Sunday, September 30, 2007
RUDY SELLS OUT TO PETE
One of the first videos that YFP posted was a visit by California governor, Pete Wilson to NYC City Hall . Well......to no surprise, Petey endorsed Giuliani this week. Rudy skipped an important appearance for Petey's announcement of political support.
When Wilson appeared at City Hall, Giuliani was opposed to proposition 187. The bill was proposed by Wilson to limit if not albeit eradicate aid to undocumented persons. Giuliani has since changed his position. View video at the above link.
When Wilson appeared at City Hall, Giuliani was opposed to proposition 187. The bill was proposed by Wilson to limit if not albeit eradicate aid to undocumented persons. Giuliani has since changed his position. View video at the above link.
ROAD TRIP TO NYC CANCELED
September 30, 2007
Mexican Couple Facing Federal Charges On Transporting Chinese Aliens.
Mexican Couple Facing Federal Charges On Transporting Chinese Aliens.
A Mexican couple is facing federal charges in Chattanooga after their vehicle filled with seven Chinese aliens was stopped. Venancio Perez-Martínez and Clara Rodriguez-Anaya were arrested after their red Dodge Durango was stopped on Sept. 20 on northbound I-75 in Bradley County for a traffic violation. Officer Andy Radcliffe said he noticed several passengers in the car who appeared to be of Asian descent.
He said Perez-Martínez claimed they were relatives of his wife and they were going to New York to visit other relatives. The officer asked how they could be related "being the subjects are Asian and they are Hispanic." But Ms. Rodriguez-Anaya said they were not her relatives, and she didn't know them. The officer said, despite the wife's statement, Perez-Martínez "remained adamant in his claim." Authorities said they then learned that Perez-Martínez had been arrested on March 16, 1996, in Brookhaven, Miss., and charged with transporting 10 undocumented Mexican nationals to Houston.
Officials said Perez-Martínez finally admitted he was transporting the Chinese from Houston to New York for $400 per person. He said he had been contacted by what he believed to be either a Cuban or Puerto Rican man and asked if he would bring the Chinese to New York. He said he picked them up at a Houston hotel. He said he was given a phone number to call when he arrived in New York, and he would then be instructed where to take the Chinese.
He said Perez-Martínez claimed they were relatives of his wife and they were going to New York to visit other relatives. The officer asked how they could be related "being the subjects are Asian and they are Hispanic." But Ms. Rodriguez-Anaya said they were not her relatives, and she didn't know them. The officer said, despite the wife's statement, Perez-Martínez "remained adamant in his claim." Authorities said they then learned that Perez-Martínez had been arrested on March 16, 1996, in Brookhaven, Miss., and charged with transporting 10 undocumented Mexican nationals to Houston.
Officials said Perez-Martínez finally admitted he was transporting the Chinese from Houston to New York for $400 per person. He said he had been contacted by what he believed to be either a Cuban or Puerto Rican man and asked if he would bring the Chinese to New York. He said he picked them up at a Houston hotel. He said he was given a phone number to call when he arrived in New York, and he would then be instructed where to take the Chinese.
GIULIANI ENLISTS BORAT
Giuliani Fund Raising Reaches Into KazakhstanWall Street Journal online ^ September 25, 2007 Mary Jacoby
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's campaign is looking for political cash this week in an unlikely place: Resource-rich Kazakhstan, where the Republican presidential front-runner's law firm does substantial business in the often murky oil, gas and minerals industries.
A fund-raising event tomorrow in Almaty, the commercial center of the former Soviet republic, will mark the campaign's third foray overseas for cash. Last week, Mr. Giuliani flew to London for a fund-raising luncheon where about 100 Americans living in Europe paid between $1,000 and $2,300 for a ticket -- the second his campaign has held in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Giuliani won't attend the event in Kazakhstan. Instead, he is scheduled to go to small-donor "house party" fund-raising events in New Jersey, his campaign said. The candidate will appear at the Kazakh event by videoconference, campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella said. She declined to say how much the campaign expected to raise in Kazakhstan.
Only Americans may donate to U.S. campaigns. Many Americans live in Kazakhstan and work for oil, gas, law, accounting and other firms. The event was reported this week in the New York Post newspaper.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's campaign is looking for political cash this week in an unlikely place: Resource-rich Kazakhstan, where the Republican presidential front-runner's law firm does substantial business in the often murky oil, gas and minerals industries.
A fund-raising event tomorrow in Almaty, the commercial center of the former Soviet republic, will mark the campaign's third foray overseas for cash. Last week, Mr. Giuliani flew to London for a fund-raising luncheon where about 100 Americans living in Europe paid between $1,000 and $2,300 for a ticket -- the second his campaign has held in the United Kingdom.
Mr. Giuliani won't attend the event in Kazakhstan. Instead, he is scheduled to go to small-donor "house party" fund-raising events in New Jersey, his campaign said. The candidate will appear at the Kazakh event by videoconference, campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella said. She declined to say how much the campaign expected to raise in Kazakhstan.
Only Americans may donate to U.S. campaigns. Many Americans live in Kazakhstan and work for oil, gas, law, accounting and other firms. The event was reported this week in the New York Post newspaper.
CONDOLENCES TO BETSY GOTBAUM
September 30, 2007
Gotbaum's Daughter-In-Law Dies in Phoenix Airport Custody
Manhattan resident Carol Ann Gotbaum, who is married to the stepson of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, died in a Phoenix airport holding cell while in police custody. Phoenix authorities believe she may have died while trying to get out of her handcuffs.
Carol Ann Gotbaum, 45, was trying to board a flight to Tucson at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, but arrived too late and was booked on another flight.
A US Airways spokesman, Derek Hanna, said that "she became extremely irate, apparently running up and down the gate area." She also allegedly shouted at the gate attendant, so US Airways called security. Gotbaum ran into the responding officers after going back through the security checkpoint toward the main terminal, said Sgt. Andy Hill, a police spokesman.
"The officers were not able to calm Ms. Gotbaum and eventually arrested her for disorderly conduct." Gotbaum resisted, and was "continually screaming" after being put into a holding cell, Hill said. Officers checked on her every 15 minutes, but some five to 10 minutes after one check-in, he said, she had gone silent. They then found that she wasn't breathing and attempts to revive her failed.
"It appeared as though Ms. Gotbaum had possibly tried to manipulate the handcuffs from behind her to the front, got tangled up in the process, and they ended up around her neck area," Hill said. Hill added, "She was very agitated and irate and angry. These are the things that led to the disorderly conduct arrest." The Daily News reports that authorities say they did not use pepper spray or a Taser on Gotbaum. The Maricopa County medical examiner will be determining the cause of death.
Gotbaum married Noah Gotbaum twelve years ago (announcement here). She lived on West 95th Street, where Noah Gotbaum told a Post reporter, "I don't want to talk about it. It's rude." Betsy Gotbaum, who is second in the line of succession for the job of Mayor, told the Post, "The family is in great grieving and stress. We have nothing to say. We hope that The Post and every other newspaper will respect our privacy." And she said to the Daily News, "We are very concerned about what happened at Phoenix airport. It's under investigation and we are following that investigation. She has three very small children. It's a very delicate matter."
Gotbaum's Daughter-In-Law Dies in Phoenix Airport Custody
Manhattan resident Carol Ann Gotbaum, who is married to the stepson of Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum, died in a Phoenix airport holding cell while in police custody. Phoenix authorities believe she may have died while trying to get out of her handcuffs.
Carol Ann Gotbaum, 45, was trying to board a flight to Tucson at the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, but arrived too late and was booked on another flight.
A US Airways spokesman, Derek Hanna, said that "she became extremely irate, apparently running up and down the gate area." She also allegedly shouted at the gate attendant, so US Airways called security. Gotbaum ran into the responding officers after going back through the security checkpoint toward the main terminal, said Sgt. Andy Hill, a police spokesman.
"The officers were not able to calm Ms. Gotbaum and eventually arrested her for disorderly conduct." Gotbaum resisted, and was "continually screaming" after being put into a holding cell, Hill said. Officers checked on her every 15 minutes, but some five to 10 minutes after one check-in, he said, she had gone silent. They then found that she wasn't breathing and attempts to revive her failed.
"It appeared as though Ms. Gotbaum had possibly tried to manipulate the handcuffs from behind her to the front, got tangled up in the process, and they ended up around her neck area," Hill said. Hill added, "She was very agitated and irate and angry. These are the things that led to the disorderly conduct arrest." The Daily News reports that authorities say they did not use pepper spray or a Taser on Gotbaum. The Maricopa County medical examiner will be determining the cause of death.
Gotbaum married Noah Gotbaum twelve years ago (announcement here). She lived on West 95th Street, where Noah Gotbaum told a Post reporter, "I don't want to talk about it. It's rude." Betsy Gotbaum, who is second in the line of succession for the job of Mayor, told the Post, "The family is in great grieving and stress. We have nothing to say. We hope that The Post and every other newspaper will respect our privacy." And she said to the Daily News, "We are very concerned about what happened at Phoenix airport. It's under investigation and we are following that investigation. She has three very small children. It's a very delicate matter."
Friday, September 28, 2007
VALLONE WILL NOT DEAL THE CARDS
Why I Oppose Resident ID Cards
Op-ed BY CITY COUNCIL MEMBER PETER F. VALLONE JR.
Our society has gone through great pains to keep this country safe from those that would harm us. Men and women- whether wearing camouflage in Iraq or blue and gold on the streets of New York- risk their lives every day to hunt down terrorists and expose their deadly plots. I am, therefore, very concerned that several proposals are floating around our city and state that can make the job of these brave people much more difficult.
Months ago, members of the City Council proposed an idea to create a resident ID card, available to nearly anyone regardless of immigration status. Then, just last week, Governor Eliot Spitzer announced that he plans to institute a similar system, allowing state residents to apply for drivers' licenses without a Social Security number. I strongly oppose these measures, believing we should not put the convenience of some above the lives of many.
The purpose of the resident ID cards, proponents say, is to extend government services to people who have illegally entered our country, and who otherwise would be deprived of driving and library privileges due to their immigration status. Perhaps before 9/11, these proposals could be worthy of debate between people with good intentions on both sides, but now our first concern must be keeping our children safe from attacks. In short, the public safety concerns these cards raise should trump any potential merits they could offer.
The facts speak for themselves. Five of the terrorists who carried out the September 11 attacks were living in this country in violation of our immigration laws. In the previous bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, nine perpetrators were here illegally. In nearly every completed or foiled terrorist attack, the suspect group includes some who have sneaked into the country and others who have overstayed their visas.
These murderers were able to board planes and transport dangerous materials easily by using fake names and identification, and the government has gone to great lengths to close the loopholes that made that possible. These cards remove an obstacle that terrorists need to overcome before they are able to commit their terrible acts. We let our guard down once; we cannot afford to do it again.
People disagree about the best means to secure our borders. However, this is a national issue on which our country needs to speak with one voice. Individual states and municipalities should not be undermining national policy and sending mixed signals to the rest of the world.
I am not convinced by the arguments for resident ID cards issued without regard to an applicant's immigration status and drivers' licenses issued to people who did not present Social Security cards to obtain them.
I am not convinced by the arguments for resident ID cards issued without regard to an applicant's immigration status and drivers' licenses issued to people who did not present Social Security cards to obtain them.
I believe that they will make it easier, not for security and police officers to locate terrorists, but for terrorists to blend in and evade these officers.
There are millions of immigrants of all types in our country, and the vast majority of them are hard working and peaceful. For more than a century, New York has welcomed immigrants from all backgrounds, a tradition that continues to the present day. But, sadly, it only takes a small number of people to inflict an enormous amount of damage, and therefore we must be careful of the manner in which we extend our welcoming hand.
There are better, safer ways to be friendly to the immigrant population, many of them already in place. City services, including the New York City Police Department officers, do not inquire about immigrant status. Free medical care is available, as is public transportation, without any form of identification at all.
All of us who live here have been forced to surrender many of the conveniences and civil liberties that we hold dear in order to combat terrorism. As our bags are searched before we enter the subway and we stand on long security lines at the airport, we understand that our lives have changed and these precautions are necessary. In the post-9/11 world, the primary concern of the government should be the safety of its citizens. Issuing resident identification cards and drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants indicate we are putting other matters, such as illegal immigrants' convenience, ahead of American lives.
City Councilmember Peter F. Vallone Jr. represents the 22nd City Council District in Astoria.
PICTURE OF THE DAY
They are so far away. But their message is close to home. No government should persecute any group for religious reasons. Write your representatives and demand action.
Save the Buddhist Monks
The government's apparent decision to cut public Internet access — which has played a crucial role in getting news and images of the pro-democracy protests to the outside world — also raised concerns.
Thursday was the most violent day in more than a month of protests — which at their height have brought an estimated 70,000 demonstrators to the streets.
Bloody sandals lay scattered on some streets as protesters fled shouting "Give us freedom, give us freedom!" Truckloads of troops in riot gear also raided Buddhist monasteries on the outskirts of Yangon, beating and arresting dozens of monks, witnesses and Western diplomats said. "I really hate the government.
They arrest the monks while they are sleeping," said a 30-year-old service worker who witnessed some of the confrontations from his workplace. "These monks haven't done anything except meditating and praying and helping people."
BIBLE VIEWED AS PORN
Bible targeted in Hong Kong obscenity row
Published: Wednesday May 16, 2007
A debate raging over the morals of Hong Kong's racy media took a bizarre twist Wednesday with revelations that a decency watchdog had been flooded with obscenity complaints about the Bible.
The Television and Entertainments Licensing Authority (Tela), which oversees the publishing industry, said it had received 208 complaints that text within the holy book was indecent.
"I can confirm that the complaints were received," said a Tela spokeswoman. "The thrust of the complaints was that the Bible was obscene, that different parts of the Bible were offensive to readers."
Tela refused to divulge details of the complaints, but local media reported that they referred to acts of violence, rape and cannibalism reputedly contained in the Old and New Testaments.
Reports speculated that the sudden flurry of messages sent to Tela was sparked by a Chinese-language website www.truthbible.com, which had exhorted readers to pressure Tela to reclassify the Bible as an indecent publication.
The news comes amid a row in Hong Kong over the classification as indecent of a sex survey in a student journal which questioned respondents on bestiality and incest.
The Obscene Articles Tribunal issued the ruling on Chinese University publication "CU Student Press", sparking angry calls from students that authorities were eroding freedom of speech in the southern Chinese city.
Truthbible.com
2 Comments
Published: Wednesday May 16, 2007
A debate raging over the morals of Hong Kong's racy media took a bizarre twist Wednesday with revelations that a decency watchdog had been flooded with obscenity complaints about the Bible.
The Television and Entertainments Licensing Authority (Tela), which oversees the publishing industry, said it had received 208 complaints that text within the holy book was indecent.
"I can confirm that the complaints were received," said a Tela spokeswoman. "The thrust of the complaints was that the Bible was obscene, that different parts of the Bible were offensive to readers."
Tela refused to divulge details of the complaints, but local media reported that they referred to acts of violence, rape and cannibalism reputedly contained in the Old and New Testaments.
Reports speculated that the sudden flurry of messages sent to Tela was sparked by a Chinese-language website www.truthbible.com, which had exhorted readers to pressure Tela to reclassify the Bible as an indecent publication.
The news comes amid a row in Hong Kong over the classification as indecent of a sex survey in a student journal which questioned respondents on bestiality and incest.
The Obscene Articles Tribunal issued the ruling on Chinese University publication "CU Student Press", sparking angry calls from students that authorities were eroding freedom of speech in the southern Chinese city.
Truthbible.com
2 Comments
DO NOT FEED THE PIGEONS
Dozens in Mexican city ill with suspected avian fluRaises concerns over international implications of epidemic
Posted: September 28, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Dozens of people in a Mexican city are gravely ill with what is being treated as a possible outbreak of avian flu, according to a new report from a Spanish-language website.
According to El Universal, authorities in a neighborhood in Guanajuato say 45 patients have been given medical attention at the area's hospital after they reported symptoms including extreme headaches, stomachaches, vomiting and diarrhea.
The cases have developed over the last two weeks and "feel [like] death," according to Silvia Villalobos, one of the victims who spoke to El Universal correspondent Xochitl Alvarez in Spanish.
A spokesman for the regional general hospital, Ernesto Castle, said he does not know the cause of the problems, but officials are looking at an avian flu virus, which is transmitted by birds and is similar to botulism, as a source.
He reported at least 45 patients have been given emergency room medical attention, while others went to their private physicians for help.
One man reported his wife was hospitalized after the symptoms hit, waking her with fever and chills, before she fainted.
Guadalupe Gomez, a resident of the area, said her concern was that the epidemic was being carried by flies attracted by leather processed in the tanning industry, which includes leathers from other nations.
City spokesman Jose Eusebio Olague said officials have directed that barricades be set up so the sick do not spread the infections even further.
Traditional causes for fever and chills essentially have been ruled out by various tests, officials said. Sources in the air, water and other industries have been eliminated as a cause, officials said.
This type of threat was addressed at the recent Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Canada, where officials released a plan that establishes U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law during a pandemic. It also sets the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies.
The "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza" was finalized at the SPP summit last month in Montebello, Quebec.
At the same time, the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, has created a webpage dedicated to avian flu and has been running exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency involving avian flu or pandemic influenza.
With virtually no media attention, in 2005 President Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza, placing the country under international guidelines not specifically determined by domestic agencies.
The policy shift was formalized Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza to a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York.
The new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza was designed to supersede an earlier November 2005 Homeland Security report that called for a U.S. national strategy that would be coordinated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Agriculture.
The 2005 plan, operative until Bush announced the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, directed the State Department to work with the WHO and U.N., but it does not mention that international health controls are to be considered controlling over relevant U.S. statutes or authorities.
Under the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Bush agreed the U.S. would work through the U.N. system influenza coordinator to develop a continental emergency response plan operating through authorities under the WTO, North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
The SPP plan for avian and pandemic influenza announced at the Canadian summit last month embraces the international control principles Bush first announced to the U.N. in his 2005 International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza declaration.
David Nabarro is new U.N. system influenza coordinator.
In Sept. 2005, Dr. David Nabarro was appointed the first U.N. system influenza coordinator, a position which also places him as a senior policy adviser to the U.N. director-general.
Nabarro soon after fueled the global fear that an epidemic was virtually inevitable.
In response to a question about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed approximately 40 million people worldwide, Nabarro commented, "I am certain there will be another pandemic sometime."
Nabarro stressed at the press conference that he saw as inevitable a worldwide pandemic influenza coming soon that would kill millions.
Copyright 1997-2007All Rights Reserved. WorldNetDaily.com Inc.
Posted: September 28, 20071:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
Dozens of people in a Mexican city are gravely ill with what is being treated as a possible outbreak of avian flu, according to a new report from a Spanish-language website.
According to El Universal, authorities in a neighborhood in Guanajuato say 45 patients have been given medical attention at the area's hospital after they reported symptoms including extreme headaches, stomachaches, vomiting and diarrhea.
The cases have developed over the last two weeks and "feel [like] death," according to Silvia Villalobos, one of the victims who spoke to El Universal correspondent Xochitl Alvarez in Spanish.
A spokesman for the regional general hospital, Ernesto Castle, said he does not know the cause of the problems, but officials are looking at an avian flu virus, which is transmitted by birds and is similar to botulism, as a source.
He reported at least 45 patients have been given emergency room medical attention, while others went to their private physicians for help.
One man reported his wife was hospitalized after the symptoms hit, waking her with fever and chills, before she fainted.
Guadalupe Gomez, a resident of the area, said her concern was that the epidemic was being carried by flies attracted by leather processed in the tanning industry, which includes leathers from other nations.
City spokesman Jose Eusebio Olague said officials have directed that barricades be set up so the sick do not spread the infections even further.
Traditional causes for fever and chills essentially have been ruled out by various tests, officials said. Sources in the air, water and other industries have been eliminated as a cause, officials said.
This type of threat was addressed at the recent Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America summit in Canada, where officials released a plan that establishes U.N. law along with regulations by the World Trade Organization and World Health Organization as supreme over U.S. law during a pandemic. It also sets the stage for militarizing the management of continental health emergencies.
The "North American Plan for Avian & Pandemic Influenza" was finalized at the SPP summit last month in Montebello, Quebec.
At the same time, the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, has created a webpage dedicated to avian flu and has been running exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency involving avian flu or pandemic influenza.
With virtually no media attention, in 2005 President Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza, placing the country under international guidelines not specifically determined by domestic agencies.
The policy shift was formalized Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza to a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York.
The new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza was designed to supersede an earlier November 2005 Homeland Security report that called for a U.S. national strategy that would be coordinated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Agriculture.
The 2005 plan, operative until Bush announced the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, directed the State Department to work with the WHO and U.N., but it does not mention that international health controls are to be considered controlling over relevant U.S. statutes or authorities.
Under the International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza, Bush agreed the U.S. would work through the U.N. system influenza coordinator to develop a continental emergency response plan operating through authorities under the WTO, North American Free Trade Agreement and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
The SPP plan for avian and pandemic influenza announced at the Canadian summit last month embraces the international control principles Bush first announced to the U.N. in his 2005 International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza declaration.
David Nabarro is new U.N. system influenza coordinator.
In Sept. 2005, Dr. David Nabarro was appointed the first U.N. system influenza coordinator, a position which also places him as a senior policy adviser to the U.N. director-general.
Nabarro soon after fueled the global fear that an epidemic was virtually inevitable.
In response to a question about the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed approximately 40 million people worldwide, Nabarro commented, "I am certain there will be another pandemic sometime."
Nabarro stressed at the press conference that he saw as inevitable a worldwide pandemic influenza coming soon that would kill millions.
Copyright 1997-2007All Rights Reserved. WorldNetDaily.com Inc.
SABINI'S MARTINI
Friday, September 28, 2007
Sabini charged with D.W.I.
Albany: State Senator Accused of D.W.I. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSState Sen. John D. Sabini was arrested early yesterday and charged with driving while intoxicated after he failed to signal a turn and drove down the center of an Albany street, the police said. Mr. Sabini, 50, a Queens Democrat, was pulled over shortly after 1 a.m. after an officer saw his car make the turn, a police spokesman, Detective James Miller, said. Mr. Sabini failed several field sobriety tests and twice refused to take a breath test, Detective Miller said. Calls to Mr. Sabini’s office were not immediately returned last night.
From the NY Post:"He had an odor of alcohol beverage on him, had slurred speech, had glassy and red eyes and impaired motor skills," Miller said. Sabini, a former city councilman, represents parts of Corona, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Woodside. He was given an Oct. 4 arraignment date in Albany City Court.
Sabini charged with D.W.I.
Albany: State Senator Accused of D.W.I. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSState Sen. John D. Sabini was arrested early yesterday and charged with driving while intoxicated after he failed to signal a turn and drove down the center of an Albany street, the police said. Mr. Sabini, 50, a Queens Democrat, was pulled over shortly after 1 a.m. after an officer saw his car make the turn, a police spokesman, Detective James Miller, said. Mr. Sabini failed several field sobriety tests and twice refused to take a breath test, Detective Miller said. Calls to Mr. Sabini’s office were not immediately returned last night.
From the NY Post:"He had an odor of alcohol beverage on him, had slurred speech, had glassy and red eyes and impaired motor skills," Miller said. Sabini, a former city councilman, represents parts of Corona, East Elmhurst, Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Woodside. He was given an Oct. 4 arraignment date in Albany City Court.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
DANA RISHPY SEARCH
Israeli tourist Dana Rishpy is still missing. The last person she was seen with is missing also. Mathew Walshin, described as bungalow renter, and rave party master disappeared from Tulum/Cancun Mexico shortly after Dana. YFP has provided updates on this story from it's inception. YFP also incorrectly stated that Walshin served five years in an Oregon prison for rape. The corrected version is that he served five years probation and six months in a California prison for sexual battery.
Walshin's last known address is in Los Angeles. He is NOT considered as a suspect but as a person of interest. If you see "Maty", ask him to drop us a line or he can call toll free 800-348-6768.
Additional information on Dana can be seen at http://www.findana.com/ or http://www.youtube.com/ (type Suitorz in search box). The Americas Most Wanted website has a web feature story about her also.
Someone's child is missing folks.....please lend a hand.
Walshin's last known address is in Los Angeles. He is NOT considered as a suspect but as a person of interest. If you see "Maty", ask him to drop us a line or he can call toll free 800-348-6768.
Additional information on Dana can be seen at http://www.findana.com/ or http://www.youtube.com/ (type Suitorz in search box). The Americas Most Wanted website has a web feature story about her also.
Someone's child is missing folks.....please lend a hand.
COUNCILMEN CYCLE PAST WORKERS
YFP advocates safety for the public but where are council members Lappin and Gerson when these workers are appealing for a fair wage and decent working conditions?
Restaurants Could Pay Delivery Cyclist Fines
City Council members Jessica Lappin and Alan Gerson have introduced a bill that would pass tickets received by food deliverycyclists and bike messengers on to their employers. The fines, which range from $100 to $300, are supposed to encourage restaurants and delivery firms to firmly encourage employees to cycle safely in the city, aside from being killed themselves.
Council member Lappin says that reckless riders received 1,800 citations in her Upper East Side district alone this year and claims she received a note from a 9-year-old constituent who says she was nervous walking in the neighborhood because of sidewalk cyclists.
Gerson was a backer of a bill passed this spring that forced restaurants to make sure riders were wearing bike helmets, rules for cycling safety were posted in multiple languages that could be understood by employees, and paid a minimum wage.
In March, delivery workers at Manhattan's Saigon Grill went on strike, alleging that owners wanted them sign a contract that would have them work for below minimum wage.
(speedy-delivery, by Chad Schneider at flickr)
Restaurants Could Pay Delivery Cyclist Fines
City Council members Jessica Lappin and Alan Gerson have introduced a bill that would pass tickets received by food deliverycyclists and bike messengers on to their employers. The fines, which range from $100 to $300, are supposed to encourage restaurants and delivery firms to firmly encourage employees to cycle safely in the city, aside from being killed themselves.
Council member Lappin says that reckless riders received 1,800 citations in her Upper East Side district alone this year and claims she received a note from a 9-year-old constituent who says she was nervous walking in the neighborhood because of sidewalk cyclists.
Gerson was a backer of a bill passed this spring that forced restaurants to make sure riders were wearing bike helmets, rules for cycling safety were posted in multiple languages that could be understood by employees, and paid a minimum wage.
In March, delivery workers at Manhattan's Saigon Grill went on strike, alleging that owners wanted them sign a contract that would have them work for below minimum wage.
(speedy-delivery, by Chad Schneider at flickr)
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
RUDY'S ILLEGAL DISCOUNT
FEC complaint alleges Rudy got 'soft money' from NYT (Rawstory.com)
Nick JulianoPublished: Tuesday September 25, 2007
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Update: Audio of Giuliani contradicts campaign's denial of inappropriate discount
Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign effectively received an illegal "soft money" contribution of more than $77,000 from the New York Times when he purchased a newspaper advertisement for a discounted rate, alleges a liberal blogger in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission.
The formal FEC complaint from blogger Lane Hudson alleges Giuliani received a "corporate soft money contribution in excess" of campaign finance limits. It is the latest fallout from MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad, which ran in the New York Times Sept. 10.
Hudson's salvo against one of the ad's harshest critics came a day after the Times finally acknowledged it had charged MoveOn a discounted rate for the ad, in violation of the paper's policies.
The ad ran on the first day of Gen. David Petraeus's congressional testimony.
Four days later, Giuliani took out his own ad in the Times attacking MoveOn and attempting to link the liberal anti-war group with prominent Democrats. The former New York mayor demanded the same rate the Times charged MoveOn, $64,575.
Since the pricing discrepancy was revealed Sunday, MoveOn has said it will wire the Times the difference between the rate it was charged, which is meant for ads that can run on any day anywhere in the paper, and the $142,083 the group should have paid to guarantee its full-page ad would run that Monday. Giuliani's campaign has refused to make up the difference, in violation of federal law, Hudson alleges.
"According to the New York Times' own policy, Mr. Giuliani should have paid the fixed-date rate instead of the standby rate," Hudson writes in his FEC complaint. "Therefore, the difference, $77,083 is an in-kind corporate contribution, which far exceeds the limits allowed by law."
Giuliani's campaign did not immediately return RAW STORY's call requesting comment. But a camaign spokesperson told the Washington Post that Giuliani would not be giving the Times any more money because the campaign did not specify on which day it wanted the ad to run.
An audio clip of Giuliani talking to reporters on the day before his ad appeared contradicts that claim.
"I call upon the New York Times to give us the same rate ... tomorrow to print an ad that will obviously take the oposite view," Giuliani says in the recording from Sept. 13.
FEC regulations allow anyone to file a complaint, which the commission evaluates to determine whether a full investigation is warranted. Giuliani has 15 days to respond to the complaint, but any action or investigation by the FEC remains confidential until a case is resolved.
Hudson's complaint, filed Monday, is the second he has filed this year against a Republican candidate. In August, he filed a complaint against Fred Thompson, who formally announced his presidential bid this month. Hudson said the actor improperly raised and spent money beyond the "testing the waters" threshold that governs presidential exploratory committees.
The complaints were fist posted on Hudson's blog News For The Left. Hudson was the first blogger to publish e-mails between Former Rep. Mark Foley and underage congressional pages; his role in exposing the Foley controversy got him fired from the Human Rights Campaign.
The MoveOn ad became a focal point for Republicans in the hours and days after it ran, giving GOP lawmakers ammo to attack Democrats rather than question Petraeus and leading to a symbolic Senate resolution condemning its message. The American Conservative Union filed its own FEC complaint over the ad Sept. 14.
It remains unclear whether the FEC will take action against MoveOn, which now has fully paid its bill, or Giuliani's campaign, which has not.
Nick JulianoPublished: Tuesday September 25, 2007
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Update: Audio of Giuliani contradicts campaign's denial of inappropriate discount
Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign effectively received an illegal "soft money" contribution of more than $77,000 from the New York Times when he purchased a newspaper advertisement for a discounted rate, alleges a liberal blogger in a complaint to the Federal Election Commission.
The formal FEC complaint from blogger Lane Hudson alleges Giuliani received a "corporate soft money contribution in excess" of campaign finance limits. It is the latest fallout from MoveOn.org's "General Betray Us" ad, which ran in the New York Times Sept. 10.
Hudson's salvo against one of the ad's harshest critics came a day after the Times finally acknowledged it had charged MoveOn a discounted rate for the ad, in violation of the paper's policies.
The ad ran on the first day of Gen. David Petraeus's congressional testimony.
Four days later, Giuliani took out his own ad in the Times attacking MoveOn and attempting to link the liberal anti-war group with prominent Democrats. The former New York mayor demanded the same rate the Times charged MoveOn, $64,575.
Since the pricing discrepancy was revealed Sunday, MoveOn has said it will wire the Times the difference between the rate it was charged, which is meant for ads that can run on any day anywhere in the paper, and the $142,083 the group should have paid to guarantee its full-page ad would run that Monday. Giuliani's campaign has refused to make up the difference, in violation of federal law, Hudson alleges.
"According to the New York Times' own policy, Mr. Giuliani should have paid the fixed-date rate instead of the standby rate," Hudson writes in his FEC complaint. "Therefore, the difference, $77,083 is an in-kind corporate contribution, which far exceeds the limits allowed by law."
Giuliani's campaign did not immediately return RAW STORY's call requesting comment. But a camaign spokesperson told the Washington Post that Giuliani would not be giving the Times any more money because the campaign did not specify on which day it wanted the ad to run.
An audio clip of Giuliani talking to reporters on the day before his ad appeared contradicts that claim.
"I call upon the New York Times to give us the same rate ... tomorrow to print an ad that will obviously take the oposite view," Giuliani says in the recording from Sept. 13.
FEC regulations allow anyone to file a complaint, which the commission evaluates to determine whether a full investigation is warranted. Giuliani has 15 days to respond to the complaint, but any action or investigation by the FEC remains confidential until a case is resolved.
Hudson's complaint, filed Monday, is the second he has filed this year against a Republican candidate. In August, he filed a complaint against Fred Thompson, who formally announced his presidential bid this month. Hudson said the actor improperly raised and spent money beyond the "testing the waters" threshold that governs presidential exploratory committees.
The complaints were fist posted on Hudson's blog News For The Left. Hudson was the first blogger to publish e-mails between Former Rep. Mark Foley and underage congressional pages; his role in exposing the Foley controversy got him fired from the Human Rights Campaign.
The MoveOn ad became a focal point for Republicans in the hours and days after it ran, giving GOP lawmakers ammo to attack Democrats rather than question Petraeus and leading to a symbolic Senate resolution condemning its message. The American Conservative Union filed its own FEC complaint over the ad Sept. 14.
It remains unclear whether the FEC will take action against MoveOn, which now has fully paid its bill, or Giuliani's campaign, which has not.
POLS EVICT NY ARCHITECT FROM DRACULA'S PAD
First blood to politicians in 'Dracula' castle row
By Harry de Quetteville, Europe Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:55am BST 21/09/2007
Romanian politicians have launched a battle to seize Bran Castle, known as Dracula castle, from its aristocrat owner only a year after he was recognised as the rightful heir to the Transylvanian bastion.
Bran Castle in Transylvania
The 14th century castle that was home to Bram Stoker's fictional count was returned to Archduke Dominic of Austria, Prince of Tuscany, in 2006 after it was held for 50 years by Romania's communist regime. But now a group of Romanian politicians are claiming the handover was illegal due to procedural errors.
The group, led by lawmaker Dumitru Ioan Puchianu, are not challenging the family claim of the Archduke, known as Dominic von Habsburg. But they insist he does not have the right to sell the property, which he has been trying to do.
Von Habsburg, an architect based in New York, soon found the legendary castle was not suitable as a home and last year offered to sell it back to the Romanian state for £40 million.
That offer was not taken up and the 69-year-old Archduke has been looking for other buyers.
In response to the new challenge to his inheritance rights, Von Habsburg has promised to launch a £100 million lawsuit against the "dreadful injustice".
"I live once more with the feeling of dread in which I once lived, as a child," he wrote in a letter to the Romanian parliament, "when my family and I were forced out of our home and thrown out into the streets in midwinter."
The castle, built on a mountain pass 600 years ago to ward off Turkish invaders, was used as a royal residence by his grandmother Princess Marie of Edinburgh - a member of the British Royal Family who became Queen of Romania after she married Crown Prince Ferdinand in 1893.
It then passed to her daughter, Princess Ileana of Romania, who was detained there by the advancing Russian army at the end of World War Two.
Finally it was permanently seized by Romania's post-war communist regime in 1948.
For the next 40 years, as the notoriety of Dracula grew in a huge catalogue of films, the fortunes of the basis for his fictional home fell. In the waning years of Romania's communist regime however, the castle was restored, and after the dramatic fall from power of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, in 1989, it began to flourish.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors flocked to take in the towers and secret passages once rumoured to have harboured Vlad the Impaler.
Famous for skewering hordes of victims on a stake and leaving them to die a slow death, he has long been considered the principal model for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Vlad is thought to have stayed only briefly in the castle, but when it came to writing the book, Stoker thought it the ideal home for his bloodthirsty count.
Whoever finally wins ownership of the site is guaranteed a fortune as a result of its tourist appeal.
By Harry de Quetteville, Europe Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:55am BST 21/09/2007
Romanian politicians have launched a battle to seize Bran Castle, known as Dracula castle, from its aristocrat owner only a year after he was recognised as the rightful heir to the Transylvanian bastion.
Bran Castle in Transylvania
The 14th century castle that was home to Bram Stoker's fictional count was returned to Archduke Dominic of Austria, Prince of Tuscany, in 2006 after it was held for 50 years by Romania's communist regime. But now a group of Romanian politicians are claiming the handover was illegal due to procedural errors.
The group, led by lawmaker Dumitru Ioan Puchianu, are not challenging the family claim of the Archduke, known as Dominic von Habsburg. But they insist he does not have the right to sell the property, which he has been trying to do.
Von Habsburg, an architect based in New York, soon found the legendary castle was not suitable as a home and last year offered to sell it back to the Romanian state for £40 million.
That offer was not taken up and the 69-year-old Archduke has been looking for other buyers.
In response to the new challenge to his inheritance rights, Von Habsburg has promised to launch a £100 million lawsuit against the "dreadful injustice".
"I live once more with the feeling of dread in which I once lived, as a child," he wrote in a letter to the Romanian parliament, "when my family and I were forced out of our home and thrown out into the streets in midwinter."
The castle, built on a mountain pass 600 years ago to ward off Turkish invaders, was used as a royal residence by his grandmother Princess Marie of Edinburgh - a member of the British Royal Family who became Queen of Romania after she married Crown Prince Ferdinand in 1893.
It then passed to her daughter, Princess Ileana of Romania, who was detained there by the advancing Russian army at the end of World War Two.
Finally it was permanently seized by Romania's post-war communist regime in 1948.
For the next 40 years, as the notoriety of Dracula grew in a huge catalogue of films, the fortunes of the basis for his fictional home fell. In the waning years of Romania's communist regime however, the castle was restored, and after the dramatic fall from power of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, in 1989, it began to flourish.
Hundreds of thousands of visitors flocked to take in the towers and secret passages once rumoured to have harboured Vlad the Impaler.
Famous for skewering hordes of victims on a stake and leaving them to die a slow death, he has long been considered the principal model for Bram Stoker's Dracula.
Vlad is thought to have stayed only briefly in the castle, but when it came to writing the book, Stoker thought it the ideal home for his bloodthirsty count.
Whoever finally wins ownership of the site is guaranteed a fortune as a result of its tourist appeal.
RUDY PASSES THE BUCK AND COLLECTS IT TOO
Anger at Giuliani 9/11 fundraiser
Mr Giuliani is accused of exploiting 9/11 for his presidential candidacyRepublican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani has been criticised over a fundraising party at which participants are being urged to donate $9.11.
The International Association of Fire Fighters accuses him of exploiting the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks.
Mr Giuliani rose to national prominence as New York's mayor on 9/11.
The Giuliani campaign says it did not plan the event, which is due to take place on Wednesday evening in California at the home of a supporter.
Nevertheless, the firefighters association said the stated theme of the fundraiser - "$9.11 for Rudy" was in poor taste.
"It is nothing short of disrespectful to the legacy of the thousands of civilians and 343 brave firefighters who died at Ground Zero," said Harold Schaitberger, IAFF president.
Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd described the fundraiser's theme as "unconscionable, shameless and sickening."
A Giuliani campaign spokesman said the idea was selected without the campaign's knowledge.
But the host of the party, Abraham Soefer, also said the theme was not his responsibility, and referred other questions to Mr Giuliani's campaign team, the Associated Press reports.
The event is one of several Giuliani house party fundraisers across the US on Wednesday.
Mr Giuliani is seen as one of the frontrunners in the race for the Republican nomination.
But the BBC's Justin Webb, in Washington, says that Mr Giuliani's appeal as the man who led New York through the terrorist attacks is occasionally over-emphasised in his campaign.
This fundraiser looks like a big blunder, our correspondent adds.
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Mr Giuliani is accused of exploiting 9/11 for his presidential candidacyRepublican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani has been criticised over a fundraising party at which participants are being urged to donate $9.11.
The International Association of Fire Fighters accuses him of exploiting the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks.
Mr Giuliani rose to national prominence as New York's mayor on 9/11.
The Giuliani campaign says it did not plan the event, which is due to take place on Wednesday evening in California at the home of a supporter.
Nevertheless, the firefighters association said the stated theme of the fundraiser - "$9.11 for Rudy" was in poor taste.
"It is nothing short of disrespectful to the legacy of the thousands of civilians and 343 brave firefighters who died at Ground Zero," said Harold Schaitberger, IAFF president.
Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd described the fundraiser's theme as "unconscionable, shameless and sickening."
A Giuliani campaign spokesman said the idea was selected without the campaign's knowledge.
But the host of the party, Abraham Soefer, also said the theme was not his responsibility, and referred other questions to Mr Giuliani's campaign team, the Associated Press reports.
The event is one of several Giuliani house party fundraisers across the US on Wednesday.
Mr Giuliani is seen as one of the frontrunners in the race for the Republican nomination.
But the BBC's Justin Webb, in Washington, says that Mr Giuliani's appeal as the man who led New York through the terrorist attacks is occasionally over-emphasised in his campaign.
This fundraiser looks like a big blunder, our correspondent adds.
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Tuesday, September 25, 2007
FREE THE WEED
Editor of the Reformer: (Brattleboro, VT)
Most Vermonters have always opposed the Bush regime's illegal Iraq war, seeing through the false rationales for it, and understanding that it is ultimately a power-grab for control of Middle Eastern petroleum -- supposedly the most valuable military-strategic prize in the history of the world.
However, we in our state, and we in our country, are still not taking a close enough look at another fantastically expensive war -- more costly in the number of human lives affected than the Iraq boondoggle.
This, of course, is the never-ending drug war, the so-called "war on drugs" that began with the outlawing of marijuana in the early part of the 20th century, and increased greatly with the inception of the Rockefeller drug laws in New York state, the crack cocaine scare of the early 1980s, federal "mandatory minimum" sentences, and "three strikes, you're out" laws.
At the drugsense.org Web site, one can view a clock, which estimates the ongoing and increasing cost of these terrible laws to the American people. The cost in dollars is staggering -- the feds will spend about $20 billion on enforcement this year, and the states even more ... nearly $30 billion. Here in Vermont, we have a brand-spanking-new prison right up the road in Springfield, and they are talking about building yet another one, as the prison population mushrooms so much that we are paying through the nose to house prisoners out of state, far from their loved ones.
And all this for a problem that is essentially not a crime problem, but a public health challenge ... because that's what addiction essentially is ... a medical problem.
Do you like paying for helicopter flights so that local police can spot backyard plots of marijuana, and peoples' lives can be ruined by these unjust laws? Where is the common sense in this? In the early years of our Republic, hemp (cannabis) -- one of the most versatile crops that can be grown -- was not only a legal crop, it was officially sanctioned -- the government encouraged people to grow it. Today, it is re-emerging into our domestic agricultural scene, generating many millions of dollars in commerce and forcing the public to think once again about why so many laws exist that have no logical or rational reason for being.
I personally have nothing to do with intoxicants, legal or illegal, but a handful of my friends still indulge. One of them was arrested right here in Brattleboro for marijuana possession recently, apparently "fingered" by a neighbor with whom they were having a bit of a disagreement. Nice and easy, isn't it, to turn in your neighbors, even your family members, and have the state help you win a nice little battle in your latest tiff? And all at the cost of the taxpayer.
I wish to plead with you, the public everywhere, to stay away from intoxicants, especially including alcohol and tobacco, which generate far more medical and accidental harm than the illegal ones. As long as people will drink or get high and get behind the wheel of a car, there is a reason for some laws against the use of substances -- I myself was disabled from a career as a performing musician in 1978 by a drunk driver. "Being all you can be" means not destroying your brain cells with substances.
However, my dear friends and neighbors, it is long past time to legalize and regulate the use of other controlled substances. Marijuana (cannabis) does very little harm, and has real medical uses. Our society is consuming itself and its economic output with a futile drug war that will have no end, but which like the Iraq fiasco also creates huge vested interests -- people who profit from it. We don't need all the "private contractor" companies (who now outnumber our troops in Iraq) to do our government's work, and we don't need the huge criminal injustice, prison-industrial complex to imprison, stigmatize, and even enslave huge segments of our population at home.
End the drug war now.
John Wilmerding
Brattleboro, Sept. 7
Most Vermonters have always opposed the Bush regime's illegal Iraq war, seeing through the false rationales for it, and understanding that it is ultimately a power-grab for control of Middle Eastern petroleum -- supposedly the most valuable military-strategic prize in the history of the world.
However, we in our state, and we in our country, are still not taking a close enough look at another fantastically expensive war -- more costly in the number of human lives affected than the Iraq boondoggle.
This, of course, is the never-ending drug war, the so-called "war on drugs" that began with the outlawing of marijuana in the early part of the 20th century, and increased greatly with the inception of the Rockefeller drug laws in New York state, the crack cocaine scare of the early 1980s, federal "mandatory minimum" sentences, and "three strikes, you're out" laws.
At the drugsense.org Web site, one can view a clock, which estimates the ongoing and increasing cost of these terrible laws to the American people. The cost in dollars is staggering -- the feds will spend about $20 billion on enforcement this year, and the states even more ... nearly $30 billion. Here in Vermont, we have a brand-spanking-new prison right up the road in Springfield, and they are talking about building yet another one, as the prison population mushrooms so much that we are paying through the nose to house prisoners out of state, far from their loved ones.
And all this for a problem that is essentially not a crime problem, but a public health challenge ... because that's what addiction essentially is ... a medical problem.
Do you like paying for helicopter flights so that local police can spot backyard plots of marijuana, and peoples' lives can be ruined by these unjust laws? Where is the common sense in this? In the early years of our Republic, hemp (cannabis) -- one of the most versatile crops that can be grown -- was not only a legal crop, it was officially sanctioned -- the government encouraged people to grow it. Today, it is re-emerging into our domestic agricultural scene, generating many millions of dollars in commerce and forcing the public to think once again about why so many laws exist that have no logical or rational reason for being.
I personally have nothing to do with intoxicants, legal or illegal, but a handful of my friends still indulge. One of them was arrested right here in Brattleboro for marijuana possession recently, apparently "fingered" by a neighbor with whom they were having a bit of a disagreement. Nice and easy, isn't it, to turn in your neighbors, even your family members, and have the state help you win a nice little battle in your latest tiff? And all at the cost of the taxpayer.
I wish to plead with you, the public everywhere, to stay away from intoxicants, especially including alcohol and tobacco, which generate far more medical and accidental harm than the illegal ones. As long as people will drink or get high and get behind the wheel of a car, there is a reason for some laws against the use of substances -- I myself was disabled from a career as a performing musician in 1978 by a drunk driver. "Being all you can be" means not destroying your brain cells with substances.
However, my dear friends and neighbors, it is long past time to legalize and regulate the use of other controlled substances. Marijuana (cannabis) does very little harm, and has real medical uses. Our society is consuming itself and its economic output with a futile drug war that will have no end, but which like the Iraq fiasco also creates huge vested interests -- people who profit from it. We don't need all the "private contractor" companies (who now outnumber our troops in Iraq) to do our government's work, and we don't need the huge criminal injustice, prison-industrial complex to imprison, stigmatize, and even enslave huge segments of our population at home.
End the drug war now.
John Wilmerding
Brattleboro, Sept. 7
PEACE WAR AND HUMOUR
"THE WAR ON ERRORISM"SYNDICATED POLITICAL CARTOONS/Arab Writers Group Syndicate By Ray Hanania
YFP welcomes a new contributor to the blog. Cartoonist Ray Hanania. Check it out!
Click it on! www.hanania.com
RABBIS FOR PEACE
This story went under the main stream media radar this week. This is a group that is trying to bridge the peace gap between Muslims and Jews. Although controversial, take a look at their website. http://www.nkusa.org/
Jewish rabbis meet Ahmadinejad in NY Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:51:44
A number of Jewish rabbis carrying placards of "I'm a Jew, not a Zionist" have met President Ahmadinejad at his residence in New York. The senior Jewish rabbi welcomed the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and called the meeting an extraordinary good fortune for the Jewish rabbis.
Jewish rabbis meet Ahmadinejad in NY Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:51:44
A number of Jewish rabbis carrying placards of "I'm a Jew, not a Zionist" have met President Ahmadinejad at his residence in New York. The senior Jewish rabbi welcomed the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and called the meeting an extraordinary good fortune for the Jewish rabbis.
The senior Jewish rabbi said the memory of this meeting would never fade, adding that the Iranian President understands the Jews, and makes a distinction between the violent actions of the Zionists and Jewish religious belief which is of great importance for us. President Ahmadinejad also expressed his delight at the meeting, saying, "All prophets share one mission, that is, the guidance of mankind.
Today people of the world have come to realize the fact that Judaism is different from Zionism. Jews are followers of Moses and Zionists are seeking political opportunities." The rabbis offered a silver cup to Iran's President in commemoration of Ahmadinejad's friendship toward the Jewish community.
CATHOLIC CHURCH SAYS MONEY BEFORE CHARITY
Under the guise of "saving money", the New York Archdiocese guided by the Vatican, continues to close churches at an alarming rate. There is strong speculation that part of the reason is to fund the many sex abuse law suits against the church. Local officials have done little to soothe the pain of it's loyal parishioners.
Cardinal Egan Tells Media to "Grow Up"
Edward Cardinal Egan, the archbishop of the New York Archdiocese, had no patience of protesters or reporters covering the protests outside a Midtown church yesterday. Some people have been upset their local churches have been closed by the Catholic Church, most notably parishioners Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, who have been protesting the February closing every weekend since February. And yesterday, outside of St. John the Baptist on West 31st Street, Our Lady Queen of Angels parishioners-turned-protesters gathered to ask Egan, "Why have you abandoned us?"
The Daily News reported this exchange between Egan and the media:
"You just have to ignore all this and grow up," Egan said when asked about the Catholics gathered outside in protest of the closure of their beloved church, Our Lady Queen of Angels.
When pressed, Egan, who had just finished celebrating Mass at St. John the Baptist on W. 31st St., said, "Oh, for heaven's sake."
Egan left the church through a back door, avoiding the 30 protesters.
Before stepping into a waiting van, Egan again refused to discuss the protest.
"Madam, get serious," he said. "This is important. Go in and look at reality."The New York Archdiocese closing of churches has been driven by immigration and other demographic changes. The News points out that there are three churches within walking distance of Our Lady Queen of Angels, but many parishioners feel very strongly about their church, even holding a funeral for a fellow parishioner outside the closed church.
And in one of the other parish closings, a Lithuanian Church downtown was shut in a sneaky fashion: The priest was called to a meeting with Cardinal Egan, and while he was gone, the church was locked!
Earlier this year, New York magazine examined Egan's career and how other priests can't wait to get rid of him (he's expected to retire soon).
Cardinal Egan Tells Media to "Grow Up"
Edward Cardinal Egan, the archbishop of the New York Archdiocese, had no patience of protesters or reporters covering the protests outside a Midtown church yesterday. Some people have been upset their local churches have been closed by the Catholic Church, most notably parishioners Our Lady Queen of Angels in East Harlem, who have been protesting the February closing every weekend since February. And yesterday, outside of St. John the Baptist on West 31st Street, Our Lady Queen of Angels parishioners-turned-protesters gathered to ask Egan, "Why have you abandoned us?"
The Daily News reported this exchange between Egan and the media:
"You just have to ignore all this and grow up," Egan said when asked about the Catholics gathered outside in protest of the closure of their beloved church, Our Lady Queen of Angels.
When pressed, Egan, who had just finished celebrating Mass at St. John the Baptist on W. 31st St., said, "Oh, for heaven's sake."
Egan left the church through a back door, avoiding the 30 protesters.
Before stepping into a waiting van, Egan again refused to discuss the protest.
"Madam, get serious," he said. "This is important. Go in and look at reality."The New York Archdiocese closing of churches has been driven by immigration and other demographic changes. The News points out that there are three churches within walking distance of Our Lady Queen of Angels, but many parishioners feel very strongly about their church, even holding a funeral for a fellow parishioner outside the closed church.
And in one of the other parish closings, a Lithuanian Church downtown was shut in a sneaky fashion: The priest was called to a meeting with Cardinal Egan, and while he was gone, the church was locked!
Earlier this year, New York magazine examined Egan's career and how other priests can't wait to get rid of him (he's expected to retire soon).
UNHAPPILY GAY IN IRAN
The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in town this week. Amongst the controversy surrounding his beliefes about the Holocaust are his denials that homosexuality exists in Iran. And he may be correct. But only due to a barbaric purge of gays in his country.Two gay Iranian teenagers -- one 18, the other believed to be 16 or 17, were executed this week for the "crime" of homosexuality, the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) reported on July 19. (The ISNA report is in Farsi, and was translated into English by the British gay rights group OutRage!, which released its report today--ISNA also provided the terrifying photos of the teens' last moments you see on this page. You can see an enlarged version of each photo by left-clicking on them) The two youths -- identified only by their initials as M.A. and A.M., were hanged on July 19 in Edalat (Justice) Square in the city of Mashhad in north-eastern Iran, on the orders of Court No. 19. The hanging of the teens was also reported by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
And the website Iran Focus not only confirms the story but provides more details, reporting that "Members of Iran’s parliament from the north-eastern city of Mashad, where a minor and an 18-year-old man were publicly hanged yesterday, vented their anger on Wednesday on foreign and domestic news outlets for reporting the ages of hanged prisoners...Ultra-conservative deputy Ali Asgari said that the two deserved to be hanged in public, adding, 'Whatever sentence is decreed by an Islamic penal system must be approved, unless proven otherwise.'
Asgari complained of foreign and domestic reporting that the two were mere boys. 'Instead of paying tribute to the action of the judiciary, the media are mentioning the age of the hanged criminals and creating a commotion that harms the interests of the state,' the member of the Majlis Legal Affairs Committee said. 'Even if certain websites made a reference to their age, journalists should not pursue this.
These individuals were corrupt. judiciTheir sentence was carried out with the approval of the judiciary and it served them right.' "Consensual gay sex in any form is punishable by death in the Islamic Republic of Iran. According to the website Age of Consent, which monitors such laws around the world, in Iran "Homosexuality is illegal, those charged with love-making are given a choice of four deathstyles: being hanged, stoned, halved by a sword, or dropped from the highest perch.
According to Article 152, if two men not related by blood are discovered naked under one cover without good reason, both will be punished at a judge's discretion. Gay teens (Article 144) are also punished at a judge's discretion. Rubbing one's penis between the thighs without penetration (tafheed) shall be punished by 100 lashes for each offender. This act, known to the English-speaking world as 'frottage,' is punishable by death if the 'offender' is a non-Muslim. If frottage is thrice repeated and penalty-lashes have failed to stop such repetitions, upon the fourth 'offense' both men will be put to death.
According to Article 156, a person who repents and confesses his gay behavior prior to his identification by four witnesses, may be pardoned. Even kissing 'with lust' (Article 155) is forbidden. This bizarre law works to eliminate old Persian male-bonding customs, including common kissing and holding hands in public." And Outrage, in its release about the gay teens' execution, noted that, "according to Iranian human rights campaigners, over 4000 lesbians and gay men have been executed since the Ayatollahs seized power in 1979. Last August, a 16-year-old girl , [Atefeh Rajabi] was hanged [in the Caspian port of Neka] for 'acts incompatible with chastity,' [i.e., sex before marriage]."
In the case of the two teens hanged in Mashhad, "They admitted having gay sex (probably under torture) but claimed in their defense that most young boys had sex with each other and that they were not aware that homosexuality was punishable by death," according to the ISNA report as translated by OutRage. "Prior to their execution, the gay teenagers were held in prison for 14 months and severely beaten with 228 lashes. The length of their detention suggests that they committed the so-called offenses more than a year earlier, when they were possibly around the age of 16."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAzMuHyg8Eg For more info, click this link.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Giuliani answers his phone during NRA speech
YFP is happy to post one of the "phoniest" moments in political history. The video speaks for itself.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
BLOOMBITO STILL IN THE DRIVERS SEAT
Bloomberg Twice as Rich as Last Year (from the Gothamist.com)
Presidential hopefuls can scurry around the country, choking down rubber chicken dinners and hustling for campaign cash, but Mayor Bloomberg knows that it's best to just sit back and let one's money work for you. He's certainly busy working for his $1-a-year salary, and even pays for his own travel when on jaunts to places like London where he's addressing another world capital.
Still, our Mayor managed to more than double his wealth from last year. Forbes magazine says that Bloomberg's net worth rose from $5.5 billion to $11.5 billion, launching him from the seedy straits of single-digit billionaires into the elevated realm of the country's top-25 richest Americans.
Back in April, the New York Post reported that the mayor was worth $13.6 billion, meaning that the poor guy has lost more than $2 billion in just five months. During his last run for mayoral office, however, Bloomberg spent about $100 per vote needed to get elected. With only about 62 million votes needed to get elected President, Bloomberg just about made enough last year to finance a win on the national stage if he wants.
Presidential hopefuls can scurry around the country, choking down rubber chicken dinners and hustling for campaign cash, but Mayor Bloomberg knows that it's best to just sit back and let one's money work for you. He's certainly busy working for his $1-a-year salary, and even pays for his own travel when on jaunts to places like London where he's addressing another world capital.
Still, our Mayor managed to more than double his wealth from last year. Forbes magazine says that Bloomberg's net worth rose from $5.5 billion to $11.5 billion, launching him from the seedy straits of single-digit billionaires into the elevated realm of the country's top-25 richest Americans.
Back in April, the New York Post reported that the mayor was worth $13.6 billion, meaning that the poor guy has lost more than $2 billion in just five months. During his last run for mayoral office, however, Bloomberg spent about $100 per vote needed to get elected. With only about 62 million votes needed to get elected President, Bloomberg just about made enough last year to finance a win on the national stage if he wants.
STATE OF NO PLATES
Have you noticed that NYC postal vehicles no longer display license plates? The feds have determined that certain government vehicles do not have to display them. However, in the event of an accident or hijacking, this important information may be lacking. It also leaves an opening for would be terrorists to easily duplicate one of these vehicles for their own purposes.
In a week where Governor Spitzer has declared that the undocumented should be allowed to have driver's licenses, perhaps he should focus a litte more on the motor vehicle bureau.
Posted below is the government memo and a list of vehicles affected.
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
Washington, DC 20405
January 18, 2006
GSA BULLETIN FMR B-12
MOTOR VEHICLE MANAGEMENT
TO: Heads of Federal agencies
SUBJECT: Agencies with unlimited exemptions from displaying U.S. Government License Plates and motor vehicle identification
1. What is the purpose of this bulletin? This bulletin provides the list of agencies for which GSA has granted unlimited exemptions from the display of U.S. Government license plates and motor vehicle identification. This bulletin is updated when additional unlimited exemptions are approved or existing exemptions are rescinded or modified.
2. What is the effective date of this bulletin? This bulletin is effective May 25, 2006.
3. When does this bulletin expire? This bulletin will remain in effect until specifically superseded or cancelled.
4. What is the background? Formerly, the list of Federal agencies granted unlimited exemptions from displaying U.S. Government license plates and motor vehicle identification because the vehicles are regularly used for the following type of activities: intelligence gathering; investigative and law enforcement activities; providing security; or in work where identifying the vehicles would be prejudicial to patients, was published in section 102-34.195 of the Federal Management Regulation.
However, for ease of updating, the list is changed to bulletin format.
5. What should I do as a result of this bulletin? Agencies that need an unlimited exemption but are not on the approved list in the attachment to this bulletin should contact the General Services Administration using the information provided in paragraph 6 of this bulletin. An agency may be required to provide a written certification of need for an unlimited exemption.
However, agencies should first analyze their needs to determine if a limited exemption is sufficient before seeking an unlimited exemption. The procedures for obtaining a limited exemption are in section 102-34.180 (May we have a limited exemption from displaying U.S. Government license plates and other motor vehicle identification?) in the Federal Management Regulation.
No additional actions are required by a Federal agency unless there is an error in the license plate code or the agency name. If you find errors in the list of license plate codes, please contact the General Services Administration using the contact information provided in paragraph 6 of this bulletin. However, agencies that need to obtain U.S. Government license plates should follow the procedures in section 102-34.140 (Where may we obtain U.S. Government license plates?) in the Federal Management Regulation.
6. Who should we contact for further information or to request that the agency or activities of the agency be granted an unlimited exemption from displaying U.S. Government License Plates and motor vehicle identification?
General Services Administration
Office of Governmentwide Policy
Office of Travel, Transportation, and Asset Management (MT)
Washington, DC 20405
Telephone Number: 202-501-1777
E-mail Address: vehicle.policy@gsa.gov
John G. Sindelar
Acting Associate Administrator
Office of Governmentwide Policy
ATTACHMENT TO BULLETIN FMR B-12
The following Federal agencies, or activities within agencies, have been granted unlimited exemptions from displaying U.S. Government license plates and motor vehicle identification.
Name of Federal Entity
Types of Vehicles covered by the exemption
Administrative Office of the United States Courts
All motor vehicles used by United States probation offices and pretrial services agencies of the judicial branch of the U.S. Government.
Department of Agriculture
Motor vehicles used for investigative or law enforcement activities by the Agricultural Marketing Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Forest Service, Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration, Packers and Stockyard Program, Food and Consumers Service, and Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Commerce
Motor vehicles used for surveillance and other law enforcement activities by the Office of Export Enforcement, International Trade Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Department of Defense
Motor vehicles used for intelligence, investigative, or security activities by the U.S. Army Intelligence Agency and the Criminal Investigation Command of the Department of the Army; Office of Naval Intelligence of the Department of the Navy; Office of Special Investigations of the Department of the Air Force; the Defense Criminal Investigation Service, Office of the Inspector General; and the Defense Logistics Agency.
Department of Education
Motor vehicles used for investigative and law enforcement activities by the Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Energy
Motor vehicles used for investigative or security activities.
Environmental Protection Agency
Motor vehicles used for investigative and law enforcement activities by the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
Federal Communications Commission
Motor vehicles used for investigative activities by the Field Operations Bureau.
General Services Administration
Motor vehicles used for investigative, surveillance, and security activities by special agents of the Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Health and Human Services
Motor vehicles used for undercover law enforcement and similar investigative work by the Food and Drug Administration; motor vehicles used to transport mentally disturbed children by the National Institutes of Health; and motor vehicles used for law enforcement and investigative purposes by the Office of Investigations and the Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Homeland Security
Motor vehicles used for investigative or security activities.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Motor vehicles used for law enforcement or investigative purposes by the Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Interior
Motor vehicles used to enforce game laws by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; motor vehicles assigned to special agents of the Bureau of Land Management who investigate crimes against public lands; motor vehicles assigned to special officers of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; motor vehicles used for investigating crimes against public lands by the National Park Service and assigned to the U.S. Park Police; and motor vehicles assigned to the special agents of the Office of the Inspector General who investigate possible crimes of fraud and abuse by departmental employees, contractors, and grantees.
Department of Justice
All motor vehicles used for undercover law enforcement activities or investigative work by the Department.
Department of Labor
All motor vehicles used for investigative, law enforcement and compliance activities by the Employment and Training Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Employment Standards Administration, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Motor vehicles used for investigative or law enforcement activities.
National Labor Relations Board
Motor vehicles used for investigative activities by field offices.
National Security Council
Motor vehicles used by the Central Intelligence Agency.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Motor vehicles used for the conduct of security operations or in the enforcement of security regulations.
Office of Personnel Management
Motor vehicles used for the investigative program of the Office of Personnel Investigations and regional investigation activities.
United States Postal Service
Motor vehicles that the Postal Inspection Service uses for investigative and law enforcement activities.
Department of State
Motor vehicles used for protecting domestic and foreign dignitaries and investigating passport and visa fraud
Department of Transportation
Motor vehicles used for intelligence, investigative, or security activities by the Office of the Inspector General, the OST Office of Security, the Investigations and Security Division and field counterparts in the U.S. Coast Guard, the Office of Civil Aviation Security and field counterparts in the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Idaho Division Office of Motor Carriers in the Federal Highway Administration.
Department of the Treasury
Motor vehicles used by the U.S. Secret Service; the Criminal Investigation Division and the Internal Security Division of the Internal Revenue Service; motor vehicles used for investigative activities by the Collection Division of the Internal Revenue Service; motor vehicles used by the Office of Enforcement and the Office of Inspection at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and motor vehicles used by the Office of Enforcement, Office of Compliance Operations
Department of Veterans Affairs
Motor vehicles used for investigative activities by the Office of the Inspector General and regional Field Examiners and Property Management Inspectors.
In a week where Governor Spitzer has declared that the undocumented should be allowed to have driver's licenses, perhaps he should focus a litte more on the motor vehicle bureau.
Posted below is the government memo and a list of vehicles affected.
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
Washington, DC 20405
January 18, 2006
GSA BULLETIN FMR B-12
MOTOR VEHICLE MANAGEMENT
TO: Heads of Federal agencies
SUBJECT: Agencies with unlimited exemptions from displaying U.S. Government License Plates and motor vehicle identification
1. What is the purpose of this bulletin? This bulletin provides the list of agencies for which GSA has granted unlimited exemptions from the display of U.S. Government license plates and motor vehicle identification. This bulletin is updated when additional unlimited exemptions are approved or existing exemptions are rescinded or modified.
2. What is the effective date of this bulletin? This bulletin is effective May 25, 2006.
3. When does this bulletin expire? This bulletin will remain in effect until specifically superseded or cancelled.
4. What is the background? Formerly, the list of Federal agencies granted unlimited exemptions from displaying U.S. Government license plates and motor vehicle identification because the vehicles are regularly used for the following type of activities: intelligence gathering; investigative and law enforcement activities; providing security; or in work where identifying the vehicles would be prejudicial to patients, was published in section 102-34.195 of the Federal Management Regulation.
However, for ease of updating, the list is changed to bulletin format.
5. What should I do as a result of this bulletin? Agencies that need an unlimited exemption but are not on the approved list in the attachment to this bulletin should contact the General Services Administration using the information provided in paragraph 6 of this bulletin. An agency may be required to provide a written certification of need for an unlimited exemption.
However, agencies should first analyze their needs to determine if a limited exemption is sufficient before seeking an unlimited exemption. The procedures for obtaining a limited exemption are in section 102-34.180 (May we have a limited exemption from displaying U.S. Government license plates and other motor vehicle identification?) in the Federal Management Regulation.
No additional actions are required by a Federal agency unless there is an error in the license plate code or the agency name. If you find errors in the list of license plate codes, please contact the General Services Administration using the contact information provided in paragraph 6 of this bulletin. However, agencies that need to obtain U.S. Government license plates should follow the procedures in section 102-34.140 (Where may we obtain U.S. Government license plates?) in the Federal Management Regulation.
6. Who should we contact for further information or to request that the agency or activities of the agency be granted an unlimited exemption from displaying U.S. Government License Plates and motor vehicle identification?
General Services Administration
Office of Governmentwide Policy
Office of Travel, Transportation, and Asset Management (MT)
Washington, DC 20405
Telephone Number: 202-501-1777
E-mail Address: vehicle.policy@gsa.gov
John G. Sindelar
Acting Associate Administrator
Office of Governmentwide Policy
ATTACHMENT TO BULLETIN FMR B-12
The following Federal agencies, or activities within agencies, have been granted unlimited exemptions from displaying U.S. Government license plates and motor vehicle identification.
Name of Federal Entity
Types of Vehicles covered by the exemption
Administrative Office of the United States Courts
All motor vehicles used by United States probation offices and pretrial services agencies of the judicial branch of the U.S. Government.
Department of Agriculture
Motor vehicles used for investigative or law enforcement activities by the Agricultural Marketing Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Forest Service, Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyard Administration, Packers and Stockyard Program, Food and Consumers Service, and Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Commerce
Motor vehicles used for surveillance and other law enforcement activities by the Office of Export Enforcement, International Trade Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Department of Defense
Motor vehicles used for intelligence, investigative, or security activities by the U.S. Army Intelligence Agency and the Criminal Investigation Command of the Department of the Army; Office of Naval Intelligence of the Department of the Navy; Office of Special Investigations of the Department of the Air Force; the Defense Criminal Investigation Service, Office of the Inspector General; and the Defense Logistics Agency.
Department of Education
Motor vehicles used for investigative and law enforcement activities by the Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Energy
Motor vehicles used for investigative or security activities.
Environmental Protection Agency
Motor vehicles used for investigative and law enforcement activities by the Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.
Federal Communications Commission
Motor vehicles used for investigative activities by the Field Operations Bureau.
General Services Administration
Motor vehicles used for investigative, surveillance, and security activities by special agents of the Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Health and Human Services
Motor vehicles used for undercover law enforcement and similar investigative work by the Food and Drug Administration; motor vehicles used to transport mentally disturbed children by the National Institutes of Health; and motor vehicles used for law enforcement and investigative purposes by the Office of Investigations and the Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Homeland Security
Motor vehicles used for investigative or security activities.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Motor vehicles used for law enforcement or investigative purposes by the Office of the Inspector General.
Department of Interior
Motor vehicles used to enforce game laws by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; motor vehicles assigned to special agents of the Bureau of Land Management who investigate crimes against public lands; motor vehicles assigned to special officers of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; motor vehicles used for investigating crimes against public lands by the National Park Service and assigned to the U.S. Park Police; and motor vehicles assigned to the special agents of the Office of the Inspector General who investigate possible crimes of fraud and abuse by departmental employees, contractors, and grantees.
Department of Justice
All motor vehicles used for undercover law enforcement activities or investigative work by the Department.
Department of Labor
All motor vehicles used for investigative, law enforcement and compliance activities by the Employment and Training Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Employment Standards Administration, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Motor vehicles used for investigative or law enforcement activities.
National Labor Relations Board
Motor vehicles used for investigative activities by field offices.
National Security Council
Motor vehicles used by the Central Intelligence Agency.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Motor vehicles used for the conduct of security operations or in the enforcement of security regulations.
Office of Personnel Management
Motor vehicles used for the investigative program of the Office of Personnel Investigations and regional investigation activities.
United States Postal Service
Motor vehicles that the Postal Inspection Service uses for investigative and law enforcement activities.
Department of State
Motor vehicles used for protecting domestic and foreign dignitaries and investigating passport and visa fraud
Department of Transportation
Motor vehicles used for intelligence, investigative, or security activities by the Office of the Inspector General, the OST Office of Security, the Investigations and Security Division and field counterparts in the U.S. Coast Guard, the Office of Civil Aviation Security and field counterparts in the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Idaho Division Office of Motor Carriers in the Federal Highway Administration.
Department of the Treasury
Motor vehicles used by the U.S. Secret Service; the Criminal Investigation Division and the Internal Security Division of the Internal Revenue Service; motor vehicles used for investigative activities by the Collection Division of the Internal Revenue Service; motor vehicles used by the Office of Enforcement and the Office of Inspection at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and motor vehicles used by the Office of Enforcement, Office of Compliance Operations
Department of Veterans Affairs
Motor vehicles used for investigative activities by the Office of the Inspector General and regional Field Examiners and Property Management Inspectors.
TERROSIST ENCLAVE IN NEW JERSEY
New Facts on Luis Posada Carriles Case Revealed
by El Dario La Prensa Daily in New York
A criminal investigation into the case of international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles has extended to prominent business people in New Jersey, according to El Diario La Prensa newspaper. In an extensive article, the New York-based publication reveals that the FBI is investigating into financial operations by business people of Cuban-Americans in Union City and West New York who could have supported the activities of Posada Carriles.
Posada, along with Orlando Bosh, planned the 1976 bombing of a Cubana airliner in mid-flight which claimed 73 innocent lives off the coasts of Barbados. The FBI probe is linked to bombings carried out in 1997 against several hotels in Havana, one of which claimed the life of Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo and wounded many other Cubans. Posada cynically claimed responsibility for such terrorist actions during an interview with the New York Times in July 1998.
That same year the US newspaper, based on another interview with Cuban businessman Antonio Jorge (Tony) Alvarez, revealed possible links between the masterminds behind the bombings and four Cuban-Americans living in Union City who had sponsored such terrorist operations. Santiago Alvarez admits to have been aware of the plot to bomb Cuban hotels, since two of his Cuban friends (Jose Francisco Pepe Alvarez and Jose Burgos) had been told about them.
Both Burgos and Alvarez had been hired to manage two of Santiago Alvarez's power plant construction firms, the La Prensa article reads. Among others, the FBI is currently questioning Angel Alfonso Aleman and Oscar Rojas. Both men were directly linked to late Arnaldo Monzon Plasencia, a former executive of the Cuban American National Foundation who hid behind the mask of a prosperous New Jersey entrepreneur and who was considered the major sponsor of Posada Carriles. According to La Prensa daily, another man under investigation is Abel Hernandez, former owner of the Union City-based Mi Bandera restaurant and supermarket.
He was cited by Luis Posada Carriles in a fax message he sent from El Salvador under the pseudonym "Solo," back in 1997, giving instructions to Pepe Alvarez to collect an 800-dollar transfer deposited by the four New Jersey Cubans.
The money was the reward for the bomb attacks in Havana. "The money was sent via Western Union from New Jersey to pay the hotel bill," wrote Solo. "The investigation is a open secret," said a usual client of a famous coffee shop on Bergenline Avenue, New Jersey, who was cited by the La Prensa daily. "The Feds have been here for several months now and everybody knows they are here for the Posada Carriles case," he said.
Courtesy of AIN News Agency
by El Dario La Prensa Daily in New York
A criminal investigation into the case of international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles has extended to prominent business people in New Jersey, according to El Diario La Prensa newspaper. In an extensive article, the New York-based publication reveals that the FBI is investigating into financial operations by business people of Cuban-Americans in Union City and West New York who could have supported the activities of Posada Carriles.
Posada, along with Orlando Bosh, planned the 1976 bombing of a Cubana airliner in mid-flight which claimed 73 innocent lives off the coasts of Barbados. The FBI probe is linked to bombings carried out in 1997 against several hotels in Havana, one of which claimed the life of Italian tourist Fabio di Celmo and wounded many other Cubans. Posada cynically claimed responsibility for such terrorist actions during an interview with the New York Times in July 1998.
That same year the US newspaper, based on another interview with Cuban businessman Antonio Jorge (Tony) Alvarez, revealed possible links between the masterminds behind the bombings and four Cuban-Americans living in Union City who had sponsored such terrorist operations. Santiago Alvarez admits to have been aware of the plot to bomb Cuban hotels, since two of his Cuban friends (Jose Francisco Pepe Alvarez and Jose Burgos) had been told about them.
Both Burgos and Alvarez had been hired to manage two of Santiago Alvarez's power plant construction firms, the La Prensa article reads. Among others, the FBI is currently questioning Angel Alfonso Aleman and Oscar Rojas. Both men were directly linked to late Arnaldo Monzon Plasencia, a former executive of the Cuban American National Foundation who hid behind the mask of a prosperous New Jersey entrepreneur and who was considered the major sponsor of Posada Carriles. According to La Prensa daily, another man under investigation is Abel Hernandez, former owner of the Union City-based Mi Bandera restaurant and supermarket.
He was cited by Luis Posada Carriles in a fax message he sent from El Salvador under the pseudonym "Solo," back in 1997, giving instructions to Pepe Alvarez to collect an 800-dollar transfer deposited by the four New Jersey Cubans.
The money was the reward for the bomb attacks in Havana. "The money was sent via Western Union from New Jersey to pay the hotel bill," wrote Solo. "The investigation is a open secret," said a usual client of a famous coffee shop on Bergenline Avenue, New Jersey, who was cited by the La Prensa daily. "The Feds have been here for several months now and everybody knows they are here for the Posada Carriles case," he said.
Courtesy of AIN News Agency
Friday, September 21, 2007
IN THE RIYAL WE TRUST
WALL STREET IS ABOUT TO PLAY BY A NEW SET OF RULES.
Posted: September 20, 20074:14 p.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
In a complex set of transactions, Dubai is moving to acquire 19.9 percent of the Nasdaq in New York, placing the Arab government in an ownership position of the key U.S. stock exchange and raising concerns in Congress.
As a result of the transaction, Dubai also will acquire 28 percent of the London Stock Exchange, one of the oldest and largest in the world.
The transaction is being made through Borse Dubai, a holding company 100-percent owned by the government of the Emirate of Dubai and controlled by Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the head of the Dubai ruling family.
According to its website, Borse Dubai was created Aug. 6 as the holding company for Dubai Financial Market and Dubai International Financial Exchange in a move to consolidate the Dubai government's two stock exchanges "as well as current investments in other exchanges, expanding Dubai's position as a global capital market hub."
The announcement set off a firestorm of criticism in Washington, prompting President Bush to comment today in a news conference, "We're going to take a good look at it, as to whether or not it has any national security implications involved in the transaction. I'm comfortable with the process to go forward."
On July 26, Bush signed into law the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007, a law passed after last year's controversy over the effort by Dubai Ports World to acquire London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation, an international ports operating firm that would have given Dubai control of operations in up to 22 U.S. ports.
The Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 was passed to strengthen the examination requirements of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, a highly secretive bureaucratic panel constituted by the Treasury Department to pass verdict on the national security implications of foreign investments in the U.S.
In a letter today, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson to conduct the Borse Dubai CFIUS review under the standards imposed by the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007, even though most of the requirements of the new law do not take effect until later this fall.
Schumer chairs the Joint Economic Committee, composed of 10 members each from the Senate and House of Representatives. "Nasdaq is not just any exchange, but one of the world's largest," Schumer wrote Paulson. "With approximately 3,200 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market."
Schumer's letter posed five specific questions for Paulson:
What national security concerns are raised by allowing a foreign government to own U.S. financial exchanges?
Specifically, with respect to Dubai, are there national security concerns about this particular country's influence or control over a U.S. exchange?
U.S. exchanges are a critical asset to our national economic infrastructure. What implications would foreign government control or influence have on our economic security?
U.S. economic security depends on continued competitiveness in a global financial market. What impact will this transaction have on U.S. financial competitiveness?
If national and economic security concerns can be satisfied, should restrictions be placed on this transaction to limit Dubai's control and influence over U.S. exchanges?
The Department of the Treasury could not be reached for immediate comment.
HOMELAND INSECURITY Sheikdom shakedown: Dubai moves on Nasdaq Arab ownership of U.S. stock exchange raises flag in Congress
Posted: September 20, 20074:14 p.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
In a complex set of transactions, Dubai is moving to acquire 19.9 percent of the Nasdaq in New York, placing the Arab government in an ownership position of the key U.S. stock exchange and raising concerns in Congress.
As a result of the transaction, Dubai also will acquire 28 percent of the London Stock Exchange, one of the oldest and largest in the world.
The transaction is being made through Borse Dubai, a holding company 100-percent owned by the government of the Emirate of Dubai and controlled by Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the head of the Dubai ruling family.
According to its website, Borse Dubai was created Aug. 6 as the holding company for Dubai Financial Market and Dubai International Financial Exchange in a move to consolidate the Dubai government's two stock exchanges "as well as current investments in other exchanges, expanding Dubai's position as a global capital market hub."
The announcement set off a firestorm of criticism in Washington, prompting President Bush to comment today in a news conference, "We're going to take a good look at it, as to whether or not it has any national security implications involved in the transaction. I'm comfortable with the process to go forward."
On July 26, Bush signed into law the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007, a law passed after last year's controversy over the effort by Dubai Ports World to acquire London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation, an international ports operating firm that would have given Dubai control of operations in up to 22 U.S. ports.
The Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007 was passed to strengthen the examination requirements of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, a highly secretive bureaucratic panel constituted by the Treasury Department to pass verdict on the national security implications of foreign investments in the U.S.
In a letter today, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., urged Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson to conduct the Borse Dubai CFIUS review under the standards imposed by the Foreign Investment and National Security Act of 2007, even though most of the requirements of the new law do not take effect until later this fall.
Schumer chairs the Joint Economic Committee, composed of 10 members each from the Senate and House of Representatives. "Nasdaq is not just any exchange, but one of the world's largest," Schumer wrote Paulson. "With approximately 3,200 companies, it lists more companies and, on average, trades more shares per day than any other U.S. market."
Schumer's letter posed five specific questions for Paulson:
What national security concerns are raised by allowing a foreign government to own U.S. financial exchanges?
Specifically, with respect to Dubai, are there national security concerns about this particular country's influence or control over a U.S. exchange?
U.S. exchanges are a critical asset to our national economic infrastructure. What implications would foreign government control or influence have on our economic security?
U.S. economic security depends on continued competitiveness in a global financial market. What impact will this transaction have on U.S. financial competitiveness?
If national and economic security concerns can be satisfied, should restrictions be placed on this transaction to limit Dubai's control and influence over U.S. exchanges?
The Department of the Treasury could not be reached for immediate comment.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
HITLER YOUTH IN NEW JERSEY
JUDGE OKs 'HITLER YOUTH' BUTTONS
By DAVID PORTER, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 20, 11:16 AM ET
By DAVID PORTER, Associated Press Writer Thu Sep 20, 11:16 AM ET
NEWARK, N.J. - Two students in northern New Jersey can wear buttons featuring a picture of Hitler youth to protest a school uniform policy, a federal judge ruled Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. sided with the parents of the students, who had been threatened with suspension last fall for wearing the buttons. However, the judge added in his ruling that the boys will not be allowed to distribute the buttons at school.
Citing a 1969 case in Iowa involving students who wore black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War, Greenaway wrote that "a student may not be punished for merely expressing views unless the school has reason to believe that the speech or expression will 'materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school."
The buttons bear the words "no school uniforms" with a slash through them superimposed on a photo of young boys wearing identical shirts and neckerchiefs. There are no swastikas visible on the buttons, but the parties agreed that they depict members of Hitler youth.
After the suspension threat, the boys' parents filed a federal lawsuit claiming the district stifled the children's First Amendment free speech rights.
District lawyers asserted that the image of the Hitler youth was abhorrent because it conveyed intolerance and racial inequality represented by Nazism.
U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. sided with the parents of the students, who had been threatened with suspension last fall for wearing the buttons. However, the judge added in his ruling that the boys will not be allowed to distribute the buttons at school.
Citing a 1969 case in Iowa involving students who wore black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War, Greenaway wrote that "a student may not be punished for merely expressing views unless the school has reason to believe that the speech or expression will 'materially and substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school."
The buttons bear the words "no school uniforms" with a slash through them superimposed on a photo of young boys wearing identical shirts and neckerchiefs. There are no swastikas visible on the buttons, but the parties agreed that they depict members of Hitler youth.
After the suspension threat, the boys' parents filed a federal lawsuit claiming the district stifled the children's First Amendment free speech rights.
District lawyers asserted that the image of the Hitler youth was abhorrent because it conveyed intolerance and racial inequality represented by Nazism.
THE MERCK JERK AROUND
The pharmaceutical lobby is "huber alis" in the United States. Incredibly influential, it sways elections, health care issues and general public health policy. This year, the Merck company flaunted a vaccine that claims to prevent cervical cancer. The Merck public relations machine went into overdrive promoting the vaccination of young children. One should note that Merck contributes heavily to the Republican party. The following is from the Merck Board of
Directors.
The Company is committed to participating in the political process by supporting non-partisan registration and political education activities; expressing Company views in legislative forums; and communicating with employees, stockholders,customers, legislators, health professionals and others with common interests. Efforts to control healthcare costs, including prescription drug costs, and other reforms to the U.S. healthcare system that will directly affect the Company's business and the incentives for innovation continue to be debated at the federal and state government level. It is appropriate for the Company to help inform this debate. Merck contributes to state candidates in the states where such corporate contributions are allowed by law. Merck does not contribute to any federal political candidates or national political parties. Moreover, for the state candidate contributions, Merck has a formal Corporate Contributions Committee that oversees such contributions.
But sadly, the polical lobbying overshadows a terrible consequenc of this bogus vaccine.
Deaths Associated with HPV Vaccine Start Rolling In, Over 3500 Adverse Affects ReportedLifeSiteNews ^ 9/20/07 John-Henry Westen
Posted on 09/20/2007 4:02:03 PM PDT by wagglebee
TORONTO, September 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As Canada, in large part due to aggressive behind the scenes lobbying, rolls out the not-comprehensively-tested Merck HPV vaccine for girls as young as nine, a look at developments on the vaccine south of the border should cause Canadians serious concern.
In the United States a similar lobby campaign by the same company launched the mass HPV vaccination of girls beginning in June last year. In just little over a year, the HPV vaccine has been associated with at least five deaths, not to mention thousands of reports of adverse effects, hundreds deemed serious, and many that required hospitalization. Judicial Watch, a US government watchdog, became concerned while noting large donations to key politicians originating from Merck.
A freedom of information request from the group in May of this year discovered that during the period from June 8, 2006 - when the vaccines received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - to May 2007 there were 1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine reported to the FDA.
Three deaths were related to the vaccine, including one of a 12-year-old. One physician's assistant reported that a female patient "died of a blood clot three hours after getting the Gardasil vaccine." Two other reports, on girls 12 and 19, reported deaths relating to heart problems and/or blood clotting. As of May 11, 2007, the 1,637 adverse vaccination reactions reported to the FDA via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) included 371 serious reactions.
Of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous abortion to fetal abnormities. Side effects published by Merck & Co. warn the public about potential pain, fever, nausea, dizziness and itching after receiving the vaccine. Indeed, 77% of the adverse reactions reported are typical side effects to vaccinations. But other more serious side effects reported include paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and seizures.
Judicial Watch informed LifeSiteNews.com that a subsequent request for information on adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine, covering the period from May 2007 to September 2007, found that an additional 1800 adverse reactions have been reported, including more deaths. exactly how many more deaths will be released in the coming days, Judicial Watch's Dee Grothe informed LifeSiteNews.com.
The LifeSiteNews.com report on the moneyed lobbying efforts of Merck in the US was reported in February. (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/feb/07020204.html )However the Canadian lobby effort by Merck's Canadian affiliate Merck Frosst Canada has been underway using powerful lobbyists with close connections to the politicians who have signed off on massive government funded vaccination programs.
The Toronto Star recently reported that Merck Frosst Canada Ltd hired public relations giant Hill & Knowlton to push the immunization strategies using some well-connected lobbyists: Ken Boessenkool, a former senior policy adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Bob Lopinski, formerly with Premier Dalton McGuinty's office; and Jason Grier, former chief of staff to Health Minister George Smitherman.
Harper's Conservative Government approved Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil in July and later announced a $300 million program to give the vaccine to girls from ages 9-13. That of course is only the beginning of what Merck likely hopes will be a much larger vaccination of all potentially sexually active women in Canada. In August, McGuinty's Ontario Liberals, on the advice of his Health Minister George Smitherman, announced that all Grade 8 girls will have free access to Gardasil.
One of the major complaints by physicians is that the HPV vaccination program has been implemented before adequate testing has been completed. Long-term effects of the vaccine remain unknown. Many are asking why the huge, seemingly reckless rush? At least one answer to that question comes from the fact that Merck currently is the sole provider of an HPV vaccine with its Gardasil product.
A competing HPV vaccine, Glaxo Smith Kline's Cervarix, is set to hit the market in January 2008. As more children are vaccinated with Gardasil, fewer will be able to later receive the necessary repeat boosters of a competing, incompatible vaccine.
Merck is in a race to capture as much of the market as it can, consuming many millions of government tax dollars. US sales of Gardasil are expected to reach $1 billion in the first year of its availability. The reports from the FDA Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System detailing the three previous deaths are available here:http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007_docs/GardasilVAERSDeaths.pdfThe reports detailing all 1637 adverse effects are here:http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007_docs/GardasilVAERSReports.pdf
Directors.
The Company is committed to participating in the political process by supporting non-partisan registration and political education activities; expressing Company views in legislative forums; and communicating with employees, stockholders,customers, legislators, health professionals and others with common interests. Efforts to control healthcare costs, including prescription drug costs, and other reforms to the U.S. healthcare system that will directly affect the Company's business and the incentives for innovation continue to be debated at the federal and state government level. It is appropriate for the Company to help inform this debate. Merck contributes to state candidates in the states where such corporate contributions are allowed by law. Merck does not contribute to any federal political candidates or national political parties. Moreover, for the state candidate contributions, Merck has a formal Corporate Contributions Committee that oversees such contributions.
But sadly, the polical lobbying overshadows a terrible consequenc of this bogus vaccine.
Deaths Associated with HPV Vaccine Start Rolling In, Over 3500 Adverse Affects ReportedLifeSiteNews ^ 9/20/07 John-Henry Westen
Posted on 09/20/2007 4:02:03 PM PDT by wagglebee
TORONTO, September 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As Canada, in large part due to aggressive behind the scenes lobbying, rolls out the not-comprehensively-tested Merck HPV vaccine for girls as young as nine, a look at developments on the vaccine south of the border should cause Canadians serious concern.
In the United States a similar lobby campaign by the same company launched the mass HPV vaccination of girls beginning in June last year. In just little over a year, the HPV vaccine has been associated with at least five deaths, not to mention thousands of reports of adverse effects, hundreds deemed serious, and many that required hospitalization. Judicial Watch, a US government watchdog, became concerned while noting large donations to key politicians originating from Merck.
A freedom of information request from the group in May of this year discovered that during the period from June 8, 2006 - when the vaccines received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) - to May 2007 there were 1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine reported to the FDA.
Three deaths were related to the vaccine, including one of a 12-year-old. One physician's assistant reported that a female patient "died of a blood clot three hours after getting the Gardasil vaccine." Two other reports, on girls 12 and 19, reported deaths relating to heart problems and/or blood clotting. As of May 11, 2007, the 1,637 adverse vaccination reactions reported to the FDA via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) included 371 serious reactions.
Of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous abortion to fetal abnormities. Side effects published by Merck & Co. warn the public about potential pain, fever, nausea, dizziness and itching after receiving the vaccine. Indeed, 77% of the adverse reactions reported are typical side effects to vaccinations. But other more serious side effects reported include paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and seizures.
Judicial Watch informed LifeSiteNews.com that a subsequent request for information on adverse reactions to the HPV vaccine, covering the period from May 2007 to September 2007, found that an additional 1800 adverse reactions have been reported, including more deaths. exactly how many more deaths will be released in the coming days, Judicial Watch's Dee Grothe informed LifeSiteNews.com.
The LifeSiteNews.com report on the moneyed lobbying efforts of Merck in the US was reported in February. (see http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/feb/07020204.html )However the Canadian lobby effort by Merck's Canadian affiliate Merck Frosst Canada has been underway using powerful lobbyists with close connections to the politicians who have signed off on massive government funded vaccination programs.
The Toronto Star recently reported that Merck Frosst Canada Ltd hired public relations giant Hill & Knowlton to push the immunization strategies using some well-connected lobbyists: Ken Boessenkool, a former senior policy adviser to Prime Minister Stephen Harper; Bob Lopinski, formerly with Premier Dalton McGuinty's office; and Jason Grier, former chief of staff to Health Minister George Smitherman.
Harper's Conservative Government approved Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil in July and later announced a $300 million program to give the vaccine to girls from ages 9-13. That of course is only the beginning of what Merck likely hopes will be a much larger vaccination of all potentially sexually active women in Canada. In August, McGuinty's Ontario Liberals, on the advice of his Health Minister George Smitherman, announced that all Grade 8 girls will have free access to Gardasil.
One of the major complaints by physicians is that the HPV vaccination program has been implemented before adequate testing has been completed. Long-term effects of the vaccine remain unknown. Many are asking why the huge, seemingly reckless rush? At least one answer to that question comes from the fact that Merck currently is the sole provider of an HPV vaccine with its Gardasil product.
A competing HPV vaccine, Glaxo Smith Kline's Cervarix, is set to hit the market in January 2008. As more children are vaccinated with Gardasil, fewer will be able to later receive the necessary repeat boosters of a competing, incompatible vaccine.
Merck is in a race to capture as much of the market as it can, consuming many millions of government tax dollars. US sales of Gardasil are expected to reach $1 billion in the first year of its availability. The reports from the FDA Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System detailing the three previous deaths are available here:http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007_docs/GardasilVAERSDeaths.pdfThe reports detailing all 1637 adverse effects are here:http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007_docs/GardasilVAERSReports.pdf
RUDY'S WAR MONGER
WAVE Of GLOBAL ANTI-AMERICANISM
When Ahmadinejad visits the US next week, he will be greeted with boos and cheers. However, anyone who denies the holocaust deserves the boos. And as dangerous as he is, the sentiment of Rudolph Giuliani's new foreign policy advisor, Norman Podhoretz, is greater. Giuliani has already stated his position on Iran while on a visit to London.
"I believe the United States and our allies should deliver a very clear message to Iran, very clear, very sober, very serious: They will not be allowed to become a nuclear power. It's just not going to happen," Giuliani said at a midday campaign fundraising lunch."If they get to the point that they're going to become a nuclear power, we will prevent it, or we will set them back five or 10 years," he added. "It isn't a threat, it's just a reality. And I think if that reality sinks in, there is a better chance that we will never have to use a military option to deal with them," he said.
Podhoretz, a right wing Zionist has taken a hard line approach to dealing with Iran. One could surmise....almost fanatical.
The current issue of Commentary magazine — “widely regarded as the leading outlet for neoconservative writing” — features a controversial cover story by Norman Podhoretz titled “The Case For Bombing Iran.”
Podhoretz’s article appeals to President Bush, “a man who knows evil when he sees it” and who has been “battered more mercilessly and with less justification than any other in living memory,” to carry out military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. U.S. diplomats are now pointing to the essay to pressure foreign diplomats to increase pressure on Iran.
In a new interview, Podhoretz was asked to comment on the possible fallout of the military strikes he advocates. “Well, if we were to bomb the Iranians as I hope and pray we will,” Podhoretz says, “we’ll unleash a wave of anti-Americanism all over the world that will make the anti-Americanism we’ve experienced so far look like a love fest.”
This irrational reasoning should encourage one to re valuate Rudolph Giuliani as a potential candidate for President of the United States. With friends like his, we must be very wary of his enemies.
"I believe the United States and our allies should deliver a very clear message to Iran, very clear, very sober, very serious: They will not be allowed to become a nuclear power. It's just not going to happen," Giuliani said at a midday campaign fundraising lunch."If they get to the point that they're going to become a nuclear power, we will prevent it, or we will set them back five or 10 years," he added. "It isn't a threat, it's just a reality. And I think if that reality sinks in, there is a better chance that we will never have to use a military option to deal with them," he said.
Podhoretz, a right wing Zionist has taken a hard line approach to dealing with Iran. One could surmise....almost fanatical.
The current issue of Commentary magazine — “widely regarded as the leading outlet for neoconservative writing” — features a controversial cover story by Norman Podhoretz titled “The Case For Bombing Iran.”
Podhoretz’s article appeals to President Bush, “a man who knows evil when he sees it” and who has been “battered more mercilessly and with less justification than any other in living memory,” to carry out military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. U.S. diplomats are now pointing to the essay to pressure foreign diplomats to increase pressure on Iran.
In a new interview, Podhoretz was asked to comment on the possible fallout of the military strikes he advocates. “Well, if we were to bomb the Iranians as I hope and pray we will,” Podhoretz says, “we’ll unleash a wave of anti-Americanism all over the world that will make the anti-Americanism we’ve experienced so far look like a love fest.”
This irrational reasoning should encourage one to re valuate Rudolph Giuliani as a potential candidate for President of the United States. With friends like his, we must be very wary of his enemies.
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