Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Steelers' Mendenhall incurs wrath of club top kick Art Rooney via Twitter gaffes.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

NFL RUNNING BACK EMOTES ON BIN LADEN'S DEATH, GOD AND 9/11 TERRORIST ATTACKS. YIKES! RASHARD'S BOSS NOT AMUSED.

Vinnie Iyer Sporting News / May 3, 2011 
Mendenhall via Twitter, shared a series of sentiments about not believing that slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was behind the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Those thoughts, including criticism about those celebrating bin Laden's death on Monday, prompted Steelers president Art Rooney II to make a counter statement through his team's official website on Tuesday.

 
 Rashard Mendenhall via Twitter, shared a series of sentiments about not believing that slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was behind the terrorist attacks of 9/11. On Tuesday, Steelers president Art Rooney II released a counter statement through his team's official website. (AP Photo)
"I have not spoken with Rashard so it is hard to explain or even comprehend what he meant with his recent Twitter comments," Rooney said. "The entire Steelers' organization is very proud of the job our military personnel have done and we can only hope this leads to our troops coming home soon."

Although Mendenhall, just like everyone in the United States, has freedom of speech, he should be aware that what he said has the potential to cause a public relations nightmare for what's considered to be one of the league's classiest franchises. Rooney wisely was just protecting the interests of his brand.

For the many of you who might not follow Mendenhall on Twitter, here were his (unedited but censored) series of Tweets on the subject:

http://twitter.com/#!/R_Mendenhall
 
"What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man" they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side…"
"We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take down a skyscraper demolition style"
(at former Illinois basketball player Dominique Keller)
"I believe in God. I believe we're ALL his children. And I believe HE is the ONE and ONLY judge."
"Those who judge others, will also be judged themselves."
"For those of you who said you want to see Bin Laden burn in hell and p--- on his ashes, I ask how would God feel about your heart?"
"There is not an ignorant bone in my body. I just encourage you to #think."

NC House budget is return to fiscal responsibility: House Speaker Thom Tillis

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

May 3, 2011 in NCGOP7 News

 
From the Office of the Speaker  May 2, 2011


Raleigh – “House Republican leaders held a press conference this afternoon (May 02)  to highlight their proposed budget to be voted on in this week.  House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) said the budget represents a return to fiscal responsibility and is critical to North Carolina’s long-term economic sustainability.

“This budget confronts North Carolina’s fiscal problems in a responsible, sustainable way,” Tillis said.  “It brings government expenses into line with state revenues, ends the practice of taxing our citizens to pay for state government’s appetite for spending, and restores over a billion dollars into the private sector to help create jobs.”
Rep. Harold Brubaker (R-Randolph), the House Appropriations Chair, said the budget includes intelligent spending reductions for state agencies that will reverse the trend of ever-expanding state government, with great benefits to North Carolina taxpayers.

“This budget is one of the largest tax cuts in state history,” said Brubaker.  “By allowing certain taxes to expire, we will provide more than a billion dollars to the private sector.  We believe private businesses and individuals use their own money more effectively than state government.”

Brubaker also commented on specific proposals in the budget, including the funding of every teaching position in the state and giving local control to school boards and Superintendents, rather than directing spending from Raleigh.

“As a rule, all areas of government experienced spending reductions that were accomplished through streamlining administration and operating costs whenever possible,” Brubaker said.  “When positions had to be eliminated, we made sure the majority of those positions were vacant ones, to hold as many individuals harmless as we possibly could.”

Republicans commented on the transparency that has accompanied this budget from day one.  “This is the most transparent budget process in recent memory,” Tillis said.  All subcommittee documents and reports on the budget were posted online, and the budget has been available in its entirety online for five days before any budget votes have been taken on the House floor.

Republicans pointed out that they did not create the budget crisis they inherited when they were elected in November.  “The bottom line is that for decades, politicians in Raleigh have raised taxes and increased spending, and that formula hasn’t worked,” Tillis said.

“It’s time we give the private sector a chance and tighten the belt of state government.  We need a fundamental change in the way state government approaches the economy and job creation, and this budget does just that,” he asserted.

Finally, Tillis addressed the claims that some have made concerning potential job losses incurred in this budget.  “Some voices in state government have floated hypothetical, inflated job loss numbers,” he said.

“These numbers are just that:  hypothetical," Tillis continued. "Based on countless conversations with outside experts and internal non-partisan fiscal research staff, we are convinced that this budget is a job creator, period.”

Monday, May 2, 2011

TORN APART BY MOB: Iraqis rejoice over four ambush killings. Charred bodies of Americans strung up from bridge.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster   May 3, 2011

There have been complaints by Muslim leaders that Osama bin Laden's corpse has not been treated respectfully. It was buried at sea, and U.S. officials said every effort has been made to ensure adherence to Muslim traditions.

Perhaps it might be instructive to elaborate on how Muslims treat the remains of Americans. The following story was published in a Glasgow newspaper on  April 1, 2004.

The article is a bit untidy, and no attempt has been made to correct errors or other information which appears misplaced. There are some descriptions of gory photos which were not provided.

But it should impress the reader with the barbarity and crude disrespect shown the remains of several Americans killed by radical mobs in the Iraqi city of Falluja in 2004. 


Byline: By Rod Prince / Glasgow Daily Record / April 1, 2004



THE charred bodies of four civilian contractors three Americans were paraded through the streets of an Iraqi city after a terror attack terror attack natentado (terrorista)

terror attack nattentato terroristico 
 yesterday.

The baying mob including children then hung two of the bodies from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

Limbs were pulled from at least two of the dead and hung from a telephone cable in scenes of sheer barbarity.

Pictures of the obscene attack many too horrific to be shown in the Daily Record were flashed across the world and are sure to deeply shock the US public.

They showed one man beating a charred corpse with a metal pole.Others tied a yellow rope to a body,hooked it to a car and dragged it down the main street.

One of the dead was a woman. And five American soldiers died in a roadside bombing on one of the bloodiest days so far this year for the coalition governing Iraq.

The enormity of the attacks on the contractors was bad enough but the jubilant way that the crowd of Iraqis displayed their bodies through the streets was even worse.

The crowd's blood--lust exposes the depth of anti-American bitterness among Iraqi hardliners and the scale of the challenge facing coalition commanders charged with restoring calm to the region.

The four contractors were killed in a rebel attack on their 4x4 vehicles in Falluja, 35 miles west of Baghdad.

The city has been the scene of some of the worst violence on both sides of the conflict since the beginning of the American occupation a year ago.

Witness Abdul Aziz Mohammed said Both the name Mohammed and the name Said can be romanized in several ways. This page attempts to link all articles about people with this name, irrespective of spelling variants:

Mohamad Said

: 'The people of Falluja hanged some of the bodies on the old bridge like slaughtered sheep. Some of the corpses were dismembered.'

Beneath the bodies, a man held a printed sign with a skull and crossbones skull and crossbones

alerts consumers to presence of poison; represents death. [Folklore: Misc.]

See : Danger


skull and crossbones

symbolizing mortality; sign on poison bottles.
 and the phrase, 'Falluja is the cemetery for Americans'.

One resident displayed what appeared to bedog tags taken from one body.Others said there were weapons in the targeted cars.

TV pictures showed one US passport near a body and a US Defence Department ID card. US contractors in Iraq have been hiring former US and British special forces soldiers as bodyguards with contracts worth up to pounds 5000 a week.

Witnesses said the two vehicles were attacked with small arms small arms, firearms designed primarily to be carried and fired by one person and, generally, held in the hands, as distinguished from heavy arms, or artillery.

Falluja is in the so-called Sunni Triangle The Sunni Triangle refers to a densely-populated region of Iraq to the northwest of Baghdad that is inhabited mostly by Sunni Muslim Arabs. The roughly triangular area's corners are usually said to lie near Baghdad (on the east side of the triangle), Ramadi (on the west side) and , where support for Saddam Hussein was strong and rebels often carry out attacks against American forces.

In yesterday's other attack at Malahma, 12miles to the north-west of Falluja,five US troops died when their military vehicle ran over abomb.

Defence officials said the soldiers were from the Army's 1st Infantry Division The latest violence came two days after Carina Carina (kərē`nə) [Lat.,=the keel], southern constellation, representing the keel of the ancient constellation Argo Navis, or Ship of the Argonauts. Carina contains Canopus, the second brightest star in the sky.  Perelli, the head of a UN electoral team, said better security is vital if Iraq wants to hold elections by a deadline of January 31, 2005. They are scheduled to follow a June 30 transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government.

The grim and shocking scenes in Falluja represent President George Bush's worst nightmare the reality ofthe fall-out from the Iraq war brought home in all its gory go·ry
adj. go·ri·er, go·ri·est
1. Covered or stained with gore; bloody.

2. Full of or characterized by bloodshed and violence.
 horror.

The images of corpses being mutilated are certain to appal an American electorate increasingly disillusioned by the Bush administration's attitude to the war.

Jeremy Binnie,Middle East Editor of Jane's Sentinel Security Assessment, said the grisly images would sent shockwaves around America.

He said: 'It is such a savage attack. The mob are holding these contractors up as an example of what awaits other foreigner in Iraq.

'This would have been a spontaneous reaction by the crowd, rather than something premeditated everyone wanted to take part.

'There would have been a whole queue of people wanting to get to these bodies. Most people understand the situation across Iraq is not ideal but whether they are prepared for these pictures, I'm not sure.

'It reminds me of the famous photograph of an American soldier being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu in Somalia, which pretty much led to the withdrawal of US troops there in 1993.

'These photographs are definitely unhelpful to the Bush administration.'

One youngster, Mohammad Nafik, 12, said as he watched the scenes of desecration: 'I am happy to see this. The Americans are occupying us so this is what will happen.This is the fate of all who come to Falluja.'

Yet, despite the continuing violence, President Bush yesterday vowed troops would remain there.

He said: 'We mourn the loss of life. But there is an important effort to provide the Iraqi people freedom and democracy and we will not turn back from that effort.'

CAPTION(S):

PRICEY: At the pumps; CHILLING: Top, the boy's sign reads `Falluja is the cemetery of the Americans'; BARBARIC: Anti-US slogans are chanted as bodies hang, left. Above, playing inside the shell; SICKENING SCENES: Iraqis celebrate the deaths of four civilians after gunmen opened fire on two vehicles in the flashpoint city of Falluja yesterday
COPYRIGHT 2004 Scottish Daily Record & Sunday

CNN SPECIAL REPORT: Seven Questions after the death of bin Laden.

7 questions after the death of bin LadenOsama bin Laden, the longtime leader of al Qaeda, was killed by U.S. forces in a mansion north of Islamabad, Pakistan.
May 2nd, 2011
11:03 AM ET

Editor's Note: Dr. James M. Lindsay is a Senior Vice President at the Council on Foreign Relations (where he blogs), co-author of "America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy" and a former director for global issues and multilateral affairs at the National Security Council.

By James M. Lindsay – Special to CNN
Article referred by Andy Yates

Americans are cheering the surprising news that U.S. Special Forces have killed Osama bin Laden. The successful military operation is a tribute to the skill of U.S. Special Forces, the perseverance of intelligence professionals who have hunted bin Laden for more than a decade and the nerve of a president to order a military strike that could have failed spectacularly.

THE STRIKE ON BIN LADEN'S COMPOUND RAISES QUESTIONS. HERE ARE SEVEN:

1. Does Bin Laden’s death cripple al Qaeda and jihadist terrorism more broadly? Probably not. Al Qaeda long ago ceased to be a centralized operation. For the last decade bin Laden has been a figurehead than a mastermind. Terrorist attacks, like the bomb plot that German authorities broke up last week, have been planned and carried out by largely independent al Qaeda “affiliates.” Nonetheless, U.S. Special Forces might have picked up valuable intelligence as they scoured bin Laden’s command post that could help uncover terrorist cells and plots.

2.  Can you kill a symbol?  In announcing bin Laden’s death late last night, President Obama noted that “For over two decades, bin Laden has been al Qaeda’s leader and symbol.” Men die, symbols don’t. In death, bin Laden will continue to inspire jihadists as much as he did in life. The biggest threat to bin Ladenism comes not from American bullets but from the prospect that the Arab spring will remake the political order in the Middle East.




3.  Where is Ayman al-Zawahiri? With bin Laden dead, his chief lieutenant and the man frequently described as al Qaeda’s “brains” goes to the top of the most wanted listed. Zawahiri reportedly was gravely injured in a missile strike in Pakistan in 2008. Given his deep operational experience and cunning, the Egyptian-born Zawahiri is more than capable of plotting major terrorist attacks on his own.

4.  Is Pakistan a reliable partner for the United States? President Obama said last night that “our cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden.” But the White House didn’t notify the Pakistani government in advance and Pakistani troops did not participate in the attack. Bin Laden’s compound was located just forty miles north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad - or about the distance from Washington to Baltimore - in a city that hosts a Pakistani military base and military academy. Expect to hear more doubts inside the Washington Beltway about the value and viability of the U.S.-Pakistani partnership.

5. Can we leave Afghanistan now? Sometime in the next several months, President Obama will decide whether and how fast to draw down U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan. Last week the Pentagon reported mildly optimistic news about progress in the Afghan War. Bin Laden’s death gives the president the political opening to order the sizable draw-down that public opinion polls show that most Americans want. He has always justified the war in Afghanistan in terms of defeating and dismantling al Qaeda, and he can say that with bin Laden’s death that goal has been achieved.

6.  Will Obama benefit politically from bin Laden’s death? The president’s public approval ratings have slipped recently after enjoying a modest bump earlier in the year. Expect another bump in the coming weeks as the public gives the White House credit for a job well done. But if past “rally-‘round-the-flag” dynamics hold true, the boost that Obama gets from bin Laden’s death will be short-lived.

7. Will our current bipartisan moment last? John Boehner, Dick Cheney, and Rudy Giuliani are just a few of the Republican luminaries who have congratulated Obama. As John Kennedy once noted, victory has a thousand fathers. But don’t expect this moment of unity to last. The issues dividing Democrats and Republicans are too deep to be bridged by the death of the world’s foremost terrorist.

Asking these questions does not diminish the significance of what the Obama administration accomplished yesterday. Killing bin Laden brings closure to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11. It shows that terrorists will pay for their crimes. Justice was done.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/7-questions-on-the-death-of-bin-laden/

The views expressed in this article are solely those of James Lindsay.

Post by:
Verne Strickland Blogmaster

U.S. tracked couriers to bin Laden compound. Daring attack by Seals is successful.

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

Posted: May 02, 2011 2:17 AM EDT Updated: May 02, 2011 5:28 AM EDT 
 
Osama bin Laden tried to resist U.S. fire, according to defense officials. (Source: CNN) Osama bin Laden tried to resist U.S. fire, according to defense officials. (Source: CNN)

WASHINGTON (RNN) - Senior Obama administration officials said U.S. forces were led to Osama bin Laden's million-dollar compound by two male couriers, both of whom were killed in the firefight that killed bin Laden.

According to a conference call with reporters in which defense officials released a more detailed account of the operation, the 40-minute attack was carried out early Sunday morning by what the officials called a "small U.S. team" with at least two aircraft.

While the officials would not say if the team was composed of military or CIA operatives, CNN has identified the team members as U.S. Navy Seals.

Bin Laden resisted the assault force and was killed in a fire fight, according to Mike Vickers, under secretary of defense for intelligence.

Three adult males and one adult female were killed in the raid in Pakistan, Vickers said. The adult males were two al-Qaeda couriers and Bin Laden's eldest son. The female was being used as a human shield.
Two additional women were injured. All non-combatants, however, were moved safely away before the detonation.

While one U.S. helicopter was lost in the raid, no U.S. lives were lost, as a backup aircraft was in place.

The U.S. shared no information about the operation with any other country, Pakistan included. Only a small group of U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, knew about the intelligence operation before it was executed.
At the time of the attack, bin Laden was living on a security compound in Abottabad, Pakistan, which was valued at $1 million. Along with him were his eldest son, youngest wife and the two al-Qaeda couriers and their families.Reports that bin Laden was living in the Pakistani compound first surfaced in August 2010. The reports were deemed to have a sound intelligence basis for pursuit in February.
"The bottom line of our collection and our analysis was that we had confidence that the compound harbored a high-value terrorist target," said the CIA's Michael Morell.

In mid-March, the president began to chair national security council meetings on this issue. He conducted five meetings with the council beginning on March 14 and ending on April 28.

Intelligence officials followed the two couriers, who were brothers and were believed to have been well-connected with upper echelons of al-Qaeda's leadership.

The couriers led the officials to an "extraordinarily unique" compound built on a large plot of land in Islamabad in August 2010. The compound was built in 2005 on a secluded, narrow dirt road in the outskirts of the town.
The compound was eight times larger than the residential homes that came to surround it over the last six years. It was strongly secured and seemed to be hiding someone with significance, according to Morell.

The compound had walls 12- to 18-feet in height, which were topped with barbed wire. The main building on the compound was three stories in height and had a terrace on its top floor with a 7-foot privacy wall. The trash on the property was not dumped and rather burned. Although lavish in cost, the compound had no internet or TV and few windows.

All in all, the compound's location and design were consistent with the type experts believed would hide Bin Laden, Morell said.

http://www.wect.com/story/14551639/us-tracked-couriers-to-bin-laden-compound

Sunday, May 1, 2011

BIN LADEN DEAD, SAY SOURCES. OBAMA SPEAKS TO NATION.

Usama bin Laden is dead, multiple sources confirm to Fox News.
President Obama is expected to deliver a statement from the White House Sunday night to discuss the major development.
Sources said bin Laden was killed by a U.S. bomb a week ago. The U.S. had been waiting for the results of a DNA test to confirm his identity.
The announcement comes nearly a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks which started a tireless hunt for the terrorist mastermind and Al Qaeda leader.

Michelle Malkin
Glad to hear David Gergen say "We should thank President Bush."


MSNBC CORRESPONDENT MISTAKENLY TWEETS 'OBAMA SHOT AND KILLED'.

By Chris Moody - The Daily Caller
       
In an attempt to release the news of Osama bin Laden’s death quickly late Sunday night, MSNBC correspondent Norah O’Donnell accidentally reported on Twitter
“Obama shot and killed,” Norah O’Donnell posted on Twitter, citing NBC Chief Pentagon Correspondent Jim Miklaszewski as her source.

It was announced Sunday that Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, was killed by American forces. President Obama addressed the nation to deliver the news around 11:30 p.m. ET.

###########


  

 

Western man gains four inches in 100 years. Big deal. I grew 66 inches in 74 years!

Verne Strickland Blogmaster

WHO WAS THIS WESTERN MAN? JOHN WAYNE? ROY ROGERS? FOUR INCHES IN A CENTURY IS SLOWER THAN A REDWOOD. WHERE'S THE MEAT AND TATERS? I'M FOUR FEET EIGHTEEN. I GREW A FOOT IN ONE YEAR. IT LOOKED SO WEIRD I HAD IT REMOVED. WHY DON'T THEY WRITE A NEWS STORY ABOUT ME?

Friday, April 29, 2011 9:44 AM
By Martin Gould




Western man has undergone a huge growth spurt, putting on an average of four inches in just a century, scientists have found. 

A typical man in a developed country in 1900 would have been 5 feet 6 inches tall, but 100 years later he would have reached 5 feet 10 inches, the Daily Mail reports. 

But women only grew by one and a half inches in the same period to stand at a little more than 5 feet 4 inches.
Researchers singled out better diets for pregnant women as the main cause for the height increase. Better sanitation and industrial improvements also were mentioned. 

“The rate of technological and human physiological change in the 20th century has been remarkable,” said Nobel-Prize-winning economist Robert Fogel, who headed a team that spent three decades compiling statistics on how people have changed since 1700. 

“In most if not quite all parts of the world, the size, shape, and longevity of the human body have changed more substantially, and much more rapidly, during the past three centuries than over many previous millennia.”

http://www.newsmaxhealth.com/health_stories/Modern_Man_Tall/2011/04/29/386888.html