are calling for rules?

Brantigny

Local students join the 'Occupy Wall Street' protest

WRAL in Raleigh reported that a handful of local college students may not be able to physically join protesters in New York, but are joining them locally in spirit.

Students from NC State University, UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University have launched their own version of Occupy Wall Street protests on their respective campuses.

Protesting everything from a weak economy to "U.S. imperialism" to campus safety to full funding for food stamps, students walked out of classes earlier today.

Tens of UNC students gathered at the steps of the university's Wilson Library as part of their Occupy Campus demonstration.

As quoted by WRAL, student Denise Mitchell stated;

"Apart from the message of Occupy Wall Street, which is people over profit, is that UNC students, regardless of political or socio-economic background, have issues on this campus. Students just don't feel like they're being heard by the university."
..


According to 3d year student Matt Hickson;

"(We want) to have all of these groups that we have that do great work apart come together and work on the interconnectedness of the issues that we face and how important they are to our future."

Do They Really Feel Our Pain?

According to the NC State University official website, one year's worth of tuition for state residents is $18,427 and out-of-staters pay $31,362.

UNC's in-state tuition costs are $20,660 per year. Out-of-state students shell out $41,140.

Duke University doesn't differentiate between in-state and non-state students - everyone pony's up a whopping $55,690 per school year.

It's unclear how many of the protesters actually paid for their own tuition.

My son-in-law David is a graduate of Duke University, class of 2006. He worked for everything he got. Our daughter Genevieve graduating from Meredith College in 2007, she worked for everything she got. We are very proud of them both. David is now working on his doctorate, and Genevieve teaches French in the same district from which she graduated. This did not happen by leaving class and protesting.

The Flea Baggers pretending to occupy Wall street, and Chicago, and Charlotte, and LA, wish not for equality of opportunity but for equality of outcome. In a free society this is not possible.

Brantigny

The law of intended consequenses...

This goverment in its agenda towards legislation of morality and, Advance of same-sex marriage deepens concern for religious liberty.

By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The widening campaign by gay rights advocates to promote same-sex marriage as a civil rights issue is forcing Catholic and other religious institutions to confront charges of intolerance and discrimination.

Also at risk, say church officials working on the legal front, is the way religious institutions and individuals opposed to same-sex marriage conduct business from hall rentals to receiving government contracts for social services.

Recently, the Diocese of Peoria, Ill., withdrew from all state-funded social service contracts, citing increasing clashes between state law and church teaching on same-sex relationships. The Diocese of Rockford stopped offering state-funded adoptions and foster care services when the Illinois civil unions legislation took effect June 1. Catholic Charities in the dioceses of Joliet and Springfield and Catholic Social Services of Southern Illinois in Belleville also have been involved in legal proceedings with the state since then.

In 2006, Catholic Charities in San Francisco and Boston stopped adoption placements when laws required equal treatment of applicants in same-sex relationships.

Elsewhere, including New York where a same-sex marriage law took effect July 24, church institutions are carefully monitoring how such laws are being applied and are vigilant for threats to religious liberty in the areas of taxes, housing, education and employment.

"The general issue is the definition of marriage creates many, many rights, not just one," explained Anthony R. Picarello Jr., general counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "So changing the definition of marriage creates changes throughout the legal system."

Those changes can affect a wide range of practices far beyond marriage such as whether:

-- A private individual can deny renting an apartment to a same-sex couple on religious grounds.

-- A public school teacher who refuses to talk about same-sex marriage as a justice issue can continue to teach.

-- A counselor's license can be revoked for declining to accept same-sex couples as clients.

-- A religious organization that does not recognize same-sex marriage can be considered discriminatory by a state or local government and lose any contract for services.

"Redefining marriage has a multiplier effect," Picarello explained to Catholic News Service. "The problems proliferate. The problems that we see under mere sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws multiply by order of magnitude when marriage is redefined.

"Marriage is a legal lever, because in our society we have a legal infrastructure that rewards those who support marriage, and punishes those who oppose it. When that legal structure ... is then applied to a relationship that isn't marriage, the people who object to that definition are going to suffer severe disadvantages," he added.

Picarello pointed to the February announcement by the Justice Department that it would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act -- DOMA -- because it is biased and prejudicial against homosexuals and therefore is discriminatory as among the mounting challenges facing religious institutions opposed to same-sex marriage.

"They basically suggested that any law that distinguishes between same-sex couples and different sex couples, whether it's for purposes of marriage or anything else, violates the Constitution if the government is doing it, (that) the government can't make those distinctions," Picarello said.

"But all DOMA does is define marriage as it's always been defined," he said. "The church stands behind that definition and now the church has been lumped in with bigots and haters."

For states to imply such a comparison is a major leap because it dismisses religious tradition and the morality of same-sex relationships while portraying religious objections to same-sex marriage as equivalent to racial discrimination.

The religious liberty issue has largely been played out at the state level. Same-sex marriage has been legalized through legislation or by court decisions in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and the District of Columbia. Illinois and Rhode Island this year enacted civil union laws; come Jan. 1 civil unions will become legal in Delaware and Hawaii.

In California, Proposition 8, a ballot initiative approved by voters in 2008 to ban same-sex marriage remains in the courts and may end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Same-sex marriage is banned by law or constitutional amendment in the remaining 40 states.

In states where same-sex marriage has been enacted by law, at least a basic religious exemption has been included. The breadth of the exemption varies with some jurisdictions offering a general exemption from performing same-sex marriages to more wide-ranging protections like those in Connecticut that spell out specific protections for religious institutions.

Michael C. Culhane, executive director of the Connecticut Catholic Conference, lobbied for three exemptions following the state Supreme Court's 2008 decision that legalized same-sex marriage.

In addition to the normal exemption for clergy from participating in a same-sex marriage ceremony, Connecticut's law has one provision protecting fraternal societies from providing insurance benefits to anyone if doing so violates the free exercise of religion and another safeguarding the rights of a religious organization in the delivery of adoption, foster care or social services as long as government funds are not involved.

"In the long hours we ended up with a very strong religious exemption," Culhane said. "We were very, very happy."

In Iowa, where the state Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is legal, Tom Chapman, executive director of the Iowa Catholic Conference, said the church has been minimally affected by the court's decision.

"We have the same concerns a lot of places do and would have," he said. "For example, Catholic schools in Iowa are accredited by the state. So anything that can be required in public schools can be required in Catholic schools as well."

The likelihood that the issue will be addressed by the legislature is slim, Chapman told CNS.

"My own feeling is there is a desire on everybody's part who wants same-sex marriage to leave it alone because they don't want us to have a defense of marriage amendment or legislation (that could restrict same-sex marriage)," he said.

Such an exemption in Illinois' civil unions law failed to resolve the dilemma faced by the Peoria Diocese. The predicament arose when state Department of Children and Family Services mandated that the diocesan Catholic Charities system end the practice of referring adoptions and foster placements to same-sex couples to another agency. Catholic Charities appealed, but lost in court, leading the diocese to back out of all state contracts for social services.

Robert Gilligan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Illinois, told CNS that state law affords protections for religious practice, but that the state has the right to contract with any agency it for the delivery of services.

"The danger is that faith-based organizations will get crowded out of the provision of services that are desperately needed," he said.

Even with specific exemptions for religious institutions, individuals everywhere face possible infringements on the practice of their faith, said Daniel Avila, policy adviser for marriage and family to the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.

"Even if you think you're protected and this is not an issue in your own state, given you have a state DOMA, they should be quite aware of events happening at the national level that could then bring these very issues and problems into their own lives," he said.

Avila suggested that at least two cases, including California's legal battle over Proposition 8, will likely make their way to the U.S. Supreme Court and determine the legal status of same-sex marriage in the country.

The cases are likely two years away, he said.

That leaves states to follow their own course on what actions are discriminatory and what are not and religious organizations guessing which way they will go.

Brantigny

Joe Biden speaks again...

Joe Biden used scare tactics in a speech in Flint, Michigan to push for the passage of President Obama's jobs bill. "Hey Joe! The democrats voted against the bill!"

Brantigny

How the 99% lives

A photo from Occupy Wall Street, a poor protester counts his cash...


Everything is not as it seems.

Brantigny

Judge Judy - This Is Who We Are Supporting With Taxes

My prison case load is full of people just like this guy. "Do not confuse me with the truth." This is a reflection of his feeling of entitlement, which is prominent in the United States by groups who are slaves to the government.

What he is thinking is, "...if the money comes in from the Government it doesn't really matter for what use it was intended..." What have we created with this sense of entitlement, especially wth this ...fellow is, a well educated idiot. It is obvious that college after 3 years has not taught him to be self responsibilty. The woman in her 30 years has not learned any better.

The Law of Unintended Circumstances, specifically states a lazy person with no ambition tends to remain so while that lazy person with no ambition receives government aid. Multiply this fellow by millions.

Hunger and homelessness is a great motivator. Heartless?, No, tough Love.

Brantigny

NC Governor Perdue jokes (?) about suspending Congressional elections for two years

File this in the random-things-politicians-say file. Speaking to a Cary Rotary Club today, N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue suggested suspending Congressional elections for two years so that Congress can focus on economic recovery and not the next election.

"I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover. I really hope that someone can agree with me on that," Perdue said. "You want people who don't worry about the next election."

The comment -- which came during a discussion of the economy -- perked more than a few ears. It's unclear whether Perdue, a Democrat, is serious -- but her tone was level and she asked others to support her on the idea. (Read her full remarks below.)

Later Tuesday afternoon, Perdue's office clarified the remarks: "Come on," said spokeswoman Chris Mackey in a statement. "Gov. Perdue was obviously using hyperbole to highlight what we can all agree is a serious problem: Washington politicians who focus on their own election instead of what’s best for the people they serve."

The Republicans sure are taking it seriously as they look to score political points. Here's a statement from GOP spokesman Rob Lockwood:

“Now is a time when politicians need to be held accountable more than ever. To suspend an election would be removing the surest mechanism that people have to hold politicians accountable: the right to vote. Does the Governor not believe that people of North Carolina have the ability to think for themselves about whether or not the actions of elected officials are working?"

UPDATED: GOP House candidate Paul Coble didn't think much of Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue's idea that congressional elections be suspended for two years so Congress can concentrate on the economy.

“That’s a proposal that only the politicians that have worsened our economic mess could appreciate,” said Coble, who is chairman of the Wake County commissioners. “Governor Perdue and the politicians in Washington may fear the message voters send next November.” Read more:

The question is was she really joking? Quite possibly she had one of those Freudian slips and her real thoughts slipped out. My state is one of those in which both houses received veto proof Republican majorities. This was the first time since the 19th century in which the Republicans controlled both houses at the same time.

Pat McCrory former Mayor of Charlotte NC. wrote on his Facebook Page, "Not only does this bizarre commentary suggest ignoring the Constitution, but does Governor Perdue forget her own inability to work with the Legislature, regardless if controlled by Democrats or Republicans?"

Brantigny

Open mouth insert foot

Between President Obama and Vice President Biden this team has insulted just about everybody.

Brantigny

Cherchez la femme

Office Depot fires exec in 'improper relationship'

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — The head of Office Depot Inc.'s international division was fired, effective Monday, for having an "improper relationship" with a co-worker, the company said.

Office Depot said the fired executive was Charlie Brown. It did not identify the other employee or describe that person's job title or fate.

"Charlie Brown was terminated for having an improper relationship with another associate," Chairman and CEO Neil Austrian said in a statement. "The company has a zero tolerance policy in this regard."

No replacement was named.

Austrian said Office Depot's top officials in Europe and Asia now will report to him, and Chief Financial Officer Mike Newman will oversee the company's joint venture in Mexico and its business in Latin America overall.

The shares rose 8 cents, or 3.9 percent, to close at $2.13. They rose another 7 cents after hours. The stock has traded between $1.94 and $6.25 the past year.

The Little Red Haired Girl...

Brantigny

Linus has been suggested in a possible replacement move.

Porn magnate funds $1 million quest to embarrass Perry

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Pornographic magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered $1 million on Thursday to anyone with proof of "an illicit sexual liaison" involving leading Republican presidential candidate and Texas Governor Rick Perry. more

This post needs no comment.

Brantigny

Earth Quake take

Congressman Maxine Waters is calling for a congressional investigation for the ties between yesterday's earthquake and the Tea-Party. Fox news reports that the quake may be the result of the founding fathers turning over in their graves, while President Obama claims it is Bushs fault.

Chuck Norris regrets that he may have accidently caused the quake when he stamped his foot.

Brantigny

Joe Wilson ‘you lie!’ comment has been justified

I was shocked by the comment of Joe Wilson in 2009. Not because I agree with anything that P-BO says but because of where Joe Wilson said it... remember...

“You lie!” Republican Rep. Joe Wilson famously shouted at President Obama during a 2009 televised presidential address to a joint session of Congress.

The outburst, prompted by Obama pledging his health care reform bill would not benefit illegal immigrants, provoked outrage from liberals, not to mention a steely death-glare from then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

But now Wilson says time has proved him right.

In an appearance on Fox News’ America Live on Wednesday, Wilson said a recent award of $28 million to community health care centers around the country will no doubt benefit illegal immigrants, despite Obama’s pledge.

Department of Health and Human Services spokesmen have confirmed $8.5 million of the grant will go to centers serving migrant and seasonal farm workers, saying patients will not be asked about immigration status. The centers will offer primary care to all residents who come in.

“It is clearly providing money that should be going to American citizens to illegal immigrants,” Wilson said. “It’s even worse than I thought. They won’t even ask for status.”
On his campaign website, Wilson wrote: “It is inevitable that they will serve illegal aliens. The president specifically promised the American people that ‘Obamacare’ would not cover those who are here illegally. He misled all of us.”

The Department of Health and Human Services shot back, saying the patients still must pay for care.

“By statute, health centers are required to provide primary health care to all residents of the health center’s service area without regard for ability to pay,” spokesman Chris Stenrud wrote in an email to Fox. “However, health centers do not provide free care. All health center patients are expected to contribute to the cost of their care.”

Joe Wilson was right.

Brantigny

Homeland Security

Homeland Security has revealed it's new quick reaction forces which will be utilized in airports as a deterrent to those who do not wish to use the scanners. The reaction force is seen here testing out it's All Weather capability.

Brantigny

Your Social Security Card a lesson in history.

Social Security Cards up until the 1980s expressly stated the number and card were not to be used for identification purposes. Since nearly everyone in the United States now has a number, it became convenient to use it anyway and the message, NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION, was removed.
">
An old Social Security card with the "NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION" message.

Our Social Security

Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be
Completely voluntary,

No longer Voluntary

2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program, It is now currently 7.65% on the first $90,000

3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from
their income for tax purposes each year, It is no longer tax deductible

4.) That the money the participants put into the independent 'Trust Fund' rather than into the
general operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security
Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and, Under Johnson the money was moved to ...The General Fund and Spent

5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income. Under Clinton & Gore Up to 85% of your Social Security can be Taxed

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month --and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to 'put away' -- you may be interested in the following:

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ----

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent 'Trust Fund' and put it into the general fund so that Congress could spend it?

A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically controlled House and Senate.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --

Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A: The Democratic Party.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -----

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?

A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the 'tie-breaking' deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the US

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?

A: That's right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!

------------ -- ------------ --------- ----- ------------ --------- ---------

Then, after violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away! ...And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it!

Here is Chris Matthews talking about "House GOP Not Too "Horny" To Meet The Public" What!

See this Video

The rant is the same Chris Matthews drivel but listen to what he adds at the end. Now I know what the difference is between Social Security and Medicare but the operation of creating a crisis is what brought Social Security from a supplement for the elderly to the most overpowering bit of social engineering.

Brantigny

Cat up a tree.

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, look up at a tree at Rideau Hall in Ottawa for their cat, "Lord Uxbridge", that had escaped during their visit to Canada. When later asked about this incident the Prince remarked, "They couldn't get he old boy down until I came along. "It was a near run thing and it wouldn't have done at all if I hadn't of been there." Rather.

Brantigny

Wigger day?

Black Student Sues Minnesota High School for Celebrating 'Wigger Day'

Published August 04, 2011

RED WING, Minn – A black student is suing her former Minnesota high school for celebrating "Wednesday Wigger Day," where white students pretended to be black during homecoming week, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Wednesday.

Quera Pruitt, who graduated from Red Wing High School last year, filed the lawsuit last week, saying the "wigger" celebration caused her to be so depressed that she almost dropped out of school.

The slang word "wigger" is commonly used to refer to a white person who copies the mannerisms, language and fashions commonly associated with American black culture.

"It's offensive to black folks and, frankly, it's offensive to anyone," said Joshua Williams, Pruitt's lawyer.

Pruitt claims Wigger Day, also known as "Wangsta Day," was held between 2007 and 2009and is claiming $75,000 in damages.

The school district, however, rejects the accusations outright.

"The district denies the allegations that it has created a racially hostile environment and looks forward to meeting these allegations in court," district superintendent Karsten Anderson said in a written statement.

Nearly 900 high school students are enrolled in the school district, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of St. Paul. Three percent are black. Read more:

I believe if the style and clothes worn by many black students in High School wasn't allowed there wouldn't be a problem. In our permissive society the homeless look is allowed to proliferate, lawlessness is not only winked at but encouraged.

Naturally the race card has to be played so that the already finacially burdened school system can pay.

Brantigny

'No porn or prostitution': Islamic extremists set up Sharia law controlled zones in British cities

Islamic extremists have launched a poster campaign across the UK proclaiming areas where Sharia law enforcement zones have been set up.

Communities have been bombarded with the posters, which read: ‘You are entering a Sharia-controlled zone – Islamic rules enforced.’

The bright yellow messages daubed on bus stops and street lamps have already been seen across certain boroughs in London and order that in the ‘zone’ there should be ‘no gambling’, ‘no music or concerts’, ‘no porn or prostitution’, ‘no drugs or smoking’ and ‘no alcohol’.

Hate preacher Anjem Choudary has claimed responsibility for the scheme, saying he plans to flood specific Muslim and non-Muslim communities around the UK and ‘put the seeds down for an Islamic Emirate in the long term’.

In the past week, dozens of streets in the London boroughs of Waltham Forest, Tower Hamlets and Newham have been targeted, raising fears that local residents may be intimidated or threatened for flouting ‘Islamic rules’.Read more:

Britains now face the result of a liberal emmigration policy.

Brantigny

Media matters

I remember when GWB was president the left wing media named every causualty in Iraq and Afganistan, where are they now.

Brantigny

Religion of Peace revisited

I believe it was George W. Bush who called Islam the religion of peace yet we seem to be continually besieged with enemies who are wearing the badge of Islam. Now I do not know who told Dubya that lie but it has become the phrase of choice when fooling ourselves about the true ideas of Islam. Peaceful? Read on...

Reuters – Left...A girl, identified by the police as eight-year-old Sohana Javaid, sits during at a news conference in Islamabad…

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – An eight-year-old Pakistani girl was kidnapped by Islamist militants who forced her to wear a suicide vest to attack security forces, police said on Monday.

Police produced the girl, identified as Sohana Javaid, before a news conference broadcast on Pakistani television channels.

The girl recalled how she was kidnapped from her hometown of Peshawar and brought to the Lower Dir district in the northwest.

"There were two men and two women sitting in a car. They kidnapped me," she told reporters in Dir.

Forced to wear a suicide vest, she was transported to a security check post.

"They put one suicide vest on me, but it did not fit. Then they put on a second one," Sohana said. "I threw away the vest and started shouting (for help) as I came close to the checkpost and they (security forces) took me into custody."

There was no way to independently verify the story.

Pakistani authorities, who are facing a stubborn Taliban insurgency, have in the past produced would-be suicide bombers in front of television cameras. But they have been men or boys.

Suicide bombings by women are rare in Pakistan.

The Taliban have been blamed for many of the suicide bombings across Pakistan.

I never heard of Catholics kidnapping an 8 year old to wear a suicide vest.

Brantigny

Obama's Quagmire...

"...Syndicated columnist George Will is an exception to the Washington rule. When he was asked by ABC’s This Week host Christiane Amanpour if he believed Obama’s bombing of Libya was the “right thing to do,” Will replied: “I do not. We have intervened in a tribal society, in a civil war. And we have taken sides in that civil war on behalf of a people we do not know or understand, for the purpose—not a vow, but inexorably our purpose—of creating a political vacuum by decapitating the government. Into that vacuum, what will flow we do not know and cannot know...”

Trying hard to hide on his decision to attack Libya, President Obama and his Democratic sycophants have done that which he has accused George W. Bush of doing, becoming bogged down in a war. Racing to the White house in 2008, he promised to end the war in Iraq, and the war in Afghanistan (in reality the same war). He has done neither, and has in fact attacked without the consent of the Congress, Libya. For what purpose? Thus far he has not arrived at a good reason. A onetime friend of Kadfi and now an enemy, he appears at a loss for what to do next. The White House rules of engagement has all but cut off the trigger fingers of the fighting men who are being placed in harms way. Other than blowing holes in the desert not much has come of this. Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi does not show a sign of coming out and so this president has violated the first of the principles of war, Objective. there is no objective in engaging in action in Libya.

This are the principles of war: ( I learned these in High School, in military Science. Some on may want to point these out to Mr Obama.

Objective – Direct every military operation toward a clearly defined, decisive and attainable objective. The ultimate military purpose of war is the destruction of the enemy's ability to fight and will to fight. (Italics are mine)

Offensive – Seize, retain, and exploit the initiative. Offensive action is the most effective and decisive way to attain a clearly defined common objective. Offensive operations are the means by which a military force seizes and holds the initiative while maintaining freedom of action and achieving decisive results. This is fundamentally true across all levels of war.

Mass – Mass the effects of overwhelming combat power at the decisive place and time. Synchronizing all the elements of combat power where they will have decisive effect on an enemy force in a short period of time is to achieve mass. Massing effects, rather than concentrating forces, can enable numerically inferior forces to achieve decisive results, while limiting exposure to enemy fire.

Economy of Force – Employ all combat power available in the most effective way possible; allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts. Economy of force is the judicious employment and distribution of forces. No part of the force should ever be left without purpose. The allocation of available combat power to such tasks as limited attacks, defense, delays, deception, or even retrograde operations is measured in order to achieve mass elsewhere at the decisive point and time on the battlefield. ...

Maneuver – Place the enemy in a position of disadvantage through the flexible application of combat power. Maneuver is the movement of forces in relation to the enemy to gain positional advantage. Effective maneuver keeps the enemy off balance and protects the force. It is used to exploit successes, to preserve freedom of action, and to reduce vulnerability. It continually poses new problems for the enemy by rendering his actions ineffective, eventually leading to defeat. ...

Unity of Command – For every objective, seek unity of command and unity of effort. At all levels of war, employment of military forces in a manner that masses combat power toward a common objective requires unity of command and unity of effort. Unity of command means that all the forces are under one responsible commander. It requires a single commander with the requisite authority to direct all forces in pursuit of a unified purpose. (he or she should have a rudimentary understanding of what the military is for. It is for breaking things, not passing out hamburgers.)

Security – Never permit the enemy to acquire unexpected advantage. Security enhances freedom of action by reducing vulnerability to hostile acts, influence, or surprise. Security results from the measures taken by a commander to protect his forces. Knowledge and understanding of enemy strategy, tactics, doctrine, and staff planning improve the detailed planning of adequate security measures.

Surprise – Strike the enemy at a time or place or in a manner for which he is unprepared. Surprise can decisively shift the balance of combat power. By seeking surprise, forces can achieve success well out of proportion to the effort expended. Surprise can be in tempo, size of force, direction or location of main effort, and timing. Deception can aid the probability of achieving surprise. ...

Simple – Prepare clear, uncomplicated plans and concise orders to ensure thorough understanding. Everything in war is very simple, but the simple thing is difficult. To the uninitiated, military operations are not difficult. Simplicity contributes to successful operations. Simple plans and clear, concise orders minimize misunderstanding and confusion. Other factors being equal, parsimony is to be preferred.

Shortly it will be 10 years since we began the War on Terror, which has end in sight. What shall we call the War in Libya? Obama's War?

Go here to see who it is exactly we have coupled ourselves.

Brantigny

Wise words.

"Beware of the doctor, whose wife sells cemetery plots, whose brother owns a granite quarry, and whose father deals in shovels."

Brantigny

Ok this is just stupid...

Entrance into the European Union has not been a good idea. The latest ploy? Feed the hamsters before humans. Eurpean Union=Loss of sovereignty.

Of mice and men: European court raps France over hamster plight

By Laura Rozen laura Rozen – Fri Jun 10, 8:18 am ET

Europe's highest court warned France Thursday that it needs to do more to protect the hamster: the Great Hamster of Alsace, to be precise, which is western Europe's last remaining species of hamster in the wild.

The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg ruled Thursday that France needs to modify its agriculture and urban growth policies to preserve the Great Hamster or face fines of $25 million, the New York Times Steve Erlanger reports.

The Great Hamster "can grow up to 10 inches long, has a brown-and-white face, white paws and a black belly," Erlanger notes. There are thought to be about 800 of the creatures left in France.

The problem?

The Great Hamster likes to eat things like alfalfa and grass. And French farmers have gradually replaced those crops with corn, "which is not ripe in the spring when the hamster awakens from six months of hibernation," hungry and ready to mate, Erlanger writes.

The hamster must therefore "make longer and more hazardous journeys as its grazing area shrinks because of new highways and housing developments," he writes.

"Protection measures for the Great Hamster put in place by France were insufficient ... to ensure the strict protection of the species," the court of Justice decided. France's Ecology Ministry had no immediate comment on the ruling, Erlanger wrote.

Brantigny

"I did not have text with that woman... oops maybe I did.

Weiner fesses up: He sent the dirty pictures

...Ah the liberal democrat admitted it. After denying that he did it, Anthony Weiner now admits -- he did it. What's the "it?" He sent lewd photos of himself via Twitter and Facebook to at least six women. (See here.) And he not only lied about it, but he smeared Andrew Breitbart at Biggovernment.com who exposed Weiner's perverted behavior. Weiner says he won't resign. No doubt he will go on to bigger things and higher office. That seems to be the norm for liberal sex addicts. And you can't blame a guy for trying. Lying seemed to work for Bill Clinton and Barney Frank. You know it all depends on the creativity of your definitions... more...

A real Weiner (snitzel)

I am certainly tired of hearing of Anthony Wieners weiner.

Brantigny

D-Day Omaha Beach

Lest we ever forget.

Jhesu+Marie,
Brantigny

Is this Monk, or President Obama?

Editorial: An entourage more royal than the Queen's
Submitted by SHNS on Tue, 03/31/2009 Dale Mc Feathers

...Obama arrived with 500 staff in tow, including 200 Secret Service agents, a team of six doctors, the White House chef and kitchen staff with the president's own food and water.

...And, according to the Evening Standard, he also came with "35 vehicles in all, four speech writers and 12 teleprompters." For sure, our president was not going to be at a loss for words... more...

The only thing this auto is missing is a way to make it over bumps.

Stimulus.

Brantigny

13 year old pulled from class for interrogation by Secret Service.

This administration has repeatedly commented on how inhanced and other forms of interrogation for terrorists was illegal. Perhaps this does not apply to American citizens.

Government bullies pull a 13 year old out of class and interrogates him with out a lawyer, or his mother about what he put on facebook. Is this Administration so worried that it hauls a 13 year old in to "talk" to him? Is water boarding next?

A Tacoma seventh grader faced federal interrogation at school for what he posted on his Facebook page. His mom said it all happened without her knowledge or permission.

Timi Robertson said she had just finished lunch with a friend Friday when she got a phone call from her son's school.

"I answered it, and it's the school security guard who's giving me a heads up that the Secret Service is here with the Tacoma Police Department and they have Vito and they're talking to him," Robertson said.

After Osama bin Laden was killed, 13-year-old Vito LaPinta posted an update to his Facebook status that got the Feds attention.

"I was saying how Osama was dead and for Obama to be careful because there could be suicide bombers," says LaPinta.

A week later, while Vito was in his fourth period class, he was called in to the principal's office.

"A man walked in with a suit and glasses and he said he was part of the Secret Service," LaPinta said. "He told me it was because of a post I made that indicated I was a threat toward the President."

The Tacoma school district acknowledged a Secret Service agent questioned Vito and that it was a security guard who called Vito's mom because the principal was on another call. The school district said they didn’t wait for Vito’s mother to get there because they thought she didn't take the phone call seriously.

"That's a blatant lie," Robertson said.

The teen’s mom says she rushed to Truman Middle School immediately and arrived to discover her son had already been questioned for half an hour.

"I just about lost it," she said. "My 13 year-old son is supposed to be safe and secure in his classroom and he's being interrogated without my knowledge or consent privately."

The seventh grader said that once his mom showed up, the agent finished the interview and told him he was not in any trouble. Now he's more careful about what he posts online.

His mother says she isn't financially able to take legal action but hopes her family's story raises awareness about the treatment she said her son endured.

The Seattle branch of the Secret Service did not respond to requests for comment. KCPQ-TV

Where is the outrage from the leftist media? Ariana where are you.

Brantigny

Xray of one of two trucks full of Illegals

TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, Mexico (AP) — Police in Mexico’s southern Chiapas state found 513 migrants on Tuesday inside two trailer trucks bound for the United States.

Hundreds of thousands of migrants travel through Mexico each year in the hopes of reaching the United States, but this was the largest group rescued in recent years.

Chiapas state police discovered the migrants while using X-ray equipment on the trucks at a checkpoint in the outskirts of city of Tuxtla Gutierrez, the National Immigration Institute said in a statement.

Police also arrested four people accused of smuggling the migrants, who are from Central and South America and Asia, Chiapas state prosecutors said in a statement.

The alleged smugglers tried to escape police but were chased down and captured, prosecutors said.

The immigration institute said 410 of the migrants were from Guatemala, 47 from El Salvador, 32 from Ecuador, 12 from India, six from Nepal, three from China and one each from Japan, the Dominican Republic and Honduras. There were 32 women and four children among them.

The migrants told authorities they had agreed to pay $7,000 to be taken to the United States, the institute said.

In January, Chiapas state authorities discovered 219 migrants squeezed into a trailer truck.

Most of those migrants were from Central America but six were from Sri Lanka and four from Nepal.

The conditions of Mexico and the way the government there treats it's citizens is a human rights crime. Instead of attacking Lybia perhaps we should turn south and free our Mexican neighbors from their oppresive government. After beating them we can rebuild their country as we did Germany under the Marshall Plan.

Brantigny

Bear sightings lock down schools in NC

North Carolina is still a partial wilderness even though it has been settled since 1704.

Garner, N.C. — Children were being kept inside two Garner schools Wednesday morning after a bear was seen in the area, Wake County schools spokesman Greg Thomas said.

The bear was most recently seen at Garner Magnet High School. It walked along a fence surrounding the football and baseball practice fields, then headed west.

Raleigh Animal Control officers first got several calls about a bear near Woodland and Kelly roads around 8 a.m. About a half-hour later, Garner police got calls about a bear in woods near Hall Boulevard.

Officers spotted the bear themselves, then called state wildlife officers and notified nearby residents by phone.

Students are being kept inside Garner Magnet High School and Timber Drive Elementary School as a precaution, Thomas said. Vandora Springs Elementary School has resumed operating as normal.

Earlier, Timber Drive and Vandora Springs were under a Code Yellow lockdown, meaning that all the doors were locked while classes and indoor activities continued as usual.

Police urged people to leave the bear alone.

Well Duh!

Brantigny

500 Seals fought In Viet Nam, these fellows have met all 20,000 of them

Now a days I laugh and say I never met a former Soldier, or Sailor who wasn't a Green Beret or Seal. I even had an inmate tell me he was a former memebr of the Legion Etranger...

Steve Waterman, a former Navy diver, spends his time exposing fake Navy SEALs.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — As long as there have been Navy SEALs, there have been men pumping up their resumes or thumping their chests in bars with bogus claims of being one of the Navy’s elite warriors.

The latest crop includes a Pennsylvania minister who let his congregation believe he was a SEAL and repeated the lie to a newspaper, and there’s no sign of such bogus claims abating anytime soon, especially after a secretive team of Navy SEAL commandos killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

A retired Navy SEAL from Virginia who devotes much of his time to outing the phonies said he’s receiving 40 to 50 inquiries a day from people suspicious of claims by friends, neighbors or colleagues who say they’re SEALs. Their doubts are usually confirmed with just a few checks.

The Naval Special Warfare Command also receives a steady stream of inquiries about possible SEALs, the vast majority of which are debunked, said Lt. Cate Wallace, spokeswoman for the command in California.

And Larry Bailey, a retired SEAL from Chocowinity, N.C., estimates he and friends who are former SEALs have exposed 35,000 phonies through the years.

“There were about 500 SEALs that operated in Vietnam, and I’ve met all 20,000 of them,” Waterman joked.

Wannabes lie to get free beers, to get women into bed, to further their civilian careers or to get military benefits. But what really bugs retired SEAL Don Shipley is that they‘re stealing someone else’s valor – credit due to those who put themselves in harm’s way.


“The more outrageous a story is, in a lot of cases, the more it’s believed. These guys do a terrible amount of damage,” said Shipley, of Chesapeake, Va.

It’s easy to see why folks look up to the SEALs, trained to fight on sea, air and land, because they undergo some of the toughest military training in the world.

Out of each group of SEAL recruits, 70 percent fail to make it through a six-month training course that’s a test of mental and physical toughness, said Lt. Cate Wallace, spokeswoman for the Naval Special Warfare Command in California.

Those who become bona fide SEALs wear a gold trident. There are just 2,500 on active duty, many serving in the world’s most dangerous places.

What’s especially frustrating about people who have been exposed as frauds, Bailey said, is when they continue lying about their service.

Wallace said that those who are blatant in their deception or threaten the public safety are turned over to the U.S. attorney’s office for investigation.

In Pennsylvania, the Rev. Jim Moats from the Christian Bible Fellowship Church in Newville was called out by Shipley after he was quoted in The Patriot-News of Harrisburg talking about his life as a SEAL in Vietnam.

Later, he admitted he lied.

“It’s an ego-builder, and it’s just simply wrong,” Moats told the newspaper.

He didn’t return a call from The Associated Press.

Moats has plenty of company. These days, Bailey and several others are exposing phonies through a website, stolenvalor.com.

Steve Waterman, a retired Navy diver from South Thomaston, Maine, and a website participant, said it’s easy to ferret out the real deal from the phonies. Dead giveaways are loose tongues and bravado; SEALs are discreet, Waterman said.

Waterman, author of the book “Just a Sailor,” never had any desire to become a SEAL. “I watched them train. That was scary enough for me,” he said.

Shipley agreed that SEALs don’t talk about their exploits.

“It makes us uncomfortable,” he said. “We don’t like talking about it. But these (phonies), that’s what they crave. They like talking about cutting people’s throats.”

Last weekend, several dozen SEALs joined together as a Navy warship was christened at Maine’s Bath Iron Works in the name of Lt. Michael Murphy, a SEAL officer killed in Afghanistan.

Murphy scrambled into a clearing, exposing himself to a hail of Taliban gunfire in order to get a clear signal to call in reinforcements during a firefight on June 28, 2005. He was shot and later died along with two other members of his SEAL team and another 16 rescuers whose helicopter was shot down.

Nathanael “Lalo” Roberti, a former SEAL, was supposed to be on the helicopter that was shot down. He and seven others were ordered off because it was too heavy.

“I lost 11 of the best friends I’ve ever known, and some of the best men America has to offer,” said Roberti, who lives in San Diego.

“These guys are the tip of the spear.” from the Blaze...

Real Veterans can tell the bull shit.

Brantigny

Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood

SNAP PSYCHIATRIST SENT TO PRISON

OH SNAP!

Dr. Steve Taylor, a Louisiana psychiatrist who has worked with the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests (SNAP), has been sentenced to two years in prison for possession of child pornography.

The news drew the following response from Catholic League president Bill Donohue:

How many more morally debased psychiatrists are working with SNAP? Did SNAP leaders know about the leisure-time activities of Dr. Taylor? When did they know and what did they do about it? It's time we learned the truth. What we know already is nauseating.

In 2008, Dr. Taylor's computer was seized by the authorities after they learned that he was downloading child pornography. He was jailed on 107 counts at the time, and in September of last year a grand jury indicted him. The court accepted a plea bargain from him this week.

Dr. Taylor got off easy, at least according to his own standards. In 2003, speaking for SNAP clients, he argued that the confidentiality of the confessional seal should not be respected by the law. In a contemptuous statement against the Catholic Church, he voiced his objections to a unanimous decision by the Louisiana House Committee on the Administration of Criminal Justice protecting the confidential communication of priests, ministers, rabbis and other clergy members. He said at the time that the seal has to be broken because "We have faces now."

Well, SNAP, we now have the faces of the children your colleague downloaded to feed his sick habits. If breaking the priest-penitent privilege is something you support, will you now support turning over the patient records of Dr. Taylor? Will you support a probe of this matter? What if there is more evidence against him? What if there are more victims? You're always looking for new victims, aren't you? Strike when the iron is hot—who cares about psychiatrist-patient privilege?

Brantigny

Controversial pro-Obama priest would leave Church rather than take position at high school

The first words that children learn in Catholic school Kindergarten is "Obediance." Well they did when I was in Sister Mary Rategunde's Kindergarten class.

LifeSiteNews.com) – Controversial Catholic priest, Father Michael Pfleger of the Archdiocese of Chicago, has said publicly that he would leave the Church rather than submit to his appointment by Archbishop Francis George to the position of principal at Leo Catholic High School.

Fr. Pfleger has become notorious in recent years for his controversial views, including his highly public support for pro-abortion politicians, including President Barack Obama, and views on women’s ordination.

Over this past weekend, Fr. Pfleger announced on the public radio program, “Smiley & West,” that if he were given no alternative to his post at the Catholic high school, he would look for a position outside the Catholic Church.

“I want to try to stay in the Catholic Church,” Pfleger told show hosts Smiley and West. “If they say ‘You either take this principalship of [Leo High School] or pastorship there or leave,’ then I’ll have to look outside the church.”

Pfleger added, “I believe my calling is to be a pastor. I believe my calling is to be a voice for justice. I believe my calling is to preach the Gospel. In or out of the church, I’m going to continue to do that.”

Fr. Pfleger has been pastor at St. Sabina Catholic Church for some 30 years. Pfleger insisted he believed preaching and advancing the cause of social justice in a Catholic framework is his real calling.

A full-time position at Leo High School was out of the question, he said. “I’ve always said I could not do something that I don’t feel called or equipped to do,” he told the Chicago Tribune. “A full-time position at Leo is not something I’m equipped to do. I think Leo has made it clear they don’t see any need for me to come there. For both sides, it would be a lose-lose.”

Pfleger also said publicly on radio that he believes conservative Catholics and the National Rifle Association (NRA) are to blame for his proposed move. The priest says he is worried many Catholics of a more conservative vein have complained to the archbishop about his more controversial views, for example his support for women’s ordination and pro-abortion candidates.

Parishioners at St. Sabina’s also worry that if a more traditional priest were transferred to the parish, they would lose the “different kind of worship service” they enjoy with Fr. Pfleger.

“[Conservative Catholic and NRA complaints] combined and I guess the cardinal didn’t have anything to do one morning and decided he wanted to get rid of me again,” said Pfleger.

Pfleger told his parishioners that he wrote Archbishop George expressing his objections to a high school post. “It would be wrong to say what was in the letter without the cardinal’s response,” Pfleger told the packed church, according to Chicago Sun Times. “I have sent my suggestions and thoughts to the cardinal. I have also said to the cardinal that my desire is to remain at St. Sabina’s.”

Brings to mind this book about Marvin K Mooney

Brantigny

Why the 9/11 conspirators will not face the death penalty

WASHINGTON -- President Obama will have to personally sign the death warrant for 9/11mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed if the military tribunal he's going to face sentences him to the ultimate penalty.

Mohammed would likely have faced the death penalty in a civilian proceeding -- an avenue the Obama administration rejected yesterday after confronting withering pressure from lawmakers and families of Sept. 11 victims.

They did not want the trial held in lower Manhattan, only blocks from the scene of the monstrous crime.

The rules governing special military commissions, updated by a 2009 law, are entirely different.

The lives of the defendants would be in the hands of a jury of military officers in Guantanamo Bay who would follow special rules for evidence and witnesses.

Among the rules buried in a 2010 procedural manual is a provision that gives Obama ultimate authority over the man prosecutors will charge led the conspiracy to plan the deadly attacks.

"A punishment of death may be ordered executed only by the President," according to the manual.

The president would also have the authority to "commute, remit, or suspend the sentence, or any part thereof, as he sees fit."

But such a reprieve would be highly unlikely.

Obama has written that he backs the "ultimate punishment" in cases that are "heinous" and "beyond the pale."

A Senate staffer told The Post, "there are going to be all kinds of charges brought up on these [defendants] so they'll [Mohammed and his four co-conspirators] certainly be eligible for the death penalty."

But Joanne Mariner, who directs the human-rights program at Hunter College, said, "It's likely to be a really unpredictable trial.

"I've seen KSM in court. He basically tries to plead guilty every time he comes into the courtroom," she said.

That, strangely, could cause difficulty for prosecutors, because military-commission rules are ambiguous on whether a guilty plea is sufficient to get a defendant to the penalty phase.

Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have proposed legislation to clarify that defendants like Mohammed could still be executed if they choose to plead guilty and avoid trial.

Meanwhile, the White House and Attorney General Eric Holder backed the decision to try to Mohammed and his four co-conspirators at Guantanamo -- after realizing there was so much opposition to trying them in New York. Read more:

If they are sentenced to death, Obama will lose a voting base.

Brantigny

(un-) Consious Men Apologizing to Women

Idiots.

Brantigny

End of an era.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Frank Buckles enlisted for World War I at 16 after lying about his age. He made it home again and ultimately became that war's last surviving U.S. veteran, campaigning for greater recognition for his comrades-in-arms before dying at 110.

Buckles, who also survived being a civilian POW in the Philippines in World War II, died of natural causes Sunday at his home in Charles Town, biographer and family spokesman David DeJonge said. He was 110.

Buckles had been advocating for a national memorial honoring veterans of the Great War in the nation's capital and asked about its progress weekly, sometimes daily.

"He was sad it's not completed," DeJonge said Monday. "It's a simple straightforward thing to do, to honor Americans."

When asked in February 2008 how it felt to be the last of his kind, he said simply, "I realized that somebody had to be, and it was me." And he told The Associated Press he would have done it all over again, "without a doubt."

On Nov. 11, 2008, the 90th anniversary of the end of the war, Buckles attended a ceremony at the grave of World War I Gen. John Pershing in Arlington National Cemetery.

He was back in Washington a year later to endorse a proposal to rededicate the existing World War I memorial on the National Mall as the official National World War I Memorial. He told a Senate panel it was "an excellent idea." The memorial was originally built to honor District of Columbia's war dead.

Born in Missouri in 1901 and raised in Oklahoma, Buckles visited a string of military recruiters after the United States entered the "war to end all wars" in April 1917. He was repeatedly rejected before convincing an Army captain he was 18. He was actually 16 1/2.

"A boy of (that age), he's not afraid of anything. He wants to get in there," Buckles said.

Details for services and arrangements will be announced later this week, but DeJonge said Buckles' daughter, Susannah Flanagan, is planning for burial in Arlington National Cemetery. In 2008, friends persuaded the federal government to make an exception to its rules and allow his burial there.

Buckles had already been eligible to have his cremated remains housed at the cemetery. To be buried underground, however, he would have had to meet several criteria, including earning one of five medals, such as a Purple Heart.

Buckles never saw combat but joked, "Didn't I make every effort?"

"We have lost a living link to an important era in our nation's history," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki. "But we have also lost a man of quiet dignity, who dedicated his final years to ensuring the sacrifices of his fellow 'Doughboys' are appropriately commemorated."

U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller called Buckles "a wonderfully plainspoken man and an icon for the World War I generation" and said he will continue fighting for the memorial Buckles wanted.

"He lived a long and rich life as a true American patriot," said U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, "and I hope that his family's loss is lightened with the knowledge that he was loved and will be missed by so many."

The family asked that donations be made to the National World War One Legacy Project. The project is managed by the nonprofit Survivor Quest and will educate students about Buckles and WWI through a documentary and traveling educational exhibition.

More than 4.7 million people joined the U.S. military from 1917-18. As of spring 2007, only three were still alive, according to a tally by the Department of Veterans Affairs: Buckles, J. Russell Coffey of Ohio and Harry Richard Landis of Florida.

The dwindling roster prompted a flurry of public interest, and Buckles went to Washington in May 2007 to serve as grand marshal of the national Memorial Day parade.

Coffey died Dec. 20, 2007, at age 109, while Landis died Feb. 4, 2008, at 108. Unlike Buckles, those two men were still in basic training in the United States when the war ended and did not make it overseas.

The last known Canadian veteran of the war, John Babcock of Spokane, Wash., died in February 2010.

There are no French or German veterans of the war left alive.

Buckles served in England and France, working mainly as a driver and a warehouse clerk. An eager student of culture and language, he used his off-duty hours to learn German, visit cathedrals, museums and tombs, and bicycle in the French countryside.

After Armistice Day, Buckles helped return prisoners of war to Germany. He returned to the United States in January 1920.

Buckles returned to Oklahoma for a while, then moved to Canada, where he worked a series of jobs before heading for New York City. There, he again took advantage of free museums, worked out at the YMCA, and landed jobs in banking and advertising.

But it was the shipping industry that suited him best, and he worked around the world for the White Star Line Steamship Co. and W.R. Grace & Co.

In 1941, while on business in the Philippines, Buckles was captured by the Japanese. He spent more than three years in prison camps.

"I was never actually looking for adventure," Buckles once said. "It just came to me."

He married in 1946 and moved to his farm in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle in 1954, where he and wife Audrey raised their daughter. Audrey Buckles died in 1999.

In spring 2007, Buckles told the AP of the trouble he went through to get into the military.

"I went to the state fair up in Wichita, Kansas, and while there, went to the recruiting station for the Marine Corps," he said. "The nice Marine sergeant said I was too young when I gave my age as 18, said I had to be 21."

Buckles returned a week later.

"I went back to the recruiting sergeant, and this time I was 21," he said with a grin. "I passed the inspection ... but he told me I just wasn't heavy enough."

Then he tried the Navy, whose recruiter told Buckles he was flat-footed.

Buckles wouldn't quit. In Oklahoma City, an Army captain demanded a birth certificate.

"I told him birth certificates were not made in Missouri when I was born, that the record was in a family Bible. I said, 'You don't want me to bring the family Bible down, do you?'" Buckles said with a laugh. "He said, 'OK, we'll take you.'"

He enlisted Aug. 14, 1917, serial number 15577.

Weapons of Mass Effect?

...A curious interview by a local San Diego news station has some people wondering if terrorists are sneaking “weapons of mass effect” (WMEs) into the country through the sunny city’s ports. And while the idea may seem implausible, statements made by a port official, and the attempt by a public affairs official to direct his answer, appear to suggest WMEs have been found in San Diego.

While local ABC affiliate KGTV (ABC 10) was investigating San Diego port security last week, the news station interviewed Al Hallor, the assistant port director and an officer with Customs and Border Protection (CBP). During the conversation, reporter Mitch Blacher asked if Hallor’s office had ever found any WMEs in San Diego. Hallor admitted that while such devices have not been found at the port of San Diego, they have been found...

I wonder if Al Hallor has been transfered to a post near the artic circle for this answer...

If I were to be asked if I believe the goverment lies to it's citizens I wound have to say yes.

Brantigny

Modern day Martyrs.

...When we hear the word 'Martyr' we often imagine hard headed person who is so convinced in his/her faith that they are ready to give up their lives no matter what cometh their way. St.Lucia comes to mind, as she refused to give up her Catholic faith and as a result was brutally tortured, as the Romans pulled out her eyes as she was praising our Lord... more...

Jhesu+Marie,
Brantigny

Race baiting congress woman hates commercial,

Thanks to Represenative Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas for keeping us straight on this...

Pepsi showed this on Superbowl Sunday, but they should have passed it by "big sister" first.

..."sure enough, here comes the dumbest woman in the Congress to whine about it. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) took to the House floor Tuesday night to criticize what she called a "demeaning" Pepsi ad that aired during the Super Bowl.

In the ad for Pepsi Max, a black woman sitting on a park bench gets angry with her husband after an attractive, white female jogger sits down next to the couple and smiles and waves at the man.

After the man smiles back, his girlfriend or wife gets angry and whips her Pepsi Max can at him. The man ducks, and the can hits the attractive jogger in the head. The ad is titled "Love hurts."

I guess this should be the lesson for Pepsi. In order to avoid any "controversy" or "outrage" from the simpletons out there, be sure you have commercials with only black people or only white people. Don't ever mix the two races together or you'll be under siege by the race-mongers"... more here...

Brantigny

Federal government controls the message

Kappa Kappa Kappa frat

Hope College students protest school's response to "KKK" postersHOLLAND, Mich.- Students at hope college are not happy with their school's response to a racially-charged fake fraternity.

Close to 200 Hope College students took to the streets this morning to protest the college's response to recent racially motivated incident on campus.(via/WZZM13.com)

Posters were recently put up around campus, promoting a fake fraternity called "Kappa, Kappa, Kappa," and playing up the acronym "KKK."

"I was scared. I was actually scared," said Black Student Union Vice President Robert Phillips. "This poster says nothing but hate. It's murder, it's ignorance."

Those who took part in today's march are not satisfied with the president's written response. He condemns the posters, but students say it doesn't go far enough to create a inclusive feeling among people of all colors on campus.

"It just came off as an 'us' versus 'them'. We wanted to make sure that we're not here as a separate community," Phillips said. "We're here as one community and we're going to fight for the same issues."

"The way that it was worded, it make it sound like students of color our gracing our campus in a different way," said Hope Senior Julia Peterson. "They become 'the other."

Peterson says she expected a response, but that a march on campus may have been a bit extreme.

"I do think it was a bit of an overreaction," Peterson says. "The act itself was not intended, in my opinion, to be overtly racist."

During the march, students from the BSU presented letters to the president, addressing issues with race and diversity.

Student leaders say the confrontation was positive and they believe the administration is taking them seriously.

"The march wasn't to bash the administration, It was to let everyone know that we're here as one body, one spirit," Phillips said. "When things like that happen, we're here together, not as us versus them."

Note: An interesting result: While the students in the fake fraternity attempted to address issues with race and diversity it failed to prevent self-segregation among the protesters in the above photo.

Brantigny

Chris Matthews

One lesson I learned early check your sources, especially if you are a "Journalist". Note to the guy who got a tingle up his leg at the mention of Barack Obama winning the election. The Panama Canal is in... (drum roll please) PANAMA!-hence the name.

see more here...

A proffesor once told me that if one fact in a paper is wrong the paper must be discounted, because it casts a doubt upon the veracity of the whole.

Brantigny

A dog story

This story is all in fun. (Mostly)

I live in North Carolina. The newspapers around our neighborhood are replete with stories that announce the latest shoe polish colour coming in at the Super ***mart, the price of pig snouts, or how many leaves the 'bacca plants have gotten up to. OK, maybe not that bad but it is ridiculously poor, (and biased). So when I heard this story on the radio I ran to the birdcage to see if I had missed something. Apparently they missed it too.

When a dog bites a man, it is not newsworthy.

When a man bites a dog, it is also not newsworthy, (this is a rural area after all)

But when a 3 legged dog shoots his owner, THAT is news worthy!

I don't know how the dog lost it's leg, but I suspect the shooting was revenge, so this popped into my mind, "I shot him 'cause he shot my paw", but I won't go there.

I know that some will not believe me so here is the story...

Brantigny

Robert Howard, Hero.

What is not worth a Canadian Dollar?

The US dollar, it has been losing it's value against the Canadian dollar since last August. Chart.

Brantigny

Bhutan police raid homes to stub out smoking habit

Coming to a nation near you. Government unchecked.

THIMPU, Bhutan (Reuters Life!) – Bhutan police can raid homes of smokers in a search for contraband tobacco and are training a special tobacco sniffer dog in a crackdown to honor a promise to become the world's first smoke-free nation.

Buddhist Bhutan, where smoking is considered bad for one's karma, banned the sale of tobacco in 2005, but with a thriving tobacco smuggling operation from neighboring India, the ban failed to make much of an impact.

But legislation passed in the new year, granting police powers to enter homes, is set to stub out the habit, threatening five years in jail for shopkeepers selling tobacco and smokers who fail to provide customs receipts for imported cigarettes.

Smoking in private is not illegal in the Himalayan kingdom, but as the sale of cigarettes is banned, smokers are restricted to 200 cigarettes or 150 grams of other tobacco products a month that can be legally imported. And they must provide a customs receipt when challenged by police.

The Bhutan Narcotic Control Agency has started raids, with officials allowed to enter homes if someone is seen smoking or if officials have reason to believe there is illegal tobacco there.

There has been widespread grumbling about the new rule.

"When it comes to the penalties in the tobacco control act, it is, in every sense of the word, draconian," the country's largest selling newspaper, Kuensel, said in an editorial.

The Tobacco Act was passed in a joint sitting of parliament, with opposition from only four of the 65 voting members.

"It's a new year. And I have a new year's wish: that the first person to be caught and jailed under the Tobacco Control Act is a member of parliament," opposition leader Tshering Tobgay wrote on his popular blog.

Illegal cigarette sales - previously a major source of income for small shops - have almost stopped as shopkeepers say it will be difficult to hide tobacco from the sniffer dog.

"The sniffer dog is being trained at the moment. The dog will be able to sniff out tobacco products," said Major Phub Gyaltshen of the Royal Bhutan Police.

Bhutan's prime minister said the law cannot be called draconian and it was passed in the "collective wisdom" of the members of parliament.

"It is cancerous, both in the literal and the metaphoric sense, cancerous to society and to individual and in many ways it is no different from psychotropic drugs, for which the penalty in certain countries is death," Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley said.

Brantigny

I am a non-smoker.