A Muckraker Other

Another consequence of the war on drugs

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The Global Commission on Drug Policy has issued a befuddling verdict: aggressive drug policies , by estimates, spread, of all things, HIV and AIDS.

Whu, what?!

Growing conventional wisdom agrees the war on drugs fails to curtail, let alone terminate, rampant recreational drug use and drug trafficking but, as reported in Time magazine, an unforeseen result has it also increasing documented cases of immune disease. Click below to read the article:

War on drugs fuels HIV

BIG BROTHER what, what?

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Well we're four years removed from baby Bush but are we any farther from the dystopian future of Big Brother?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepete/2316949393/

Video of philippine inmates dancing to Thriller

"Thriller" in Philippines @ Yahoo! Video

I am loving this sterling!

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The pound currency takes some getting used to. It has a slew of funny-sounding names per denomination and weirdly sized coins - e.g., 2cents is much larger than 5cents - and, of course, the notes come in different colors and sizes as opposed to our simple one size greenbacks. BUT the biggest headache is getting used to the prices. The standard of living don't come cheap in Great Britain even if all you can afford is fish & chips and a pint to wash them down with!

But - ta-da! - I'm getting the hang of this British sterling...and loving it, darling. The pound has hit yet another high level against the euro. For one already expert at making the penny stretch this is welcomed news.

God save the Queen, y'all!

"Fear Itself"

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Denver artist Andy Bell took to the unusual medium Skittles candy to render an amazing portrait of George Zimmerman entitled "Fear Itself". The piece involves more than 10,000 candies! A lesser artist would have lazily simply called it "Killer".

(click here to read more about artist)

ObaMMA

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Ha! If only...

Anti-gay ain't homophobia

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I've met and known far more homophobic liberals, secularists, and democrats/progressives than homophobic conservatives, Christians, and republicans/traditionalists.

Let the motherfuckers burn

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Athens, Greece, is burning. Let it.

Enter condoms, exit raunchy porn

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As the reality of condom regulation looms for California's porn machine, it is very, very, very, VERY likely the bulk of porn studios will simply pull up stock and leave sunny, trashy L.A. for another section of the country where their reportedly $8 billion annual revenue will be "welcomed" if, albeit, morally condemned. It's no secret to the other forty-nine members of the Union, L.A. (and California as a whole) is full of itself (ditto NYC); so this latest dig in, of all industries, adult entertainment is probably water cooler fodder but, hell, that's only for those fortunate enough to have a job from which to take a work break. The law which would legally require porn shoots use condoms is commonly referred to as Measure B.

Read all about it:

Porno mulls leaving Los Angeles

UPDATE: Measure B passed. Can I get a whoop-whoop!

Feliz Ano Nuevo 2012

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I live my life to be able to look any man in the eye and, if need be, tell him to go to Hell. What you think of me is none of my business. To quote Johnnie Walker, Keep walking....

New Years 2012
(Istanbul, Turkey)

Greek airport security (Athens)

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I get the full-body pat down, including two-finger swipe around the inside of my waistband. And although the X-ray machines were being used they did not work either because my carry-on luggage had everything removed from it.

Read more: Don't Go To Canuckistan; ó Rick Steves Blows: Racist Greek airport security (Athens)

So...the First Lady don't got back?

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I missed this news item (I don't have television in Athens) about a GOP somebody sneering about the First Lady's ample posterior...which, apparently, is not so ample after all...?
This rebuff comes courtesy of a website devoted to publishing photographs of Michelle Obama.

So...Michelle don't got back? They say the proof is in the picture (or was that pudding?)

I don't argue with Scientology. I ignore it.

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Scientology is so full of...itself. It wants to be academic (reachable) and inclusive while, at the same time, above it all (supernatural). And Scientologists are sure they can help me because they and their spaceship and yachts and compounds are the answer to the world's problems.

Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way to do it would be start his own religion. -L. Ron Hubbard, science fiction author who later started the Church of Scientology (1911-1986)

I used to not have any qualms about this group - and I still love Tom Cruise movies - but Scientology's smug self-importance has rubbed thin. When "fishing" they strive for debates -- albeit with a smile. I don't stop in the streets and argue with Catholics or Jehovah's Witnesses over their doctrines and I don't intend to do so with friendly Scientologists. Scientology's crusade against pharmaceuticals' over medication for Man's ills is all very real and good but L. Ron Hubbard, the man, was a big, fat phony.
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Son of a field negro

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Seen on a man's T-shirt in Paris last month:

Son of a Field Negro

... the struggle continues

My memoir is better than his

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As this Penn State U. boy scandal unfolds, the dry turd is going to smell fresher and fresher. I just learned the title of Jerry Sandusky's memoir is, get this, "Touched" (2000).
Damn, and I thought my book's title was self-explanatory!

vs.

Bye-bye Berlusconi

Don't Go To Canuckistan; ó Rick Steves Blows: - What a difference a year makes. Last year around this time I was in Rome - saw the Coliseum, Vatican City, the pyramid, Sistine Chapel!...

(click title to read more)

From the fridge to the ditch

The old pimp colonel has finally been dumped in the ground Muslim fashion after being on display P.T. Barnum fashion - how rightfully undignified! - in a commercial meat locker for relieved and curious spectators; Guess you can he went from the fridge to the ditch (sorry, I does like rhyme and cadence).

Qadhafi had it all -- and blazed out in a dramatic fall. It's been said so, so many times it's testament to human-ness: Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. What part of that didn't you get Moamar? Jesus, it's like talking to a guy with shit for brains -- or a hole in his head.

Qadahfi: The rat bastard is dead

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Oh so this is how you kill a rat dictator: click to see raw footage (graphic)

In honor of his favorite color, the link is green!

And, yeah, he really was a bastard...didn't have or even know his French father.

Failed multiculturalism in Germany

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Germany's chancellor, the über Teutonic Angela Merkel, had some tough words to her nation: this whole intermingling diversity thing just ain't working.

Michael Stern Hart 1947 - 2011 (E-book pioneer)

Mr Hart is the man we have most to thank for electronic books, or e-books, as we now know them. Way, way back in 1971 (the "personal computer" didn't even exist because conventional wisdom cried, Who would want to take work home?) as a freshman at the University of Illinois he had access to the mainframe computer and, bored silly, typed the entire Declaration of Independence into the system. When six people downloaded it the young Hart was encouraged to go forth.

He called himself a "cyber-hippie" (but did a stint in the US Army before college) and would go on to found Project Gutenberg, an online library. Quoted in the Chicago Tribune in 1999:

I'm not doing this to make the academic community happy. I am a revolutionary in this neo-industrial revolution. That's why they have trouble with me. How can anyone be troubled by free information?

He died in Urbana, Ill. He was sixty-four.

Project Gutenberg

Woman journalist questions male audiences preference for action heroes

This summer's unleash of comic book heroes on the big screens prompted Tribune newspapers writer Rebecca Keegan to pen "Flex time" in which she questioned the merit of so much cinematic muscular action on male audiences. Her cornerstone concern: Muscular summer actions have swaggered back into style [as opposed to the prima donna pretty boys, anti-heroes, and boyish action stars like Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker/Spider Man] but what are they saying to male audiences?

My beef with this 'concern' is why isn't it ever asked aloud regarding the chorus line of effete, scrawny, unmanly and queer characters ubiquitous on television (cable and network) and popping up all over movies? Seems to be that influence warrants an obvious "Hmmm?" But it's not asked in the Tribune newspapers or Newsweek or sophisticated style magazines - Esquire, GQ, Vanity Fair - because that would come off as, oh, intolerant...small-minded...homophobic...male chauvinistic.

Jason Momoa as Conan

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - the wonderful actor Guy Pierce was very believable! - Glee, The Big Bang Theory (which is not remotely funny), Ugly Betty apparently say nothing of import to the blockbuster demographic 17-34 y/o males but too many macho images and intellectuals want to organize dialogues. Thor, Captain America, the Green Lantern, Conan the Barbarian, and HBO's "Game of Thrones" all cut a swath through viewership this summer. No shortage of testosterone and biceps there!

All these manly muscle men leave some experts, according to Keegan, to "tempt men both in and outside of show business to consider using illicit products to keep up" because, hey, "steroid use still occurs in Hollywood." There are also dozens of fitness centers and body transformers ("gym" is oh so Neanderthal) and real live models all over L.A. fueling the billion dollar fitness industry. It is possible for boys and men to improve self-esteem via building muscle and to go at it naturally and sanely. The question isn't what influence behemoth action characters have on men - that's obvious - but why male audiences still prefer said characters? But, then again, that's obvious too --it's just a thorn in some academics' sides.

Original Muscle Beach in Venice Beach, CA

It could be worse

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And, Lawd, don't I know it first hand! This is me working at optimism during peaceful, good times: It could be worse. I tell myself this now so as not to be broadsided by the sudden ill wind. Of course it can always be worse or better, but compared to what?!

I use specifics.

Although I'm without steady work it could be worse:

I'm in a much, much, much better situation than General Qaddahfi. Here is a man who has gone from ruling and owning a country for 42 years to hiding in underground tunnels -- like a rat. On top of that media outlets can't agree on a uniform spelling of his name. Damn, you'd think a world leader would at least have his name gotten right.
I have a clean place to sleep and eat and take hot showers and work online.
I have helpful friends.
the funds are low but I'm not piss poor broke! nor hounded by creditors.
I'm not washed up like lesbian Lindsay Lohan
I'm not a worthless piece of shit like the pitiful lot of homeless addicts I see in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Scary mofos!
I don't have broken bones
my sense of humor is still intact, too

Greendot prepaid cards = ANOTHER SCAM

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Avoid the trap of buying one of these cards. Consumer complaints about them and PayPal are eerily similar: THEY TAKE YOUR MONEY and give you the runaround about sending out an investigation team.

The Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial (D.C.)

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The new memorial sits on the Washington Mall between statues of Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson and stands a huge 30 feet tall.

"The sculpture depicts King with a stern expression, wearing a jacket and tie, his arms folded and clutching papers in his left hand. Lei said through his son that "you can see the hope" in King's face, but that his serious demeanor also indicates that "he's thinking."

The  statue depicts King emerging from a stone. The concept for the memorial  was taken from a line in the "I Have a Dream" speech, which is carved  into the stone: "Out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope."  Visitors to the memorial pass through a sculpture of the mountain of  despair and come upon the stone of hope.

The National Mall site will be surrounded with cherry trees that will blossom in pink and white in the spring."

"...A stone of hope" is so much more than President Obama has turned out to be. Instead of laying down a standard of new shoes to fill the nation's first black president - just saying that still rings amazing - proves just how hard it is to match up to a giant of a man who was a helluva leader.

It's raining points

My beef with FedEx

Before leaving Mexico I shipped a parcel to a relative in the States. Using the online tracking system I saw the parcel arrived to FedEx office in Virginia where my relative lives. Next thing I know I'm receiving a text from my relative saying the package was back en route to Mexico! Turns out the lazy bums NEVER - never - tried to deliver the parcel to the house address but, instead, relied on telephoning the house. Since the phone was never answered FedEx returned the item from whence it came and refused to send it back to Virginia because the company didn't want to pay for the cost.

Back in Mexico I figure I could have a friend pick it up. No dice. Mexican Customs assigned a $117usd cost to it and unless I 1) paid the Customs fee and 2) paid another delivery fee the parcel is to remain in FedEx warehouse -- barring no employee has stolen it already.

Since FedEx took my money and failed to actually attempt to DELIVER the parcel and in the act of returning it "to sender" incurred a steep Customs charge I feel I don't warrant fault at all. I've spent months calling telephone customer service and really worry the parcel, which I went through so much effort to mail, will be stolen.

This sounds like a matter for the small claims courts.

netSpend is a bogus, sneaky business

I went out and bought a netSpend debit card from a typical check cashing store in order to book a room at a nearby hotel whose policy it is to not sell to non-plastic customers. (Has this credit crisis taught Americans nothing?) It takes only 4.95 to get the card going and I started it with ten dollars. Afterwards I promptly called the company's activation number, entered a PIN and had the card activated. Was able to book the room online (but I still paid for the room in cash, thus not using any of the ten dollar balance)!

When I went back to the check cashing store to add money to the card I was told the card was blocked. When I called the company the rep explained my account/profile was insufficient unless I sent verification of address plus my SSN card. What?! Apparently my identity doesn't match up with my identity although he was "prevented" from detailing exactly what information was askew in the name of "privacy." Right...so how exactly can I remedy the confusion if I don't know where the confusion starts?

more complaint stories about netSpend

At any rate if this so-called financial institution can't research and validate one's SSN and gov't approved identification (I used my passport), then how much better can it do with a copy of my SSN card - which is NEVER accepted as proof of person - and L.A. address?? Barring these documents I "do not qualify"...for a disposable debit card. Right....

Then he goes on to try to confuse me with credit versus debit versus gift certificate; and depending on how I used it I could purchase items via credit or debit. I wasn't buying it.

a debit card is a debit card, not a credit card!

For one, netSpend is not a credit card. Therefore I shouldn't have to "qualify" for credit.
Secondly, debit means I am spending my own money; what I use is from what I put in -- and there is no qualification to spend one's money.
Thirdly, netSpend just as quickly takes money for everything: 50cents to check your balance offline; $1 to $2 for shopping with it; and another monthly fee to maintain it.

These netSpend cards are only sold at currency exchanges where the vast demographic of customers are poor, uneducated, often times stupid, and possess no traditional bank accounts, home property, or even a personal computer; they use money orders instead of checks and likely receive some gov't dole. netSpend is another gimmick to play on their ignorance.

I told the netSpend rep he was full of shit and so was netSpend's sneaky policy, and that I would not be faxing over any further documents.

I had to contact them regarding this "blocked" business. A real bank notifies its customers when something is not quite right but netSpend told me it doesn't contact customers for, again, "protection of privacy". Bull! I'm filing a consumer complaint and one with the BBB.

"N-word" is for talking heads. I'm "Nigga"

It's taken me years to complete the manuscript and publish the doggone work but - whew! - now it is done! Holla! Begun nine years ago in Puerto Rico, outlined in Belize, illustrated in Mexico, completed in Indiana and California, and carried with me everywhere in between (I know how JK Rowling felt going through the airport with her manuscript), the book Autobiography of an American Nigger in San Juan (non-fiction) was finally published last week and is available in paperback, hardcover, and PDF download.
To preview the book click on the cute Lulu button!

Osama Bin Laden DEAD??

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That's the BREAKING NEWS headline I just read on Yahoo! News...although Yahoo! is not known for being very newsworthy (but I use it for email).

So...the big, bad boogie man, Osama Bin Laden is dead? We'll see.
And we'll see if our lives can go back to normal after this shit.

Demagogue Beck has FOX show pulled

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Glenn Beck will have one less medium from which to spew his white man's-burden bullshit. FOX is pulling his show!

To guote George Sand

Success obtained by an unworthy appeal to the passions of an age is the easiest to achieve but the least honorable to aim for.

I'm Feeling Good. I LOVE MY LIFE

The pimp dictator is fucked

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Moammar Gaddafi is fucked. That's it. Period.
But those bitches will kill ya if you gets too close to their Gaddafi. Booyah!

Kanye's "racist" understatement

Now the former president reveals in an interview with Matt Lauer that he was/is truly bothered by rapper Kanye West's telethon outburst - "George Bush doesn't care about black people" - and regards it as one of the most disgusting moments of his Presidency. If you believe that, I have a squirt of sperm for your eye.

Here is a disastrous "war president" who failed at

war
the economy
bi-partisanship
international cooperation
uniting the nation
finding WMDs
and capturing Osama Bin Laden

and was widely lambasted as incompetent and criminal...yet he takes umbrage at being labeled heartless to a bloc of citizens he ignored (black Americans) because they didn't vote for him anyway (non-constituencies)? Nigga, pleaaase.
At any rate, Mr West's bluntness proved to be a fierce understatement: Bush didn't care about ANY Americans; except, partially, the "Have's and the Have-more's" which made up his financial base.

Gay suicides: the new missing white girl

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So now the nation is suffering from a "spate", a "rash", an epidemic of homosexual youth suicides. NOT. The media does this shit every time a winning formula comes along - and there is always a new winning formula - because, true to their code, If it bleeds, it leads.

If one little white child goes missing, then suddenly every news report for the following two weeks is about another kidnapping. But only if they are white; apparently very few kidnappers are desperate enough to steal a black child. Hello! If one white co-ed is raped, then suddenly all we hear about are raped co-eds. If a tornado strikes down in Baton Rouge, then suddenly weathermen as far flung as Los Angeles are cautioning viewers about the erratic possibilities of tornadoes coming to town.

And now a senior Obama adviser is playing up the bias. Valerie Jarret gave a speech at the gay Human Rights Campaign endorsing the gay bullying paranoia. The nation is not in the grips of homosexuals offing themselves. The nation is in the grips of a fear-mongering media...and a recession.

Effective immediately: "Don't ask, don't tell" injunction

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OMG...and WTF?!!

A fictional homosexual Greek soldier

A real homosexual (former)American soldier

Out of the closet and out of their minds

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Who are homosexual activists to think they can edit and approve preachers' sermons?! Do they seriously think every individual is a populist-pacifying politician? These homosexual folk are so thrilled to be out of the closet, they've gone out of their minds.

The Mormon Church will do well to suggest the gays roll up that petition of 150,000 email signatures and sit on it - except that would only further their inclination for sodomy. Not only is it ludicrous to demand/ask/suggest a pastor edit his sermon to his congregation because it offends you, an outsider, but it is somewhat more ludicrous to harbor any delusions the pastor will acquiesce to you, an outsider.

Homosexual folk are so thrilled to be out of the closet, they've gone out of their minds

And the pimping of these tiny number of suicides is repugnant. The Mormon pastor's sermon did not cause the deaths of young homosexuals. At any rate, it's a fact that nearly EVERYONE has contemplated suicide at some point in their lifetimes; but one drawback of youth is the tendency to register all things in fatalistic zero-sum terms: a low school mark, college admission rejection, peer group shun, a girl's rejection, falling down in the cafeteria all signify the end of the world; while a straight-A report card, college admission acceptance, high popularity, a girl's acceptance, and being crowned King and Queen of the prom is proof-positive God has a purpose for you in life.

You don't have to be a gay in order to become a suicide, which, like homosexuality, is a conscious choice. Lots of people committed suicide last week and they weren't homosexuals. Can I get an Amen!

I better play them numbers

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Today's date is 10.10.10.
Oooooh ain't that a groovy spin!

This baby raps original lyrics !!

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Ain't this little something-something something else! I don't know what he's holding onto in his britches but P-Nut is turning ém out.

On the road to Glory indeed

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What to make of the sudden demise of a church leader and his followers in a freak accident on the road? Why, naturally, a bad joke. The good folks, maybe they even paid their taxes, loved to sing hymns about meeting the Creator and here they were on the road to Glory without even knowing it - not until, maybe, the second revolution of the vehicle. Da Lawd does not always call ye peacefully!

The tragedy is as helplessly ironic,ergo tongue-in-cheek, as the Segway owner who inadvertently rode a Segway off a 30ft. cliff. Hello!

This baby sings pop !!

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This little runt can beat it-beat it. The seat belt chokes him but it doesn't slow his roll. Gone with yo bad self!

This baby recites poetry !!

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Here is a three-year old child reciting a poem that's as long as J. Lo's divorce count. Hello!

I went to Lörrach but didn't get shot (Germany)

Damn. I was just in Lörrach last week and left it on Saturday. Talk about timing!

Gun-toting bitch kills in German town

Practice makes perfect

The precision of these Japanese students is nothing short of amazing

This is too funny

Gov. Jan Brewer's Opening Statement - 9/1/2010 Debate @ Yahoo! Video

Black U.S. congresswoman receives honorary degree

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Gone with yo bad self, Congresswoman Diane Watson!

The politician receives an honorary doctorate (political science) from Chung-Ang University in Seoul, Korea for her professional work towards U.S. - Korean relations. After more than twenty-six years in congress the Los Angeles representative is retiring this year to spend "more time" with her 100 year old mother.

Can you believe this bitch?!

This German pop star Nadja Benaissa, about whom I've never heard a thing despite her being one of the country's "biggest" stars, has made headlines, and eyes roll, with her admission of knowingly spreading AIDS. Whuuuhh? Bitch! Miss Benaissa is standing trial this week for "grievous bodily harm and attempted aggravated assault."

Oh the name of her all-girl band? Why, No Angels.

Mexican president IS trying to effect change

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Bless his heart, Mexican President Calderon is trying to make the buck stop but the drug cartels are as massive and slippery a problem to clean up as the BP oil spill. (I don't know why American motorists haven't effectively boycotted BP gas stations. Tea Party nuts like the symbolism of dumping tea in the ocean but, apparently, are not so bothered by oil in the same. Go figure)

related AP news report

Pissed off by the super low conviction rates President Calderon is calling prosecutors and judges to the carpet about the essentially empty arrests. Hopefully he can inject action where before there is only show and tell.

New al-Qaida leader American bred ?

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Apparently now ANOTHER Muslim American citizen is at the helm of the terrorist drawing board. Now our CIA and FBI can verify this? Conveniently after baby Bush and his neo-conservatives are out of office from supposedly securing our "homeland" for two terms...? I'm loathe to quote Penn & Teller put the situation warrants it: Bullshit!

I don't believe a word of this AP news article: AP Exclusive: New al-Qaida leader knows US well.

The Public is being led on a ghost chase -- again. And what's with Jose Padilla? How the heck does a Jose cross over to al-Qaida when they can't even pass American high school curriculum?! I've always thought Mr Padilla was -- is -- a scapegoat. Maybe he's a petty criminal or disaffected youth or something, but a terrorist? Sell that shit to the outside-looking-in rednecks who think Glenn Beck or Limbaugh speak the truth.

Mexico's showy justice system

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One of the tasteless spectacles of Mexico's justice system is its protocol for parading arrested people. Suspects, known cartel heads, bar fights...it doesn't matter. Police handcuff the individual to the back of the pick-up truck and/or actually places the arrested person(s) before the media. The juicier the supposed infraction, the more wattage the press conference.

They love to broadcast shame and cast stones. Very little is worth doing if the equation isn't zero-sum; put another way, if the other person isn't humiliated then what have I gained? According to a recent AP news article, Mexico justice means catch and release, this showy feature is more important and a bigger fixture to Mexico's justice system than the more important element of prosecution. Which just goes to prove nothing outdoes Mexico's number one attribute: corruption.

Say, "Queso!"

Remembering 9/11 workers...NOT!

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It must suck to be an ill 9/11 worker. It's bad enough being sick -- I hate being sick and slowed down -- but to be made into a long-suffering martyr sucks ass. The bill (James Zadroga 9/11 Health & Compensation Act) to fund health care and compensation for those crew workers of the now infamous Ground Zero failed passage in the House chambers.

This means the once dust covered and praised Everyman "heroes" will not get serious medical treatment unless they can afford it, and since many (most?) can't afford said treatment they'll just have to summon that hero strength, dig their heels in the trenches and cough their way through the court system for any recourse toward compensation. Can I get a whoop-whoop! Let's see how many more 9/11's those folks and their families will pause for in remembrance. Meanwhile the whole former Bush Administration is going on with their lives and careers and enjoying the fruits of their CVs. Ditto Osama Bin Laden.

they'll just have to summon that hero strength and cough their way through the court system for any recourse toward compensation

The ill 9/11 rescue workers dug into the former site of the World Trade Center and were willing to rescue people for unsung praises and unsung glory --- and that's just what they got. That's one helluva trade off. Hey, when you takes your chances, you takes your chances.

humonphotography.com

Mrs Pingpongchang got beat down dang

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Heard the one about the Turk with the lamp shade? Good, then I don't have to repeat it. What about Mrs Chingchongfu?

Here goes: So a Chinese lady walks into a police precinct and gets the shit beat out of her -- only thing is this Asian momma was going to visit her husband, a police official. But, aside from moral corruption and thuggery, you can't fault the plainclothes swine for mistaking the senior party leader's wife for just another pesky petitioner: they all look alike! Apparently they can't even tell each other apart.

According to the report, had the brainwashed policemen knew she was the devoted wife of a devoted Communist official they would not have welcomed her with a "strong wave of fists for more than 16 minutes," leaving the missus with a concussion and probably a throbbing wonderment of, Why the fumanchu ¡#@!%? did I ever favor the Communist regime??

Of course USA isn't above lawful thuggery. Just ask Martin Lee Anderson. Be sure to hire a Medium, though, because the teenager is dead. The all-white jury found the boot camp counselors not guilty. And had it not been for video tape of the murder the bastard pigs and the boot camp company would never have seen the inside of a court room.

Remembering Martin Lee Anderson, 14

USA President in over his head

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As any follower of this website knows -- and I know there are not many -- my pride in and support for President Obama is there; it is real, it is meaty, it is there. But, still, so is my wonderment at his achieving the highest office in the land, arguably the most powerful and influential seat in the world. And now that seat is meeting the ass of a black man...glory be!

How did this man -- this political nobody, one-term U.S. senator from the Midwest who grew up much of his childhood without a father and, not too much long afterward, without a mother, offspring of interracial love -- with a funny sounding and unquestionably foreign, nay, un-American name (oh shut up, it is) become United States President on his first run?? His very first try with less than ten years in Washington! No, he's not the only candidate to do so but, my, is it awesome and, for me, at least, mind-boggling!

But, yes, I think he's been "tapped" or chosen by the real Invisible Hand, the old world powers-that-be. This amounts to conspiratorial blahddy-blah, I know, but, still, it makes more sense than what "actually" happened...or he has one helluva beginner's luck! Oh I'm proud to say Barack Obama IS my president, the President of the United States; but he's in over his head.

There is a principle -- which is compatible with the presumption of innocence, and is deeply ingrained in our sense of justice -- that individuals wrongly accused of a crime should suffer neither stigma nor adverse consequences by virtue of an arrest or criminal accusation not resulting in conviction.

NYC Gov David Paterson

THIS IS A LIE

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"The best way to open doors around the world is to obtain a U.S. passport," P.J. Crowley said.

Clearly this U.S. State Dept spokesman is not referring to black American passport holders. My document is sometimes treated with the respect of a city metro card by border patrol; believe it or not, some countries do not believe black people are from America id est are bona fide American citizens. And what's the response of the American embassy or State Dept? They shrug their bootlicking shoulders and tell me, "Oh well. We can't control other people's borders. They are sovereign countries."

Opens doors around the world, my black ass...yeah when an idiot racist or moron who doesn't like the shape of your nose isn't working the shift.

Something fishy with this State Dept and passports

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What the hell are Obama and Hillary Clinton doing? I'm so glad I'm in Europe.

French athletes arrogant? Mais no!

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After reading a World Cup recap on Yahoo! sports in which at one point the author described the French team as

a bunch of arrogant, petulant, overpaid stars who questioned [the coach's] authority and didn’t even have the decency to turn up for training ahead  of their final match. A government inquiry was set up upon their return  home, but it could take a long time to get to the bottom of this  debacle.

I thought to myself, It's the French. So what else is new?