Via Fleshploitatoin: Sex rings prey on immigrant women.
Human traffickers trap hundreds of female Hispanics into prostitutionRead the rest at Fleshploitation.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ
fordonez@charlotteobserver.com
Posted on Sun, Jan. 29, 2006
The Charlotte ObserverThe corner bungalow on Weldon Avenue looks like any other house on the quiet street in northeast Charlotte. But for a while in 2004, police say, it cloaked a secret brothel.
At night, men, mostly immigrants, lined up outside to wait their turn with young Latino women held as sex slaves. A typical session lasted 15 minutes, police say, and cost each customer about $30. Some women had sex with dozens of men a night.
Police shut down the brothel in July 2004. But authorities say many more dot the city.
In neighborhoods along North Tryon Street, The Plaza and South Boulevard, criminals have turned small, unassuming homes into illegal houses of prostitution, holding women against their will. Police shut down two last week, but declined to give details because of ongoing investigations.
Hundreds of Hispanic women are brought in and out of Charlotte every week to work at more than a dozen brothels connected to sex-trafficking rings on the East Coast, according to FBI and Charlotte-Mecklenburg police investigators.
Most of the women are in the country illegally and are reluctant to report the crimes. Often locked in rooms with few clothes and no telephone, they fear being beaten if they try to escape.
To keep a constant cycle of prostitutes in Charlotte, traffickers exchange the women with other pimps and handlers in cities such as Raleigh and Greensboro, often for as little as $130 each. The women are moved so frequently that some no longer know what city they're in.
"No one thinks of Charlotte and human trafficking," said Capt. Bruce Bellamy, head of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police vice and narcotics unit. "But it's a far greater issue than people realize." [...]
Via Drudge:
Mon Jan 30 2006 10:10:49 ETSweeeeet.Los Angeles's top talkradio station is under fire from a Muslim group because of comments made earlier this month by morning man Bill Handel. The Council on American-Islamic Relations has demanded an apology from Handel for making fun of a stampede that killed hundreds of Muslims during an annual pilgrimage.
But Handel is set to fire back, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
Handel will apologize IF the Council on American-Islamic Relations:
1) Decries all acts of terror (described specifically, not generally)
2) Agrees that Israel is a sovereign nation with the right to defensible borders
3) CAIR has no ties of any sort, financially or otherwise, to any terror orgs or individiuals.
MANAGEMENT STATEMENT
KFI-AM does not condone making light of the deaths of people engaged in religious observances. We regret that listeners found the comments of one of our on-air hosts to be insensitive. KFI does not censor its hosts, nor does it tell them what to say or not to say. KFI is a strong and passionate believer in 1st amendment rights and that is at the very core of this radio station.
C'mon, CAIR! Show us your true colors!
Second to Drug Dealing as Largest and Fastest-GrowingSupply and demand.To: National Desk
Contact: Stacey Holliday of Concerned Women for America, 202-488-7000 ext. 126
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 /Christian Wire Service/ -- Concerned Women for America (CWA) is saddened by a United Nations report that says human trafficking has tied illegal arms dealing as the world's second largest and fastest-growing criminal enterprise, behind only illicit drug trading.
Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Senior Fellow of Concerned Women for America's Beverly LaHaye Institute, said, "Combating trafficking is like running on a treadmill; we are moving as fast as we can, but it is almost impossible for our programs to keep up with the destructive path of the criminal networks involved in human trafficking."
The U.N. report declares that nearly 30 million people are caught in modern-day slavery and that the industry now brings its criminals about $10 billion a year. With victims bought and sold over the Internet on such popular sites as eBay and Craig's List, trafficking victims in the United States number over 50,000 –– one-third of these are assumed to be children. Human trafficking includes sex trafficking, forced marriage, and labor trafficking, such as sweatshops, migrant workers and domestic service.
Dr. Crouse, who has worked for nearly a decade to combat sex trafficking at the national and international levels, commented, "While the U.N. blames social and economic disparities for fostering trafficking, the demand for prostitutes is the driving force behind sex trafficking where the victims overwhelmingly are women and girls."
Crouse adds, "In the United States Congress, legislators are working to end the demand for 'sex slaves,' and more and more states are passing legislation that will target pimps and johns rather than further punish the victims. They are used as a lucrative commodity in sex transactions, often being sold repeatedly until they are completely used up."
Crouse concludes that, in the United States, public policy addresses both the prosecution of criminals engaged in human trafficking and the protection of vulnerable women and girls who are potential victims of sex trafficking.
Concerned Women for America (CWA) is the nation's largest public policy women's organization.
Cross-posted @ Fleshploitation.
Colombia Busts Ring Linked to al-Qaida.
Colombia has dismantled a false passport ring with links to al-Qaida and Hamas militants, the acting attorney general said Thursday after authorities led dozens of simultaneous raids across five cities.Hmmm....The gang allegedly supplied an unknown number of citizens from Pakistan, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and other countries with false passports and Colombian nationality without them ever stepping foot in the country, the attorney general's office said in a written statement.
The counterfeited passports were then used to facilitate their entry into the United States and Europe.
Nineteen people were arrested in Thursday's raids, carried out in collaboration with U.S. authorities, the attorney general's office said. Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Bogota were not immediately available for contact.
An undisclosed number of those arrested are wanted for working with al-Qaida, the international terrorist organization headed by Osama Bin Laden, and the militant Palestinian group Hamas, said acting Attorney General Jorge Armando Otalora.
"We confirm that some of the arrestees are wanted for extradition for collaborating with terrorist groups al-Qaida and Hamas," Otalora told RCN television.
Four were Jordanian citizens were among those arrested, said Manuel Saenz, head of foreign immigration for the DAS secret police, on Caracol television. And eight are being sought by the United States for extradition, Otalora said.
The group apparently penetrated Colombia's federal bureaucracy and secret police. Three DAS officials and an employee of the national registry were among the arrested.
Saenz also said the group provided false passports for Spain, Portugal and Germany and other countries.
Authorities first suspected the existence of a criminal gang in 2002, when three Iraqi citizens were captured entering Colombia on false Israeli passports, the attorney general's statement said.
[...] Authorities didn't say if any Colombian terrorist groups were involved.
There are three illegal, armed groups in Colombia that are on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations, and President Alvaro Uribe has occasionally warned that their existence fosters more violence.
In a speech in late 2004 to the United Nations in New York, Uribe said Colombia needs "the total commitment of the international community against terrorism in Colombia. The terrorism in one country feeds and strengthens terrorist networks throughout the world."
U.S. officials have long feared al-Qaida could take advantage of corrupt government officials and weak institutions to launch an attack from south of the border.
Much of the focus in South America, however, has fallen on the large Muslim community in Paraguay along the porous border with Argentina and Brazil.
Authorities believe as much as $100 million a year flows out of the region, with large portions diverted to Islamic militants linked to Hezbollah and Hamas.
What's contradictory is maintaining this facade of free market state-regulated reforms mixed with state-sponsered terrorism communism: China to 'strike hard' against rising unrest.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China is preparing to "strike hard" against rising public unrest, a senior police official said according to state media on Thursday, highlighting the government's fears for stability even as the economy booms.Jigga-wha?An unnamed top official of China's Ministry of Public Security told a Wednesday meeting that China faced a long period of dangerous social discontent, Xinhua news agency said.
"For a considerable time to come, our country will be in a period of pronounced contradictions within the people, high crime rates, and complex struggle against enemies," the official said.
"Contradictions within the people" is a Maoist term used to describe domestic social unrest.
China was suffering many "major sudden incidents" -- a term Chinese officials use to cover riots, protests and accidents -- the official added.
"Unpredictable factors affecting social stability will increase, and trends in protecting social stability don't allow for optimism," said the official.
He also said that "terrorism is a real threat against our country" and urged officers to guard against attacks.
China says that its biggest terrorist threat comes from Xinjiang, the far western region dominated by the largely Muslim Uighur people who share a language and culture similar to Central Asian countries.
Uighur groups have campaigned for independence from China, and a few have had links with Islamic extremists in Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Last week, China's Ministry of Public Security put the total number of "mass incidents" -- riots, demonstrations and smaller protests -- at a total 87,000 last year, up 6.6 percent from 2004.
Israelis despair over Hamas victory.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Avi Zana listened with horror on Thursday to news that the Hamas militant group that killed his son had won Palestinian elections.Well said.On the streets of the Jewish state, there was grave concern at the victory of the Hamas movement that carried out nearly 60 suicide bombings during a Palestinian uprising and is formally dedicated to destroying Israel.
"The Palestinians have shown their true face by electing Hamas," said Zana, 46. "The group does not want control of the Palestinian Authority, it wants control of all Israel."
The United Kingdom continues to fight the good fight: Britain Boosting Afghan Troop Levels.
LONDON - Britain will send at least another 4,000 troops — four times its current deployment — to Afghanistan in coming months as a NATO mission expands into a dangerous region rife with Taliban and al-Qaida insurgents, the government said Thursday.Thank you, Great Britain, our loyal and steadfast friends.Britain now has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan. That would peak at about 5,700 but drop to less than 4,700 after engineers complete building a base for troops by July, Defense Secretary John Reid said.
He told the House of Commons that the mission in southern Afghanistan was dangerous, and warlords and drug trafficking gangs were active in the region.
"Those risks are as nothing compared to the dangers to our country and our people of allowing Afghanistan to fall back into the hands of the Taliban and the terrorists," he said.
The deployment would not lead to a withdrawal of troops in Iraq, where Britain has an 8,500-strong force, he said.
The Afghanistan deployment comes as NATO expands its peacekeeping mission there from 9,000 to about 16,000 troops. The alliance will be responsible for security in about three-quarters of the country, while the separate U.S.-led combat force hunts down Taliban insurgents.
In May, Britain takes control of NATO's International Security Assistance Force based in the capital, Kabul. As the alliance pushes south, it will command a forward support base in the southern city of Kandahar.
Britain's defense ministry said some 3,300 troops would form a reconstruction team in Helmand — a volatile southern province and an important center of Afghan opium production.
"We are working to ensure we provide the Afghans with a seamless package of democratic, political and military assistance in Helmand," Reid said.
The military will be doing "all that is necessary to ensure that international terrorism never again has a base in Afghanistan," he said.
SD Legislature To Consider Abortion Ban.
In the next six weeks, South Dakota lawmakers will decide whether to make abortion a crime.Let's hope the rest of the Union will follow suit if S. Dakota passes this legislation.A bill that would ban abortion in the state will be introduced within the next two days.
The bill will be called the Woman's Health and Life Protection Act. It will ban abortion, but won't prosecute a doctor who performs one to save a woman's life.
And the lawmaker who's introducing the bill says he thinks now is the right time to try and over-turn Roe vs Wade.
Rep. Roger Hunt says, "Abortion should be banned."
Those four words will likely lead to many others in the South Dakota House and Senate as lawmakers will decide whether to criminalize abortion in the state. The bill's supporters are using findings from a controversial abortion task force report recently given to the legislature.
Hunt says, "DNA testing now can establish the unborn child has a separate and distinct personality from the mother. We know a lot more about post-abortion harm to the mother."
New super-gun to be tested in Feb.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Next month a new high-explosive munition will be fired in Singapore and then tested again by the U.S. Army, heralding what may be a sea change in weaponry: a gun that can fire 240,000 rounds per minute.Knowing all that know about guns (which is nothing) --- when I think about "electronics" being implemented into such weaponry... does that not raise the risk for an "electronic" malfunction of some sorts?That's compared to 60 rounds per minute in a standard military machine gun.
[...] A Metal Storm gun of any size -- from a 9 mm hand-gun up to a machine gun size or a grenade launcher -- has no moving parts other than the bullets or munition inside the barrel. Rather than chambering a single slug for each shot - very quickly in the case of machine guns -- the bullets come pre-stacked inside the barrel and can be shot all at once, or one at a time, as the shooter decides through the electronic controls.
Because there are no moving parts, the weapon is less likely to jam, and will presumably need less maintenance.
U.S. Navy captures suspected pirates.
DUBAI - U.S. Navy vessels pursued a suspected pirate ship in the Indian Ocean off Somalia’s coast and fired warning shots to capture its crew on Saturday, U.S. Navy Forces Central Command said.The guided missile destroyer Winston S. Churchill and other U.S. naval forces located the vessel after receiving a report of an attempted act of piracy, but it failed to respond to orders to stop.
“Churchill began aggressive maneuvering in an attempt to stop the vessel. The vessel continued on its course and speed. (Then) Churchill fired warning shots,” said a Navy statement.
“(Later) Churchill fired additional warning shots, and at that time the crew of the suspect pirate vessel established communications by radio and indicated that they would begin sending personnel to the Churchill via their small boat in tow.”
The crewmembers were seized and U.S. Navy sailors who boarded the vessel discovered small-arms weapons on board, the statement said. It did not say how many suspects were held.
Piracy has become epidemic in the unpatrolled waters off the coast of lawless Somalia, where at least 23 hijackings and attempted seizures have been reported since mid-March.
Bedbugs Bite Big Apple in Global Epidemic.
NEW YORK - Legions of tiny blood-sucking bugs are munching their way through the Big Apple, making this the city that never sleeps ... tight. Bedbugs are back, and they're not just rearing their rust-colored heads in New York City. Authorities say it's a global crisis: Exterminators who handled one or two bedbug calls a year are now getting that many in a week, according to the National Pest Management Association.Ain't globalization grand?"There's an epidemic going on throughout the country, and New York seems to be the hotbed," said Jeffrey Eisenberg, a pest control expert.
The elusive critters avoid light and attack in the middle of the night. About the size of an apple seed, a bedbug hides among cracks and crevices in furniture and walls, and can disappear into the edge of a picture frame or between buttons on an alarm clock.
[...] The current generation of exterminators has been caught unaware by these pests, which were all but dormant for decades. The recent comeback is attributed to several factors, primarily an increase in global travel and the banning of potent pesticides like DDT.
Stanley Kurtz (NRO Corner) raises an interesting question in his response to (Charles) Krauthammer's WaPo piece: IRAN OPTIONS.
After 9/11, some criticized the president for not asking civilians to sacrifice. Well, this is the moment of testing. The most effective Iranian retaliation to a military strike would not be military. It would be what Krauthammer describes: oil shock and a significant blow to the world’s economy. So the question is, are we willing to sacrifice economically for the sake of keeping the bomb out of the hands of Iran and its terrorist allies? If not, I fear America’s cities will someday pay a far higher price.I often wonder if we as Americans are still aptly prepared to "bear any burden...pay any price..."
H/T: Dave (GR) @ Ace's.
"I got my mother's eyes, my father's nose, and my 300th great-grandfather's gills": Human Ears Evolved from Ancient Fish Gills
Your ability to hear relies on a structure that got its start as a gill opening in fish, a new study reveals.So...Humans and other land animals have special bones in their ears that are crucial to hearing. Ancient fish used similar structures to breathe underwater.
Scientists had thought the evolutionary change occurred after animals had established themselves on land, but a new look at an old fossil suggests ear development was set into motion before any creatures crawled out of the water.
We "evolved" from sea-monkeys now?
When trash tv poses as a "news broadcast": Porn Queen Rita Cosby.
One of the oldest tricks in the book is to pander to the audience with a sex story by claiming you are only "covering" a matter of public interest. Rita Cosby, who is fast becoming known as the "Porn Queen" on MSNBC- TV, tried this out on her December 15 show. But she ran into a buzzsaw—an anti-porn activist by the name of Dr. Gail Dines, who saw through what Cosby was trying to do and blew the whistle.Dines appeared on the show late in the program after Cosby had featured various "stars" from the pornography industry who "cash in on their good looks in search for instant fame, stardom, and of course, money." Talking to somebody named Harvey Kaplan about using the latest technology to download porn, Cosby gushed that it sounds like the business is "booming." Golly gee.
Appearing late in the program, Dr. Dines, a professor of sociology and women's studies, said, "I would like to talk about what's just passed for a news program has actually been a 50-minute promotion for the pornography industry. And I think in the media you have more responsibility..."
Responsibility? In the media? Yes, we agree with you, Professor. But this is MSNBC, which is becoming a porn channel, in so far as Rita Cosby's show is concerned. Cosby saw where the professor was going and tried to nip it in the bud. Cosby interrupted to claim that she was merely addressing pornography "from a business perspective" and "By no means are we promoting pornography. Let me just make that clear."
Oh sure. Cosby was conducting scholarly research into the porn industry by interviewing a "veteran porn actor" and porn directors, as if they are all players in a legitimate business and there was nothing immoral or sleazy about getting paid to have dangerous sex.
Dines shot back: "Yes, you are." She accused Cosby of using the first 50 minutes of the show to "promote pornography, in that you did not really get at what the industry's about, the reality of women's lives in the industry." Dines said Cosby was guilty of "shoddy reporting."
No, Professor, it wasn't shoddy reporting. It was deliberate deception. Cosby knows this approach is sleazy but she is determined to get an audience, no matter how low she has to sink. So she camouflages her interest in porn as an audience-getting device by insisting that she is simply doing a story about the business.
I plead guilty to falling for the ploy. But I am a media analyst and have to pay attention to these things. I also had to report that Dr. Dines fought back, exposing Cosby as the manipulator she is. Where is Cosby's concern for the women whose lives are ruined in the porn business? Does she have any integrity?
Cliff Kincaid is the Editor of the AIM Report and can be reached at cliff.kincaid AT aim DOT org
Bible Study Coming to New Braunfels ISD
One public school district voted Monday night to begin offering a new bible class as part of its curriculum.Good job.The elective course is called "The Bible and its Influence." Board members voted six to one to approve the new class.
"The Bible is a fundamental document," says Rosalyn Bratcher with the New Braunfels ISD. "It has had a great influence in terms of politics, art, music, literature."
The district says this course does not violate the First Amendment.
"What makes it compliant is that we are teaching the Bible as a textbook and a document," adds Bratcher.
Northeast ISD already offers a bible course at two of its high schools, also as an elective.
New Braunfels ISD surveyed their students and about half of the students say they are interested in taking the course.
Parents we spoke to about the issue are split on the idea.
"If you're going to have to pass this class or take this class as part of a grade or any kind of credit towards your high school diploma, I'm totally against it," says Christy Oliphant.
Keith says, "I think we need to learn more about our creator."
Now that the class has been approved by the New Braunfels school board, it will be offered to Juniors and Seniors in the fall.
Let's see the ACLU and AU try to argue against the assertion the Bible has had a profound influence on "politics, art, music, literature" (and so much more!).
I'm feeling brazen tonight.
My readers and blogbuds alike know (at least I hope) that I'm usually pretty reserved in my posting. A link here, a comment there, a periodic show of disgust or sign of approval; rarely do I swear.
But tonight's that rare moment where Impulsivekyer comes out to play.
I'm not even going to think this one through because this all seems so vaguely familiar...my fingers are merely typing impulsively because it seems like we've been here before... Annan: Iran wants to talk about nuclear issues.
BERLIN - The British, French and German foreign ministers said Thursday that negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program had reached a “dead end” and the Islamic republic should be referred to the U.N. Security Council.Here's your timeframe, Khomeini: pack your bags before we start packin' heat.But U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said later Thursday that Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told him that Tehran was interested in “serious and constructive negotiations” with the European countries over its atomic program and favored a deadline.
“He affirmed to me that they are interested in serious and constructive negotiations but within a time frame, indicating that the last time they did it for two years and no result,” Annan told reporters.
No more deferring to the United Nations Irrelevancy Council.
No more buying time to move junk around, underground and into mosques and such.
The seals are broken. Need we wait for much more? We know their intentions, give us a break. Don't "nuclear fuel" me, Khomeini. Ain't buyin' it.
This is only turning into a crisis because WE are letting it!
None of this negotiation nonsense. What's to negotiate? What do they want? What do we have to give but our submission?
Ahmadinejad has already spread his cards out on the table. Death to the Jews and to the Americans/West.
You want some sort of energy source? Use your oil. Use other fossil fuels, I don't care. But you ain't gettin' nukes. End of subject.
And like Vinnie, I have NO, I repeat, NO problem whatsoever with the Iranian PEOPLE---just the theocratic thugs who oppress them. (What a weak description!)
The mullahs are acting like a bunch of 2-year-olds who know they've done something wrong and want to talk themselves out of a spankin'.
"But mommy, I know I'm not sposed to touchy the nukeys but I jus wanted to play wif dem!"
Parents need to start disciplining their child(dren) at a young age before they start thinking they can think for themselves and do as they please.
We are (well past the)/at the point where we need to start rearing in the infants and letting them know where not going to have them talking to us like a bunch of irreverant 13-year-olds.
Iran---like a disobedient child is waiting to get an ass-whompin.
/end of rant by the seat of my pantolones.
I'm just not playing this game again.
This guy is awesome: Black sergeant was 'loyal Klansman'.
About 25 years ago, Ron Stallworth was asked to lead the Ku Klux Klan chapter in Colorado Springs.Check out the rest of the article. Sgt. Stallworth really knows his stuff.Problem was, the outgoing Klan leader didn't know that Stallworth is black.
He asked me to take over the lead because I was a good, loyal Klansman," said Stallworth, who had been in constant phone contact with the Klan leader while leading a yearlong Colorado Springs police investigation into the Klan.
Stallworth later moved to Utah, where he recently retired after nearly 20 years as an investigator for the Utah Department of Public Safety. He says he's amazed that no one ever caught on to the investigation he led starting in 1979. After he was offered Klan leadership, he quietly disappeared.
As a memento Stallworth still carries his Klan membership card — signed by David Duke.
"It was one of the most fun" investigations, he said. "Everybody said it couldn't be done."
Stallworth communicated with Klan leaders using the telephone. A white officer posing as Stallworth went to the meetings.
"The challenge for me was to maintain the conversation flow," Stallworth said. At the same time, Stallworth also led an undercover investigation into the Progressive Labor Party, a communist group that protested at Klan rallies.
Stallworth, of Layton, worked 30 years in law enforcement in four states. Stallworth's undercover experience and research led him to become a nationally known expert on gang culture.
He calls the Klan investigation "one of the most significant investigations I was ever involved in because of the scope and the magnitude of how it unfolded."
The investigation revealed that Klan members were in the military, including two at NORAD who controlled the triggers for nuclear weapons.
"I was told they were being reassigned to somewhere like the North Pole or Greenland," Stallworth said.
By the way...
Was I the only one who thought of Clayton Bigsby?
"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin..But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American.. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all..
We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile..
We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language..
and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."Theodore Roosevelt 1907
The following is a story from my local paper, the News Journal (of Wilmington Delaware) written by Mike Billington.
I cannot emphasize enough the injustice that is being done to Mr. Tyler.
I encourage anyone who reads this article to spread it throughout the Blogosphere to raise awareness of Reginald Tyler's case.
Soldier beating cancer but not the Army.
Reginald Tyler loved the Army. The Army just didn't love him back, he says.Read it all, there so much more that has been done this soldier.Tyler enlisted 30 days after graduating from old P.S. du Pont High School in Wilmington and spent 26 years serving his country in Germany, Korea and the United States. He never thought about retirement.
"I was what you might call a lifer," he said.
[...] But when Tyler was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2002, everything changed. The Army treated him for the cancer -- taking out most of his stomach in the process -- but his medical condition made it impossible for him to do his job as a supply sergeant, which sometimes involved heavy lifting.
Tyler said when his last enlistment was up, he could not sign up for more duty because his physical condition prevented him from performing his job.
No longer in the military, Tyler and his family live on less than $15,000 a year after a military medical board, while acknowledging he cannot work, ruled he is not entitled to a disability pension.
"Because I did not have any cancer left in my body, they said they'd fulfilled their obligation to me," Tyler said.
"After that, they said I was on my own."
[...] The Social Security Administration has awarded him a small disability pension, around $1,000 a month. He also gets a Department of Veterans Affairs disability pension -- about $140 a month -- but the amount of that pension is deducted from his monthly Social Security payments.
When it became clear he could no longer stay in the military because he could not physically perform his duties, the Army offered Tyler a choice. He could wait 17 years until he was 60 to draw his monthly Army pension, or take an immediate $40,000 buyout.
"They said it was a choice, but we had no real choice," Cheryl Tyler said. "We had money owed as a result of his being sick and all the problems with his pay. We were in so deep by that time that we had to take the buyout and start paying off some bills."
(Note: If the link expires, let me know, and I will email you the full text myself)
I absolutely love this story! Defend America: Great-grandmother Returns from Iraq.
DALLAS, Jan. 9, 2006 — Folks in Oklahoma are readjusting to an image not typically associated with the global war on terrorism, a 73-year old great-grandmother just back from Operation Iraqi Freedom.Lena Haddix, a native of Lawton, has spent the last six months in full battle armor helping troops find snacks, shampoo and other American products at the Army & Air Force Exchange Service Post Exchange/Base Exchange in Camp Liberty, Iraq.
The personification of the Exchange’s motto of “We Go Where You Go,” Haddix recently returned from her second voluntary deployment to the Middle East as a store manager. After previously volunteering to work in Kuwait, Haddix decided her work wasn’t done and went back for a second tour of duty, this time to Baghdad, Iraq.
“I’m glad to do it for the soldiers,” said Haddix. She explained that troops came to expect her presence at the store and often called her mom.
“When the convoys would come back, the troops would stop by the store and shout, ‘Mom, we made it!’”
After being gone for almost a year, Haddix will return to the Fort Sill Post Exchange to continue to support troops and their families here at home.“People like Lena are critical to the morale of our deployed troops,” said AAFES Chief of Contingency Planning Lt. Col. Steven Dean. “It is only through them that AAFES is able to deliver retail, fast food and telecommunication services that they would expect to find back home to a war zone.”
When asked about her time overseas and if she would consider going back, Haddix replied, “I’m thinking about it.”
AAFES currently operates more than 60 stores throughout Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. Troops can find a variety of items from basic supplies including socks, personal care items and beverages to comfort items including televisions, DVD players and movies.
ARNEWS: Soldier gives Marine a kidney.
By Times-News reporter Sandy MillerRead the rest of the story.BUHL, Idaho -- You never call a Marine a Soldier and you never call a Soldier a Marine.
And never confuse a Marine's "oohrah" with a Soldier’s "hooah."
In fact, one of the few things a Marine and a Soldier will agree on is how much fun it is to make jokes about the Air Force.
But when it comes down to the wire, they come through for each other. So when Marine Lance Cpl. Mitchell Pehrson needed a kidney, Army Spc. Adam Douglas gave him one of his.
Well, OK, Douglas does happen to be married to Pehrson's sister, Andrea.
"It wasn't about being in the military," Douglas said. "He was my brother-in-law and he needed a kidney."
Pehrson, now 22, was stationed on a Marine base in Japan last spring when he injured himself trying to earn his gray belt in martial arts. The injury sent him to the doctor who became concerned over the young Pehrson's high blood pressure.
Pehrson admitted he hadn't been feeling too good.
"I was always tired and had trouble on PT runs," Pehrson said.
Tests revealed Pehrson had anemia and his body was starved for oxygen.
"It was killing my kidneys slowly," he said.
He was flown from Japan to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where more tests confirmed Pehrson had end-stage renal disease. He needed a kidney - fast. He stayed in the barracks while the Marines worked on getting him on a list for a donor.
That's when Douglas, who was stationed in Korea with the Army's 304th Signal Battalion, stepped in.
Especially the last paragraph. heh.
Via: Donnah
"The soldier, be he friend or foe, is charged with the protection of the weak and the unarmed."
- General Douglas MacArthur
Hugh Thompson died Friday. In this Georgian was the decency, courage, and strength we hold as being at the core of the American soldier.You should most definitely read the entire story over at Donnah's, whom I thank very much for teaching me about this great American hero who for some reason...was not part of my history education in high school...On March 16, 1968, Hugh Thompson stopped the My Lai massacre.
Oh, you didn't know someone stopped it? Not a lot of people do.
Thompson, a helicopter pilot charged with flying recon, and confused by all the civilian bodies he was seeing, grew less confused when he saw how they were getting that way. Three times he dropped smoke next to injured civilians to signal they needed help. Three times he saw the people he had ask to be helped instead be murdered. The officers were out of control and they had taken their demoralized men down with them. He radioed back to base about what he was seeing. He landed several times and asked what was being done to help the wounded civilians. The answers he got filled him with anger.
Fellow Munuvian Delftman has this to say about sureshot Sgt. Gilliland: One Shot, One Kill.
Here's another side of operations in Iraq. That of the Sniper. Sgt. J Gilliland is fast becoming a legend in the sniper community. He has between 55 and 65 confirmed kills, but he recently polished his reputation with a one shot kill from a range of 4,100 Feet...about 900 feet longer than the "maximum" range of his sighting equipment.WW1 had Sgt York, WW2: Audie Murphy, Viet Nam:Carlos Hathcock.
Now Iraq has Sgt Gilliland. One man with a rifle, and the skill to use it effectively, CAN make a difference.
Operational security (and I'm SURE personal preference) aside, we need to know about heroes like Sg. Gilliland. The MSM talks "quagmire" and without anything other than causelty statistics and insurgent Islamofacist attacks being reported, it's hard to keep the morale here at home up. It's an unfortunate fact of life that we need our heroes. I'm sure that Sgt. Gililand considers himself anything BUT a hero...probably more along the lines of a hired gun, in the service of his country, yes; but nothing more than a hired killer. But he IS a hero in that his particular skill saves far more lives than he takes.I hope he takes comfort in that fact in the years to come when the inevitable pangs of conscience crop up. The snipers job is a particularly callous one. You can respect the enemy, but you can't give him the chance to "fight fair"; you hunt him, find him, and kill him as expeditiously as possible. No romance, no honor, just murder; but murder in the cause of a higher calling, saving lives.
Lives of your fellow servicemen and civilians.
Ace provides another side the NYSlimes couldn't care less about hearing: U.S. Soldiers Question Use of More Armor:
(Source) U.S. soldiers in the field were not all supportive of a Pentagon study that found improved body armor saves lives, with some troops arguing Saturday that more armor would hinder combat effectiveness.Ace sums it up:...
But many soldiers say they feel encumbered by the weight and restricted by fabric that does not move as they do. They frequently joke as they strap on their equipment before a patrol, and express relief when they return and peel it off.
Second Lt. Josh Suthoff, 23, of Jefferson City, Mo., said he already sacrifices enough movement when he wears the equipment. More armor would only increase his chances of getting killed, he said.
"You can slap body armor on all you want, but it's not going to help anything. When it's your time, it's your time," said Suthoff, a platoon leader in the brigade's 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment. "I'd go out with less body armor if I could."
More armor might save your life from a bullet. Then again, if more armor fatigues you or simply slows you down, you might wind up catching a bullet you wouldn't have otherwise.
When you filter through all the f-bombs and taking-the-Lord's-name-in-vains, Eric (VAM) has a really good point: Leper Messiah.
I did [a] post at home the other day on a story that I had heard a couple of times on the top of hour news on the radio that day. I did a Google News search that night and found three links to the story.Three. Three references to the story of a woman who discarded a newborn baby in a [expletive] dumpster. Since then, it’s grown to 164.
But Pat Robertson is running at 569.
[...] But a helpless baby stuffed in a garbage bag and taken to a dump, I guess these days, that’s just plain routine.
[...] I lay all this at the lowering of shame in this country. People used to get outraged over real shameful acts. Unwanted babies birthed in secret used to be left on the steps of churches and it was accepted as the proper thing to do. Now states have to pass laws practically begging people to not place their unwanted babies in the garbage, but to leave them at a hospital.
In summary: the Christian right is getting all bent out of shape over a blasphemously stupid television show that probably won't make it past sweeps while the Left is going bananas over anything Pat Robertson says with a fine tooth comb ---- all the while both "sides" are not looking at something as tragic and just plain awful as the abandonment of an innocent child in a filthy dumpster.
Gas Crisis Fueled Ukrainian Patriotism.
KIEV, Ukraine - At the height of a gas dispute this week, anonymous text messages zipped across Ukrainians' cell phones calling for a boycott of all things Russian.May the pro-Western Orange Revolution continue!"Remember the Great Famine, Stalin terror ... If you are a Ukrainian, forward this to friends," one message read.
Russia's threats to leave this nation of 47 million shivering through a cold winter triggered an outpouring of anti-Russian sentiment and patriotism, from which President Viktor Yushchenko will likely benefit in March's parliamentary elections.
"Ukrainians saw the face of the enemy and Russia did everything it could to make that face terrifying," said Ivan Poltavets, the head of Kiev's Institute of Economic Research. "But Ukrainians did not get scared. Instead they closed ranks around the idea of sovereignty and democracy."
[...] "Russia now understands that to bring Ukraine to her knees isn't so easy," said Oleksandr Rudakov, 45, a Kiev engineer. "Ukraine is ready to suffer a bit in the short-term if this will safeguard her independence and sovereignty."
AP: Miners' notes: 'Your dad didn't suffer'.
TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va. - Some of the 12 coal miners who died following an explosion left notes behind assuring family members that their final hours trapped underground were not spent in agony, a relative said Thursday.So sad---so very very sad.“The notes said they weren’t suffering, they were just going to sleep,”
[...] [N]otes left with several of the bodies all carried a similar message: “Your dad didn’t suffer.”
Pray for the families and loved ones of those who perished and for a speedy and full recovery for the lone survivor, Randal McCloy.
Mary Katharine Ham (Hugh Hewitt) on the 47 year-old socialist drama that is Cuba: They Tell Me It's a Nice Idea.
So, conversations with socialists. I have them. A lot.Kudos to Mary for writing this excellent post. I highly recommend it.I have them with that special brand of socialist-- the 20-something post-collegiate angsty intellectual who has the luxury of saying Fidel Castro "has some pretty good ideas" because, for him, it's not a national talking point enforced at the muzzle of a gun and the blindfolded brink of a ditch. That kind of socialist.
[...] Why do I bring it up now? This year marks the 47th anniversary of Castro's drive into Cuba.
[...] Forty-seven years. Forty-seven years of crimes against humanity and the human spirit. Generations lost to a world without freedom and self-determination.
If you're so inclined, a donation to the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a great way to help everyone remember the victims of this theory.
cp @ vam
Latest installment of Matt's Someone You Should Know series:
U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Roy Mitchell Soldier Battles Injuries, Changes Job to Stay in ArmyRead the rest.
By Tobi Elder
Fort Jackson LeaderFORT JACKSON, S.C., Dec, 21, 2005 — Despite several injuries acquired during combat - to include an above-the-knee leg amputation, Staff Sgt. Roy Mitchell is not willing to let go of his 12 years in the Army without a fight.
“People came into my hospital room two weeks after my injury and wanted to process me for medical retirement, and they presented it to me as if I didn’t have an option,” said Mitchell. “I told them ‘no.’”
Mitchell said there wasn’t even a decision to make, because he is in this Army to retire.
“And this injury didn’t change that thought process,” said Mitchell. “I wasn’t going to accept defeat for an answer. I have never been that type of soldier and I will never be that type of soldier." [Thank you! --.ed]
Mitchell is the type of soldier who although severely wounded in combat, is still willing to be a part of the fight for freedom and the military way of life. He hopes that other soldiers will see his patriotism as an inspiration to stay in the Army.
Sniper shot that took out an insurgent killer from three quarters of a mile.
Gazing through the telescopic sight of his M24 rifle, Staff Sgt Jim Gilliland, leader of Shadow sniper team, fixed his eye on the Iraqi insurgent who had just killed an American soldier.Yeaaaa buddy. We only train the best!His quarry stood nonchalantly in the fourth-floor bay window of a hospital in battle-torn Ramadi, still clasping a long-barrelled Kalashnikov. Instinctively allowing for wind speed and bullet drop, Shadow's commander aimed 12 feet high.
A single shot hit the Iraqi in the chest and killed him instantly. It had been fired from a range of 1,250 metres, well beyond the capacity of the powerful Leupold sight, accurate to 1,000 metres.
"I believe it is the longest confirmed kill in Iraq with a 7.62mm rifle," said Staff Sgt Gilliland, 28, who hunted squirrels in Double Springs, Alabama from the age of five before progressing to deer - and then people.
"He was visible only from the waist up. It was a one in a million shot. I could probably shoot a whole box of ammunition and never hit him again."
Salute to: Uncle Jimbo @ BlackFive.
Via: Mr. Blair:
For the first time in 27 years, the United Nations General Assembly will be debating the issue of establishing diplomatic relations with advanced Extraterrestrial Civilizations that may now be visiting Earth.You've got to be kidding me.
Chip chimes in:
Genocide in Sudan will be addressed after we improve relations with Andromeda.
Today's Hidden Gem Post of the Blogosphere comes to us courtesy of Donnah:
[...] I put on the same boots for wading through LGF comments as I do for the Democratic Underground ones: the solid waste of the lunatic fringe commenter is heaped high in both places.Meanwhile, I am almost ashamed to agree (on SOME points) with James "I root for hurricanes[!]" Wolcott's description of the Lizard Army:
I don't know [if] you've ever ventured into the subterranean underworld that is LGF's comments section, but it's sort of like a disorganized Nuremberg Rally, a lot of angry ruffians with nowhere to go lacking something better to do.But hey, as Donnah said, "it's heaped high in both places."
P.S. Mr. Wolcott, I am staying quite warm this winter alongside my "phony indigation," thank you very much.
Update: Donnah's comment from her post:
The signal-to-noise ratio is awful. Count me out of the crazy-talk, whether from the left or right wing. It doesn't matter which end of the political spectrum shit comes from: it's still just shit.Spot. On.
