Bollywood Bond girl Aishwarya Rai Bachchan furious over Elle magazine cover 'skin-whitening' scandal

Leave it to those elitist mag honchos that think white is the template of beauty for the entire world. How little do they know women of color are the most beautiful.

The Daily Mail reports that fans of Aishwarya Rai Bachchan were left stunned last week after the actress's skin appeared to have been digitally lightened on the cover of a new issue of Elle magazine.

Now the 37-year-old Bollywood star, who is widely believed to be the world's most beautiful woman, is said to be considering suing the Indian version of the title over what has been deemed 'racist airbrushing'.

The actress herself has not commented on the situation, but friends
'Aishwarya's first reaction was disbelief,' said one.

'She believed that these things don't happen anymore. Not in this day and age when women are recognised for their merit, and not for the colour of their skin.

'She is currently verifying this skin-whitening allegation. If there is any proof of this, she might even take action.'

More details here

New Mexico gov Bill Richardson says he won’t pardon Billy the Kid

Wow, I didn’t know this was even an issued in the 21st century. The only thing I know about Billy the Kid is how he was portrayed by Emilio Estevez in Young Guns.

Yahoo News reports that the rehabilitation of Billy the Kid lies dead in the dust.

In one of his last official acts — or non-acts — before leaving office, New Mexico's governor refused to pardon the Old West outlaw Friday for one of the many murders he committed before he was gunned down in 1881.
Gov. Bill Richardson cited ambiguity surrounding the pledge of a pardon 130 years ago as the reason.

"I felt I could not rewrite history," Richardson told The Associated Press, hours after announcing his decision on ABC's "Good Morning America" on his last day in office.

The prospect of a pardon for the notorious frontier figure drew international attention to New Mexico, centering on whether New Mexico territorial governor Lew Wallace promised Billy the Kid a pardon in return for testifying about killings he witnessed.
Richardson concluded Wallace did make a deal, "but it's uncertain why he did not keep his promise," said the former U.N. ambassador and Democratic presidential candidate.

He said he could not pardon Billy the Kid given that ambiguity and the fact he killed two deputies when he escaped in April 1881 from the Lincoln County jail, where he was awaiting hanging for the 1878 killing of Sheriff William Brady.

A pardon document was even drafted, "but in the end, I didn't use it," said Richardson, adding that he didn't decide until Thursday night.
The proposed pardon covered only the killing of Brady, and not the deaths of the deputies or any other killings. According to legend, Billy the Kid killed 21 people, although the New Mexico Tourism Department puts the total closer to nine.

He was shot to death by Sheriff Pat Garrett in July 1881.
Albuquerque attorney Randi McGinn, who petitioned for a pardon after studying the issue, said she won the battle in proving there was a promise but lost the war over the pardon. She said, however, she didn't regret "one iota being Billy the Kid's lawyer."
Garrett's grandson, J.P. Garrett, of Albuquerque, sent an e-mail to The Associated Press: "Yea!!! No pardon! Looks like it will be a great new year!!!!"

Wallace's great-grandson, William Wallace, of Westport, Conn., said Richardson "followed the correct, rational track in forgoing a pardon for a convicted murderer."

Both men had expressed outrage Richardson would even consider a pardon, arguing there was no proof one was ever offered.
The historical record is unclear, Richardson said. His staff told him in August there are no written documents "pertaining in any way" to a pardon in the papers of the territorial governor, who served from 1878 to 1881.

Richardson's successor, Gov. Susana Martinez, who takes office Saturday, has said she won't even consider a pardon because state issues were more pressing.

"There's an awful lot of work to be taken care of for us to be wasting so much time on such a consideration," the Republican said Tuesday.
Richardson's office set up a website in mid-December for public comments following McGinn's petition. The survey that ended Sunday brought in 809 e-mails and letters from all over the world — 430 favoring a pardon and 379 opposed.

McGinn argued Lew Wallace promised to pardon the Kid, also known as William Bonney. She said the Kid kept his end of the bargain, but the territorial governor did not.

McGinn said Friday she was disappointed by Richardson's decision but thrilled the pardon question sparked interest. She said she hoped people would come to New Mexico, see letters Billy the Kid wrote to Wallace, walk Lincoln's single street and decide for themselves whether Billy the Kid was "the Robin Hood of the West or a notorious killer."

More details here

Memeorandum

Happy New Year to my UK readers!

Thanks for visiting TLT. You've helped make 2010 a great leap forward in traffic for this blog.

Please leave commnets or feedback on how 2011 can be better year.

"Top 10 Politician Promises Gone Wrong" -John Stossel

I found this vid at Proof Postive. It’s 42 min long but well worth your time to see how the promises politicos make never pan out.

How dumb is Ezra Klein of the Washington Post? Answer: Extremely dumb when it comes to the U.S. Constitution and he’s not alone (Video)

The following video is an excellent teachable moment of how Liberals view the constitution.



Liberals are ignorant of the constitution because they’ve never read it or if they have they utterly ignore it as is the case with Ezra Klein.

He’s is not alone!

President Barack Obama views the constitution as a document of “negative rights’. Basically, Liberals, who by the way feel the need to call themselves Progressives to fool the public, have a disdain for our founding document because it is a hindrance to them and their “big government” is the answer to everything ways.

Because of Liberals, 50 million abortions have been performed in this country since 1973.

Because of Liberals there are more pot shops than Starbucks on street corners of California.

Because of Liberals we no longer have prayer in the public schools and look how much the education has declined.

Because of Liberals there are more Planned Parenthood centers in African American neighborhoods than any other group. Do you think that’s really a coincidence?

This is only a snippet of the ills of Liberalism that doesn’t believe in the values that has founded this nation. They do much more harm than good and are never held to account for the damage they inflict because it’s always done under the banner of “fairness” and “social justice”.
Break out the box and think for yourself!

In the past and in the present whenever there are any cuts made to the education budget or cuts to government jobs you will find socialist in the streets protesting to "fight back" against the cuts. But after a hundred or so years, we as a movement in the United States need to sit back and think to ourselves "is this really working for us? is this really productive to our cause? is this really raising consciousness among workers? Or is this showing the average US citizen that reforism works?"



Is fighting back against the cuts working for us? (By 'us' meaning communist orgs and groups) There are a lot of ways to approach this question and many more ways to answer it. The short answer is no. When we do 'fight back' we do not gain members nor does it raise awareness to real communist theories and ideas, or even radical ideas for a matter of fact. Some say "well if we advance communist slogans and try to organize as communist than no one will show up to the protest" Well to that I would say: "What is the point of being a communist organizer if you never organize for communism?" Some people feel like if other people are not organizing a group of people to yell at the US government for whatever reason they can find then they are bad communist and "arm chair revolutionaries". But I do not see these people who organize liberals into protesting as any more revolutionary than actual arm chair revolutionaries. In fact these organizers do little but reassure liberals that reformism works and that there is no need to revolt against the current capitalist system. Why would liberals radicalize if they think it is possible to reform capitalism from the inside or outside? which we all know is not possible.



Is this productive for the communist cause? While getting into the streets may cause direct contact with other people it actually draws people away from revolutionary socialism. As said above it only leads people to believe that reformism is possible and thus kills the idea of the need for revolution in the minds of the people. Although getting into the streets along with other people who are screaming can be inspirational to the communist but this inspiration is founded on false grounds because the bulk of the people around you are not in any way revolutionary. It would actually be better for the cause if we took anti-reformist stances and didn't participate in the organizing of liberals into shout squads. If the woman of this nation knew what the communist did for her as far as woman rights goes, if the average worker knew what communist have gone through to win him/her their workers rights then maybe 'communist' wouldn't be such a bad work. If workers knew what the world would look like without the 'reds' before us that organized so hard for their minimum wage and workers rights then they would be flocking to our revolutionary cause. But some socialist's constant complacency to just organize and move liberals in the streets in the name of "fight the power" for mere reforms are keeping us at the same numbers in memberships. Yes we know some of the protester based orgs are growing right now but as soon as it comes time to revolt these same orgs that are now growing would lose most of their membership. But what else should these orgs actually expect? When you advance liberal slogans you attract a liberal following and liberals will always chose flight before revolt. If these groups advanced communist slogans they would attract communist and maybe even convert a few fence sitting liberals over to our side.



Is this type of campaigning raising workers consciousness? Well let us be serious and completely honest about this. The average American worker does not care about politics and are especially xenophobic to anything new or different. Doing a 'fight back' campaign mainly reaches out to people who work for the government. At first you want to think 'well if they work for the government, and the government is trying to fire them and they see us trying to fight for their jobs won't they be more open to our ideas?' Not really, they may be thankful but we must remember that most socialist groups do these campaigns behind their liberal front groups so while the group may get new supporters and members for its front group these campaigns do little to forward the cause and ideas of communism.



I think I answered the question already to "is this showing the average US citizen that reforism works?" which the answer would be yes.



It is worth mentioning that while we should not use our communist groups to attempt to achieve reformism. It is important that we as individuals participate in trying to get lower tuition fees for collage and trying to stop charter schools from taking over public school buildings. We as individuals before being communist can not stand aside while kids parents are paying top dollar for a bottom tier education. Even though today the schools are capitalist and teach capitalism because education is in the hands of the capitalist. We communist must ensure that the children can read and write. We cannot control education and we cannot educate the masses into revolution or even educate them to have revolutionary ideas because as it was said "education in today's world is capitalist education." (1) So if education of the masses to revolution is not possible then we must support our children getting the best education they can get. It will just be up to us as individuals to teach our kids correct history.



Now here are some things Ive had said to me regarding my stance on these issues. "We should stay where the masses are. Marxist don't create their own groups separate of the masses." Lenin did and it worked out well for him. This sentence makes me think "well then go join the democrats" the same people who say that about not separating from the masses turn around and attack the CP-USA line for joining the democrats but they only do it for opportunistic reasons because they use the rhetoric that supports this move seeing as that is where the majority of the working class are in this country, with the democrats. So creating fight back campaigns does not keep you with the masses but just a few workers who might lose their job.



Ive heard "well, protesting and fighting back is a way to stay in 'the struggle' and to be a leader in the struggle". First off it should be clear that there is little to no 'struggle' happening in the US at the moment. Once again when I hear "leader in the struggle" I go right back to the liberal problem. Liberals don't struggle they complain and gripe then give up. Ive heard leadership in a socialist party say "well we didn't win and they made the cuts anyway but we got some new members out of the deal so it was worth it" that's a direct quote.



Fighting back doesn't help "the struggle" for socialism, it doesn't raise awareness. It just gives socialist something to do in their free time and then they are inspired by the protest which gives them a false hope which keeps them in the reformism circle. Fight back campaigns help prop up this capitalist system. As Ive explained; doing fight back campaigns is counter-productive because it gives the outsiders the idea that reformism can fix the system when any real revolutionary can tell you that the only thing that can fix this messed up imperialist, racist, capitalist system is a proletarian revolution by putting guns and "politics in command".


Say no to reformism!

When a reformist group posing as revolutionaries ask you to join, JUST SAY NO!

Let the system fall and we communist will pick up the pieces!

They say cut backs? We say wait til the people are pissed and arm them!



Written by: Dustin Slagle

*this article is about campaigns aiming to "fight back" against budget cuts and should not be viewed as and was not a polemic about FRSO (FB)

World’s Longest Bridge is in China

The Sun reports that it links Qingdao city in eastern China's Shandong province with the Huangdao district and is a staggering 26.4 miles long – 174 TIMES the length of London's Tower Bridge over the Thames.

Two separate teams have been building the different ends of the Qingdao Haiwan Bridge since 2006.

The crossing links three coastal towns in Shandong province.

One engineer said of the bridge's completion: "The computer models and calculations are all very well but you can't really relax until the two sides are bolted together.

"Even a few centimetres out would have been a disaster."

The previous holder of the world's longest bridge title was the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in southern Louisiana in the US.

It features two bridges running side by side and is 23.87 miles (38.42km) long.

Michele Bachmann and our inalienable rights (Video)

The following video is of Michele Bachman, congresswoman from Minnesota, giving a speech to Michigan Republicans. In it she gives a nice synopsis of what our “inalienable rights” rights actually mean. I venture to guess that 4 of 10 people in this country have no clue what she’s talking about.



Bachmann was originally a Democrat and even worked for the election of



Jimmy Carter before she say the light.



Video courtesy to TPM.

E-mail Craziness

Hi Everyone...For everyone that hasn't already heard..we didn't travel out of the country for the holidays. Just wanted to say sorry to all who received the email and yes that means someone hacked into my email account and they even changed the password so I can't get back into it for now. I have been working on it all week, but nothing looks promising at this point. Of course since my email is linked to my Facebook..I can't get into that either! So, if you need to get in touch with me, you can use my new email at heidi5282@gmail.com...(yes I know it was a hotmail account before, but they are still giving me trouble...so g-mail it is :-)) and phone calls are always welcome. If you have a few extra minutes to send me an email so I can rebuild my contact list that would be great. Hope you have a Happy New Year!

The Last Tradition’s Dumbest Politician of 2010: Democrat Hank Johnson (D-Ga)

The dumb mainstream media of course made nothing of this congressman’s assessment that the island of Guam could “cap size” due to too many people living on it.

What’s hilarious about this video is how the Navy admiral keeps a straight face through out Rep Johnson’s questioning. I bet he was saying to himself, “Is this guy a freaking idiot or what?”


Congressman Johnson was re-elected to the House this past mid term. That doesn't say much for some of the people in Georgia.

NYC Sanitation Union Fires Back At Accusations Of Slow-Down

I suspected yesterday, Bloomberg, the cheap son-of-a-bitch, held back on the salt.



NY Fox.com reports that the chairman of the Municipal Labor Committee, Local 831, which represents men and women of the New York City Sanitation Department says there is no truth behind a rumor that his members worked slower during the blizzard of 2010.

Sanitation Union Fires Back At Accusations Of Slow-Down: MyFoxNY.com

Speaking with Good Day New York on Wednesday, four days after the first snow fell in a 20+ downfall across the tristate, Harry Nespoli said his workers don't "mess around with the snow."



Local politicians and residents where streets have not been cleared from the snow are angry. From all accounts, the response to the blizzard was inadequate.

This is how dedicated Dept of Sanitation is

Strippers Gone Lawsuit Wild: Judge OKs suit against corporate owner of Rick's Cabaret

Strippers are people too and they have the right to sue their employer just like anyone else according to a Fed judge.

The New York Post reporta that more than 50 strippers suing Rick's Cabaret can try to dig into the deep pockets of the jiggle joint's publicly-traded corporate owner.

Manhattan federal Judge John Koeltl said the gals "have met their burden" in alleging that Rick's Cabaret International "was their employer under the 'economic reality' test."

In a decision made public today, Koeltl noted that the $5 million-plus suit charges that Rick's Cabaret International "directly employs regional managers, who are responsible for overseeing the operations of the subsidiary clubs," including

the one on West 33rd Street.

The suit also alleges that both the regional managers and the various clubs' general managers report to Eric Langan, who is CEO of the corporation and president of each of its 20 skin palaces, the judge ruled.

Koeltl further rejected "concerns" raised by Rick's about the "credibility" of lead plaintiffs Sabrina Hart and Reka Furedi, who were accused of lacking "sufficient moral character" to spearhead the suit.

"No plaintiff evinces a credibility problem sufficient to require her exclusion as a class representative," the judge wrote.

The case centers on Rick's sale of "dance dollars" to patrons who want to buy lap dances.

Each funny-money bill costs $24, but the strippers only get $18 when they redeem them at the end of their shifts, the suit says.

"We look forward to a full resolution of this issue on the merits, at which time we are confident the Court will agree with our position, and the position of the vast majority of the entertainers who perform at Rick's NY, that they are independent contractors and not employees," said Jeffrey Kimmel, a lawyer for Rick's.

I'm going to take the liberty of guessing that if you are reading this on a computer that you probably do not live in conditions the same as you see here on this photo. In fact there is a good chance you do not even know anyone who lives in these conditions.



In this post I would like to discuss some things that the "communist"/socialist parties of the US promise the working class and if these promises are realistic or not.



First of all it is important to point out that it would depend on if there was a world revolution or simply a revolution here in the United States for the purpose of building socialism to achieve communism. Because that would create two very different scenarios.



We must stop telling the US worker about how horribly he/she has it in the world. Almost 99% of US Americans live above the world poverty line. In fact the government had to create a different poverty line specifically for our country. In the rest of the world if you live off of less than one dollar a day then you are in poverty according to UNICEF. Now in the US (according to our government) people living under 7 dollars a day are considered to be living in poverty. That means there are more than one billion five hundred million people in extreme poverty in the world (people living on less than one dollar a day). That is more than five times the population of the US. Most panhandlers get more than a dollar a day in this country. So it is very incorrect to tell anyone making thirty thousand dollars a year that they are bad off.



If there was a REAL international communist revolution the living standards in the US would actually go down. I mean we would have free health care, free education, nutrition rations for the poor to ensure malnutrition was wiped out, a right to work. But a lot of the little extra things that we are used to would have to stop in order to serve the greater masses of the earth. There are almost seven billion people in this world. Out of that seven billion the USA only has around three hundred and six million people and the US consumes 1/3 of the worlds resources. Now do the math. Three hundred million is not one third of the worlds population, there for if we had a egalitarian world socialist economy there is no way that the people in the US could keep up their current living standards with out keeping another part of the world under exploitation.



One thing that US socialist parties like to do is attack budget cuts when the government cuts their budget from education or public jobs etc. Which is good and understandable seeing as those government jobs are some peoples livelihoods and indeed our children's education is the most important thing after people not starving. But here is the problem; when the US government and state governments across the nation announced huge job cuts for public works the socialist parties were in an uproar and attacked the US government furiously calling out "Hands off public workers!" and "fight back against the budget cuts!". Which I would like to say again makes sense and this was correct in the most part to carry these slogans.



However we quickly see where these parties hearts lye when Cuba announced that it planned to cut almost one million jobs over the next couple of years (some parties only highlighted half a million scheduled this year and left out the rest). That is almost 1/11 of their entire work force in that nation. Go divide the US population into 1/11 and see how many people that would be getting laid off. Yet many "communist" parties simply brushed it off as necessary to keep the economy from falling. They seemed to miss (on purpose) the part where Raul said he planned on opening up the market for investors and private businesses. There was little critique put out by any party with any political sway in this country. This is simply a case of "four legs good, two legs better" when a capitalist government cuts jobs it is a "crime against the working class" but when a country that the "socialist" parties support it is "necessary" in "preserving socialism on the island". So why is it okay for Cuba to make job cuts on a huge scale? And why is it not being called a "attack on the working class"?



It is a simple answer; do as we say, not as we do. Why should the working class in the US believe that the socialist parties would seriously make "a right to a job" a constitutional amendment? When they support the job cuts in Cuba even if they do say it is to "preserve socialism". I once had a "socialist" say to me that "a right to a job, free education, and free health care are not necessarily a necessity in a nation being socialist/building socialism" this was what was said during a conversation about rather or not China was still socialist and this was the reason he gave for why he still sees China as socialist. And this was a man in a power position with in a larger socialist party.



I guess what I am trying to say is that it is ultra confusing to an average person when a group supports one nations right to budget cuts but calls another nations budget cuts "an attack on the working class". And these people are correct to be confused, especially when a group is claiming to be internationalist yet constantly spouts tankie slogans and is constantly taking tankie stances. It is anti-dialects to simply support anything and everything waving a red flag and to be an apologist for anything claiming to be socialist or anti-imperialist. Some times anti-imperialist end up support social imperialist in the name of anti-imperialism.

Why should the people of the United States of America want a socialist society if we can not iron clad promise them that we will deliver what a capitalist country can't? Isn't one of our most rallied around slogans "People before profit"? Then I say it is only correct to attack the Cuban state and the Chinese state for their putting profits over the peoples needs. Although obviously Cuba still does a much better job than China at this seeing as they still have their nutritional food rations that have helped eliminate childhood and adult malnutrition on the tiny impoverished island nation. Also they have many great peoples program's in Cuba and this post should not be seen as an attack on Cuba seeing as there are indeed many progressive things about Cuba. I'm simply using Cuba to point out the tankie politics of some socialist parties.



Another thing that I have personally seen turn people off of politics in the US is the call for revolution. Now it is not the call for revolution that turns people off of socialism it is the contrary. Most people are draw to the call of revolution. But they shortly after joining a group become disillusioned with the socialist movement because parties in the US have hijacked the word revolution to mean whatever they want it to. It used to mean something to be a revolutionary socialist, simply that you believed in revolution to overthrow the capitalist/feudal/colonial government to be replaced by the dictatorship of the proletariat. Now every group claiming to be socialist is "revolutionary" even while their platforms and actions are no more than that of a simple reformist.



It may break a lot of socialist hearts to hear this but participating in elections, calling for the formation of a labor party, carrying liberal slogans, creating front groups that carry forward liberal agendas, selling news papers (training paper boys), protesting, asking reactionary unions to split with the democrats, all these things are not and do not make a group revolutionary. They are lying to the masses and are as one man put it so well; "paper tigers". Carrying liberal slogans means that when it is time to revolt for workers democracy that the few communist will rush forward guns in hand and all the liberals they attracted with their parties liberal slogans will sit around in a circle singing "coumbia my lord coumbiaa" while the communist are gunned down.



To groups like that we should say "If you want to carry liberal slogans then join the liberals and do not waste the masses time". If you are a communist group or are claiming to be one, don't be worried that no one will pick up your slogan. It is better that a few pick up your correct communist slogan than it is for many to pick up your misleading liberal slogan. As Lenin said "better fewer, but better" meaning it is better to have a good few than it is to have a shitty lot. It is also better and a communist duty to be truthful and strait forward with the masses and not be misleading.


Stop carrying liberal slogans!

Struggle with in your group to put a stop to liberal slogans and liberalism as a whole.

Stop lying to the people you are trying to recruit!

Communist must carry communist slogans and put "politics in command!"



Written by; Dustin Slagle

What ever happened to guilt and shame?

Have you noticed guilt and shame is dead? People don’t seem to care about pride much either.

Everybody is out to get noticed.

It doesn’t matter for what.

Just get the attention for the 15 minutes, don’t worry about looking like fool, or hurting others, or bringing shame to your family name.

Honor is out the window too.

Who even understands what honor is anymore when we have parents who are selfish and prefer to be friends with their children instead of parents.

Guilt and shame were very useful emotions.

It kept you in check from acting stupid a minimum number of times.

But without guilt and shame, we’re nothing but animals acting in self-interest for the spotlight, and everybody else be dammed.

New Yorkers direct ire at Mayor Bloomberg for poor handling of Blizzard 2010

Hey Bloomy!

“If you can’t handle a snow storm, you can forget you’re presidential aspirations!” irate New Yorker.

I lived in New York 47 years. I’ve seen 20 inch blizzards before in this city. But, the response to this one that started on Sunday has been abysmal. I still haven’t seen a snow plow go down my block yet. Where the hell are the salt spreaders that used to blanket the streets hours before the arrival of snow?

This time around there were no salt spreaders to be seen. I think Bloomberg decided to hold the salt the same way he wants food manufactures to reduce sodium in their products.

Bloomberg, one of the most arrogant mayors this city has ever known has really stepped in it this time!

Perhaps it’s a blessing in disguise because the blowback from this bugling of snow removal has only just begun. And before it’s all over, Bloomberg will rue the day he forced a third term down our throats.

Boyz 'N The Hood, good parenting works

This 1991 landmark film, directed by John Singleton, is a classic in the urban inner city genre.

But, more than its gritty portrayal of life in tough streets of south central Los Angeles in the 1980s, was the depiction of a man teaching his only son about life, responsibility, and how to be a man.

The pivotal scene in my opinion, which unfortunately you won’t find in these clips, is when the character played by Cuba Godding Jr, asks to get out of the car carrying his friends who are looking to exact street revenge for the killing of his best friend.

In that one scene, all the teaching he received over his formative years from his father on how to do right instead of wrong, kicks in, and he refuses to participate in the circle of violence.

This is a powerful film and an excellent example on how to be a good parent in difficult circumstances.

BREAKING: Somali Islamist Group: We Will Attack America

Oh, this is just great.



Now we have a different group that wants to kill us. I hope the White House takes these guys seriously.



CBS News reports a leader of Somalia's Islamist insurgency threatened to attack America during a speech broadcast Monday.



"We tell the American President Barack Obama to embrace Islam before we come to his country," said Fuad Mohamed "Shongole" Qalaf.



Al-Shabab has not yet launched an attack outside Africa but Western intelligence has long been worried because the group targeted young Somali-Americans for recruitment. About 20 have traveled to Somalia for training and at least three were used as suicide bombers inside Somalia. Al-Shabab holds most of southern and central Somalia and has the support of hundreds of foreign fighters, mostly radicalized East Africans.



It seeks to overthrow the weak U.N.-backed government, which is protected by 8,000 Ugandan and Burundian African Union peacekeepers. The al-Shabab militia launched coordinated suicide attacks in Uganda in July that killed 76 people.



It has also announced its allegiance to al Qaeda and is believed to be harboring a mastermind of the twin 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people. The radio message was recorded in the town of Afgoye, near the Somali capital, during a meeting of Shongole and Sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys, formerly the leader of insurgent group Hizbul Islam.



The two insurgent groups had clashed several times previously but announced a merger last week. Aweys said his group will fight under al-Shabab's command. "We have united for the sake of our ideology and we are going to redouble our efforts to remove the government and the African Union from the country," said Aweys on Monday.



In an unrelated development, the Somali information minister said the new Cabinet had approved the use of a private security contractor to train forces in the capital of Mogadishu and the program would start "soon." Saracen International would train forces for VIP protection, said Abdulkareem Jama. He said he did not know exactly when training would start, what the men's duties would include or how many men would be trained but he said the program included the renovation of a hospital and government buildings. Somali officials are frequently killed by insurgents, both in single assassinations and en masse in suicide bombings and attacks.



The Somali ambassador in Kenya previously said that up to 1,000 men could be trained in the capital for an anti-piracy force and 300 for a presidential guard. Saracen is already training 1,000 men for an anti-piracy force in the semiautonomous northern region of Puntland.



The program has been criticized by U.S. officials who say it is unclear who is funding it, what its objectives are and whether it breaks a U.N. arms embargo. Jama said the Somali cabinet had discussed those issues and were satisfied the embargo was not being broken but he did not say who was funding the program. "There is a need for training," he said. "There was an effort to slow down the project (in Mogadishu) because of those concerns."



More details here

James Shackelford, 73, blind, and a hero in house fire in Queens New York

In a crazy world of self interest it’s good to know we still have some genuine heroes among us.

What’s incredible about James Sheckelford is that he’s blind! But, his blindness didn’t stop him from risking his own life to help a person in need.

The New York Post reports that an elderly blind man heard his neighbor's screams for help yesterday and did not hesitate, rushing into her burning Queens building to try to save her.

James Shackelford, 73, a retired JFK Airport cook blind from diabetes for a dozen years, then became engulfed in flames himself.

Fortunately, he wasn't the only good Samaritan on hand. Two others, driving down 194th Street in St. Albans on their way back from church just after noon, saw Shackelford stumble out with his clothing on fire and rushed to his assistance.

"It was good he was able to make it out of his house," said Thomas Brannon Jr., who, with Douglas Davis, rolled Shackelford on the ground to put out the flames.

Shackelford was taken to Nassau University Hospital with burns over 50 percent of his body, and remains in critical condition.

A resident of the block for more than three decades, Shackelford heard a friend and neighbor calling for help, and did not hesitate, his wife, Anna, said.

"He was always the first one to try to help," she said.

"Anyone in the neighborhood who needed something -- he would always be there. He'd give up his last penny for someone."

More details here

Black residents snowed in Queens New York

It was rough going this morning indeed!

After getting up 4:00 in the morning to shovel out the front of my house and digging out my wife’s car from what seemed like Mount Kilimanjaro, I ended up waiting an hour and a half for a bus that never came.

Hempstead Avenue was a mess of cars slipping and sliding away, empty busses lined up because the intersection of Hempstead and Springfield wasn’t plowed, and people cussing and wandering about unable to find a bus just to stay warm even though they’d be stuck in the snow with nowhere to go in a sea of white.

So, there it is.

I gave it a good try to get to work, but city employees let me down.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg

deserves some hits here because I’ve seen worse blizzards than this. But, us residents of south eastern Queens which is mostly Black usually get the short end of the stick. And as anyone knows me as a conservative, I rarely pull the race card.

But, I’m pulling that bad boy today!

Peace and stay warm America.

Decorative outlet covers

For my next post, I decided to pick a more strange topic, outlet covers. Strange, but amazing.

http://www.edirecthardware.com/img/products/425/425-OT111-BU.jpg

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1316/5197117/16377930/330806646.jpg

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=264023.0

http://peanutbutterandjenny.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/0/0/00754_4_4.jpg

http://www.edirecthardware.com/img/products/425/425-OT156.jpg

R & B Singer Teena Marie Dead at 54

I had a big crush on Teena Marie coming up in the late 70s amd early 80s, and I wasn’t the only teenage boy of my generation that felt that way.

Teena was flat out sexy and could hold her own in the R&B world. She was the white girl with soul that made it possible for other white performers to cross over into the genre and be accepted for the talent they obviously brought to the table.

Teena was the one who blazed the trail for the Justin Tiberlakes and the Eminems.

CNN reports Teena Marie, an award-winning R&B singer-songwriter, was found dead Sunday at her California home, her manager said.

Born Mary Christine Brockert in Santa Monica, California, the 54-year-old artist famously paired with late funk legend Rick James and was nominated four times for a Grammy Award, according to her official website.

Marie was found dead by her daughter after apparently dying in her sleep, manager Mike Gardner said.

While no cause of death has been released, the singer's publicist Lynn Jeter said that Marie suffered a grand mal seizure -- a neurological event, marked by loss of consciousness and violent muscle contractions, according to the Mayo Clinic -- a month ago.

"Luckily, someone was there," Jeter said of that seizure. "The ambulance took her to the hospital, and on the way she had another seizure."

More details here


RIP Teena Marie, you left us way too soon.

The Wooly Mammoth

I found this news article about a baby wooly mammoth that was found in Siberia so I made a story about her. Here it is:

                I was born 42,000 years ago. It was cold. Of course it was cold, I was in Siberia.  The terrain was hilly and icy and I had trouble walking. My mother was so nice to me and was always helping me out but I was so clumsy. I would trip over my own feet. But still, nothing could stop me from rambling in the snow. I loved it. When my mother called me back to her so I could eat, I would stay away, pretending I couldn’t hear.

                 When I was a month, we were passing Yuribey River and I was jumping and playing, having just eaten. My mother told me it was dangerous to play so near to the river muck. She said I could trip and fall into the muck and I wouldn’t be able to escape. I didn’t listen. That was my first big mistake. I went closer to the muck. That was my second mistake. “Come back here! You’re too close. Please, be careful!” My mother was nervous. And she was right to be nervous. I tripped. I told you I was clumsy. I fell. Then I slowly sank into the muck. It was minutes before I was finally released.

                Then I saw my mother. She was trumpeting and moaning but I couldn’t get her attention. She was still looking at the muck pit. I tried and tried but she would not stop looking at the muck pit. When she finally left with the rest of the pack, I was alone. But just for a while. I saw a white light on the horizon. It came closer and grew larger as I looked at it. It enveloped my small body and I blacked out. When I came to, I saw a flowing river. I was standing in a field. Then, I felt like I was being pushed but there was no one there. I started swimming to the other side of the river. When I reached the other side, I was exhausted. I fell to the ground and I was dizzy. A white mammoth walked up to me and then another white mammoth walked up to me, and then another. They picked me up and carried me into the middle of ten stone pillars.

                The pillars were made out of a rock that was unknown to me. They set me down on the ground. It was made out of rock too. In the center was a swirly blue sphere. In it was an impenetrable mist. When the mist cleared, I saw my mother and her pack roaming the hills. The white mammoths came up to me and signaled at the sphere. They told me that I was in the afterlife. I was confused and they showed me how the sphere worked. It sensed the people you missed and showed you them.

                I live in this fertile place that is bursting with knowledge. I have come to know much about my people. I knew little for I was a month old when I left the earth that I so loved. But now I know things that many mammoths don’t know. The elders teach everyone. And the elders are not just mammoths. They are all sorts of animals. And they all glow with wisdom. I am happy here in my afterlife. Who knows what will be next?

here is the article:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/08/AR2010030803850.html

here is my post on this article:
http://experimentsinc.blogspot.com/2010/12/wooly-mammoth-carcass-was-fouund-in.html

Paper cuts- Rolls

I don't know much about these cool creations considdering all the sites I've found have just shown pictures but they are cool none the less.

see these pictures and more at:
http://www.behance.net/gallery/paper-cuts-rolls/241623

Rep. Steve King: Jesus Had Right to Life from Moment of Conception

There have been 50 million abortions performed in the United States since 1973. But, Liberals are okay with this American Holocaust because the rights of women to feel “empowered” to kill a baby trumps the rights of the unborn child. Liberals are more willing to extend non existing rights to an illegal immigrant that than are to the unborn.

Something is very wrong with this picture. And something is very wrong with Liberalism.

CNS News reports that Rep. Steve King (R.-Iowa) told CNSnews.com in a videotaped interview that Jesus Christ had a right to life from the moment of conception as do all human beings.

“He got the right to life when God conceived Him in the womb of Mary, and it’s that simple and that plain and it’s that profound,” said King. “Each one of us got the right to life at the instant of conception and we have that right to life until natural death.”

King also likened someone who supports legal abortion because they profess not to know when life begins to someone supporting the act of a gunman who fires blindly into a crowded room and never looks to see if he actually killed someone.

More details here

State Sen. Eric Adams involved in another “NON-PROFIT” scandal

As you may know, I’ve reported extensively on Rep Gregory Meeks who is currently under instigation for the whereabouts of missing money he raised through a non-profit group he started that was supposed to aide Hurricane Katrina victims.



The 30K that was collected never made it to Louisiana and the U.S. Attorney has been looking into what happened to the dough for the past 6 months.



The scandal should have made national news and Gregory Meeks a household word. Had Meeks been a white Republican from the south instead of an African American from New York , the updates on the news would be coming every 24 hours.



However, more important than the double standard of news coverage, is the fact that politicians rob the taxpayers blind through phony “non-profits” they create and money always seems to be unaccounted for.



If you see any politico involved with a non-profit, there’s some stealing going on and they’re hardly ever brought to justice, especially if they’re of the Democrat persuasion.



The New York Post reports that State Sen. Eric Adams funneled $30,000 in taxpayer money to a nonprofit he founded, 100 Blacks Who Care, but doesn't know how, or if, the money was spent.



The Brooklyn group, which got $15,000 in 2008, didn't record the money, as required on its federal tax returns, or document any expenses.



"Once the money is turned over to an organization, we, as elected officials, can't get involved in how they use it. I don't know how it's used," Adams told The Post last week.



The Brooklyn Democrat said he couldn't remember, without checking his records, why he gave the organization the "member item" grants in the first place.



Noel Leader, the group's treasurer, who, like Adams, is a former cop and co-founder of 100 Blacks, told The Post that the organization hadn't received any funding in years and that he did not recall receiving the state funds.



He later said a $5,000 allocation from the state Education Department was probably used for supplies.



"I vaguely remember the $5,000 being used for the workshops, to buy equipment we utilize during the workshops. We have a lot of props, sound equipment, things of that nature," he said.



Adams, Leader and Vernon Wells founded 100 Blacks in the mid-1990s as a nonprofit to give grants of $1,000 a month "to a worthy cause in the African-American community."



They also started 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, a for-profit advocacy group.



Several state lawmakers have gotten in trouble for running nonprofits, including state Sen. Pedro Espada, who was charged this month with embezzling money from his Bronx health-care centers, and State Sen. Vincent Leibell of Putnam County, who pleaded guilty in a kickback scheme involving a nonprofit he created.



Earlier this year, the US attorney opened an investigation into state Sen. Malcolm Smith and Rep. Gregory Meeks after The Post revealed the questionable spending practices of the nonprofit they helped to form, the New Direction Local Development Corp.



State Assemblywoman Sandra Galef, a Westchester Democrat, said she has drafted legislation that would prohibit lawmakers from giving member-item cash to nonprofits over which they have control.



"That's not what state dollars are to be used for," she said.



More details here

Kin Novak Rule #5 Sunday

I'm starting a new feature of presenting starlets of the 40s and 50s. What better woman to start with than,



Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American actress. She is best known for her performance in the classic 1958 film Vertigo. Novak retired from acting in 1991 and has since become an accomplished artist of oil paintings.[1]

Christmas requiem for Iraq's Christian community

I wish President Obama, who seems to go out of his way to extol the virtues of Islam, would use his bully pulpit as president and speak out against the mistreatment of Christians living in Muslim dominated countries. This is a serious issue that needs more condemnation by the world of nations.

But, the world remains silent at the plight of Christians. Why is that he case? If the situation were reversed and Muslims were being massacred, rape, and beheaded at the hands of Christians, wouldn’t you think that CNN would be Johnny on the spot with video footage and Christiane Amanpour would be holding one hour specials to examine the story?

I think the answer is clear.


Haaretz.com reports that after Al-Qaida's October 31 massacre at a central Baghdad church, thousands of Christians have decided that their homeland is no longer safe.

In order to meet Iraq's Christians this year, Santa Claus will have to steer his sleigh to Jordan, Syria, Kurdistan or Europe. After Al-Qaida's October 31 massacre at a central Baghdad church, thousands of Christians have decided that their homeland is no longer safe.

This is not the first time Muslim terror has hit Christian sites, nor is it the first time Christians have fled Iraq. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates there were approximately 1 million Christians in Iraq prior to the U.S. invasion in 2003, and only half a million now - and that number is shrinking.

This week the Iraqi legislature discussed the Christians' situation and passed a resolution in principle to help families who fled. However, the parliament does not know where the Christians are, how many are still in Iraq, in their homes, and how many have found asylum in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Reports from Iraq show some Christians are even afraid to report they have received threatening phone calls or e-mails telling them to leave the country.

"Contacting the authorities forces us to identify ourselves, and we aren't certain that some of the people threatening us aren't the people in the government offices that are supposed to be protecting us," one Christian Iraqi told the newspaper Sawt al-Iraq. Others have reported masked men coming to their homes at night and demanding that they "convert to Islam, leave or die."

More details here

Memeorandum

Living Water for a thirsty man, Merry Christmas

This scene is from Ben Hur.

Hur, falsely accused of a crime he didn’t commit is chained with other prisoners in the hot sun.

On a water break, Hur is denied any water by orders of a Roman centurion.

Near delirious from thirst and in agony, Hur cries out a prayer for relief to God and his petition is immediately answered by Jesus who gives Hur living water.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for a prosperous New Year.

2010 Mugshots of the Year: Snooki

From US Magazine

Snooki
The drunken Jersey Shore star was taken into custody in July while filming Season 3 of the hit MTV series. Charged with disorderly conduct, she was released later that day. "I'm too pretty to be in jail," she later said.

This is not a pretty sight to wake to in the morning. Make up really does wonders.

Mideast Christians under siege

More Islamic hypocrisy, the so-called religion of peace and tolerance. My ass!

Crucifying the copts
Mideast Christians under siege
by



Benny Avni


It's shaping up to be a bad Christmas for one of the oldest Christian sects in the Middle East, where Christianity was born -- and an even bleaker future for Egyptian Copts.

Police fired live ammunition last month at Copts protesting the government-halted construction of a house of worship, the Church of the Virgin Mary and Saint Michael Archangel, supposedly for failure to acquire the proper permits. At least 100 emonstrators were arrested, 60 injured -- and a 19-year-old Christian student died from a gunshot wound.

The anger quickly spilled to émigré Coptic communities from Australia to Europe to midtown Manhattan.

The attack on Egypt's Christians go far beyond denial of church permits, said Magda Gendy, who articipated in the peaceful East Side demonstration along with thousands of other Egyptian-American Copts last week. Increasingly, Christian girls aged 12 to 16 are being kidnapped, forced to marry Muslim men and convert to the religion of their "husbands," she told me.

But while Copts -- 10 percent of Egypt's mostly Muslim population of 80 million -- have always suffered discrimination, this incident presents a new and dangerous turn.

"Before, it used to be just the Muslims" who attacked their Christian neighbors, Gendy said. "Now it's the government." Copts blame the district's governor, Sayyed Abdel Aziz, a former army general.

Like most officials in the government of the aging President Hosni Mubarak, Aziz simply denies permits for any Christian symbol of worship -- from churches to cemeteries.

Aziz "wanted to burn the church," said Sam, who only gave his first name for fear of retaliation against his family back in Cairo.

The only political opposition allowed in today's Egypt is that centered on a mosque. By turning a blind eye to attacks on Christians -- or worse, joining them -- the government helps to deflect public anger caused by the fast-deteriorating economy.

As things get worse, the memory of days when Copts held high government positions fast fades. "Hillary Clinton needs to speak out more often," one demonstrator after another told me last week.

Yes, a State Department report last month noted that Egypt's "government failed to prosecute perpetrators of violence against Coptic Christians in a number of cases," and concluded that the country's Christians "face personal and collective discrimination." But Mubarak's government shrugged off the report, saying that it would only listen to "internationally recognized" authorities, such as the United Nations.

Clinton certainly can do a lot of good this holiday season by highlighting the plight of Christian minorities in Egypt and the rest of the Arab Middle East.

Al Qaeda and other Islamist groups (Shiite as well as Sunni) increasingly attack Christians from Iraq to the Palestinian territories. In Lebanon, the once influential Maronite community is split up and quickly losing political power as the Iranian-backed Hezbollah is taking over. Why?

According to a major Vatican report issued last spring, bishops from across the Middle East blamed the decline of Christianity in the region on political "instability" -- as in the Palestinian-Israeli dispute. Speaking in Cyprus, Pope Benedict XVI made an appeal for "international efforts" to resolve the region's conflicts, "especially in the Holy Land."

Praying for Palestinian-Israeli peace may be appropriate, but the pope surely knows that Israel (despite increasing harassment by Muslims in the country's Arab towns) is practically the only place in the region where a Christian minority thrives.

The report elsewhere fingers "political Islam," which -- along with those who let it flourish, such as Egyptian government officials -- tolerates no other religious or secular beliefs.

In fact, one of the top regional emissaries cited in the Vatican report, Turkey's top bishop, Luigi Padovese, was assassinated as the report was issued in June. According to the Turkish press, the man who stabbed him to death yelled "Allahu Akbar!"