http://rink.cyberkook.com/ Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:03:05 -0800 MyBB http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=677 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:10:42 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=677 Christian school teaches how to lead a mosque
Hartford Seminary, Islamic Institute launch graduate certificate

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Posted: February 22, 2010
11:19 pm Eastern


By Michael Carl
© 2010 WorldNetDaily


Muslims who want to become an imam in the U.S. can now train at an institution founded in the 18th century by members of the Congregationalist denomination to prepare pastors and other Christian ministers for service.

Hartford Seminary is launching a new "Graduate Certificate in Imam Education" program this spring, with help from the seminary's Duncan Black MacDonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, the Fairfax Institute and the Fairfax Institute's parent, the International Institute for Islamic Thought, or the IITT

The Hudson Institute's Hillel Fradkin says he's concerned about the move, because the IIIT is a front group of the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, which spawned most of the leading terrorist groups, including al-Qaida and Hamas.

"If the Hartford Seminary program is being done through the IIIT, that is rather worrisome," said Fradkin, senior fellow of the D.C.-based think tank's Center for Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World.

Christopher Holton of the Center for Strategic Studies in Washington agreed the IIIT represents a radical version of Islam.

"IIIT is a Wahhabi organization. The Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam is among the most intolerant, hateful and aggressive religious cults in the entire world. The Hartford Seminary has been snowed due to their apparent ignorance, and this is a disservice to America, as well as peaceful and tolerant people of all faiths," he said.

He called the move "an unfortunate continuation of a disturbing pattern of misguided American Christian leaders choosing to do interfaith outreach with jihadist Muslim Brotherhood organizations."

He said it isn't the first time a Christian leader has taken such a step.

"First we saw the Rev. Rick Warren speaking at ISNA's (Islamic Society of North America) convention last summer, and now we have this episode. Choosing the IIIT for interfaith outreach is a betrayal of Christian principles." Holton said.

Hartford Seminary was founded in 1833 when a group of Congregational ministers opened a school that later assimilated several other institutions and became a founding member of the American Association of Theological Schools.

It features the Hartford School of Missions, which train missionaries.

The seminary opened its doors to the first Muslim on its core faculty in the 1990s, shortly after a decision had been made to pursue "Christian-Muslim relations."

Now it is advertising on its website the new program as a way to prepare men to be spiritual leaders in an Islamic community or mosque. School spokesman David Barrett said the goal is to help leaders understand their faith.

"Education for imams, as well as education for any religious leaders, is important to help them understand their faith better and to ground them in the context of religion in America," Barrett said.

"Obviously, at a seminary we teach education and religion. We believe that if you are educated you will be better able to be a religious leader in whatever faith you are in," Barrett said.

He said the IIIT came to the seminary with the suggestion for the outreach.

More on this Story]]> Christian school teaches how to lead a mosque
Hartford Seminary, Islamic Institute launch graduate certificate

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: February 22, 2010
11:19 pm Eastern


By Michael Carl
© 2010 WorldNetDaily


Muslims who want to become an imam in the U.S. can now train at an institution founded in the 18th century by members of the Congregationalist denomination to prepare pastors and other Christian ministers for service.

Hartford Seminary is launching a new "Graduate Certificate in Imam Education" program this spring, with help from the seminary's Duncan Black MacDonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, the Fairfax Institute and the Fairfax Institute's parent, the International Institute for Islamic Thought, or the IITT

The Hudson Institute's Hillel Fradkin says he's concerned about the move, because the IIIT is a front group of the Egypt-based Muslim Brotherhood, which spawned most of the leading terrorist groups, including al-Qaida and Hamas.

"If the Hartford Seminary program is being done through the IIIT, that is rather worrisome," said Fradkin, senior fellow of the D.C.-based think tank's Center for Islam, Democracy and the Future of the Muslim World.

Christopher Holton of the Center for Strategic Studies in Washington agreed the IIIT represents a radical version of Islam.

"IIIT is a Wahhabi organization. The Wahhabi sect of Sunni Islam is among the most intolerant, hateful and aggressive religious cults in the entire world. The Hartford Seminary has been snowed due to their apparent ignorance, and this is a disservice to America, as well as peaceful and tolerant people of all faiths," he said.

He called the move "an unfortunate continuation of a disturbing pattern of misguided American Christian leaders choosing to do interfaith outreach with jihadist Muslim Brotherhood organizations."

He said it isn't the first time a Christian leader has taken such a step.

"First we saw the Rev. Rick Warren speaking at ISNA's (Islamic Society of North America) convention last summer, and now we have this episode. Choosing the IIIT for interfaith outreach is a betrayal of Christian principles." Holton said.

Hartford Seminary was founded in 1833 when a group of Congregational ministers opened a school that later assimilated several other institutions and became a founding member of the American Association of Theological Schools.

It features the Hartford School of Missions, which train missionaries.

The seminary opened its doors to the first Muslim on its core faculty in the 1990s, shortly after a decision had been made to pursue "Christian-Muslim relations."

Now it is advertising on its website the new program as a way to prepare men to be spiritual leaders in an Islamic community or mosque. School spokesman David Barrett said the goal is to help leaders understand their faith.

"Education for imams, as well as education for any religious leaders, is important to help them understand their faith better and to ground them in the context of religion in America," Barrett said.

"Obviously, at a seminary we teach education and religion. We believe that if you are educated you will be better able to be a religious leader in whatever faith you are in," Barrett said.

He said the IIIT came to the seminary with the suggestion for the outreach.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=676 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:49:38 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=676
Teacher cries 'hate crime' over Bible left on desk
'I can't believe the cruelty and ignorance of people sometimes'

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Posted: February 18, 2010
12:25 am Eastern


By Chelsea Schilling
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

An eighth-grade teacher has accused her students of committing a "hate crime" and being "cruel" because they left a Bible on her desk and a Christmas card with the word "Christ" underlined.

Melissa Hussain, an Apex, N.C., science teacher at West Lake Middle School, is suspended with pay and may lose her job after she purportedly clashed with students on the subject of religion and sent students to the school office when they asked about the role of God in creation during a lesson about evolution.

Hussain wrote on her then-public Facebook page that it was a "hate crime" when her students left a Bible on her desk, according to the Charlotte News & Observer. She complained about students singing "Jesus Loves Me" and wearing Jesus T-shirts.

Hussain said she "was able to shame her kids" over the incidents.

"I can't believe the cruelty and ignorance of people sometimes," Hussain wrote on the social networking site.

She said she wouldn't let the Bible incident "go unpunished."

More on this Story]]>
Teacher cries 'hate crime' over Bible left on desk
'I can't believe the cruelty and ignorance of people sometimes'

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: February 18, 2010
12:25 am Eastern


By Chelsea Schilling
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

An eighth-grade teacher has accused her students of committing a "hate crime" and being "cruel" because they left a Bible on her desk and a Christmas card with the word "Christ" underlined.

Melissa Hussain, an Apex, N.C., science teacher at West Lake Middle School, is suspended with pay and may lose her job after she purportedly clashed with students on the subject of religion and sent students to the school office when they asked about the role of God in creation during a lesson about evolution.

Hussain wrote on her then-public Facebook page that it was a "hate crime" when her students left a Bible on her desk, according to the Charlotte News & Observer. She complained about students singing "Jesus Loves Me" and wearing Jesus T-shirts.

Hussain said she "was able to shame her kids" over the incidents.

"I can't believe the cruelty and ignorance of people sometimes," Hussain wrote on the social networking site.

She said she wouldn't let the Bible incident "go unpunished."

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=675 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:47:52 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=675 CATHOLIC FOSTER CARE IN D.C. FORCED OUT

February 17, 2010


As reported in today’s Washington Post, Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Washington has ended its foster-care program. At issue was the right of the archdiocese to reject gay marriage and remain a city contractor; a bill legalizing same-sex marriage recently passed in the District.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue supports the archdiocese:

Archbishop Donald Wuerl is a man of principle and prudence: he did not want to end the foster-care program, but he was left with no realistic option. District lawmakers could have granted the kind of religious exemptions that would have ensured a continuation of services, but instead they sought to create a Catch-22 situation for the archdiocese. Surely they knew that Archbishop Wuerl was not going to negotiate Catholic Church teachings on marriage, yet that hardly mattered to them. The real losers are the children who were served by the Catholic Church.

More on this Story]]> CATHOLIC FOSTER CARE IN D.C. FORCED OUT

February 17, 2010


As reported in today’s Washington Post, Catholic Charities in the Archdiocese of Washington has ended its foster-care program. At issue was the right of the archdiocese to reject gay marriage and remain a city contractor; a bill legalizing same-sex marriage recently passed in the District.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue supports the archdiocese:

Archbishop Donald Wuerl is a man of principle and prudence: he did not want to end the foster-care program, but he was left with no realistic option. District lawmakers could have granted the kind of religious exemptions that would have ensured a continuation of services, but instead they sought to create a Catch-22 situation for the archdiocese. Surely they knew that Archbishop Wuerl was not going to negotiate Catholic Church teachings on marriage, yet that hardly mattered to them. The real losers are the children who were served by the Catholic Church.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=674 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:46:19 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=674 Hazelwood man dies after 10 calls to 911 over two days

Wednesday, February 17, 2010
By Sadie Gurman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


In his first call to 911, Curtis Mitchell sounded calm, explaining to dispatchers that his "entire stomach [was] in pain."

By the time his longtime girlfriend made a 10th call nearly 30 hours later, she was frantic. He wasn't breathing. He was cold to the touch.

"Oh God, oh God," Sharon Edge sobbed to dispatchers. "I've been trying to get an ambulance over here for three days."

Paramedics arrived at their Hazelwood home as Ms. Edge tried to resuscitate the 50-year-old, but it was too late.

"I sat up here with him, watching him die," Ms. Edge said Tuesday, after city officials apologized to her and pledged immediate changes in emergency response after Mr. Mitchell's death on Feb. 7. "They didn't do their jobs like they were supposed to."

Snow-covered roads, poor communication and a 911 center deluged with more than double the average number of calls during last week's crippling snowstorms combined to cause Mr. Mitchell's long wait, city officials said.

Ambulances were dispatched three times on Saturday, Feb. 6, to the couple's home in the 5100 block of narrow Chaplain Way, but couldn't get there because of the snow. Paramedics twice asked whether Mr. Mitchell could walk to an intersection, even after he told them that he could not because he was in too much pain.

Emergency vehicles were within blocks of his home three times -- once so close Ms. Edge could see the ambulance lights from her porch -- but did not make contact with him. They finally reached the home on Sunday morning, Feb. 7, but Mr. Mitchell was already dead.

"We should have gotten there," Public Safety Director Michael Huss said. "It's that simple."

Complicating matters, communication problems meant that each call was seen as an individual request for help. Information gained on previous calls was not passed down during the next request, said Ron Roth, medical director for the city's public safety department and Allegheny County's emergency operations center.

"As a result, we made the same request over and over," he said.

More on this Story]]> Hazelwood man dies after 10 calls to 911 over two days

Wednesday, February 17, 2010
By Sadie Gurman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


In his first call to 911, Curtis Mitchell sounded calm, explaining to dispatchers that his "entire stomach [was] in pain."

By the time his longtime girlfriend made a 10th call nearly 30 hours later, she was frantic. He wasn't breathing. He was cold to the touch.

"Oh God, oh God," Sharon Edge sobbed to dispatchers. "I've been trying to get an ambulance over here for three days."

Paramedics arrived at their Hazelwood home as Ms. Edge tried to resuscitate the 50-year-old, but it was too late.

"I sat up here with him, watching him die," Ms. Edge said Tuesday, after city officials apologized to her and pledged immediate changes in emergency response after Mr. Mitchell's death on Feb. 7. "They didn't do their jobs like they were supposed to."

Snow-covered roads, poor communication and a 911 center deluged with more than double the average number of calls during last week's crippling snowstorms combined to cause Mr. Mitchell's long wait, city officials said.

Ambulances were dispatched three times on Saturday, Feb. 6, to the couple's home in the 5100 block of narrow Chaplain Way, but couldn't get there because of the snow. Paramedics twice asked whether Mr. Mitchell could walk to an intersection, even after he told them that he could not because he was in too much pain.

Emergency vehicles were within blocks of his home three times -- once so close Ms. Edge could see the ambulance lights from her porch -- but did not make contact with him. They finally reached the home on Sunday morning, Feb. 7, but Mr. Mitchell was already dead.

"We should have gotten there," Public Safety Director Michael Huss said. "It's that simple."

Complicating matters, communication problems meant that each call was seen as an individual request for help. Information gained on previous calls was not passed down during the next request, said Ron Roth, medical director for the city's public safety department and Allegheny County's emergency operations center.

"As a result, we made the same request over and over," he said.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=673 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:42:44 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=673 Doctors back 'right to die' Consultation; But MDs oppose assisted suicide

By KEVIN DOUGHERTY, The Gazette
February 16, 2010


Euthanasia is already a reality in Quebec hospitals, the president of the federation of Quebec medical specialists, told a National Assembly committee yesterday.

Doctors know when death is "imminent and inevitable," Gaétan Barrette explained.

But doctors are aware they can be charged with murder if they administer a "palliative sedative" before a patient is on his or her last breath.

Geoffrey Kelley, chairman of the committee, explained that MNAs will hear about 30 expert witnesses on "dying with dignity" to prepare a paper for a travelling public consultation this fall.

Barrette told the committee the issue of euthanasia could not be discussed in Quebec 50 years ago, comparing it with the evolution in thinking about abortion.

"Doctors are ready to debate euthanasia," Barrette said. And like abortion, he said, limits must be established. Not every patient will want euthanasia and not all doctors will agree to perform the procedure.

Barrette explained that a patient who is lucid consults with a doctor, friends and family members before requesting euthanasia.

For patients who are not lucid, a biological will can guide relatives who must decide.

The patient could have a terminal disease, like cancer. And patients at the "end of life" could be babies born with serious medical difficulties or seniors whose bodies are shutting down, one system after another.

More on this Story]]> Doctors back 'right to die' Consultation; But MDs oppose assisted suicide

By KEVIN DOUGHERTY, The Gazette
February 16, 2010


Euthanasia is already a reality in Quebec hospitals, the president of the federation of Quebec medical specialists, told a National Assembly committee yesterday.

Doctors know when death is "imminent and inevitable," Gaétan Barrette explained.

But doctors are aware they can be charged with murder if they administer a "palliative sedative" before a patient is on his or her last breath.

Geoffrey Kelley, chairman of the committee, explained that MNAs will hear about 30 expert witnesses on "dying with dignity" to prepare a paper for a travelling public consultation this fall.

Barrette told the committee the issue of euthanasia could not be discussed in Quebec 50 years ago, comparing it with the evolution in thinking about abortion.

"Doctors are ready to debate euthanasia," Barrette said. And like abortion, he said, limits must be established. Not every patient will want euthanasia and not all doctors will agree to perform the procedure.

Barrette explained that a patient who is lucid consults with a doctor, friends and family members before requesting euthanasia.

For patients who are not lucid, a biological will can guide relatives who must decide.

The patient could have a terminal disease, like cancer. And patients at the "end of life" could be babies born with serious medical difficulties or seniors whose bodies are shutting down, one system after another.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=672 Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:33:45 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=672
Scathing report: Tea partiers just like Timothy McVeigh
Claims they believe government has secret plans for martial law

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: March 02, 2010
9:23 pm Eastern


By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily


A new attack by the Southern Poverty Law Center charges the tea-party movement is "shot through" with radical ideas and tied with "hate groups," "furious anti-immigrant vigilante groups" and "so-called 'Patriot' groups."

The SPLC report, "Rage on the Right, The Year in Hate and Extremism," assails Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., for "plugging" anti-government ideas and Gun Owners of America Executive Director Larry Pratt for daring to promote Second Amendment gun rights.

The SPLC's Mark Potok warns "so-called 'Patriot' groups – militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose 'one-world government' on liberty-loving Americans – came roaring back after years out of the limelight."

The report echoes themes in a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report last year that characterized "right-wing extremists" as opponents of abortion and illegal immigration and supporters of gun rights and third-party political candidates.

The SPLC said the "radical right" "caught fire last year."

"The 'tea parties' and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups," Potok wrote, "but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism."

The report cited an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll that affirmed only one-quarter of the nation thinks government can be trusted and the "anti-tax tea party movement is viewed in much more positive terms than either the Democratic or Republican parties."

"The signs of growing radicalization are everywhere. Armed men have come to Obama speeches bearing signs suggesting that the 'tree of liberty' needs to be 'watered' with 'the blood of tyrants,'" the SPLC report said.

The quote, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," is from Thomas Jefferson.

The report noted the Conservative Political Action Conference last month was co-sponsored by groups such as the John Birch Society, "which believes President Eisenhower was a Communist agent," and Oath Keepers, "a Patriot outfit formed last year that suggests, in thinly veiled language, that the government has secret plans to declare martial law and intern patriotic Americans in concentration camps."

Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, told WND such accusers try to link activists with terrorists such as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, because their arguments have no substance.

The SPLC did just that, stating in its report that there are "an astonishing 363 new Patriot groups" that appeared last year.

"That is cause for grave concern. Individuals associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead," the report said.

Oath Keepers, Rhodes said, "has nothing whatsoever to do with terrorists like Timothy McVeigh."

He said his group doesn't advocate the overthrow of the government, "whether local, state or national."

"We want our government to return to the constitutional republic which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution defined and instituted," he said.

Oath Keepers are members of law enforcement or the military who have sworn – again – to uphold the U.S. Constitution against any illegal orders that might be given.

"We hope for a return to a constitutional republic free from fear and hatred. We hate only tyranny. We are Oath Sworn Americans who want the Constitution returned to its legal and rightful place, intact, as the ultimate Law of the Land," his website said.

Rhodes said officers naturally presume orders to be lawful and follow them, but they also must be aware that there have been instances of unlawful orders.

More on this Story]]>
Scathing report: Tea partiers just like Timothy McVeigh
Claims they believe government has secret plans for martial law

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: March 02, 2010
9:23 pm Eastern


By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily


A new attack by the Southern Poverty Law Center charges the tea-party movement is "shot through" with radical ideas and tied with "hate groups," "furious anti-immigrant vigilante groups" and "so-called 'Patriot' groups."

The SPLC report, "Rage on the Right, The Year in Hate and Extremism," assails Rep. Michelle Bachmann, R-Minn., for "plugging" anti-government ideas and Gun Owners of America Executive Director Larry Pratt for daring to promote Second Amendment gun rights.

The SPLC's Mark Potok warns "so-called 'Patriot' groups – militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose 'one-world government' on liberty-loving Americans – came roaring back after years out of the limelight."

The report echoes themes in a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report last year that characterized "right-wing extremists" as opponents of abortion and illegal immigration and supporters of gun rights and third-party political candidates.

The SPLC said the "radical right" "caught fire last year."

"The 'tea parties' and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups," Potok wrote, "but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism."

The report cited an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll that affirmed only one-quarter of the nation thinks government can be trusted and the "anti-tax tea party movement is viewed in much more positive terms than either the Democratic or Republican parties."

"The signs of growing radicalization are everywhere. Armed men have come to Obama speeches bearing signs suggesting that the 'tree of liberty' needs to be 'watered' with 'the blood of tyrants,'" the SPLC report said.

The quote, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants," is from Thomas Jefferson.

The report noted the Conservative Political Action Conference last month was co-sponsored by groups such as the John Birch Society, "which believes President Eisenhower was a Communist agent," and Oath Keepers, "a Patriot outfit formed last year that suggests, in thinly veiled language, that the government has secret plans to declare martial law and intern patriotic Americans in concentration camps."

Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, told WND such accusers try to link activists with terrorists such as Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, because their arguments have no substance.

The SPLC did just that, stating in its report that there are "an astonishing 363 new Patriot groups" that appeared last year.

"That is cause for grave concern. Individuals associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead," the report said.

Oath Keepers, Rhodes said, "has nothing whatsoever to do with terrorists like Timothy McVeigh."

He said his group doesn't advocate the overthrow of the government, "whether local, state or national."

"We want our government to return to the constitutional republic which the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution defined and instituted," he said.

Oath Keepers are members of law enforcement or the military who have sworn – again – to uphold the U.S. Constitution against any illegal orders that might be given.

"We hope for a return to a constitutional republic free from fear and hatred. We hate only tyranny. We are Oath Sworn Americans who want the Constitution returned to its legal and rightful place, intact, as the ultimate Law of the Land," his website said.

Rhodes said officers naturally presume orders to be lawful and follow them, but they also must be aware that there have been instances of unlawful orders.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=671 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:09:47 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=671 Special forces assassins infiltrate Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan


AMERICAN and British troops poised to assault the Taliban stronghold of Marjah have begun targeting insurgent leaders for assassination.

Military sources said special forces had been infiltrating the town on “kinetic” missions — jargon for armed attacks. “Special forces guys have been going in on assassination missions with the aim of decapitating the Taliban force,” one said.

At the British base of Camp Bastion and the adjoining Camp Leatherneck, the US marine base, troops and munitions have been airlifted in by night to avoid enemy rockets. It is clear that international forces are on the brink of a big battle. All yesterday morning, the thud-thud-thud of heavy machineguns and the crump of mortars filled the air.

In a break from traditional military secrecy, American, British and Afghan commanders have announced that Marjah, the last town in Helmand under Taliban control, will be attacked.

Operation Moshtarak (“Together”) will be by far the largest offensive since General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, instigated his counter-insurgency strategy, backed by President Barack Obama’s 30,000-troop “surge”.

About 1,000 Taliban, mostly Afghans but with some foreign fighters in their ranks, are believed to be in Marjah, an opium centre and local headquarters for bomb-making and sending out suicide bombers.

Military sources described the use of publicity as a psychological tactic to intimidate the Taliban into laying down their weapons or fleeing.

The risks are huge. By surrendering the element of surprise, the coalition has given the insurgents time to dig in and expand an already extensive tunnel network. Taliban diehards are known to have been placing bombs along alleyways, roads and in a network of irrigation canals.

“Around Marjah is a mass of canals in a neat grid, the kind of terrain that’s difficult to clear, easy to defend,” said a military source.

More on this Story]]> Special forces assassins infiltrate Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan


AMERICAN and British troops poised to assault the Taliban stronghold of Marjah have begun targeting insurgent leaders for assassination.

Military sources said special forces had been infiltrating the town on “kinetic” missions — jargon for armed attacks. “Special forces guys have been going in on assassination missions with the aim of decapitating the Taliban force,” one said.

At the British base of Camp Bastion and the adjoining Camp Leatherneck, the US marine base, troops and munitions have been airlifted in by night to avoid enemy rockets. It is clear that international forces are on the brink of a big battle. All yesterday morning, the thud-thud-thud of heavy machineguns and the crump of mortars filled the air.

In a break from traditional military secrecy, American, British and Afghan commanders have announced that Marjah, the last town in Helmand under Taliban control, will be attacked.

Operation Moshtarak (“Together”) will be by far the largest offensive since General Stanley McChrystal, the American commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, instigated his counter-insurgency strategy, backed by President Barack Obama’s 30,000-troop “surge”.

About 1,000 Taliban, mostly Afghans but with some foreign fighters in their ranks, are believed to be in Marjah, an opium centre and local headquarters for bomb-making and sending out suicide bombers.

Military sources described the use of publicity as a psychological tactic to intimidate the Taliban into laying down their weapons or fleeing.

The risks are huge. By surrendering the element of surprise, the coalition has given the insurgents time to dig in and expand an already extensive tunnel network. Taliban diehards are known to have been placing bombs along alleyways, roads and in a network of irrigation canals.

“Around Marjah is a mass of canals in a neat grid, the kind of terrain that’s difficult to clear, easy to defend,” said a military source.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=670 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:06:17 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=670 Girl buried alive in honour killing in Turkey: Report
AFPFebruary 4, 2010


ANKARA - A 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives in southeast Turkey in a gruesome honour killing just because she reportedly befriended boys, the Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.

Acting on a tip-off, police discovered Medine Memi's body in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre-deep hole in a chicken pen outside her house in Kahta town, Adiyaman province, 40 days after she went missing, the agency said.

A subsequent post mortem revealed that she had a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, meaning that she was buried alive, foresic experts told the agency.

"The autopsy result is blood-curdling. According to our findings, the girl -- who had no bruises on her body and no sign of narcotics or poison in her blood -- was alive and fully conscious when she was buried," one anonymous expert said.

More on this Story]]> Girl buried alive in honour killing in Turkey: Report
AFPFebruary 4, 2010


ANKARA - A 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives in southeast Turkey in a gruesome honour killing just because she reportedly befriended boys, the Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.

Acting on a tip-off, police discovered Medine Memi's body in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre-deep hole in a chicken pen outside her house in Kahta town, Adiyaman province, 40 days after she went missing, the agency said.

A subsequent post mortem revealed that she had a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, meaning that she was buried alive, foresic experts told the agency.

"The autopsy result is blood-curdling. According to our findings, the girl -- who had no bruises on her body and no sign of narcotics or poison in her blood -- was alive and fully conscious when she was buried," one anonymous expert said.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=669 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:32:34 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=669 Pakistanis protest Terror Mom verdict
Comments: 14

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Last Updated: 10:31 AM, February 4, 2010

Posted: 9:29 AM, February 4, 2010

ISLAMABAD — Pakistanis shouted anti-American slogans and burned the Stars and Stripes on Thursday in protest of a New York jury’s conviction of a Pakistani woman accused of trying to kill Americans while detained in Afghanistan.

The protests drew thousands in at least four cities, demonstrating the widespread distrust, and even hatred, of the U.S. in this country whose cooperation Washington needs to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan.

They also showed the fierce passions surrounding the bizarre tale of Aafia Siddiqui, a 37-year-old U.S.-educated scientist who disappeared along with her three children for five years until she was picked up by Afghan police in 2008.

The U.S. says Siddiqui shot at American security personnel who came to interrogate her after her arrest in Afghanistan’s central Ghazni province. But many Pakistanis believe the U.S. has fabricated the charges. Some suspect the Americans had long held the thin neuroscience specialist in a secret prison — allegations the U.S. denies.

A Manhattan federal jury convicted Siddiqui on Wednesday of two counts of attempted murder, though it found the act was not premeditated. Siddiqui was also convicted of armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and assault of U.S. officers and employees.

Pakistanis denounced the verdict against Siddiqui, a devout Muslim who studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University before returning to Pakistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“We hate America,” “We hate U.S. judiciary,” and “Down with the US,” read some of the signs carried by burqa-clad women protesting in the southern city of Karachi, the hometown of Siddiqui’s family.

“Had they acquitted Aafia, the world would have appreciated the American judicial system and its whole philosophy. But the conviction has shown us how they have crushed justice,” her sister Fauzia Siddiqui told the rally.

In the western city of Quetta, Islamists burned a U.S. flag while denouncing several U.S.-related actions.

More on this Story]]> Pakistanis protest Terror Mom verdict
Comments: 14

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Last Updated: 10:31 AM, February 4, 2010

Posted: 9:29 AM, February 4, 2010

ISLAMABAD — Pakistanis shouted anti-American slogans and burned the Stars and Stripes on Thursday in protest of a New York jury’s conviction of a Pakistani woman accused of trying to kill Americans while detained in Afghanistan.

The protests drew thousands in at least four cities, demonstrating the widespread distrust, and even hatred, of the U.S. in this country whose cooperation Washington needs to stabilize neighboring Afghanistan.

They also showed the fierce passions surrounding the bizarre tale of Aafia Siddiqui, a 37-year-old U.S.-educated scientist who disappeared along with her three children for five years until she was picked up by Afghan police in 2008.

The U.S. says Siddiqui shot at American security personnel who came to interrogate her after her arrest in Afghanistan’s central Ghazni province. But many Pakistanis believe the U.S. has fabricated the charges. Some suspect the Americans had long held the thin neuroscience specialist in a secret prison — allegations the U.S. denies.

A Manhattan federal jury convicted Siddiqui on Wednesday of two counts of attempted murder, though it found the act was not premeditated. Siddiqui was also convicted of armed assault, using and carrying a firearm, and assault of U.S. officers and employees.

Pakistanis denounced the verdict against Siddiqui, a devout Muslim who studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brandeis University before returning to Pakistan following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“We hate America,” “We hate U.S. judiciary,” and “Down with the US,” read some of the signs carried by burqa-clad women protesting in the southern city of Karachi, the hometown of Siddiqui’s family.

“Had they acquitted Aafia, the world would have appreciated the American judicial system and its whole philosophy. But the conviction has shown us how they have crushed justice,” her sister Fauzia Siddiqui told the rally.

In the western city of Quetta, Islamists burned a U.S. flag while denouncing several U.S.-related actions.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=668 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:29:46 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=668 Denver boy, 9, died after state-benefits error denied him asthma medication

By Allison Sherry
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/04/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
Updated: 02/04/2010 10:19:11 AM MST


A Montbello mother says her 9-year-old son's death from severe asthma could have been prevented had Denver Human Services resolved problems with his Medicaid pharmacy benefits.

Zuton Lucero said she called Human Services every three days for months last year when she was suddenly unable to get prescription drugs for her son, Zumante.

The boy's health deteriorated without the medication, his doctor said, and he died at Children's Hospital in July after losing consciousness at his house after an attack.

"I don't want anyone else to be sitting where I'm sitting," Lucero said.

Advocacy lawyers who met Wednesday with the Colorado Attorney General's Office hold up Lucero's story as an example of how serious the problems are with the state's $243 million computer system that is supposed to manage benefits — and the county human workers behind it.

"The human system fell down," said Ed Kahn, a lawyer with the Colorado Center for Law and Policy, who is among a group of local and national lawyers weighing a lawsuit against the state for delays in getting food stamps and Medicaid benefits to people. "They are responsible for this kid's death."

The Colorado Benefits Management System is run through county human services offices and manages medical and food-assistance benefits for everyone in Colorado. Since its 2004 installation, the system has been beset by problems.

Lawyers advocating for Colorado's needy sat down with state officials Wednesday to discuss the problems that have the lawyers weighing whether to sue the state as they did in 2005 over similar issues.

"They presented us with some new information, and we listened carefully," Kahn said. "We hope to make a decision in relatively short order about how we are going to move forward."

Lucero, who works as a paraprofessional in Denver Public Schools, said Wednesday that she will continue to tell the story of Zumante's death "to enough people so that it won't ever be anyone else's story."

In addition to working with the advocacy lawyers, she has hired a personal attorney and is exploring a lawsuit against Denver.

Zumante had struggled with asthma since he was 3 months old. But when he was 6, the condition became serious enough for his mother to apply for benefits under Social Security, which also entitles him to Medicaid.

Andrew Lieber was Zumante's physician since birth. He said the boy's lungs were severely inflamed, and his twice-daily medication, Advair, helped control that.

More on this Story]]> Denver boy, 9, died after state-benefits error denied him asthma medication

By Allison Sherry
The Denver Post
Posted: 02/04/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
Updated: 02/04/2010 10:19:11 AM MST


A Montbello mother says her 9-year-old son's death from severe asthma could have been prevented had Denver Human Services resolved problems with his Medicaid pharmacy benefits.

Zuton Lucero said she called Human Services every three days for months last year when she was suddenly unable to get prescription drugs for her son, Zumante.

The boy's health deteriorated without the medication, his doctor said, and he died at Children's Hospital in July after losing consciousness at his house after an attack.

"I don't want anyone else to be sitting where I'm sitting," Lucero said.

Advocacy lawyers who met Wednesday with the Colorado Attorney General's Office hold up Lucero's story as an example of how serious the problems are with the state's $243 million computer system that is supposed to manage benefits — and the county human workers behind it.

"The human system fell down," said Ed Kahn, a lawyer with the Colorado Center for Law and Policy, who is among a group of local and national lawyers weighing a lawsuit against the state for delays in getting food stamps and Medicaid benefits to people. "They are responsible for this kid's death."

The Colorado Benefits Management System is run through county human services offices and manages medical and food-assistance benefits for everyone in Colorado. Since its 2004 installation, the system has been beset by problems.

Lawyers advocating for Colorado's needy sat down with state officials Wednesday to discuss the problems that have the lawyers weighing whether to sue the state as they did in 2005 over similar issues.

"They presented us with some new information, and we listened carefully," Kahn said. "We hope to make a decision in relatively short order about how we are going to move forward."

Lucero, who works as a paraprofessional in Denver Public Schools, said Wednesday that she will continue to tell the story of Zumante's death "to enough people so that it won't ever be anyone else's story."

In addition to working with the advocacy lawyers, she has hired a personal attorney and is exploring a lawsuit against Denver.

Zumante had struggled with asthma since he was 3 months old. But when he was 6, the condition became serious enough for his mother to apply for benefits under Social Security, which also entitles him to Medicaid.

Andrew Lieber was Zumante's physician since birth. He said the boy's lungs were severely inflamed, and his twice-daily medication, Advair, helped control that.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=667 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:24:08 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=667 Pa. school official defended in webcam spy case


Feb 20, 3:54 PM (ET)

By RON TODT


PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A suburban Philadelphia school district accused of secretly switching on laptop computer webcams inside students' homes says it never used webcam images to monitor or discipline students and believes one of its administrators has been "unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked."

The Lower Merion School District, in response to a suit filed by a student, has acknowledged that webcams were remotely activated 42 times in the past 14 months, but only to find missing, lost or stolen laptops - which the district noted would include "a loaner computer that, against regulations, might be taken off campus."

"Despite some reports to the contrary, be assured that the security-tracking software has been completely disabled," Superintendent Christopher W. McGinley said in a statement on the district's Web site late Friday. Officials vowed a comprehensive review that McGinley said should result in stronger privacy policies.

Harriton High School student Blake Robbins and his parents, Michael and Holly Robbins, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against the district, its board of directors and McGinley. They accused the school of turning on the webcam in his computer while it was inside their Penn Valley home, which they allege violated wiretap laws and his right to privacy.

The suit, which seeks class-action status, alleges that Harriton vice principal Lindy Matsko on Nov. 11 cited a laptop photo in telling Blake that the school thought he was engaging in improper behavior. He and his family have told reporters that an official mistook a piece of candy for a pill and thought he was selling drugs.

Neither the family nor their attorney, Mark Haltzman, returned calls this week seeking comment. A listed number for Matsko could not be found.

"We believe that the administrator at Harriton has been unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked in connection with her attempts to be supportive of a student and his family," the statement on the Lower Merion School District site said. "The district never did and never would use such tactics as a basis for disciplinary action."

A district spokesman declined further comment on the statement Saturday.

More on this Story]]> Pa. school official defended in webcam spy case


Feb 20, 3:54 PM (ET)

By RON TODT


PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A suburban Philadelphia school district accused of secretly switching on laptop computer webcams inside students' homes says it never used webcam images to monitor or discipline students and believes one of its administrators has been "unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked."

The Lower Merion School District, in response to a suit filed by a student, has acknowledged that webcams were remotely activated 42 times in the past 14 months, but only to find missing, lost or stolen laptops - which the district noted would include "a loaner computer that, against regulations, might be taken off campus."

"Despite some reports to the contrary, be assured that the security-tracking software has been completely disabled," Superintendent Christopher W. McGinley said in a statement on the district's Web site late Friday. Officials vowed a comprehensive review that McGinley said should result in stronger privacy policies.

Harriton High School student Blake Robbins and his parents, Michael and Holly Robbins, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against the district, its board of directors and McGinley. They accused the school of turning on the webcam in his computer while it was inside their Penn Valley home, which they allege violated wiretap laws and his right to privacy.

The suit, which seeks class-action status, alleges that Harriton vice principal Lindy Matsko on Nov. 11 cited a laptop photo in telling Blake that the school thought he was engaging in improper behavior. He and his family have told reporters that an official mistook a piece of candy for a pill and thought he was selling drugs.

Neither the family nor their attorney, Mark Haltzman, returned calls this week seeking comment. A listed number for Matsko could not be found.

"We believe that the administrator at Harriton has been unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked in connection with her attempts to be supportive of a student and his family," the statement on the Lower Merion School District site said. "The district never did and never would use such tactics as a basis for disciplinary action."

A district spokesman declined further comment on the statement Saturday.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=666 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:20:31 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=666 Dad accused in 'honor killing' will not face death penalty

by Dustin Gardiner - Feb. 19, 2010 01:54 PM
The Arizona Republic


A Glendale man accused of slaying his daughter in an "honor killing" will not face the death penalty.

After sparring with the suspect's defense attorney over its death penalty review process, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office has said it will not seek death for Faleh Almaleki, 49.

The Iraqi immigrant is accused of slaying his daughter, 20-year-old Noor Almaleki, for being "too Westernized."

Police say he used his Jeep Cherokee to run down his daughter and another woman in a Peoria parking lot Oct. 20. Noor Almaleki later died of her injuries.

Almaleki is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated assault and two counts of leaving the scene of a serious accident. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The decision not to seek the death penalty comes after Almaleki's attorney, Billy Little, a public defender, asked a judge to take special precautions to ensure the County Attorney's Office wouldn't wrongly seek the death penalty because Almaleki is a Muslim.

Little requested that the office make public the process it uses to determine whether to seek capital punishment.

"An open process provides some level of assurance that there is no appearance that a Christian is seeking to execute a Muslim for racial, political, religious or cultural beliefs," Little wrote, referring to County Attorney Andrew Thomas' Christian faith.

More on this Story]]> Dad accused in 'honor killing' will not face death penalty

by Dustin Gardiner - Feb. 19, 2010 01:54 PM
The Arizona Republic


A Glendale man accused of slaying his daughter in an "honor killing" will not face the death penalty.

After sparring with the suspect's defense attorney over its death penalty review process, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office has said it will not seek death for Faleh Almaleki, 49.

The Iraqi immigrant is accused of slaying his daughter, 20-year-old Noor Almaleki, for being "too Westernized."

Police say he used his Jeep Cherokee to run down his daughter and another woman in a Peoria parking lot Oct. 20. Noor Almaleki later died of her injuries.

Almaleki is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated assault and two counts of leaving the scene of a serious accident. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The decision not to seek the death penalty comes after Almaleki's attorney, Billy Little, a public defender, asked a judge to take special precautions to ensure the County Attorney's Office wouldn't wrongly seek the death penalty because Almaleki is a Muslim.

Little requested that the office make public the process it uses to determine whether to seek capital punishment.

"An open process provides some level of assurance that there is no appearance that a Christian is seeking to execute a Muslim for racial, political, religious or cultural beliefs," Little wrote, referring to County Attorney Andrew Thomas' Christian faith.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=665 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:17:09 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=665
Father who threw baby from bridge 'devout Muslim'
Reportedly drove to Jersey mosque, consulted imam immediately after abducting daughter

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: February 18, 2010
10:55 pm Eastern


By Chelsea Schilling
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

A 21-year-old New Jersey man accused of kidnapping his 3-month-old daughter and throwing her off a bridge is described by his father as a devout Muslim who prayed regularly and is said to have immediately visited mosques and confessed to an imam following his crime.

Shamsid-Din Abdur-Raheem, an aspiring lawyer and student at Richard Stockton College, reportedly held a leadership position in the Muslim Student Association at Stockton, according to college senior Zaw Win. The group's member and officer list has been disabled on its website.

He was also an intern in Washington, D.C., with the juveniles section of the Office of the Attorney General, according to March 2009 press release from Stockton College. He was fired after only a month for missing work and not completing assignments. He lashed out during his termination, and security personnel escorted him out of the building.

Abdur-Raheem allegedly forced his way into the baby's maternal grandmother's home at 4 p.m. on Feb. 16, punched the 60-year-old woman in the face and choked her. He took 3-month old Zara Malani-lin Abdur, and the grandmother chased him outside. She threw herself on the hood of a Dodge Caravan as Abdur-Raheem climbed into the passenger side, clutching his daughter, New Jersey's Star-Ledger reports. According to some reports, he left with an unidentified man at the wheel, though other accounts say he was the only man in the van.

The baby's mother, Venetta Benjamin, has full custody of the baby and is not married to Abdur-Raheem. He had reportedly threatened to harm Benjamin in the week prior to the abduction because she didn't want to marry him. Benjamin was filing a restraining order against him at the time he abducted his daughter.

After arriving at the Driscoll Bridge and dropping his daughter into the icy cold water of the Raritan River, Abdur-Raheem is said to have immediately driven to see Imam Amin Muhammad at the Masjid Mohammed in Atlantic City, and then to Masjid un-Nur in Camden County.

More on this Story]]>
Father who threw baby from bridge 'devout Muslim'
Reportedly drove to Jersey mosque, consulted imam immediately after abducting daughter

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: February 18, 2010
10:55 pm Eastern


By Chelsea Schilling
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

A 21-year-old New Jersey man accused of kidnapping his 3-month-old daughter and throwing her off a bridge is described by his father as a devout Muslim who prayed regularly and is said to have immediately visited mosques and confessed to an imam following his crime.

Shamsid-Din Abdur-Raheem, an aspiring lawyer and student at Richard Stockton College, reportedly held a leadership position in the Muslim Student Association at Stockton, according to college senior Zaw Win. The group's member and officer list has been disabled on its website.

He was also an intern in Washington, D.C., with the juveniles section of the Office of the Attorney General, according to March 2009 press release from Stockton College. He was fired after only a month for missing work and not completing assignments. He lashed out during his termination, and security personnel escorted him out of the building.

Abdur-Raheem allegedly forced his way into the baby's maternal grandmother's home at 4 p.m. on Feb. 16, punched the 60-year-old woman in the face and choked her. He took 3-month old Zara Malani-lin Abdur, and the grandmother chased him outside. She threw herself on the hood of a Dodge Caravan as Abdur-Raheem climbed into the passenger side, clutching his daughter, New Jersey's Star-Ledger reports. According to some reports, he left with an unidentified man at the wheel, though other accounts say he was the only man in the van.

The baby's mother, Venetta Benjamin, has full custody of the baby and is not married to Abdur-Raheem. He had reportedly threatened to harm Benjamin in the week prior to the abduction because she didn't want to marry him. Benjamin was filing a restraining order against him at the time he abducted his daughter.

After arriving at the Driscoll Bridge and dropping his daughter into the icy cold water of the Raritan River, Abdur-Raheem is said to have immediately driven to see Imam Amin Muhammad at the Masjid Mohammed in Atlantic City, and then to Masjid un-Nur in Camden County.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=664 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:44:25 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=664 Wells Fargo rejects Richfield man's 30-year-old certificates

By Joshua Palmer - Times-News writer | Posted: Saturday, February 6, 2010 1:10 am


A retired miner and rancher in southern Idaho, who found long-lost certificates of deposits estimated to be worth more than a half-million dollars, was informed by the bank holding the CDs that they aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.

Bill Coffey, who still holds the original certificates, said an attorney representing Wells Fargo sent him a letter earlier this month stating the bank had no way of determining whether or not the CDs had already been cashed-in without being submitted.

Lara Underhill, regional communications director for Wells Fargo, said Friday that the bank could not provide details of the matter.

“We’ve fully explained this matter to Mr. Coffey in a November correspondence,” she said in a written statement to the Times-News. “Beyond that, we can’t comment due to privacy and customer confidentiality.”

Coffey said the bank hasn’t really told him anything.

“I was just told I have to talk to one of their lawyers,” he said. “But he doesn’t know anything. He just comes up with theories that I’m trying to steal their money.”

More on this Story]]> Wells Fargo rejects Richfield man's 30-year-old certificates

By Joshua Palmer - Times-News writer | Posted: Saturday, February 6, 2010 1:10 am


A retired miner and rancher in southern Idaho, who found long-lost certificates of deposits estimated to be worth more than a half-million dollars, was informed by the bank holding the CDs that they aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on.

Bill Coffey, who still holds the original certificates, said an attorney representing Wells Fargo sent him a letter earlier this month stating the bank had no way of determining whether or not the CDs had already been cashed-in without being submitted.

Lara Underhill, regional communications director for Wells Fargo, said Friday that the bank could not provide details of the matter.

“We’ve fully explained this matter to Mr. Coffey in a November correspondence,” she said in a written statement to the Times-News. “Beyond that, we can’t comment due to privacy and customer confidentiality.”

Coffey said the bank hasn’t really told him anything.

“I was just told I have to talk to one of their lawyers,” he said. “But he doesn’t know anything. He just comes up with theories that I’m trying to steal their money.”

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=663 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:41:57 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=663 'Dead' woman alive and well in Sanford and fighting Social Security

By WFTV
WFTV Staff Writer

Posted: 8:35 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010


SEMINOLE COUNTY — A Seminole County woman called WFTV for help after she couldn't open a bank account or even upgrade her cell phone, because the Social Security Administration had declared her dead.

The mix-up started when her husband died. Karen Paladino lives in Sanford with her two dogs, but according to the Social Security Administration, she is dead.

"I have been deceased since October 2008 and I was verified by a family member supposedly according to this paper," Paladino said.

Paladino discovered the mistake when she went to the Social Security office in Sanford to apply for disability benefits.

"They said I was deceased I said, 'No I am not, I am right here," she explained.

Paladino's spent the last year submitting paper work, her birth certificate and marriage license to try to get the government to bring her back to life.

"Pronouncing me dead has spread like a disease over my whole life. It's making me crazy," she said.

She can't open a bank account, can't buy a new car or upgrade her cellphone because when the businesses enter her Social Security number into their system, she's listed as dead.

More on this Story]]> 'Dead' woman alive and well in Sanford and fighting Social Security

By WFTV
WFTV Staff Writer

Posted: 8:35 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010


SEMINOLE COUNTY — A Seminole County woman called WFTV for help after she couldn't open a bank account or even upgrade her cell phone, because the Social Security Administration had declared her dead.

The mix-up started when her husband died. Karen Paladino lives in Sanford with her two dogs, but according to the Social Security Administration, she is dead.

"I have been deceased since October 2008 and I was verified by a family member supposedly according to this paper," Paladino said.

Paladino discovered the mistake when she went to the Social Security office in Sanford to apply for disability benefits.

"They said I was deceased I said, 'No I am not, I am right here," she explained.

Paladino's spent the last year submitting paper work, her birth certificate and marriage license to try to get the government to bring her back to life.

"Pronouncing me dead has spread like a disease over my whole life. It's making me crazy," she said.

She can't open a bank account, can't buy a new car or upgrade her cellphone because when the businesses enter her Social Security number into their system, she's listed as dead.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=662 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:37:44 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=662 Human error blamed for mud volcano

February 12, 2010 - 11:59AM
AFP

Scientists have unveiled fresh evidence that gas drillers were to blame for unleashing a mud volcano in Indonesia's East Java that claimed 14 lives and displaced tens of thousands of people.

In a paper published by the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology on Friday, a group led by experts from Britain's Durham University said the new clues bolstered suspicions the catastrophe was caused by human error.

The company being fingered for the disaster, drilling firm Lapindo Brantas, replied in the same journal that the "Lusi" mud volcano was unleashed by an earthquake at Yogyakarta, 280 kilometres away.

Lusi's mud has been devouring land and homes in Sidoarjo district since May 2006, imperilling as many as 100,000 people through subsidence and inflicting damage at $US4.9 billion ($A5.5 billion), according to an estimate by an Australian expert.

Durham professor Richard Davies said drillers, looking for gas nearby, had made a series of mistakes.

They had overestimated the pressure the well could tolerate, and had not placed protective casing around a section of open well.

Then, after failing to find any gas, they hauled the drill out while the hole was extremely unstable. By withdrawing the drill, they exposed the well hole to a "kick" from pressurised water and gas from surrounding rock formations.

The result was a volcano-like inflow that the drillers tried in vain to stop, he said.

More on this Story]]> Human error blamed for mud volcano

February 12, 2010 - 11:59AM
AFP

Scientists have unveiled fresh evidence that gas drillers were to blame for unleashing a mud volcano in Indonesia's East Java that claimed 14 lives and displaced tens of thousands of people.

In a paper published by the journal Marine and Petroleum Geology on Friday, a group led by experts from Britain's Durham University said the new clues bolstered suspicions the catastrophe was caused by human error.

The company being fingered for the disaster, drilling firm Lapindo Brantas, replied in the same journal that the "Lusi" mud volcano was unleashed by an earthquake at Yogyakarta, 280 kilometres away.

Lusi's mud has been devouring land and homes in Sidoarjo district since May 2006, imperilling as many as 100,000 people through subsidence and inflicting damage at $US4.9 billion ($A5.5 billion), according to an estimate by an Australian expert.

Durham professor Richard Davies said drillers, looking for gas nearby, had made a series of mistakes.

They had overestimated the pressure the well could tolerate, and had not placed protective casing around a section of open well.

Then, after failing to find any gas, they hauled the drill out while the hole was extremely unstable. By withdrawing the drill, they exposed the well hole to a "kick" from pressurised water and gas from surrounding rock formations.

The result was a volcano-like inflow that the drillers tried in vain to stop, he said.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=661 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:31:01 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=661 Fed in Talks With Money Market Funds to Help Drain $1 Trillion

By Craig Torres and Christopher Condon


Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is in talks with money-market mutual funds on agreements to help drain as much as $1 trillion from the financial system as policy makers prepare for the first interest-rate increase since June 2006, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

The central bank is looking to the $3.2 trillion money- market mutual-fund industry because the 18 so-called primary dealers that trade directly with the Fed have a capacity limited to about $100 billion, estimates Joseph Abate, a money-market strategist at Barclays Capital in New York.

Money-market funds may welcome the opportunity to trade with the Fed after the financial crisis reduced the supply of safe assets in which they can invest. In one example of demand for such assets, auctions on four-week Treasury bills have attracted an average of $5.47 in bids for every dollar sold this year, compared with an average of $3.77 last year, according to Bloomberg data. Yields on the four-week bill fell to five basis points from 20 basis points a year ago.

“There are lots of great credit stories, but the option of going with the Fed and the government -- it takes away part of the risk,” said Deborah Cunningham, a chief investment officer at Federated Investors Inc. in Pittsburgh, which manages $318 billion in money-market investments. Conversations with the Fed “seem pretty positive,” she said, adding that the Fed and the industry should be in a position to conduct operations before the end of the year.


Fannie, Freddie

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday charted ways the Fed might withdraw record monetary stimulus pumped into the economy to fight the recession. Among the central bank’s tools are reverse repurchase agreements, in which the Fed sells securities with the intention of repurchasing them at a later date.

The Fed is also considering reverse repurchase agreements with mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said the person familiar with the discussions. Freddie Mac spokeswoman Sharon McHale declined to comment. Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith also declined to comment.

“To further increase its capacity to drain reserves through reverse repos,” Bernanke said, the Fed is “in the process of expanding the set of counterparties with which it can transact” beyond primary dealers of government securities.

The primary dealers, which are required to bid at auctions of Treasury notes and trade directly with the New York Fed’s markets desk, include BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Banc of America Securities LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co.

Bernanke repeated yesterday that while interest rates are likely to stay low for an “extended period,” the Fed in “due course” will need to “begin to tighten monetary conditions to prevent the development of inflationary pressures.”


Securities Purchases

The central bank has created more than $1 trillion in excess reserves in the banking system through its purchases of $300 billion of Treasury debt and $1.25 trillion of mortgage- backed securities. To put upward pressure on the federal funds rate, the Fed may need to drain as much as $800 billion, Abate estimates.

More on this Story]]> Fed in Talks With Money Market Funds to Help Drain $1 Trillion

By Craig Torres and Christopher Condon


Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is in talks with money-market mutual funds on agreements to help drain as much as $1 trillion from the financial system as policy makers prepare for the first interest-rate increase since June 2006, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

The central bank is looking to the $3.2 trillion money- market mutual-fund industry because the 18 so-called primary dealers that trade directly with the Fed have a capacity limited to about $100 billion, estimates Joseph Abate, a money-market strategist at Barclays Capital in New York.

Money-market funds may welcome the opportunity to trade with the Fed after the financial crisis reduced the supply of safe assets in which they can invest. In one example of demand for such assets, auctions on four-week Treasury bills have attracted an average of $5.47 in bids for every dollar sold this year, compared with an average of $3.77 last year, according to Bloomberg data. Yields on the four-week bill fell to five basis points from 20 basis points a year ago.

“There are lots of great credit stories, but the option of going with the Fed and the government -- it takes away part of the risk,” said Deborah Cunningham, a chief investment officer at Federated Investors Inc. in Pittsburgh, which manages $318 billion in money-market investments. Conversations with the Fed “seem pretty positive,” she said, adding that the Fed and the industry should be in a position to conduct operations before the end of the year.


Fannie, Freddie

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke yesterday charted ways the Fed might withdraw record monetary stimulus pumped into the economy to fight the recession. Among the central bank’s tools are reverse repurchase agreements, in which the Fed sells securities with the intention of repurchasing them at a later date.

The Fed is also considering reverse repurchase agreements with mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said the person familiar with the discussions. Freddie Mac spokeswoman Sharon McHale declined to comment. Fannie Mae spokesman Brian Faith also declined to comment.

“To further increase its capacity to drain reserves through reverse repos,” Bernanke said, the Fed is “in the process of expanding the set of counterparties with which it can transact” beyond primary dealers of government securities.

The primary dealers, which are required to bid at auctions of Treasury notes and trade directly with the New York Fed’s markets desk, include BNP Paribas Securities Corp., Banc of America Securities LLC and Goldman Sachs & Co.

Bernanke repeated yesterday that while interest rates are likely to stay low for an “extended period,” the Fed in “due course” will need to “begin to tighten monetary conditions to prevent the development of inflationary pressures.”


Securities Purchases

The central bank has created more than $1 trillion in excess reserves in the banking system through its purchases of $300 billion of Treasury debt and $1.25 trillion of mortgage- backed securities. To put upward pressure on the federal funds rate, the Fed may need to drain as much as $800 billion, Abate estimates.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=660 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 02:28:01 -0800 Rink http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=660 Feds push for tracking cell phones
by Declan McCullagh

Two years ago, when the FBI was stymied by a band of armed robbers known as the "Scarecrow Bandits" that had robbed more than 20 Texas banks, it came up with a novel method of locating the thieves.

FBI agents obtained logs from mobile phone companies corresponding to what their cellular towers had recorded at the time of a dozen different bank robberies in the Dallas area. The voluminous records showed that two phones had made calls around the time of all 12 heists, and that those phones belonged to men named Tony Hewitt and Corey Duffey. A jury eventually convicted the duo of multiple bank robbery and weapons charges.

Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a generation ago are ambiguous at best. On Friday, the first federal appeals court to consider the topic will hear oral arguments (PDF) in a case that could establish new standards for locating wireless devices.

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.

Those claims have alarmed the ACLU and other civil liberties groups, which have opposed the Justice Department's request and plan to tell the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia that Americans' privacy deserves more protection and judicial oversight than what the administration has proposed.

"This is a critical question for privacy in the 21st century," says Kevin Bankston, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who will be arguing on Friday. "If the courts do side with the government, that means that everywhere we go, in the real world and online, will be an open book to the government unprotected by the Fourth Amendment."

Not long ago, the concept of tracking cell phones would have been the stuff of spy movies. In 1998's "Enemy of the State," Gene Hackman warned that the National Security Agency has "been in bed with the entire telecommunications industry since the '40s--they've infected everything." After a decade of appearances in "24" and "Live Free or Die Hard," location-tracking has become such a trope that it was satirized in a scene with Seth Rogen from "Pineapple Express" (2008).


Once a Hollywood plot, now 'commonplace'

Whether state and federal police have been paying attention to Hollywood, or whether it was the other way around, cell phone tracking has become a regular feature in criminal investigations. It comes in two forms: police obtaining retrospective data kept by mobile providers for their own billing purposes that may not be very detailed, or prospective data that reveals the minute-by-minute location of a handset or mobile device.

Obtaining location details is now "commonplace," says Al Gidari, a partner in the Seattle offices of Perkins Coie who represents wireless carriers. "It's in every pen register order these days."

Gidari says that the Third Circuit case could have a significant impact on police investigations within the court's jurisdiction, namely Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; it could be persuasive beyond those states. But, he cautions, "if the privacy groups win, the case won't be over. It will certainly be appealed."

CNET was the first to report on prospective tracking in a 2005 news article. In a subsequent Arizona case, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration tracked a tractor trailer with a drug shipment through a GPS-equipped Nextel phone owned by the suspect. Texas DEA agents have used cell site information in real time to locate a Chrysler 300M driving from Rio Grande City to a ranch about 50 miles away. Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile logs showing the location of mobile phones at the time calls became evidence in a Los Angeles murder trial.

And a mobile phone's fleeting connection with a remote cell tower operated by Edge Wireless is what led searchers to the family of the late James Kim, a CNET employee who died in the Oregon wilderness in 2006 after leaving a snowbound car to seek help.

The way tracking works is simple: mobile phones are miniature radio transmitters and receivers. A cellular tower knows the general direction of a mobile phone (many cell sites have three antennas pointing in different directions), and if the phone is talking to multiple towers, triangulation yields a rough location fix. With this method, accuracy depends in part on the density of cell sites.

The Federal Communications Commission's "Enhanced 911" (E911) requirements allowed rough estimates to be transformed into precise coordinates. Wireless carriers using CDMA networks, such as Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, tend to use embedded GPS technology to fulfill E911 requirements. AT&T and T-Mobile comply with E911 regulations using network-based technology that computes a phone's location using signal analysis and triangulation between towers.

More on this Story]]> Feds push for tracking cell phones
by Declan McCullagh

Two years ago, when the FBI was stymied by a band of armed robbers known as the "Scarecrow Bandits" that had robbed more than 20 Texas banks, it came up with a novel method of locating the thieves.

FBI agents obtained logs from mobile phone companies corresponding to what their cellular towers had recorded at the time of a dozen different bank robberies in the Dallas area. The voluminous records showed that two phones had made calls around the time of all 12 heists, and that those phones belonged to men named Tony Hewitt and Corey Duffey. A jury eventually convicted the duo of multiple bank robbery and weapons charges.

Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a generation ago are ambiguous at best. On Friday, the first federal appeals court to consider the topic will hear oral arguments (PDF) in a case that could establish new standards for locating wireless devices.

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.

Those claims have alarmed the ACLU and other civil liberties groups, which have opposed the Justice Department's request and plan to tell the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia that Americans' privacy deserves more protection and judicial oversight than what the administration has proposed.

"This is a critical question for privacy in the 21st century," says Kevin Bankston, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who will be arguing on Friday. "If the courts do side with the government, that means that everywhere we go, in the real world and online, will be an open book to the government unprotected by the Fourth Amendment."

Not long ago, the concept of tracking cell phones would have been the stuff of spy movies. In 1998's "Enemy of the State," Gene Hackman warned that the National Security Agency has "been in bed with the entire telecommunications industry since the '40s--they've infected everything." After a decade of appearances in "24" and "Live Free or Die Hard," location-tracking has become such a trope that it was satirized in a scene with Seth Rogen from "Pineapple Express" (2008).


Once a Hollywood plot, now 'commonplace'

Whether state and federal police have been paying attention to Hollywood, or whether it was the other way around, cell phone tracking has become a regular feature in criminal investigations. It comes in two forms: police obtaining retrospective data kept by mobile providers for their own billing purposes that may not be very detailed, or prospective data that reveals the minute-by-minute location of a handset or mobile device.

Obtaining location details is now "commonplace," says Al Gidari, a partner in the Seattle offices of Perkins Coie who represents wireless carriers. "It's in every pen register order these days."

Gidari says that the Third Circuit case could have a significant impact on police investigations within the court's jurisdiction, namely Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; it could be persuasive beyond those states. But, he cautions, "if the privacy groups win, the case won't be over. It will certainly be appealed."

CNET was the first to report on prospective tracking in a 2005 news article. In a subsequent Arizona case, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration tracked a tractor trailer with a drug shipment through a GPS-equipped Nextel phone owned by the suspect. Texas DEA agents have used cell site information in real time to locate a Chrysler 300M driving from Rio Grande City to a ranch about 50 miles away. Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile logs showing the location of mobile phones at the time calls became evidence in a Los Angeles murder trial.

And a mobile phone's fleeting connection with a remote cell tower operated by Edge Wireless is what led searchers to the family of the late James Kim, a CNET employee who died in the Oregon wilderness in 2006 after leaving a snowbound car to seek help.

The way tracking works is simple: mobile phones are miniature radio transmitters and receivers. A cellular tower knows the general direction of a mobile phone (many cell sites have three antennas pointing in different directions), and if the phone is talking to multiple towers, triangulation yields a rough location fix. With this method, accuracy depends in part on the density of cell sites.

The Federal Communications Commission's "Enhanced 911" (E911) requirements allowed rough estimates to be transformed into precise coordinates. Wireless carriers using CDMA networks, such as Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, tend to use embedded GPS technology to fulfill E911 requirements. AT&T and T-Mobile comply with E911 regulations using network-based technology that computes a phone's location using signal analysis and triangulation between towers.

More on this Story]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=659 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:36:05 -0800 alvincurt http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=659 I think that best career field now-a-days is in I.T. sector.
More and more companies are creating their sites and developing soft copies of their products and services.
So there is a wast employments in that sector. So that I have also started Web page designing.
What is your view ? Let me know.]]> I think that best career field now-a-days is in I.T. sector.
More and more companies are creating their sites and developing soft copies of their products and services.
So there is a wast employments in that sector. So that I have also started Web page designing.
What is your view ? Let me know.]]> http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=658 Sun, 07 Feb 2010 20:50:28 -0800 alvincurt http://rink.cyberkook.com/showthread.php?tid=658 I want to say that Don't buy cheap medicine because it has many side effects.Please do this when you buy medicine.
1. Ask your doctor about side effects when he/she prescribes the medicine. Your doctor should have the latest information regarding the medication you are being prescribed.
2. Discuss side effects with your pharmacist. Your local pharmacist can tell you the side effects on any medication that your receive.
3. Read the information that comes with your medication. Often times, medicine will be accompanied by a pamphlet that lists known side effects.

Thanks.]]> I want to say that Don't buy cheap medicine because it has many side effects.Please do this when you buy medicine.
1. Ask your doctor about side effects when he/she prescribes the medicine. Your doctor should have the latest information regarding the medication you are being prescribed.
2. Discuss side effects with your pharmacist. Your local pharmacist can tell you the side effects on any medication that your receive.
3. Read the information that comes with your medication. Often times, medicine will be accompanied by a pamphlet that lists known side effects.

Thanks.]]>