News Stories

[Autumn Demon]

Worst 27 police misconduct videos in the United States.

http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/?page_id=3496

[MakubeX2]

Originally Posted by Tom Bombadil

Because she is 11? I doubt the reason is significantly different from a 16 year old doing Enjo Kosai: mostly peer pressure and lack of parental caring.

There's truth in that. But, in today's society, shouldn't others be around to take up responsibility to educate and instill pride over their bodies in those wayward girls if the parents failed ?

The responsibility should be place at certain "circle" and the people who facilitated the deal. Shifting the focus to the child is just looking for fish on trees.

The argument at hand is that there's young preteen initiating the approach instead of men approaching and grooming them for carnal pleasure.

This is a very unique case in itself in a sense that you can apprehen the males, but what's preventing the child from repeating the cycle if you don't make her see the wrong in her doings ?

[flying ^]

Originally Posted by Autumn Demon

Worst 27 police misconduct videos in the United States.

http://www.injusticeeverywhere.com/?page_id=3496

this group made a nice and fitting soundtrack just for the police in their debut album



(track2)

[Vexx]

The downward spiral - those few "jobs" being created are mostly at far lower wages and lesser skill sets than the jobs that vaporized when the robber barons gamed the economy into a trainwreck. The employment rate fails to include anyone who isn't signed into the process at "the employment bureau" in their state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/01/bu...y/01hires.html

[ganbaru]

Now coastal Queensland braces for 30-foot flood waters
http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNew...6BU09620110101

[SaintessHeart]

This is sick.

Car bomb hits church in Egypt, 21 killed

(Reuters) - A car bombing outside a church killed 21 people in Egypt's northern city of Alexandria as worshippers gathered to mark the New Year, state media reported on Saturday.

It said 43 people were wounded in the bombing, which prompted hundreds of Christians to take to the streets in protest overnight. Some Christians and Muslims pelted each other with rocks, a witness said, and cars were set on fire.

Christians make up about 10 percent of Muslim-majority Egypt's 79 million people.

Egypt, due to hold a presidential election in September, has stepped up security around churches, banning cars from parking directly outside them, after an al Qaeda-linked group in Iraq issued a threat against the Church in Egypt in November.

The al Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq, which claimed an attack on a church in Baghdad in November, threatened Egypt's Church over its treatment of women the group said the Church was holding after they had converted to Islam.

"This is a scene from Baghdad," a witness told Reuters by telephone.

The governor of Alexandria, Adel Labib, "accused al Qaeda of planning the bombing," state television reported in a brief headline without giving further details.

State television said the investigation was continuing.

Police used teargas to disperse the protest and dozens of officers surrounded the area on Saturday to prevent a repeat. Rocks were strewn over the street and windows of parked cars in the area were smashed.

"We sacrifice our souls and blood for the cross," shouted protesting Christians overnight near the Coptic Orthodox church where the blast struck, a witness said.

Ambulances were at the scene and medical personnel gathered body parts that had been scattered over the area.

Kameel Sadeeq, from the Coptic council in Alexandria, told Reuters: "People went in to church to pray to God but ended up as scattered limbs. This massacre has al Qaeda written all over, the same pattern Qaeda has adopted in other countries."

CALL FOR UNITY

A statement from the Interior Ministry said the blast occurred just after midnight in front of the church after a service to mark the New Year. It said the blast damaged a mosque near the church and eight Muslims were among the wounded.

"The preliminary investigation indicates that a car was the reason behind the explosion. It was parked in front of the church and had been assumed to belong to one of the people who often come to the church," said the statement.

The official MENA news agency and other state media put the toll at 21 dead and 43 wounded.

President Hosni Mubarak urged Egyptians to stand united in confronting terrorism and called on the authorities swiftly to round up those behind the incident, MENA reported.

Tensions can flare between Muslims and Christians, usually over issues such as the building of churches or relationships between members of the two communities.

Last January, a drive-by shooting of six Christians and a Muslim policeman at a church in south Egypt sparked protests.

In November, hundreds of Christians clashed with riot police, and with some Muslims who joined in, in Cairo in protest against a decision to halt construction of a church. Officials said the Christians did not have a license to build a church.

Two Christians died and dozens were hurt in the clashes, medical sources said. More than 150 were detained.

Analysts say the state must address grievances such as those over laws making it easier to build a mosque than a church if it wants to stem such sectarian violence.

Officials are swift to play down sectarian differences and were particularly keen to emphasize national harmony after a parliamentary election in November that opposition groups said was rigged, and before the presidential poll in September.

Mubarak, 82 and in power since 1981, is expected to run again, if he is able to. Gallbladder surgery in March revived questions about his health, though he has returned to a full schedule.

[Hooves]

So.... Let me get this right, there was a car bombing in a church, then all of a sudden Christians and Muslims start pelting each other? Even setting more cars on fire? Now there is a major riot between Christians and Muslims sparking all over from that one car bombing?

[MrTerrorist]

Vandals dump 22,000l of water as families struggle
Okay, that's just a waste, stupid and cruel.

'Hasta la vista' for California Governor Schwarzenegger
We'll miss you Governator.

[bladeofdarkness]

Originally Posted by Hooves

So.... Let me get this right, there was a car bombing in a church, then all of a sudden Christians and Muslims start pelting each other? Even setting more cars on fire? Now there is a major riot between Christians and Muslims sparking all over from that one car bombing?

welcome to the middle east.

[JMvS]

Originally Posted by Hooves

So.... Let me get this right, there was a car bombing in a church, then all of a sudden Christians and Muslims start pelting each other? Even setting more cars on fire? Now there is a major riot between Christians and Muslims sparking all over from that one car bombing?

Except for the "all of a sudden", you've got it right.

For the past 30 years, Copts (which simply means Egyptian in the old Egyptian language), have been facing escalating daily harassment and persecution from the majority Muslim population, as well as blatant neglect if not half voiced persecution from the government.

The latest major event was only about a month ago:

Egypt: Rumor of Coptic-Muslim Affair Leads to Burning of Christians’ Homes
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: November 17, 2010

Muslims set fire overnight to at least 10 houses belonging to Coptic Christians in a southern Egypt village over rumors that a Christian resident had an affair with a Muslim girl, security officials said Tuesday. They said security forces sealed off the village of Al Nawahid in Qena Province, about 290 miles south of Cairo, to prevent the violence from spreading, and several people were arrested. The village was calm by nightfall, after religious leaders from both sides persuaded their followers to end the confrontation. Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 80 million. Coptic Christians and Muslims generally live in peace, though violence occasionally occurs in the south, mostly over disputes about land or church construction.

There was even a protest in NY from the expat community on the issue only two weeks ago:

Monday, December 14, 2009
Coptic Christians Rally in New York against Egypt Government's Islamic Persecution: "killings, destruction and looting of their property, displacement from their homes and the forced Islamization of their minor daughters.”

During the past year, radicalization of Copts is appearing on the stage:

The Economist

Religious disorder
Sep 10th 2010, 11:41 by M.R. | CAIRO

IN JULY, thousands of fist-waving Coptic Christians gathered at Cairo’s main cathedral. Screaming that Christian blood is not cheap, they raised a single demand: “Bring us Camelia Shehata!” Earlier this week, thousands of fist-waving Muslims gathered at Cairo’s oldest mosque. Screaming that Muslim blood is not cheap, they raised the same demand.

[...]To the despair of milder-mannered Egyptians, Coptic and Muslim radicals have both declared Ms Shehata a symbol and a martyr. Each has their own story. The only point where they meet is that on July 18th, the 24-year old mother of one child, and the wife of a priest in the town of Deir Mawas, 400km south of Cairo, vanished from her home. Five days later, police handed her into church custody. There she has remained ever since, incommunicado. (personal note, she did reappear later)

According to the church, which is the biggest in the Middle East with perhaps 7m adherents in Egypt, Ms Shehata had been kidnapped by local Muslims who attempted to convert her to Islam. Only the threat of widespread unrest by Copts, who face petty discrimination and have suffered sporadic but persistent and bloody sectarian attacks, forced the government to intervene. The police eventually found her and returned her to the flock. Church officials claim there have several similar attempts at forced conversion of Christian women. One case they cite occurred in 2004, when Wafa Constantine, the wife of another priest, disappeared briefly before being escorted into a nunnery. She has not been heard from since.

[...] (see link for the muslim version of the incident)

[bladeofdarkness]

Originally Posted by JMvS

Except for the "all of a sudden", you've got it right.

For the past 30 years, Copts (which simply means Egyptian in the old Egyptian language), have been facing escalating daily harassment and persecution from the majority Muslim population, as well as blatant neglect if not half voiced persecution from the government.

to be fair, the copts are not the only Christians who are getting treated this way.
the Iraqi Christian population, since the fall of Saddam, has all but fled Iraq.
and in Lebanon, which used to be Majority Christian a few decades ago, the same thing is happening, with Lebanese Christians leaving the country.
thats what happens to people who can't defend themselves in the middle east.

[SaintessHeart]

5 abnormal-yet-profitable strategies for 2011

My theme for 2011 is how to be abnormal, which is a new geeky independence that ignores the markets. Stop following the crowd and tend to your portfolio and life goals. Ignore what’s being bloviated on the business channels.

In order to understand abnormal behavior, which in my definition will make you more successful, you first need to identify “normal” behavior.

In the eyes of a behavioral economist like Prof. Meir Statman, author of “What Investors Really Want“ it means we place a premium on winning and special knowledge of the markets, something that rarely happens to average investors.

“We want to beat Wall Street through active investing,” Statman says, “but Wall Street is more likely to beat us.”

It’s far-too-normal behavior to pick stocks, real estate or exotic investments that we think could be winners or pick funds that have run up good returns last year. Yet research shows that we have no idea what we’re doing and get needlessly burned. If you want to improve your returns, be abnormal, turn off your inner Cramer and heed the following:

Ignore stock picking.
According to Bill Miller, CEO of Legg-Mason Capital Management, U.S. stocks are undervalued by 30 percent. The stocks he’s bought or wants to buy are bargains, but you’re unlikely to find such deals. Stick to broad-based index funds like the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI), which take the guesswork out of picking individual stocks. You won’t have to guess which stocks are good values and which are sucker bait.

Stop thinking of homes as investments.
If you need comfort and shelter, spend as much money as you can without getting into perilous debt. But don’t think that homes are investments. Home prices have a long way to go before we see a real rebound. They may have bottomed out in Southern California, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. , Minneapolis, Honolulu and Boston, reports the Local Market Monitor. Yet there’s more pain ahead in Arizona, Florida, Nevada and most of the industrial Midwest. Home values lost almost $2 trillion in 2010 alone. Job growth is essential for residential real estate to turn around in every market.

Keep deleveraging.
You can apply this thinking across the board to save money and garner some financial independence. U.S. households have been paring their debts for the past two years. If you haven’t refinanced your mortgages or paid down credit cards, it’s still a good time. Mortgage rates are on the rise, but certainly there are still bargains relative to three years ago. Check your credit rating while you’re at it.

Invest for your life cycle, not the market cycle.
I can’t tell you what the stock or labor markets will do next year. Corporations are sitting on nearly $2 trillion in cash, but aren’t spending it. Congress will continue to stimulate the economy through lower tax rates. It all looks good for stocks in 2011, although there are any number of wild cards that can derail it. Just keep saving and know where you want to be. That’s why short-term savings, disability insurance and fully funding your retirement plan are critical in protecting you long term.

Pay attention to small savings.
You think contributing one percent less to your 401(k) will improve your life style? Don’t leave any money on the table. Take your full employer match. From 2003 to 2009, the average account balance for 401(k) savers in their 20s grew 587 percent, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Avoid 401(k) loans and make sure your employer gets the lowest-cost, most diversified index funds in your plan. Regular savings makes account balances grow.

I realize that most of these ideas may be anathema to most investors, who relish the idea that they can beat the market. You want to gamble? Buy a lottery ticket for $1.

Savvy investing is defying the crowd by being consistent and staying away from faddish returns. Stick to your plan and you’ll have a great year. Being abnormal in 2011 may be kind of nerdy, but it’s profitable over time.

[flying ^]

Originally Posted by MakubeX2

But the film garthered enough attention for the director(s) and male actor(s) to be put behind bars.

so how light is their prison sentence in japan?

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by bladeofdarkness

to be fair, the copts are not the only Christians who are getting treated this way.
the Iraqi Christian population, since the fall of Saddam, has all but fled Iraq.
and in Lebanon, which used to be Majority Christian a few decades ago, the same thing is happening, with Lebanese Christians leaving the country.
thats what happens to people who can't defend themselves in the middle east.

This is somewhat universal about belief systems in general but it could be said that the judeo-christian-islamic religions hate each other more than they hate non-JCI beliefs. Another reason that any cozy relationship between state and and a particular religion is a "bad idea".

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Vexx

This is somewhat universal about belief systems in general but it could be said that the judeo-christian-islamic religions hate each other more than they hate non-JCI beliefs. Another reason that any cozy relationship between state and and a particular religion is a "bad idea".

Isn't it great that they are fighting each other to death and leaving us agnostics and ORBs (Other-Religion Believers) alone? *sarcastic*

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by SaintessHeart

Isn't it great that they are fighting each other to death and leaving us agnostics and ORBs (Other-Religion Believers) alone? *sarcastic*

Heh... nah, no rest for the heathens and godless either - gotta convert them or kill them.

[bladeofdarkness]

Originally Posted by Vexx

This is somewhat universal about belief systems in general but it could be said that the judeo-christian-islamic religions hate each other more than they hate non-JCI beliefs. Another reason that any cozy relationship between state and and a particular religion is a "bad idea".

i disagree.
if anything, this proves why its important for countries to identify themselves with religions all the more.
the traditionally Christian countries should become more involved with what happens to their fellow worshipers.
if western nations (formerly Christian nations) cared enough about the miss treatment of Christians in other parts of the world, the state of middle eastern Christians would be better off for it.
as it stands, since its made clear that no one in the west gives a crap, the blood of middle eastern Christians is fair game.

the reason Christians are now attacked with such frequency is in large part a result of an understanding among Muslim extremists in the middle east, that the west would keep quite about this kind of thing.

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by bladeofdarkness

i disagree.
if anything, this proves why its important for countries to identify themselves with religions all the more.

so... which interpretation of Judaism do you want your government to align with and how would you react if it were an extremist version (or a reformed modern liberal version)? How do you think an extreme evangelical Baptist United States would treat the world much less their own citizens who didn't fall in step? Do you think the Irish Catholics and Protestants should have fought to the annihilation of one or the other?
Hell, the people of Islam like to kill each other, Shia and Sunni, over technical differences in interpretation. Alignment of city-state with an official religion was a fundamental tenet of the Holy Roman Empire - which used it as a hammer to try and subjugate the world and eliminate all religious competition. Having a government prefer one religion over others is exactly the recipe that Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and a number of other countries use that give us these ridiculous headlines.

As long as adherents of a religion are too insecure to suffer competition we have a problem.

[bladeofdarkness]

Originally Posted by Vexx

so... which interpretation of Judaism do you want your government to align with and how would you react if it were an extremist version (or a reformed modern liberal version)? How do you think an extreme evangelical Baptist United States would treat the world much less their own citizens who didn't fall in step? Do you think the Irish Catholics and Protestants should have fought to the annihilation of one or the other?
Hell, the people of Islam like to kill each other, Shia and Sunni, over technical differences in interpretation.

irrelevent.
i don't care about the interpretations of the doctrines.
i'm an atheist, and view Judaism mostly as a national identity.
but had this attack been in a Jewish temple in some other country, and 21 Jewish people were killed in it, i WOULD like for my government to make at least a token effort at hunting down and killing the people responsible for it.
some might view it as harsh, but i view it as showing you care.

I'm not saying a country should embrace specific doctrines regarding the religion, but i AM saying that countries who are predominantly Christian would care more about what happens to their fellow Christians overseas.

[Asuras]

A country-wide alignment only further serves to intensify negative feelings with zealous countries across the globe who harbor a different view.