Kontar

Inauguration 2009

2009-01-20T12:26:00.001-08:00

Barack Obama Becomes President,
Chief Justice Roberts Forgets Constitution
what was he thinking? ...or was he?

A Full Minute And Seven Seconds Of
Dick Cheney In His Wheelchair, Without Commentary

Scrub Sarah Palin and "dr" Laura Schlessinger...

2009-01-14T14:35:00.002-08:00

Sarah Palin has been a phenomenal example of the endless scrub job.
Scrubbing so fast you could watch it happening.

An early victim of Sarah's scrub was the infamous Ted Stevens, there is just no accounting for who some people will pal around with, you betcha.
Read all about scrubbing Ted here...

The RNC's first female Vice Presidential candidate
in the history of the United States of America.

Yes, Vice President!

The first person in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new
President of the United States upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president.

That is important history.

Vital for women and the RNC to preserve and get it right.

Who would be busy scrubbing history? The health of all VP candidates is central to the office. Cheney has his heart problems, it's a matter of knowing, not even if these people are in perfect health.

Respect the people of the United States of America, release the information and
don't destroy or manipulate history.

Sarah Palin is a prime physical specimen and should be proud of her medical records to be examined and preserved for history?
Why would there be any funny business at all surrounding her medical records? The McCain's odd "no comments" now won't help. But would they want what stood in for medical records to be scrubbed? This is on McCain as well. Is he scrubbing history?

The mystery is ongoing... the proxy medical records came in the form of a letter written November 3, 2008 by the Palin family physician Cathy Baldwin Johnson, M.D. of Anchorage, Ak.

According to PalinPics4Truth:

"the letter has already been scrubbed from
more than 90% of the places that originally displayed it."

CBJ Letter: How many things do YOU count wrong with it??

Who scrubbed Wikipedia's entry for Sarah Palin just before nom announcement?

SCRUBBING HAS A LIFE OF IT'S OWN.

These scrubbers and shutterers need to be watched.

What does the size of a 7 month pregnant belly look like?
Think Demi Moore
Sarah Palin 7 months...

Laura Schlessinger is no slouch when it comes to scrubbing. Her true life story has been about "96.8%" scrubbed. Some think her mother's life was scrubbed. Without a doubt Deryk Schlessinger gets the scrub.

It won't end there....

2008-12-25T12:46:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY

Laura Schlessinger and role model Sarah Palin's "slut"

2008-12-21T16:19:00.000-08:00

"Slut", that's Schlessinger. Her tell-it-like-it-is act [however, she was a wimp when it came to chastising Wendy McCaw]. During her scold act, she pulled no punches when it came to expressing how she felt about every other "shackup" [living together before marriage] and "slut". A "slut" could be a teen in suggestive clothes or worse. The Laura "sluts" I heard were often teenagers. I don't disagree about some of her opinions here, but she could turn stomachs the way she treated callers. She is a sick cruel woman when confronting the imperfect or disadvantaged**. Allegedly, her act has changed some now? She was like chalk on a blackboard, I don't listen to her often, I need someone around when it happens.

Back to Palin's "slut", Levi's Baby-Mama, that virtue of new motherhood the youth are looking up to, whats-her-name? The pregnant Sarah Palin child near childbirth... Willow, Bristol, Piper? It is sad. The Palin children will never see this, I do feel free to borrow some Schlessinger lingo...

MIDDLE SCHOOL Bristol Palin fan club

Anyhoooo, the next dime novel chapter of the
"bat-shit crazy, fake baby birthing church lady" is beyond beyond. Whooda thunk...

"Sluts" Baby-Daddy's Ma was 6 felonies ARRESTED
as Grandma Sarah and Grandma Sherry's little bastard is due.

"You can’t make this stuff up"

The view from across the pond
Hillbilly heroin’ haven December 21, 2008

Quote of the day III

Wasilla is Alaska's Meth Capital, so kudos to Sherry Johnston for shaking it up with prescription pills instead of the crystal.

Without a doubt the Palin's are not scoring points as role models. Laura Schlessinger made her role model concerns known last September yet supported bad role modeling with her vote for the dysfunction ticket, that's Laura! Will she ream the "slut" and Palin for paling around with another* hillbilly heroin’ junkie now?

[][]

Anonymous comment:

"The reason Bristol and Levi have not tied the knot is because they would not be insured for this baby. Sarah is willing to scam the system and "bend" her morals anytime it fits her need."

another* hillbilly heroin: Palin's son, Track [not kiddin'] Palin was outed by The National Enquirer as an OxyContin addict.
This is where Schlessinger and Palin can share stories.
Track Palin and Deryk Schlessinger were troubled, tortured youth. It seems the Army is to fix them up. It is alot better PR than Conservative's offspring ending up in prison.

Don't miss Schlessinger's [fraud investigation]

"America Supports You/Operation Family Fund"

Celebrity "charities" role modeling PR
Links H E R E or H E R E
Important: Veterans Today, read report by Robert L. Hanafin, Major, U.S. Air Force-Retired

The wierd good-bye Santa Barbara News-Press and where's "The Investigator" Robert Eringer when you need him?

...the imperfect and disadvantaged** Laura Schlessinger, shameful role modeling example:
"Dr. Laura Schlessinger once claimed that due to all people with Tourette Syndrome swearing constantly that they should be excluded from most social gatherings, like weddings — and that they were just doing it to get attention, and could stop it if they really tried. * And while it is technically true that Tourette Syndrome sufferers can delay their ticks, it is slight, with an amount of willpower that causes physical pain, at best long enough to leave an area where it would be awkward. * Disclaimer: Dr. Laura Schlessinger is not a real doctor, but she plays one on TV a Ph.D. of Physiology, which technically makes her a Doctor but does not remotely qualify her to perform psychoanalysis or relationship counseling."

[There are too many to list here]

Arthur Von Weisenberger. Nipster, WaSs HaPpEnIn?

OBITUARY

2008-12-11T22:03:00.000-08:00

OBITUARY
Bettie Page dies at 85; pinup queen played a key role in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and later became a cult figure

Bettie Page, the brunet pinup queen with a shoulder-length pageboy hairdo and kitschy bangs whose saucy photos helped usher in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, has died. She was 85.

Page, whose later life was marked by depression, violent mood swings and several years in a state mental institution, died Thursday night at Kindred Hospital in Los Angeles, where she had been on life support since suffering a heart attack Dec. 2, according to her agent, Mark Roesler.

Photo Gallery

Bettie Page, 1950s pin-up queen

(PHOTOS)

Bio: Bettie Page was born on 22 April 1923, in Nashville, Tennessee. Her father, Roy, was an auto-mechanic. Her mother, Edna, was part Cherokee
[]
Yolanda
[]
The Santa Barbara News-Press "Investigator" Robert Eringer may have written a decent column this week? Too bad it's behind
THE WENDY MCCAW PAYWALL!

Dec 6, 2008 -
Parents, don't kid yourselves: Heroin use is growing among local teens
Dear Santa Barbara Teen,
Heroin is about as cool as a mortuary at two in the morning. It kills. Sometimes it kills real fast--especially if it is bad heroin. One of your fellow teens died recently from bad heroin. It came from a dealer here in town. The dealer is out there still, looking for more takers. He will sell it again, the bad stuff, and maybe you, too, will die. Sure, you're a teen, More»

Eringer's bud, the gecko-dude, seems to favor the tinfoil series,
or Eringer only forwards those to him. "Manchurian chips"

"Parents, don't kid yourselves: Heroin use is growing among local teens"
Sometimes bubble dwellers just don't get that even if you don't know of anyone who is using drugs, the drug business effects us all. It isn't pretty. FBI/CIA Eringer should know how the drug business works. Why even the elite can get hooked. Image that.

Comrade Laura Schlessinger promised to get everyone "up to speed" on Afghanistan. Her son, Deryk Schlessinger, worked a brief time at heroin central. What was that all about? She should be informed, very informed, about the situation and it is criminal to withhold the facts from people.

Especially the people she works up to risk life and limb.
For what?

It's said Santa Barbara's heroin is from Mexico, all trafficing effects everyone. The FBI/CIA would know what a big cash cow drug trafficing is. You can trade weapons and pay no tax. You can even pay for a war with your profits. Tell those teens to just say no.

Cocaine and meth prices soar as quality plummets: DEA

"Dr" Laura is out, replaced by washed up Dennis Miller*, Santa Barbara sucks it up...

2008-12-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

go figure... "Laura has never lasted long around here." that would be Seattle, Washington. The once beautiful and relevant Santa Barbara, California tolerates the quack and we're getting it up the arse for all the baaad radio acts, Payola and charity scams we now adhere. It's easy, too easy to be corrupt and to corrupt.

*Dennis Miller does not look like the google image Dennis. He looks unclean and slothful.

"Scarlet" Schlessinger

The turkey

2008-11-27T14:10:00.001-08:00

Larisons Turkey Farm Inn

Turkey with Lurleen

Presiding over the affairs of state left little time for fishing and the outdoors, but once following a lengthy banquet, the governor returned to Montgomery where she tarried long enough to change from evening dress to a hunting suit. By daybreak she was on her way hunting and bagged a 15-pound turkey with her second shot.

Palin talks as turkey bleeds for "fun" backdrop

2008-11-20T21:21:00.000-08:00

Palin pardons turkey as bird bleeds out on camera
As she staged an impromptu press conference after pardoning one lucky bird, a worker at the Triple D Farm and Hatchery in Wasilla sliced a turkey's neck, bled it out and twisted its head off behind the governor, directly in the camera's line of fire.

"Certainly we'll even invite criticism for doin' this too, but at least this was fun!" she pronounced.

UPDATE:
As commenter "Slamdance" pointed out, MSNBC blurred some portions of this. So if you can stomach it, here's the unedited version of the interview. It's not any more bloody or anything, just packs more of a punch when you see the turkey fighting for it's life at the precise moment that she says

"I'm so happy to be here."

Update: Cajun Boy... Once again, that dastardly liberal media has tricked bat-shit crazy, fake baby birthing church lady Sarah Palin into appearing buffoonish 11/25/08
UPDATE: Sarah Palin Still Wearing Campaign Clothes 12/1/08
UPDATE: Palin vs. Murkowski… 12/2/08

Sarah's time off

2008-11-18T10:54:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: as the turkey bleeds

Palin talks and talks and talks and talks

2008-11-13T14:20:00.000-08:00

Sarah Palin told CNN's Wolf Blitzer....

Sarah Palin opened up on'Larry King Live'

Sarah Palin is still the star!

Will she get her own Republican show now she is the party?

Sarah Palin, the main celebrity attraction at Republican Governors Association Annual Conference in Miami

She will work for Obama

Nipper talks and talks...

2008-11-12T15:26:00.001-08:00

Wendy McCaw's Santa Barbara News-Press co-publisher speaks, says... not much.

"Santa Barbara's Best Kept Man was on TV last night being interviewed..."

The Ernie "Solomon" Show

"...the Santa Barbara version of "Blue Velvet" starring Nipper [von Weisenberger] and newest sidekick Don Katich [Director of News Operations]..."

Palin talks and talks and talks

2008-11-10T23:48:00.000-08:00

Veterans Day Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Talkin' Palin talks...

Sarah Palin returns to Alaska after defeat

2008-11-05T23:58:00.000-08:00

Denies all rumors

Palin returns to Alaska after defeat
November 2008
Alaska governor Palin refused to take the blame for Republican John McCain's defeat in the White House race and said it was time for Americans to come together.

Rachel Maddow Show: Palin's Troopergate and Email Scandal

Sarah Palin has a very long row to hoe, legally, between now and 2012! Youuuu BETCHA!

Sarah Palin is The Chiseler Supreme

Palin, what next?

November 5, 2008 news conference in Anchorage, Alaska. Fox News gave 10 minutes of Infomercial, or more, to pitch her stories. Energy and workers.

She had no interest to leave
the stage.

McCain Campaign Knocks ‘Wasilla Hillbillies Looting Neiman Marcus From Coast To Coast’

Oh, Sarah Palin, your trashy ass may be back in Alaska today, but you’ve left enough enemies down here in the contiguous U.S. — the real, pro-America America — to keep Wonkette going until Christmas. From this wonderful Newsweek collection of campaign trails, we learn today that Palin’s shopping spree was a lot worse than the original outrageous $150,000 orgy of luxury.

VOTE

2008-11-04T12:39:00.001-08:00

VOTE

Role model Fox Dr Laura speaks out on role models. Madonna, Sarah Palin...

2008-10-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

"Ya gotta love this" a Drudge [envirnomental] Report* from role model Dr Laura! When the role model isn't doing role modeling and role models, she is writing about abortion and Republican talking points. This week: "Madonna -- role model for women?" Laura asks... "vulgar, kinky, sex" she writes... something about a Rasmussen Report, she likes polls or poles.

From the A2, Santa Barbara News-Press Sunday, October 26, 2008:
Laura Schlessinger writes:
This and that and then some
Ya gotta love this: "Gore delivers environmental message at Harvard (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081023/ap_on_re_us/people_gore_harvard) with near 125-year record breaking low temps (http://motls.blogspot.com/2008/10/gore-effect-arrives-to-harvard.html) Cyclists 'braved freezing cold temps' to promote global warming awareness (Drudgereport.com)." The rest of her column is behind a paywall.

Who knew she would be a Drudge aficionado?

Schlessinger's comrade at our little Pravda by the sea, calls himself The Investigator:

Robert __ Eringer

He's Bobo to us.
Bobo October 18, 2008 writes: And now the Manchurian microchip
And now the Manchurian microchip?
<>Ira Einhorn (left) with Robert Eringer, in a picture from a book, "Ruse"

Eringer writes: "...to make you aware of the hottest topic in U.S. counterintelligence circles: rogue microchips. This threat emanates from China (PRC) -- and it is hugely significant."
China? This dude is a double agent or wannabe spy. [Known for his Vendetta antics]. What more fear can he stir this week?

China ♥ Pakistan [links]

US Drones Bomb Pakistan
Xinhua, China View

Pakistan

Full protection to be provided to Chinese investors in Pakistan: Raja Pervez

Seeking regional peace for Afghanistan

US drones involved in another fatal Pakistan attack

We just attacked Syria

Update: WARNING Robert Eringer, elder spook kook... check out this duds cred
166 Comments
[] []

*Drudge Report*... Schlessinger, why no mention of the
Drudge's latest desparate attempt at relevancy?

The Drudge Report and Politico didn't vet the backward "B" self mutilator, Ashley Todd. The story was dubious from the start.
She had a history of similar tactics. Links:

Ashley Todd pulled hoax hijinks in Ron Paul campaign, too

So Drudge called it 'mutilation' in big banner in red. Poor McCain volunteer viciously attacked by black man matching Democratic candidate general description.

"B" Hoax Photographer Speaks:
"I Only Gave Copies of the Photos to Police...and College Republicans"

Time for Answers

It is time for the McCain campaign to come clean about what role any of its staffers may have had in hyping or pushing the press to hype the charges stemming from Ashley Todd's vicious and reprehensible hoax. October 26, 2008

McCain Flack Helped Frame Racist Fake Attack Story?

October 27, 2008

Smart as a fruitfly?

Sarah Palin

BAD ROLE MODEL_VOTE PALIN

Laura Schlessinger

Deryk Schlessinger Wednesday, November 5, 2008

"Joe the Plumber"

2008-10-25T08:39:00.002-07:00

Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher

John McCain's Letter to Joe the Plumber Leaked to Press

Would Republicans accuse Joe the Plumber of voter fraud?

. WARNING

The Joe the Plumber tour is coming through your town real soon.... ?

Obama Responds to McCain Camp Insinuations it Hacked into Joe the Plumber's Private Files

the google: Joe Wurzelbacher

the google: Joe the Plumber

Update 11/10/08 post election:
Joe the Plumber believes that he and Sarah Palin are like, kindred spirits! McCain ?
"Joe the plumber says it doesn't matter if John McCain or Barack Obama had won the election, but he told the New York Post there's one person in the McCain camp that he loves: Sarah Palin." hippie ?

Joe the Plumber Has a Website!

Shoulda Become A Republican 11-17-08

Cajun Boy: Joe the Plumber still not plumbing, hawking crap to your grandma instead
11/25/08

"They finally got me" newsman cries after blast

2008-08-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

Don Bolles

John McCain

James Hensley

Kemper Marley, Jr.

Meyer Lansky

Murder, Inc

Cindy McCain's father, James Hensley, is a nefarious character with a charming grin. Graft, gang-style car bombs, a questionable will that benefited Cindy McCain [John McCain as well], and no they don't like discussing any of it. The media has given them a pass, this never gets discussed seriously. Whatever happens November 4th, it's imperative that American historians fully vet our history and historical emblems.

2008-08-24T16:14:00.000-07:00

McCain’s Cronies: A Few Questions About Orson Swindle
By: Christy Hardin Smith Friday August 22, 2008
OOOPS!
Now that we’ve learned from the LA Times that John McCain ditched reporters and dragged a 9 car motorcade to
Starbucks to snag a large cappuccino.... 8/23/08

This Bud's for John

3/2/00

John McCain Has Ties to the Mob and the Liquor Industry
The Phoenix New Times Article March 26, 2007
VIDEO: Meyer Lansky Interview In Israel 3.9.1971
Made Man,How Cindy Hensley invented John McCain.

Emprise$Marley$Hensley$McCain?

2008-08-22T12:30:00.000-07:00

Kathleen Hensley Portalski
and James Willis Hensley

McCain accused of accepting improper
donations from Rothschilds

Haunted by Spirits February 17, 2000
John McCain derived his wealth from his marriage to Cindy Hensley McCain, whose father started his road to riches as a bootlegger. As a politician, the senator has remained beholden to the liquor industry and the family business

When laws are broken, somebody's got to be punished

The Arizona Republic Mar. 1, 2007
...In 1948, the Hensley brothers were convicted of falsifying records
to conceal, government lawyers contended, the illegal distribution of
hundreds of cases of liquor. The sales occurred from 1945 to 1947,
postwar years when liquor was rationed and in short supply.
Eugene Hensley was sentenced to a year in federal prison. Jim Hensley
got six months, but his sentence was suspended. He received probation.
...In 1953, Jim Hensley was again charged with falsifying records at
Marley's liquor firms. The companies were defended by William
Rehnquist, who would go on to become chief justice of the Supreme
Court. Hensley was found not guilty.

Twenty one years after a car bomb killed journalist
Don Bolles, doubts remain as to who was responsible for the murder
BY C.D. STELZER

first published in the Riverfront Times (St. Louis), June 11, 1997

John McCain's curious relationship with the alcohol industry includes
a family connection to the Ruidoso Downs

? Part 3: Organized Crime Monday
Beneath the respectable veneer of the Bronfmans' corporate financial empire...
During Canada's four dry years from 1915 to 1919, the Bronfmans established their contacts with U.S. criminal figures for illegally importing liquor into Canada. In 1916, the Bronfmans established their first link with the opium trade proper. Samuel and Abe Bronfman, two of Ekiel's four sons, collaborated with the Hudson's Bay Company — in which the Keswick family of Jardine Matheson had controlling interest — to buy the Canadian Pure Drug Company. In this way the Bronfmans rushed into the loophole in the War Measures Act that permitted the distribution by pharmacists of alcohol for "medicinal" purposes.
When prohibition in Canada ended in 1919 and Prohibition in the United States began, the Bronfmans simply turned from whiskey importing to whiskey exporting. After it was all over, in May 1936 the Bronfmans agreed to pay $1.5 million to settle their account with the U.S. Treasury; the sum amounted to an admission that half the liquor that came into the United States during Prohibition was from the "liquormans."
THE 2000 CAMPAIGN: THE ARIZONA TIES

News: Kathleen Hensley Portalski

2008-08-15T23:37:00.000-07:00

McCain Pimps Out His Wife. Mother Laura, proud biker and Bush batman...

2008-08-05T11:31:00.000-07:00

Roast A Pig
While at the Buffalo Chip Campground near Sturgis for the Sturgis Bike Rally yesterday, putative GOP nominee John McChip essentially pimped out his "C-word" to the rowdy throng.
While McCain courted [tits] votes, the strippers courted...er...tips

Right at home in buffalo chips, McCain will sell his wife again:
“I was looking at the Sturgis schedule and noticed that you have a beauty pageant and so I encouraged "C-" to compete,” McCain said to cheers from the (mostly male) crowd. “With a little luck, she could be on the only woman ever to serve as both the first lady and Miss Buffalo Chip.”

C- McCain is already serving a big chip but the "essentially a topless beauty pageant. And occasionally bottomless, too" must have been a howl for the whatever-gets-you through viagra set.

McCain has found his level and he is making points with a Bush batman, Laura Schlessinger. Of course, the press touts the cool and rich bikers and skips over the decadence, criminal and corrupt. A lot like his inside Washington creed when he plays at maverick.

Lew Bishop and Laura Schlessinger have been seeking ways to keep young and relevant, biker "bad" and "cool" works for them and bonding with miscreant sons. They all "cool"?
[Deryk "I blame the cowardly boys that say 'I support the troops' and 'hooah' while real men fight and kill and die." Schlessinger scored a Screaming Eagle Dyna his 22nd birthday and un-deployment from Afghanistan, only to run a way from accounting for the military disgrace]

over 18 only
naked nude nude and naked
Schlessinger and co

He looks like a celebrity!
sweetheart dealer

Opiate for the Mrs.

How C- McCain...

McCain voting record on drugs, after
his wife's sweetheart deal

2007: McCain opposes medical marijuana
VIDEO: Sturgis Rally 2008 at Buffalo Chip
VIDEO: Meghan blogette

Silly season

2008-07-13T03:55:00.000-07:00

‘Complete Fabrication’ July 12, 2008

July 4th editorial

LAURA SCHLESSINGER

"The Mayor Blum syndrome:"June 10, 2007

2008-07-08T13:43:00.002-07:00

"Even The Lure Of Christie Brinkley In The Next Room Won't Prevent
This Man From Jerking Off To Internet Porn"

The latest celeb divorce is a tear jerker.

Christie's shrink says she should get the children...
Court-appointed shrink says both are psycho...

Popsquire pops in on Christie & Pete.

Where's Rob Lowe, you ask? The married family man is recharging in Hawaii, the last we heard. He missed The fireworks and the Gap Fire in Santa Barbara.
Popsquire pops in on the Lowes .
The temperature is rising and Gloria Allred* is eager to ask a few questions... or will they make a deal?

*Gloria sued the pants off him and got a big settlement.
*No one should feel powerless because of discrimination in the workplace
* Innocent until proven guilty

[] []

UPDATES 7/10/08:
Christie Brinkley and Peter Cook Settle For Pennies on the Scandal

"Those dueling anti-SLAPP motions in the Rob Lowe nanny-gate case, which were to have been argued this morning in Santa Barbara Superior Court, have been postponed to July 31. Because the court is engaged in the trial of another case, the judge hasn't been able to complete her research on the matter." Smith

Shenzhen + Xiamen CHINA

2008-07-08T13:43:00.001-07:00

click images to enlarge
Shenzhen , China
Xiamen, China

In the name of Xiamen......

Temple in Xiamen

First we flew to Xiamen. Only because the plane tickets were free. The airline is so cheap they don't even assign seats. Having a plane full of Chinese and no assigned seats is dumb. But the plane was full so I guess they don't care. -- April 3 - 20, 2006

Xiamen - China's Showcase City

Summary: Xiamen, a special economic zone and one of China's show-case cities, spurns polluting industry and appears to enforce environmental rules more stringently and to have citizens more willing to follow rules than many other PRC cities. Fujian provincial and local governments embrace environmental protection as a means of attracting foreign investment. Once the front line for Communist - KMT confrontation, Xiamen like many Fujian cities was denied infrastructure investment funds during the 1950s and 1960s, but today benefits from a green field advantage. Tourists today can take speedboat rides skirting the Taiwan-held island of Little Jinmen. The old U.S. Consulate on the harbor island of Gulangyu is being renovated and will reopen as a guest house in Spring 1999. Unlike in Beijing, pirate VCDs in authentic-looking packaging and software CDs are sold openly in Xiamen shops. End summary.

Toys and Game

China Baby & Children's Product Suppliers

sailing boat - Offers for sailing boat - exporters, manufacturers ...

Supply yacht,raft,speedboat,yawl,sport boat, autoboat(power boat),airboat,drift boat ... It locates in Xiamen city, Fujian province, China. ...

Stories about Yacht Design

MAP

Tourism

Xiamen, China wiki
Xiamen and the surrounding countryside are famous for being an ancestral home to overseas Chinese and one of China's earliest Special Economic Zones in the 1980s. It covers an area of 1 565 km² with a local population of 5 million. It was recently named China's 2nd most livable city.
Xiamen was the port of trade first used by Europeans in 1541.
It was China's main port in the nineteenth century for exporting tea.
Xiamen was one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing (signed in 1842) at the end of the First Opium War between Britain and China. As a result, it was an early entry point for Protestant missions in China.

Xiamen Port is one of the top ten ports in China. It is a huge, deepwater, ice-free port that never silts up. Xiamen Port is located on Xiamen Island which is at the mouth of the Jiulong River.
Xiamen has a wide variety of department stores. There are also supermarkets run by Metro and Wal-Mart and the ShoeMart Shopping Mall which is owned and operated by Mr. Henry Sy a businessman who hails from the Philippines.
contrasting buildings in Xiamen

shopping

Made in China

XIAMEN SINOCHARM FOODS CO.,LTD

Oyster Farm, Xiamen, China

Chicken Processing Plant

China's Water Crisis

Добро пожаловать на страницу Hedrich vacuum systems.

Residents of the city of Xiamen, China, launched a MASSIVE PROTEST VIA SMS -- involving over one million messages -- shutting down a chemical plant they fear Will create catastrophic pollution.
May 31, 2007

China Biodiesel International Holding Co., LTD.

Apexstone Amoy Marble & Granite is a Xiamen, China based stone manufacturer and export supplyer of marble, granite, sandstone, travertine, limestone, and slate products.

Hundreds of cars queue aimlessly for the chance to actually get to their destination in Xiamen, south China.

Cityscape Asia Awards
Developer: Xiangshan International Yacht Club, Xiamen, China

Ximen,one of the three oil painting bases in the world, is the biggest oil painting production in china. J&M is Located in Xiamen, China, is dedicated to bring customers exquisite and highly-attractable artworks.

Deep Blue Yacht Club & Marina Xiamen - China

old

Sailing Junk, Xiamen, China

Celestial 48’ built t Xiamen, China

ON-LINE TO ON-WATER...economically produce the boats in Xiamen, China and ship them anywhere in the world, quickly and efficiently.
The first FT-10M arrived in the US in its “gift box”
Flying Tigers Roar into Long Beach
Flying Tiger 10M Specifications
Celebrity talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger joins Flying Tiger

Shipping line suspended due to influence of Bilis

History Xiamen

Kang Hong International Freight Service Ltd. Headquoarter in Xiamen

« Ecumenical Relations Report From Xiamen, China by John deVelder |
Longyan from Xiamen, China

The roots of newly promoted Brig. Gen. Danilo Lim can be traced to Xiamen, China, formerly Amoy. His father married a girl from Bohol but Danny, as he is called by both friends and detractors, was born and raised in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya. He is the youngest of five brothers.
Who is General Danilo Lim? The siege was over...

Raymond Lam Fung
Olympic torch relay goes through China's SE Xiamen
Enjoy Amoy!

This Xiamen travel guide includes all you need to know. Restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels, events, and much more

Sheraton Xiamen Hotel in Xiamen, China

The adventures of our family of five living in Xiamen China for the 2007-08 academic year.

Xiamen - Speedboat & Backstreets

some store in xiamen, china

Our factory located in xiamen china, which has more than ten years in producing cigarettes. We can offer all kind of top brands cigarettes, such as Marlboro, B&H, 555, Davidoff, Duhill, Kent, Parliament, Winston, Superking, L&M and so on. We can offer competitive price with high quality. Our tobacco mainly exported to europe, US, Africa, middle east, Asia and so on.
We are willing to cooperate with clients from all over the world, and your visiting to our factory is warmly welcome.

Adult diaper capital

Harda (Xiamen) Plastics Co., Ltd.

Edward Burtynsky’s “The China Series,”
Tufts University Art Gallery

Inkjet Technologies Moving Forward

GOLD APPLE ART created in 1999, is a set wholesale and export of hand painted oil painting production-oriented enterprises

I’m still trying to contact my mum who went to Xiamen, China with my Grandma and Auntie on 9 May 2008. I hope it’s not affected there.

Can the new, open China outlive the huge relief effort?

China-Taiwan flight: End of hostility era?
The landing of the first direct cross-strait flight from China to Taiwan on the morning of July 4 signaled that the era of hostility was indeed paving way towards warming up of ties between Beijing and Taiwan .

Chinese Mines Stay Shut, and a Power Crisis Grows Monday, July 14, 2008 7:52 AM
A push by China to reopen thousands of small coal mines is failing, deepening its worst power crisis in years as local officials still fear the wrath of Beijing if they suffer high- profile disasters.

This comes as Hyundai has announced that it will supply Xiamen Golden Dragon bus company in China with 171,000 power trains for its vehicles over the next five years.

Escape to Hawaii and Rob Lowe's naked wimyn woes

2008-06-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

The Lowe family got out of town before attorney
we'll-be-responding-to-this-in-court-Stein,
Stanton "Larry" Stein did just that.

Curiouser and curiouser... Lowe has been in the celebrity business for his adult life, his pop is an attorney, they have a horde of handlers... you'd think he or wife would have the business covered. NOT, someone lost the alleged confidentiality agreement.

He preempted this mess by blogging about "false terribles" in the original nanny-gate's blog and they were suing three former employees [one case recused]. Rob Lowe was the one to put out those "false terribles" or "terribles"... someone was sleeping in his bed, stealing food and drugs one minute, next he changes. Also, he accused nanny Gibson of blackmail, yet turned away the Sheriff. Those are just tips of melting icebergs. What's it all about?

The latest accusations against Jessica Gibson seem tame if you've seen MySpace. I take it he doesn't read twenty-something blogs. All the forty-somethings can't be clueless and innocent. The Lowe's are hell bent on an aggressive defense to get Gibson to go away...

This is light weight next to Wendy P. McCaw's victims, but no less sick and twisted.

[][]

Rob Lowe on sex and politics... Aug 26 1999
Martin Sheen's sons threaten Rob Lowe Jan 5 2000
Lap dances Clevland topless club, Tiffany's Cabaret June 16, 2000
Pee Wee and the "Lowe" video..Uh, Oh!!!!! Jan 4 2003
ROB LOWE Jun 24 2008

Laura Schlessinger: NO USA Union. YES "COMMIE" MADE

After coming out vocally in a blitz last April, Rob Lowe's lawyer Larry Stein clams up

2008-06-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

"We'll be responding to this in court, which is the appropriate way."

"The appropriate way!" or is it "the missing document?"

Lowe's attorney, Larry Stein, wrote in a correspondence dated May 23 that the confidentiality agreement "is missing."

Lowe faces a lawsuit from a second nanny, Laura Boyce, who also accuses the star [wife] of harassment.
A hearing on the case is set for June 19.

This week in Santa Barbara!

Laura Schlessinger's fav celebrity rag

Laura Schlessinger's Perfect, races for that headline!

MONEY TIMES: 'Dr. Laura' a sore loser in race -United Press International

"Sailing is getting almost as cutthroat as shuffleboard!"
The nitty gritty here...

If you haven't read "The Greatest Vendetta on Earth" here it is:
Interesting... Ringling Brother's circus spy and Santa Barbara News-Press/Wendy McCaw's new "investigative reporter", Robert Eringer

[][]

"The Suspicious Nature of Rob Lowe’s Extortion Scandal"

2008-05-30T15:41:00.000-07:00

Who's the real guilty party?
It was suspicious then and
more suspicious now.
From day one it was scorched earth...
with a strategy meant to "go away", as Lowe attorney Stanton “Larry” Stein said,

“Hopefully, they will go away”

The "go away" strategy was there from the start.

If "GO AWAY" was plan A, chef Pete Clements could be plan D... ?
Clements, with a wife, children and in a dire financial situation, is easy to spot for his vulnerabilities. It's also noted he left one job before having another.

Rob Lowe's Wife is "Unclean" Says Chef Who Had Sex on Their Bed

What is it, Rob?
He was in your bed with a stranger ?
Who stole the missing medications ? Here today gone tomorrow... mistake ?

Why make your public more curious ?

The Lowe's local history is insidiously entwined with the same friend who is sue crazy...

sue or threaten, intimidate ANY & ALL that mess with narcissistic image...

the woman uses the same lawyers as the Lowes, she will not talk to human beings... her scurrilous doings make major publications, headlines and the second documentary about her is in process.
The public isn't worthy enough to speak with her, hence she sends out lawyers to explain her communication style:
One of her legists let us know:

"Cease-and-desist orders are a form of communication!"

Is Rob Lowe any different from his friends Wendy McCaw and von Wiesenberger?

[][]

Scrapbooks: Lowe links, opinions, parody and more> >
Lowe wtf?
Lowe kon 2
Lowe lol
Lowe zz
Lowe kon
Links:
• Lowe is a self-described "political junkie" who sold Kool-Aid door to door when he was eight for the Democratic contender George McGovern in the 1972 presidential election.

He has since, however, become a Republican supporter.

1. Lowe To Cops: I Can Handle Sex Case On My Own
2. Why Are Celebs Still Making Sex Tapes?
3. News-Press
4. Rob Lowe made waves in Santa Barbara via his friendship with "co-publishers" and "shack-ups" at the Santa Barbara News-Press.
5. A Matter of Principle: The Storm in Santa Barbara
6. News-Press Journalistic Ethics Forum Packs ’Em In
7. WELCOME TO WENDYVILLE
8. Bloggers Lash Out Against Santa Barbara Lawsuit
Mostly, bloggers commenting on the latest News-Press turmoil feel that Wendy McCaw has gone a bit overboard.
9. Screw the first amendment! Newspaper publishers start suing people
to shut them up! Published on December 19th, 2006
10. Ex-SF Chron editor Roberts fights porn 'smear' Monday, April 23, 2007
11. Wendy McCaw's curious pattern of nudes, rudes and porn
12. A look in the mirror
13. more vulgarity...
14. Not an M.D.
15. Laura-lie

Wendy McCaw and Laura Schlessinger

Can't Have Sex in Rob's Bed and Get Away With It!
"We're Gonna Fry You!"
FBI Retains Hard Drive With Child Porn
R. Kelly tapes underage child but not as lucky as Lowe
Auto Focus
A film about early development of VCR and the decline and murder of actor and family man, Bob Crane, an affable radio show host and amateur drummer who found success on Hogan's Heroes

Miley Cyrus, too young for Rob Lowe, too old for Disney?

2008-05-02T17:09:00.000-07:00

"'Do not sexually exploit minors.' You want to economically exploit a minor? Fine. That's a grand American tradition." Gawker

The Miley Cyrus Photo Shoot (video - VF)
Miley was wrapped not in a sheet, but a swatch of fabric. It must have been the come hither look that got the reactions.

Is the one Leibovitz image anymore suggestive than some of the parent approved products?

Hannah Montana Racy Pictures

The Annie Leibovitz-Miley Cyrus- Vanity Fair-Disney World affair has celebs coming out to add their opinions, get on the bandwagon, work it...

Laura Schlessinger at the
LA Times Festival of Books:

"I’d like to take their mothers by the ankles and smack them against the wall”

By Thursday May 1, 2008 in the A2 segment of the Santa Barbara News-Press, she was more restrained. For a moment, reminiscent of the innocent Disney years [1950s?]. Schlessinger's shtick is at best promotional opinion "advice". The following is her opinion...

"Most parents of 15-year olds are pretty upset about this inappropriate [?] display of a adolescent exposing her body [?] in a vulgar way [?] and giving their own children the wrong idea of feminine modesty and self-respect."

She went on to ramble about Hillary Duff, SHOCKED! SHOCKED! SHOCKED! Laura is still annoyed by the 60s and choice
"Take that philosophy to your standard innocent and naive youth, and what do you get?..." "(venereal warts)" to "Planned Parenthood aborting babies for those little girls..." ...Btw...Laura forgets when she was old enough to know better, her squalid 3 years of career enhancement with Marine and radio pioneer, Bill Ballance.

THE MAN... the way to get ahead...

...she clearly knew how to work it and owes it all to that capitalist spirit Mr. Ballance nurtured.

where would she be today as a capitalist without selling it?
special economic zone

Sex 4 work is more then a 'shack up'.

Schlessinger: "That one look over Miley's shoulder, with her chest barely covered with a sheet, was an assault on the innocence of even more young girls..."

[No wonder Deryk Schlessinger is troubled]

Madonna: "Leave the poor girl alone! She's going to grow up soon, she's going to probably show her knees next — watch out!"
Madonna is also the mother of 11-year-old Lourdes, who — like seemingly every other 11-year-old girl on the planet — is a huge Hannah Montana fan.

Has Miss Schlessinger looked at Lewis Carroll's photography of pre-teen children?
This is a small glimpse.

Miley is a professional 15-year old.

This gig took months of planning and all participants were in agreement.
Miley is the one who is critically effected by the old style wrath. She's a beauty and will look seductive at her most unpretentious moments. Parents talk to your children and expose them to more art.

Miley Cyrus Grounded Over Revealing Clothing
Billy Ray and Tish Finley Cyrus have their hands full.
Their baby is growing up!

This is a deep cut.

5/8/08 Marie Osmond: Billy Ray to Blame for Miley Photos

Who is telling the truth?

2008-04-27T21:04:00.000-07:00

The world's biggest anti-nanny-day-care-baby-sitter physiologist, Laura Schlessinger, was right? Yes, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. She's adamant about NO NANNIES!! It's her religion.

It seems Sheryl Berkoff and Rob Lowe didn't get the memo. Their sons Edward Matthew and John Owen, were in nanny need at ages 12 and 14? Via Schlessinger's prism, Berkoff not only neglects her sons she might not be fulfilling Rob's man needs. This dilemma can't see a courtroom or the world will know the sordid details.

If the three employees are being wrongfully accused, they need their reputations restored. Rob survived sex with a 16 year old girl and more... he'll work again. Whatever he did or didn't do, he's doing fine in the PR world.

This dilemma is too big for a Hannity's America, the TV segment where you can e-mail the faux doc Laura and she'll answer a dilemma question with her opinion.

We have a question for Sheryl and Rob, why a gorgeous nanny?

In Laura's Sunday malarkey at Wendy McCaw's Santa Barbara News-Press she was on her warrior warp. As if anyone needs to be reminded of her disconnects. She who can't face reality or truth. As for her own "warrior" she is zipped when it comes to his photos. Pretending they don't exist means lies of omission and no accountability. BAD PARENT LAURA AND HER DERELICT!!!!

Deryk made his own deal with the devil and settles for being the willing prisoner of infamy and family fortune. Mommy dearest told Hannity she has a screen saver of a 6 month old baby Deryk on her screen, alleged b/c he's in danger? He's either staying in the basement at the Bishop/Schlessinger estate, celebrating (his platoon is home) or back at work in the states.

* *

If you missed the White House Correspondents’ Dinner... here's a best correspondent with her photo of Rob Lowe

"I found it interesting how chisled and actually sort of pretty he is. People look different in life than they do on television sometimes, and he is one of those. His amazingly sharp features, which look awesome on TV, make him look rather wizened and sunken when standing up close. He also looked really tired."

Lake Elmo's fires

2008-04-27T21:03:00.001-07:00

Ex-Stillwater High student on both ends of Lowe lawsuits
4/19/08 C.J., Star Tribune

Minnesota has a player among the former employees involved in actor Rob Lowe's sordid legal mess.

Jessica Gibson, one of the former nannies sued by the actor and his wife, Sheryl, appears to have grown up in Lake Elmo. A Stillwater High School spokesperson, reached Friday, told me: "She was a student here and withdrew after her junior year."

The Lowe mess first came to light when the "Sisters & Brothers" co-star wrote a Huffingtonpost.com piece about a former nanny allegedly demanding $1.5 million to remain silent about "a vicious laundry list of false terribles." Lowe then filed lawsuits against a chef and two former nannies, including Gibson, who has since filed her own suit claiming sexual harassment and alleging that the actor engaged in a pattern of behavior that included exposing himself and inappropriately touching her.

Gibson and her L.A. attorney, Gloria Allred, did a "Today" show interview during which the famed lawyer said she couldn't wait to depose Lowe. The actor has also claimed that his former employees ran amok at his home by allegedly engaging in wild sex, raiding medicine cabinets and breaking security cameras, according to various media reports.

Gibson's mom, who has been identified as a Lake Elmo teacher, her father and half-sister gave interviews to people.com.

Eileen Gibson, Jessica's mom, told People that she finds it "absurd to say she [Jessica] tried to extort money from the family. She is very compassionate, very caring and honest. She has a gift for working with kids. She loves them. She's very gentle and kind and values her family very much." Eileen told People that Jessica was discreet about her professional life with the Hollywood celebrities, which was off-limits for discussion.

Jessica's father, Jim Gibson -- a technology exec, according to People -- said that his daughter liked being a nanny and that the Lowes required Jessica to work ridiculous hours to take care of their two sons.

Attempts to reach Jim and Eileen Gibson were unsuccessful. To see the "Today'' interview with Gibson and Allred, visit www.startribune.com/a4283.

WTF is up with Huff Post, Santa Barbara News-Press and Rob Lowe?

2008-04-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

Just asking... in public this Lowe dilemma may not come to much. This might be about the disadvantages of being in the limelight.
Not employee issues, not prescriptions, not the well being of children. It's about sticking up for celebrity rights?

When should celebrity, friends and family get privilege in the media?

Should celebrity, friends and family get a pass with the law?

The irony of Rob Lowe's privacy [vacant lot address] sending Wendy McCaw into "meltdown" for what she wouldn't print to what she will print...

Has she mentioned the employees side?

There is a history of employee bashing with McCaw.

And the original nanny gate, Aianna Huffington, giving Lowe prominence. Helping pave the way for his one sided view to act like a legitimate item when the court papers are filed

[anybody can sue anybody and the rich will do it to intimidate].

Here's a comment from a disgruntled Huff Poster:

"Why was this story moved from the Entertainment page to the Home page? It got plenty of play last week when it appeared the day before Lowe filed his lawsuits against two former nannies, a former chef, and 1-100 "DOES", John or Jane. Its now been mentioned on infotainment tv shows. It was gone from HuffPost for a few days and now its back. Why? More press for Lowe and his sad tale of CelebritiesBeingTakenAdwantageOf.? Robbie, your sleazy past makes those of us who remember wonder what was going on in your household. And I doubt it was the fault of all your former employees. Get lost."

Today Monday, April 14, 2008, I couldn't find "Household Betrayal" on the Huff Post Entertainment page. Nada.

I'm not up on all Rob Lowe's filmology and I didn't know much about his child porn video until he started to hang with Wendy. She was having another child porn image dilemma where it looked obvious she did manipulate the media for her own gain. In the process she defamed a previous employee. This makes some in Santa Barbara curious, what is Wendy's MO? Not every celebrity carpetbagger has a porn connection. Certainly not kiddie porn. Rob Lowe and Laura Schlessinger, go figure. Every celebrity carpetbagger Wendy likes has porn connections. Is it a pattern with Wendy? Her friend, Michael Douglas, was also in rehab for sex addiction. No images or children that I know.

Yes, extorting celebrity is horrible and the paps go extreme. All of that is bad, very, very bad. This dilemma hasn't had many facts and who can know if, how or why the Lowe's were betrayed? Most of the opinions, comments and even media is pro celebrity, go Rob, fight for celeb rights.

I've heard Lowe's father is an attorney in Dayton Ohio. His previous experience should make him cautious. I'd think he has all his ducks in a row when it comes to contracts.

I've read where some people blame "democrats" b/c of the 1988 DMC convention kiddie porn video. [he is now a republican?] Where is there more information about his porn film? I recall something about he was a producer who made many porn films. In Atlanta he was caught with two of his films. Everyone says the Atlanta porn was Rob with two girls. One girl was 16, that was a problem, but not a big problem. He had lawyers and didn't have to do the Sex-Offender-Register for life... like the less advantaged.

The Rob with two girls story is a PR dream if the actual fact is this was Rob with another man and an underage child.

Whatever happens with the recent dilemma, a responsible journalist needs to take this beyond gossip and inform the public.

THIS MATTERS IF YOU CARE FOR CHILDREN.

Both Wendy McCaw and Laura Schlessinger use children as it suits their purposes. How will they handle this dilemma?

Someone sure seemed to handle Deryk Schlessinger's dilemma in MySpace when "the evidence" was destroyed.
Btw.. not one word from McCaw/Schlessinger about the image showing serious disrespect of our military. What about the children?
Schlessinger's speil is about guns, guns in school and children.

So much for gun safety.

If a non-celebrity had escaped the sex register but was on film with 2 girls or a man and minor having sex... later other dilemmas emerged...

How would that be handled?

I don't want to know about my neighbors sex life. When there are facts regarding children it's irresponsible not to mention the facts in a dilemma.

Local media needs to be held accountable for keeping the public informed.

Lowe

strange brew

2008-04-09T19:26:00.001-07:00

Lowe To Cops: I Can Handle Sex Case On My Own

A la Britney, is Lowe having a public breakdown?

Monday, April 7, 2008 Lowe household drama...

Nikki Finke gives it up for Rob

A day in Rob Lowe history

OK!

Rob Lowe's Nanny Fires Back 4/9/08
"Our complaint will speak for itself. Everything in the complaint is true.
We do not need the media to win the case."

Many observers accuse Lowe of aggressive defense.
By blogging on Huffington Post, he gets to frame the story and shape public opinion before the nanny or other employees can reach out to press to tell their side.
Lowe claims he’s the victim of alleged extortion, but refuses the help of law enforcement officials, who offered to open a criminal investigation. When the police get involved, Lowe could lose control of the story spin.
VIDEO: Rob Lowe Nanny Gate
Wiki: Personal life

Updates:

Huff Post
Lowe's nanny is not as media savvy as he is
4/16/08 Bonnie Fuller blogs on Huff Post ENTERTAINMENT PAGE
24 yo Jessica Gibson gets scathing reviews

NEWS-PRESS [nanny fired back 4/9/08] finally prints the other side one week late
MONDAY April 16, 2008 7:53 AM
Lowes' former nanny fires back : Jessica Gibson says claims about her are not true
KATHLEEN STINSON, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
WARNING to read the full article you must pay

Wendy P. McCaw's "BREAKING NEWS" moment...

2008-03-10T13:58:00.002-07:00

The L.A. Times prints their two cents about
"Citizen McCaw"

as Wendy P. McCaw's "BREAKING NEWS" moment... BREAKS ! ! !

McCaw buys a lawyer to say
"This is, literally, like water off her back," Cappello said of the film. "Barking dogs may bark, but the caravan moves on."

The Santa Barbara I know is disgusted with the News-Press clowns. Like it's known, McCaw is cool and is moving on? Sure, sure, sure and she doesn't care. This is why her editor, Travis Armstrong had "BREAKING NEWS" March 7th (now changed, see capture below) on local media, KEYT TV, when "Citizen McCaw" opened at the Arlington Theater? Coincidence? If it was as Cappello spins "literally, like water off her back," we would have seen in print a light hearted take by a News-Press that had the balls to participate.

News-Press "BREAKING NEWS" about an office party video.
[ later date & title change: Suggestive, crude video puts KEYT news staff on hot seat ]McCaw's parties have more local fame. As Laura Schlessinger calls it, "shacking-up". I don't recall McCaw's exact words, she did send a before Christmas party memo to Ampersand employees. McCaw parties with her party rules to the effect, don't bring a date if you're "shacking-up" with them (McCaw and co-publisher and water master, Arthur "Nipper" von Wiesenberger, DO"SHACK-UP").
Yes, they

"SHACK-UP"
"LIVE IN SIN"

No Wendy caravan moves on with that.

WATER!

Is Schlessinger outraged? What happened to her "no nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is" style? In so many ways she demonstrates her cowardliness. She is not her radio act. She is nonsense and tongue tied when it comes to truth. Her fantasy world about Deryk Schlessinger is most alarming since it looks most like lies and cover-up. She is not one to act accountable and now she teaches her scary son to be a NO COUNT for his "evil" deeds.

UPDATE: Laura's blog on March 18, 2008 on 6:30 am Is “Personal Responsibility” a Four-Letter Word?
“Personal Responsibility”?
NOT FOR DERYK SCHLESSINGER. More WHINEY book sales!

Just Talking?

2008-01-08T11:49:00.000-08:00

Britain’s key weapon in Afghanistan: THE BRIBE
In allegedly trying to buy off a local Taliban leader, British officials have shown a haughty and colonial disregard for the Afghan government.

666 USA
82nd AIRBORNE
Chris . John . Deryk in AFGANISTAN 2007
Intrigue of Musa Qal'eh/Musa Qala

SIEGE ... MASSACRE ... U.S. DEAD ... BAGRAM ... photos

expelled diplomats deepens January 07, 2008

Lord Sandwich with EU Special Representative here, Francesc Vendrell, his Deputy, Michael Semple, speaks fluent Pashtu, and understands the grain and granularity of Afghan society better than almost any other foreigner.

Just Talking? Why Were Two European Officials Expelled from Afghanistan?
John Rosenthal

One story that appears to have largely fallen through the cracks of international news coverage during the holidays is the mysterious expulsion of two European officials from Afghanistan in late December. The Irishman Michael Semple and the Briton Melvyn Patterson are reported to have left Afghanistan in compliance with the expulsion order shortly after Christmas. Semple has been widely identified as the acting head of the European Union delegation in Afghanistan -- although the site of the EU delegation, officially headed by German diplomat Hansjörg Kretschmer, makes no mention of him in this capacity. Patterson is an official of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

To the degree that the story has received attention in English-language media, it has typically been reported -- for instance, by both the AP and the New York Times -- that the two were accused of having "held talks" with the Taliban. If they did, this would in fact hardly be surprising: considering that Patterson's boss, the German diplomat and UNAMA chief Tom Koenigs, has long advocated engaging the Taliban in negotiations. Last May indeed, in an interview partially translated on WPR, Koenigs went so far as to insist that one should even speak with "war criminals."

Reports coming out of Afghanistan suggest, however, that the two were accused by the Afghan government of considerably more than just talking. Thus a Dec. 27 report in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera cites Humayun Hamidzada, spokesman for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, from the Dari-language newspaper Erada. According to the Corriere report, Hamidzada "directly" accused the two officials of having passed "arms and money to the Taliban terrorists" in Musa Qala in Helmand province.

It is interesting to note that in his May interview, UNAMA chief Tom Koenigs specifically cited Musa Qala as an area where the U.N. had "successfully" brokered an agreement with radical forces.

The Massacre of Musa Qala

2007-12-16T22:04:00.000-08:00

The Massacre of Musa Qala

1. British 'success' under siege in Afghanistan

2. Reports document deepening social catastrophe in Afghanistan
3. Afghanistan: Aid being distributed to displaced families in
Musa Qala
4. Dec. 14 airpower summary air strike chart 2004-2007

"So amidst the din of warfare coverage,

the silences and omissions for
me are always the most significant,
the most troubling."

first photos: a small boy injured by
US/NATO bombs
Take a look at Nick Cornish’s series of photographs in The Times Online of some of the 6,000 UK/American/Afghan forces engaged in the recent assault on the town of Musa Qala, in Helmand province. They show their massive firepower: lines of armoured vehicles; men in full military gear dragging away bare-footed Taliban captives in ragged civilian clothes. An unnamed Taliban is lying sprawled out dead in a field.

Photographs in the press before the attacks on the “strategically significant town” showed rag-tag Taliban forces crammed in battered old trucks desperately clutching their small firearms. Against them, poised to attack, stood the full might of the most powerful nation on the globe: armoured vehicles, infantry, artillery and logistics backed up by “dozens of attack helicopters and ground attack aircraft”, as the Daily Telegraph reported.

How many Taliban “forces” were there defending the town? We will never know. According to the British military spokesman, Lt Col. Richard Eaton, just 200. other reports suggested 2,000. Whatever the figure, this was no “battle”. According to the headline in the Observer of 9 December 2007, “Fierce battles rages for Taliban stronghold”. Yet when the firepower of one side so overwhelms that of the other (missing the crucial cover from the air bombardment) is this not better described as a massacre, a form of hi-tech barbarism?

How many casualties did the Taliban suffer? Again, we will never know. Significantly Nick Meo reported in The Times of 11 December, after the Taliban had allegedly fled the town on motorcycles: “Fears were growing that there had been heavy civilian casualties.” Certainly, buried in all the reports was the news that 2007 had proved “the deadliest” in Afghanistan since the US invasion in 2001 with more than 6,200 people estimated to have been killed. All we know, then, is that the many many dead Afghans will remain uncounted, unnamed.

So amidst the din of warfare coverage, the silences and omissions for me are always the most significant, the most troubling.

Horror is mentioned in the coverage but the focus is on the Taliban. The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, alleged that an unnamed 15-year-old boy had been burned to death on a stove and the town had to be seized from the Taliban to halt such atrocities. “Taliban horror had to end” is the headline in the Mirror of 11 December 2007. There is no such outrage over “our” atrocities.

In contrast to the silence surrounding the dead Afghans, British casualties are named and celebrated. Sergeant Lee Johnson, of the 2nd Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, died on 7 December. His commanding officer describes him as “a huge personality and supreme soldier”.

And in the face of the unspeakable horrors, the military mumble the absurdities of massacrespeak. According to Lt Col Eaton, quoted in the Guardian of 10 December 2007: “It is like a game of chess and we are moving the right pieces into the right places so they are where we want them to be when we need them.”

In this way the hi-tech barbarism of the assault on Musa Qala is domesticated and trivialised, reduced to the level of a game of chess in a strange jangle of words.

* * *
Nearly 120 years ago this month, his ancestors fought the 7th Cavalry
at the infamous battle of Wounded Knee
May the eagle take you on your journey
Corporal Tanner J. O’Leary

* * *
U.S. troops recuperating from battle for Musa Qala

The YELLOW NOISE of Laura & Deryk Schlessinger

2007-11-26T19:52:00.000-08:00

[ CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE ]
MEDIA PERFORMANCE:
“In our country, to get that result we have a dictatorship, we imprison people, we tear out their fingernails. Here you have none of that. So what’s your secret? How do you do it?”
After reading the newspapers and watching TV, Soviets touring the United States before the age of glasnost were amazed to find that, on the big issues, all the opinions were the same.

Laura Schlessinger is Wendy McCaw's Santa Barbara News-Press controversy and schadenfreude shining star of yellow journalism. Her recent hat trick gives fuel to the theories of back room smoozers and caballers (her DoD visit conveniently timed one month before the Army's completion of Deryk Schlessinger's military investigation).
Kidlet was not cleared and the odds that his friends set him up are slim to none.

It's more like from day one the cover up was implemented by all who had PR motivation. Does every soldier get this kind of service or the military has lowered it's standards?

July 30, 2007
Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England presents radio personality Laura Schlessinger with the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service.

Here's a photo of the deserving [?] Mike Cash, Operation Family Fun’s founder
August 31, 2007
Military Investigation of Dr. Laura’s Son Complete
Deryk Schlessinger Still Serving in Afghanistan

Lauraisms:
“My kidlet’s in Afghanistan,” she said of her son, who is deployed with the 82nd Airborne Division. “I wouldn’t have understood as much as I do now (if it weren’t for him). So I’ve taken it as my personal responsibility to get everybody up to speed.”
She also spoke with the managers at the newspaper where she writes a twice-weekly column, the Santa Barbara News-Press, in Santa Barbara, Calif., about hiring former service members. “These are smart people, mature people, focused people, disciplined people who should be hired as reporters,” Schlessinger said. “So if anybody’s interested in coming to Santa Barbara, Calif., … there’s a job waiting for you.”
So what did the military do with Deryk? Other than hide him from

accountability?

Are they making America safer?

Inquiring minds still want to know, what was he thinking?

What treatments and is the public safe?

Mommy dearest went on a brief hiatus last May...
Is The News-Press "The Recycler?" Monday, June 4, 2007

"Sunday saw the return of Dr. Laura's column to the News-Press after a two week absence. Her topics of discussion were abortion, "liberals" and free speech. Her lack of a local angle on either of these subjects highlights a common thread about those who have been hired by owner Wendy McCaw to write columns for the paper. None of them seems to be particularly interested in covering the local scene."

She returned to the News-Press as a little more toned down recycler. Her idea of local... leaves most locals turned off.

Santa Barbara's "Pravda" on steroids can't even take the wisdom of their leader and the proprietor of Lew Bishop's morning read:
"Rupert Murdoch's announcement this week that he expects to stop charging for access to the Wall Street Journal's Web site is the latest example of a publisher giving up on the subscription-based business model -- a significant shift in the evolution of online content."

Web Sites Tear Down That Wall

Now here we are at the holiday season...
and this blatant disregard for the well being and safety of others

"When you're the mother of somebody in the military, you're the mother of everybody in the military. So all you guys, I'm expecting Mother's Day cards," Schlessinger said, speaking over the roar of motorcycles, before hopping on a bike herself to lead the procession down 11th Street to Fort Benning."

KingOf*Hearts* (Deryk) had this to say last May:
"I blame the cowardly boys that say 'I support the troops' and 'hooah' while real men fight and kill and die."
"SUPPORT THE TROOPS" ? ? ?

QUESTION: "I'm about to buy my first Harley but I have driven bikes
before just never my own. I'm wondering if the Screaming Eagle will be
to much for me? I'm 5ft 9 and roughly 210 pounds. I'm strong enough to
handle it but just wanted to know what some ones thoughts are."
ANSWER: "That really depends on your skill level. You say you have
ridden bikes before, but how much? If you have never owned a bike the
Screaming Eagle Dyna could be a handful for a first bike. It is a
fabulous bike, but mighty expensive to learn on and quite powerful
also."

Deryk vehicle stories are notorious but how much Harley-Davidson experience? She doesn't mention safety, it's more like image is what matters. Wouldn't being accountable mean something to her? He was crying out to America...
"No this blog isn't about me, it's to thank you America, bc of your unwillingness to compromise and pull your head cut of your *ss every unit deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan will serve a mandatory 15 months in country bc we have lost funding."
KingOf*Hearts* 5/15/07
Are all US soldiers really "heroes" as the media insists?

According to Laura, you don't want to be on her warriors wrong side... after months of conditioning in a war zone soon he'll return a sensible Harley rider? She and Lew are into bikes, yet she doesn't actually get the noise problems. I'm no expert but they can be LOUD from a distance.
'POP'
Laura brings up controversy, in Santa Barbara's "Pravda",

we only hear one side.

video
"least we forget"

Former News-Press editor Jerry Roberts' response to Wendy McCaw's infamous Sunday rant, is now posted on the L.A. Times' website.

"Godless crazy people like me have become a generation of apathetic killers"

The site reportedly “included cartoon depictions of rape, murder, torture and child molestation; photographs of soldiers with guns in their mouths; a photograph of a bound and blindfolded detainee captioned "My Sweet Little Habib"; accounts of illicit drug use; and a blog entry headlined by a series of obscenities and racial epithets.

dept. of america

Thursday 9/13/07 MISSING
"CALLING A MUSLIM A TERRORIST"

"IT'S INNER WORKINGS HAVE BEEN SHROUDED IN SECRECY..."

SHROUDED IN YELLOW

ASK Laura Schlessinger: "It's easy for soldiers to score heroin in Afghanistan"

2007-10-11T17:10:00.000-07:00

"Experts think it could be a decade before the true scope of heroin use in Iraq and Afghanistan is known"

"Before his death, the soldier, John Torres, had told friends and family of widespread heroin use at Bagram."

"I also saw ample evidence that soldiers were trading sensitive military equipment, like computer drives and bulletproof vests, for drugs."

"Other soldiers who have served at Bagram agree: Heroin, they say 'is everywhere'."

"In June, I spent a week in Southern California talking to veterans who had used while in Afghanistan. Getting one of them to talk to me on the record, however, was tougher."

Narcotics and politics, an untold story?

Simultaneously stressed and bored,

U.S. soldiers are turning to the widely available drug for a quick escape.

It's easy for soldiers to score heroin in Afghanistan

By Shaun McCanna Aug. 7, 2007 | BAGRAM, Afghanistan

Just outside the main gate to Bagram airfield, a U.S. military installation in Afghanistan, sits a series of small makeshift shops known by locals as the Bagram Bazaar. For Afghans, it is the place to buy American goods, but the stalls that make up the heart of the bazaar are also well known for what they provide American soldiers stationed at Bagram. Walking through the bazaar it takes less than 10 minutes for a vendor in his early 20s to step out and ask, "You want whiskey?" "No, heroin," I tell him. He ushers me into his store with a smile

The shop is small, 9 feet wide by 14 feet deep, and dark. The walls at the front are lined with dusty cans of soda, padlocks and miscellaneous beauty supplies. As we enter, a teenager is visible at the back, seated in a chair next to a collection of American military knives and flashlights. The shopkeeper speaks to him in Dari. The teen stands and heads for the door, where he stops and asks my Afghan driver a question.My driver translates, "He wants to know how much you want? Twenty, 30, 50 dollars' worth?"/ From past experience, for I have arranged this same transaction a dozen times in a dozen different Bagram Bazaar shops, I know that the $30 bag will contain enough pure to bring hundreds of dollars on the streets of any American city. Afghanistan, after all, is the source of 90 percent of the world's heroin. I say 30 and the teen jogs off.

The true extent of the heroin problem among American soldiers now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is unknown. At Bagram, according to a written statement provided by a spokesperson for the base, Army Maj. Chris Belcher, the "Military Police receive few reports of alcohol or drug issues." The military has statistics on how many troops failed drug tests, but the best information on long-term addiction comes from the U.S. Veterans Administration. The VA is the world's largest provider of substance abuse services, caring for more than 350,000 veterans per year, of whom about 30,000 are being treated for opiate addiction. Only preliminary information for Iraq and Afghanistan is available, however, and veterans of those conflicts are not yet showing up in the stats. According to the VA's annual "Yellowbook" report on substance abuse, during Fiscal Year 2006, fewer than 9,000 veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) sought treatment for substance abuse of all kinds at the VA; the report did not specify how many were treated for opiate abuse.

Experts think it could be a decade before the true scope of heroin use in Iraq and Afghanistan is known. Dr. Jodie Trafton, a healthcare specialist with the VA's Center for Health Care Evaluation in Palo Alto, Calif., says it takes five or 10 years after a conflict for veterans to enter the system in significant numbers. The VA has recently seen a surge in cases from the first U.S. war in Iraq. "We're just starting to get a lot of Gulf War veterans," she explains.For the first few years after a conflict, it's hard to gauge the number of soldiers who've developed a substance problem. Young soldiers especially, says Dr. Trafton, tend not to seek treatment unless pushed by family members. Left to their own devices, "usually people don't show up for treatment till much later."

The anecdotal information, however, suggests there may be a wave of new patients coming, and it will include many heroin users. I'm a filmmaker, and I have been to Afghanistan several times to research a film about a soldier who died there under murky circumstances. Before his death, the soldier, John Torres, had told friends and family of widespread heroin use at Bagram. Based on my own experience, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars the Bush administration has spent on opium poppy eradication, Torres was right. I asked to buy heroin a dozen times during two trips a year apart and never heard the word "no";I also saw ample evidence that soldiers were trading sensitive military equipment, like computer drives and bulletproof vests, for drugs. Other soldiers who have served at Bagram agree: Heroin, they say "is everywhere." And although they haven't shown up in the statistics yet, reports from methadone clinics suggest the VA's future patients may already be back in the States in force.Much like the caskets that return to the Dover Air Force base in the dead of night, America's new addicts are returning undetected.

Back in the States, it is not difficult to find a soldier who has returned from Afghanistan with an addiction. Nearly every veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom I have spoken with was familiar with heroin's availability on base, and most knew at least one soldier who used while deployed.In June, I spent a week in Southern California talking to veterans who had used while in Afghanistan. Getting one of them to talk to me on the record, however, was tougher.

When I ask soldiers and veterans to go public about their experiences, they are wary. "No, I'm still in the reserves," said one. "I don't want you to write about me," said another. "I'm still in." Some soldiers from Bagram I've spoken with in the past several years I can no longer find. Maybe they're in jail, maybe on the street. Others may have redeployed. "I heard their unit was getting sent back to Afghanistan," I'm told, "so maybe they're over there."

The soldiers keep quiet because they're concerned about their fellow soldiers. As a veteran of Afghanistan told me, "These are my brothers. I wouldn't want to say anything that would bring disrespect down on them."

But they also don't want to get in trouble with the military for talking to the media. They believe that tarnishing the military's image would bring far more consequences than actually getting caught for using.

"They don't do anything to you [for using]," a reservist tells me. "Two from my unit were sent home after they got caught more than once." What happened to them? "Nothing. They're still in the unit. Just got sent home." Are they still using? "Don't know. I never asked."

According to Maj. Belcher, soldiers are "subject to drug-testing procedures and if they test positive for illegal substances, they are dealt with appropriately by their chain of command under the Uniform Code of Military Justice." But in a military stretched thin, with reservists a significant portion of the forces being deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, the threat of such disciplinary measures has little bite. As long as soldiers themselves refuse to speak out there is no reason for action.

I made arrangements to speak with three young men about their heroin problems. All were veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom and outpatients of the methadone clinic at the West Los Angeles VA hospital. They had all become addicted during their deployments.

When the time came to meet, however, one of the men had disappeared. The other two said their VA counselors had told them not to do the interviews. Realizing there are stages of recovery, and there might be a clinical reason for the enforced silence, I contacted the methadone clinic directly. I was referred to a social worker, who said she would be happy to speak with me after clearing it with her superiors. She referred me to the hospital's press person for permission.

The hospital's press person referred me to VA headquarters in Washington. The Washington office told me a VA representative would have to sit in on any interviews -- and I would also need to get approval for the interviews from the physician who supervises the clinic, the doctor who supervises the counselors who had scotched the interviews in the first place. I gave up on getting on-the-record interviews.

The VA also declined, through a spokesperson, to provide any national estimate of the level of heroin use among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. What numbers are available from the military, meanwhile, do not point to a significant problem. A spokesperson for the Pentagon referred Salon to the individual service branches for data on heroin use by military personnel. Air Force Capt. Tom Wenz emphasized that the number of Air Force personnel serving in Afghanistan is quite small, and said there had been no reports of positive drug tests for heroin among Air Force personnel in either Afghanistan or Iraq. Maj. Cheryl Phillips of the Army, which accounts for the bulk of the Afghanistan and Iraq forces, said that in 2006 not one of the Army soldiers in either theater tested positive for heroin, and that all positive drug-test results are in line with historic norms. "The Army randomly tests soldiers for use of illicit/unauthorized drugs on a regular basis and, on average, has maintained a 98 percent 'clean' rate ... over the past 20 years, including the periods of OEF and OIF." The Navy's level of positive drug tests for all personnel worldwide was less than 1 percent as of 2005. A representative of the Marine Corps did not respond by deadline to an e-mailed request for information on levels of heroin use, if any, by Marines.

My own experience among young veterans in Southern California, however, suggests that drug tests do not tell the story. New Directions, situated on the grounds of the West Los Angeles VA hospital, is an organization offering programs for homeless veterans. It has a 24-bed detox unit. In the past year, according to outreach director Anthony Belcher (no relation to Maj. Belcher), New Directions has seen approximately 15 Afghanistan and Iraq veterans, six of them "needing a methadone detox."

The methadone clinic in the West Los Angeles VA hospital itself has seen significantly more. An individual familiar with the methadone program at the hospital says they are "lined up 50 or 60 deep each morning." While the source does not know the service record of the patients, the source says, "These are young guys." The VA has 250 substance abuse centers nationwide.

Belcher of New Directions expects the caseload to pick up later, echoing Jodie Trafton's words about a delay between addiction and treatment. The Afghanistan and Iraq veterans Belcher's group has been seeing have been discharged about two years on average. "That's how long it takes for them to be forced into a detox unit by family, or law enforcement, or circumstances."

Greg Spencer, a representative of the nonprofit National Veterans Foundation, calls the phenomenon "lag time." "We won't know the enormity of this problem for some time," he says, because "there is a period between the beginning stages and the so-called bottom out, where one seeks treatment. We are just starting, in the past two years or so, to see OEF/OIF vets coming to treatment facilities for heroin addiction."

Both Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are coming home with substance problems. But the reasons behind their addictions are frequently different.

Because the deployment to Iraq is so much larger than the deployment to Afghanistan, with more than five times as many troops in country at any given time, the VA is likely to be treating more Iraq veterans than Afghanistan veterans for substance abuse. Anecdotally, addiction among veterans returning from Iraq seems largely linked to post-traumatic stress disorder. Overall, more than a third of the VA's 350,000 substance abuse patients from every era also suffer from PTSD. For soldiers suffering from PTSD, the use of heroin and other illicit drugs is frequently a form of self-medication, and a way to keep their stress and trauma at bay.

Many of the addicts returning from Afghanistan, however, point to sheer boredom as the reason for their use. "I had to work 12 hours a day, seven days a week, but half the time there was nothing to do," one reservist who served at Bagram complained. Another expressed frustration at the number of contractors sharing their positions. "It really pissed us off that we were there doing the same job as KBR guys who were making three or four times as much. It sucked." Bored and disillusioned with the process and mission at hand, many soldiers turn to heroin to pass the time and escape the monotony. While heroin is available in Iraq, it is that much easier to obtain in Afghanistan, a source country.

But both conflicts have something in common with a prior war -- Vietnam. Whereas the first Gulf War involved a long deployment by troops inside the austere, puritanical nation of Saudi Arabia, followed by a short war and a relatively rapid return home, both the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts are protracted occupations of countries where heroin has long been available. Afghanistan is a source country, à la the nations of Southeast Asia. As Mark Benjamin reported in Salon last December, combat in Iraq also shares certain features with combat in Vietnam -- constant patrols punctuated by ambushes, a deteriorating sense of mission -- that are likely to produce high levels of PTSD.

About 2.4 million Americans had served in Vietnam before the U.S. pulled out in 1973. In 1971, while the war was coming to a close, the media reported that the level of heroin addiction was 10 to 15 percent of lower ranking enlisted men. Contemporary researchers concurred, putting the figure at 14 percent.

Those figures were later revised sharply downward, with true addiction now thought to be closer to 4.5 percent. Researchers still believe, however, that 20 percent of all soldiers who served in Vietnam used opiates at least once. More than half of the veterans now being treated for substance abuse by the VA served during the Vietnam era, but the percentage of opiate addicts who served during the Vietnam era was unavailable.

The number of troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan recently passed 1.5 million early this year. No expert has yet ventured an estimate of what percentage will come home addicted to heroin. For now, Anthony Belcher is going with his gut. "You can make analogies to Vietnam ... Afghanistan and Iraq, especially Iraq, seem to be another Vietnam."

At the Bagram Bazaar, as I stood waiting for the teen courier to return with my order, I compared shopping for junk in Afghanistan in 2007 to shopping for junk in 2006. In May of 2006, I had toured the shops for the first time with Juan Torres and Afghan journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi, who served as guide and translator. Juan Torres' son, Spc. John Torres, was found dead of a gunshot wound while serving at Bagram in July of 2004. At the time Spc. Torres' family, and some members of his unit, believed he may have been killed for speaking out about heroin use on base. John's death turned out to be attributable to another cause, which became the subject of the film I am now completing, but his accusations about the ready availability of heroin, and similar claims by other Bagram soldiers, had prompted me to investigate how heroin was making its way to U.S. soldiers.

When I visited the shops that line the main road to the Bagram base back in 2006, they didn't look like much. The bazaar was a jumble of small, improvised, windowless structures of mud brick, corrugated tin and wood. Once inside the shops, however, a startling array of American goods came into view, many of them military issue -- bulletproof vests, hydration packs, helmets, knives, CD and DVD players, video game controllers and more. They were all goods that had either been traded by U.S. soldiers for contraband, or stolen by Afghans working on base and then sold to the shops. The goods the soldiers most wanted to receive in return -- heroin, liquor and Viagra -- were all available and on hand. It was easy and quick to get a shopkeeper to produce a $30 baggie of pure heroin.

A year later, the more startling American goods are out of site, and, though I still never get no for an answer, the heroin is no longer kept in the shop. In 2007, I have to wait for the heroin to be brought to the store from off-site.

The shopkeeper apologizes for the delay in the courier's return, lights a cigarette, and tells me to call ahead next time. He offers me his cell number. "I can have it ready then, no wait. But now you have to wait 10, 20 minutes. OK?"

I ask why he doesn't have any heroin ready to sell, that last year shops had heroin on hand. He apologizes again, and says the district governor has cracked down. "They are sweeping the shops now, because of the Cheney bomb."

The "Cheney bomb" is how locals refer to the suicide bomber who struck near Bagram's main gate during the vice president's visit in February of 2007. Following the blast the military either better enforced existing procedures, or implemented new regulations pertaining to the search of locals coming on and off base.In his written statement to me, Maj. Belcher said that in the first four months of 2007 such procedures had stopped roughly "20 attempts to bring illegal drugs through the gate at Bagram airfield, all committed by either local national or third country national truck drivers." The random sweeps currently being carried out against merchants are believed to be an attempt by the local governor to placate the American military following the blast. But sweeps and intimidation are nothing new, and "don't last long," a shopkeeper says. "Last year they threatened to close us after the computer problem."

In April of 2006 a foreign journalist bought a flash drive containing classified documents from the bazaar, documents that according to published reports contained "base defense information" and "names of allegedly corrupt Afghan officials" among other sensitive information. It was not known whether the flash drive had found its way to the bazaar via sale, theft or barter, but it was not the only piece of sensitive computer equipment available for purchase. The military's embarrassed response to the scandal was to attempt to buy back any flash drives and discs found in the shops.

The publicity surrounding the disc disclosures caused embarrassment to base leadership and resulted in threats against the bazaar. "The Americans wanted to bulldoze our shops," a vendor said. "But local leaders warned there would be violence. So they backed down." The result was a temporary increase in scrutiny. The Cheney bomb has created a similar, but more severe crackdown.

Now shopkeepers have moved big ticket items off-site for safety. Bulletproof vests, DVD players, military gear and other items stolen or traded for on base have been relocated to protect against confiscation. Heroin, hard liquor and Viagra, meanwhile, have been moved to locations within a 10- to 15-minute radius of the bazaar.

Next page: "He says they put money or drugs in the matchbox, or with cigarettes, and pass it over the fence"

While waiting for the teen to return I browse the items on display and ask if business on base is still good. Until now the vendor has been speaking with me directly in broken English, but the question prompts him to switch to Dari and engage my driver in a heated discussion. After a few moments, Hakimi says, "He is worried you are an American from base to get him in trouble, but I told him no, you just want to know about the heroin." "No trouble. Just wondering," I tell him. He seems unsure, and scans the area in front of his shop. What he sees, or doesn't see, sets him at ease.

"So how are you getting drugs on if they are checking?" I ask. He picks up a matchbox, opens it and points inside. "Put drugs, or with tobacco, then over." He then tosses me the box. He sees I am confused. He speaks to my driver. My driver translates: "He says they put money or drugs in the matchbox, or with cigarettes, and pass it over the fence, so they don't have to carry it in the gate, that or they pass it to soldiers while they are off the base." I ask what part of the fence. "Different places. It's big," the shopkeeper responds. And he is right. The base is large and portions of the fence are remote from activity. Despite bans on photographing or filming near the base, in 2006 I filmed for nearly two hours along stretches of the fence line without being confronted.

Because the base is surrounded in part by small farms and villages, it is common to see locals and children walking or working in the fields near the fence. Young boys are hired to work as runners. They linger in the fields near the fence and make contact with soldiers, who pass them money and instructions. The boys then run and fill the orders at a location nearby, returning to the spot and delivering the drugs, usually within 20 to 30 minutes.

An Afghan translator who works at Bagram confirmed that much of what is currently making its way on base is arriving this way. "It is hard to get things through the gate right now, so the fence is good," he said. "At the back, by the construction areas, there are some spots, but lots of places work." I ask him if he has been asked to bring drugs on base. "Yes, they ask me for heroin or liquor, sometimes hashish. But I say no. I make too much to get caught. It is the workers who don't make much money who do it. It is a better thing for them."

Children have long been used to pass contraband. During his 2006 trip, Juan Torres was granted a tour of the base, and allowed to see where his late son, John, had worked and lived. During his visit I stayed in the staging area between the two gates that serve as the main entrance. The first gate is manned by Afghans, the second, some 200 to 300 yards away, is manned by U.S. soldiers. Before the Cheney bomb a number of vendors were allowed to operate in the space between the two gates, and serve the needs of truck drivers and workers waiting to enter. The area was similar to the bazaar, with small makeshift shops and food vendors.

The day of Juan's visit the staging area was crowded. Dozens of trucks were lined up waiting to enter the base, and truck drivers and Afghan workers were milling about. Children were ubiquitous.Dozens of young children ranging in age from 7 to 14 were wandering the area freely, helping vendors, and talking and playing with the U.S. military personnel manning the second gate. The ease with which they moved through the area, and the familiarity they were shown by the U.S. soldiers, illustrated their usefulness to dealers. A vendor had told me the children are beyond suspicion, so they pass contraband unnoticed. More than one child asked, "You need something? Give me money and I will get it."

Though there is no threat of arrest for a local caught smuggling contraband into Bagram, the consequence of being stopped is still high. In his statement, Maj. Belcher confirmed that individuals who are intercepted with contraband are "investigated and banned from entering Bagram again." As dealers point out, since there are countless ways to get drugs to soldiers, risking a local's access to base by trying to send a courier through the gates is unnecessary. But many also believe the added scrutiny at the gates is a temporary inconvenience. "They won't check hard forever," a shopkeeper tells me. Like others, he believes the base will eventually ease up, and goods will once again flow through the gates.

Ten minutes and the teen has not returned. A crowd has begun to gather outside the shop. A group of children are standing at the entrance, waiting to steer me toward their family shops. Two old men, curious or waiting for a handout, stand behind them, watching and listening patiently. The shopkeeper tells them to leave, which they fail to do. He then becomes agitated once again. He speaks to my driver who translates: "He doesn't want any trouble." I buy a few items to thank him for his time and prepare to leave. He apologizes and tells us to come back in a little while and he'll have the heroin ready, with no crowd.

As we step outside, the kids and old men vie for our attention as we walk toward the entrance to the base. The bazaar has changed, but it has also stayed the same. The method of distribution has fluctuated, service is slower, but the flow of contraband has gone unchecked. Across the road I see the teen making his way back to the shop.
The Nation Institute Investigative Fund provided research support for this article.

* * *

Letters to the Editor

Russian Soldiers also scored heroin in Afghanistan

I have Russian friends who I met through a cultural exchange. In 1990 they came to Ohio for a visit, then we went to Russia in 1992 and 1993. The best part of this cultural exchange was staying in each other's homes and observing everyday life. And one of the things we saw on Russian television was the sad stories of Russian veterans of the Afghan War who returned with heroin habits. So I'm not surprised about this development in our military ranks.
-- Margaret N. Tipple
[Read Margaret N. Tipple's other letters]
Tuesday, August 7, 2007 09:19 AM
* * *
In a rubber plantation at Dion

Travel northwest a few miles out of Saigon back in the day, across the Dong Nai river past a depressing little congregation of huts called Dion (pronounced Zee-aahn) to a rubber plantation where the rubber trees are set in ranks and rows straight as arrows. It was a place we trained to spot trip wires and snipers in trees.

We paid local kids to act as the snipers. It was like a game of hide and seek. We milled around the deuce 'n halfs while the boys ran and shimmied up the trees. Then we'd form up a fire team and try to spot them. It was good fun.

As soon as our deuces would show up though, a dozen or so young prostitutes, some looking no more than ten years old, would saunter down the road along with their slightly older brothers. The girls, in Ao Dai and conical hats, would stand around looking bored while their brothers negotiated the deal.

"What you want, G.I.?" "You want fucky? You want smack? You want con sau (pot)? What you want? Good price for you. You numbah one! All girls virgins! See, look. Take a look."

I took a look. Under the hat were the eyes of a brutalized child, a sickly, skinny child at that. Their feet in plastic sandals were dirty, with the toes all splayed-out from walking barefoot most of the time. Rather than awakening any desire in me, all I could muster was a feeling of pity and anger that here I was, another day in this fucked-up place. I've done a lot of stuff, but I ain't gonna fuck no 10 year-old girl.

"Con sau," I told the boy. "Two dollar," he said. "One pack of Salems," I countered. "One Salem for one Park Lane," boy-san said. Park Lanes were good quality pot manufactured like real tobacco cigs in nice cellophane packages just like regular cigarettes. Salems, on the other hand, were the brand of American cigarette most highly sought as trade goods. I could buy a whole carton of Salems at the PX for $2. That carton would get me pot, get me pussy, get me just about anything.

Nothing changes, just the geography. Occupying armies of young men are the same today as they were yesterday. You can count on most of them to behave as well as their upbringing. If they were moral at home, they'll probably act that way abroad. And then there are the real shit-birds who were trash when they grew up and they'll be trash in the military. They'll rape and shoot civilians, they'll let down their brothers in arms, they'll be just as fucked up and mean and irresponsible in uniform as they were before they joined up.

At Dion, there was always somebody willing to go out in the weeds with a 10 year-old girl and do his business for ten minutes or so and come back with an evil grin. The young girl would come back, expressionless as before, and stand around waiting to see if there would be any other takers.

War debases everyone and everything it touches. It is evil.
-- Garry Owen
[Read Garry Owen's other letters]
Tuesday, August 7, 2007 09:39 AM
* * * * * *
On her radio show Laura Schlessinger is heard all over the world. Many times she makes statements on the "As the proud mother of a deployed paratrooper...." theme. This gives her a special personal depth of concern for soldiers and she does do charity work for the wounded troops and their families.

The silence on the problems of drugs and addiction never helps individuals or society. There is so much good to come from opening up a discussion. It is a start.

If you have a response to Laura Schlessinger or the News-Press

"Readers may
Write Dr. Laura
c/o the News-Press, P.O.
Box 1359, Santa Barbara 93102-1359."

Santa Barbara News-Press
Main Office
715 Anacapa Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

805-564-5200
805-966-6258 fax

Bagram Airforce Base in Afghanistan on Sept. 28, 2007 MYSTERY

Who Is Burying Ciara Durkin ?

Slain soldier remembered as selfless, joyful, and heroic

* * * * * *

Virginia Tech massacre and Laura Schlessinger

2007-08-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

photos

[ WARNING: NOT FOR THE SENSITIVE view and download before censorship]

Laura Schlessinger is a bi-weekly columnist for the Santa Barbara News-Press. In her April 19, 2007 column she gave advice on how to make schools safe from future random massacres. She states as a proud mother of a deployed "American paratrooper" perhaps she has a unique perspective on the massacre at Virginia Tech.

Unlike the recent report of the Virginia Tech Review Panel, Schlessinger didn't mention early detection or communicating mental health alarms. (Her Ph.D. is in physiology, not in the behavior sciences, as she performs on radio) She has not practiced physiology for a near 40 years, perhaps this explains her focus on guns in school and linking this to radical Islamists and jihadists? Coincidentally, her son Deryk(KingOf*Hearts*) Schlessinger, like Seung Hui Cho, both had disgusting, terrifying My Space pages. Deryk's alleged My Space, where he shared photos with friends ,(who post some of the same shots).

After several months of Army investigation into a possible court martial, there has been no further comment from the Army and no follow up on this news. Why did the Pentagon immediately cleanse all evidence of the MySpace pages, including whatever copies and cached versions were kept by Google and the Internet Archive? Most of all after the immediate statements by Army spokesman Robert Tallman. He said "it may be possible that our enemies are actually behind this." and "Our enemies are adaptive, technologically sophisticated, and truly understand the importance of the information battlespace." The Pentagon would immediately cleanse evidence against "our enemies"? The Santa Barbara News-Press did a complete blackout on this story, no one is attempting to publically support Deryk during this time. About all we can find, is to say "American paratrooper" is another embellishment. It would be more accurate for her to show pride in saying American Novice Parachutist, infantry, gunner or sniper

[click images to enlarge]

The Virginia Tech Review reveals Seung Hui Cho, had been mentally ill since childhood. The Review Panel analysed a variety of separate and related issues in the events leading up to the mass shootings and the aftermath. The panel conducted over 200 interviews and reviewed thousands of records to form its major findings.

“Warning students, faculty and staff might have made a difference,” it says.

Deryk Schlessinger
SLT "likely slander"?

"No this blog isn't about me, it's to thank you America, bc of your unwillingness to compromise and pull your head cut of your *ss every unit deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan will serve a mandatory 15 months in country bc we have lost funding." KingOf*Hearts* 5/15/07

Help scarce for mental scars of war

Extremely alarming are the child murder, porn and rape cartoons.
No one
has been given an explanation.

In the Cho situation, his writing was a red flag that was missed.

GET RICH OR DIE TRYING

2007-08-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

August 28, 2007 - Tuesday
GET RICH OR DIE TRYING: RECRUITERS PUT PRICE ON YOUR LIFE

Struggling to meet enlistment rates and secure troop levels for the twin American debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. Army recruiters have upped the ante for patriots and poor people alike in a scheme offering new recruits a $20,000 bonus for a quick departure. Uncle Sam is using this "quick-ship bonus" as a way to meet quotas for the country's "volunteer" military at a time when American casualties are surging. The new scheme allowed quotas to be met in July, but experts warn that recruiters are banking too much on troop quantity over troop quality. Are the lives of poor Americans really only worth $20,000?

Raw Story

Afghanistan journey early 2007

2007-08-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

How Afghan anti-corruption chief once sold heroin in Las Vegas

PHOTOS:
Afghanistan Vignette
Afghan Opium Trade Hits New Peak

Chris Santory and Deryk Schlessinger
(back right)

What if 1,000 Armored Vehicles Didn't Get to Troops and No One Cared

Corps refused 2005 plea for MRAP vehicles

UK officer calls for US special forces to quit Afghan hotspot

2007-08-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

August 12, 2007

"Sir,
Recently I read an article(Im having difficulty finding it again to post) about a change in mindset in US Special Forces while Rumsfeld was the boss. The gist of the article was that during Rumsfeld's tenure as Sec Def Special Forces started to place emphasis on the direct action role to the detriment of their other traditional roles. Could this be a result of that change? The comment made by one British Officer that, "sensitivity is not their strong suit" is especially disturbing. As Special Forces sensitivity should be exactly their strong suit." HKDan

UK officer calls for US special forces to quit Afghan hotspot
High civilian toll as teams rely on air strikes to provide cover
Declan Walsh in Islamabad and Richard Norton-Taylor
Friday August 10, 2007

Twelve-man teams of US special forces had been criticised for relying on air strikes for cover when they believed they were confronted by large groups of Taliban fighters and their supporters.

British officers say US special forces are cavalier in their approach
to the civilian population. The tensions were illustrated by an
incident the Guardian witnessed in Sangin earlier this summer.

A British patrol was abandoned by its American special forces escort
in the town for several hours. Stranded in central Sangin, British
officers tried to establish radio contact with the Americans, who had
disappeared without warning, and swore impatiently when they could
not.

The British criticisms intensified after the Americans led them to
their proposed site for a new Afghan patrol base in the town - beside
a graveyard and a religious shrine. "Sensitivity is not their strong
suit," said one British officer.

Most British soldiers work well with regular American troops and some
speak admiringly of them. But US special forces units are a different
matter.

They operate under a different chain of command, with their own rules
on everything from dress code to the use of weapons. Whereas the
British troops operate under Nato command, the American special forces
are commanded from the US-led coalition in Bagram airbase outside
Kabul. That means the Americans can call on a wider range of
airstrikes, and also that British officers have little control over
which munitions are dropped in populated areas. .

EXCERPTS:
"The American troops’ training, in contrast, seemed ad hoc, usually carried out by each unit on its own, rather than by a dedicated training staff. And it involved very few civilians, despite the crucial humanitarian and political aspects of the mission here." SARAH CHAYES

"I was trained and trained well to sacrifice myself to war and I was also training others to make the same sacrifice. But what is it all for? Money for the power elite? A chance to prove my manhood? No, in the end all you get if you kill someone is a dead human being, or you are dead. That is all there is. There is no glory. There is no honor." Sgt. Kevin Benderman

Sniper

My Space: *"Yes . . . F---ING Yes!!!" said one blog entry on the Schlessinger site. "I LOVE MY JOB, it takes
everything reckless and deviant and heathenistic and just overall bad
about me and hyper focuses these traits into my job of running around
this horrid place doing nasty things to people that deserve it . . .
and some that don't."* KingOf*Hearts. Deryk Schlessinger is the son of Laura Schlessinger who writes a bi-weekly column for the Santa Barbara News-Press.

Movie: KingOf*Hearts

AfghanAlbum

* * * * * * * *
EXTREME EXHAUSTION

Afghanistan....they thundered around the country in Black Hawk helicopters, with little fear for their safety

2007-08-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

How a ‘Good War’ in Afghanistan Went Bad

By DAVID ROHDE and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: August 12, 2007

Two years after the Taliban fell to an American-led coalition, a group of NATO ambassadors landed in Kabul, Afghanistan, to survey what appeared to be a triumph — a fresh start for a country ripped apart by years of war with the Soviets and brutal repression by religious extremists.

Losing the Advantage
Misjudgments in Iraq’s Shadow
Reach of War

Terrorism on the Rise

With a senior American diplomat, R. Nicholas Burns, leading the way, they thundered around the country in Black Hawk helicopters, with little fear for their safety. They strolled quiet streets in Kandahar and sipped tea with tribal leaders. At a briefing from the United States Central Command, they were told that the Taliban were now a “spent force.”

“Some of us were saying, ‘Not so fast,’ ” Mr. Burns, now the under secretary of state for political affairs, recalled. “While not a strategic threat, a number of us assumed that the Taliban was too enmeshed in Afghan society to just disappear.”

But that skepticism had never taken hold in Washington. Since the 2001 war, American intelligence agencies had reported that the Taliban were so decimated they no longer posed a threat, according to two senior intelligence officials who reviewed the reports.

The American sense of victory had been so robust that the top C.I.A. specialists and elite Special Forces units who had helped liberate Afghanistan had long since moved on to the next war, in Iraq.

Those sweeping miscalculations were part of a pattern of assessments and decisions that helped send what many in the American military call “the good war” off course.

Like Osama bin Laden and his deputies, the Taliban had found refuge in Pakistan and regrouped as the American focus wavered. Taliban fighters seeped back over the border, driving up the suicide attacks and roadside bombings by as much as 25 percent this spring, and forcing NATO and American troops into battles to retake previously liberated villages in southern Afghanistan.

They have scored some successes recently, and since the 2001 invasion, there have been improvements in health care, education and the economy, as well as the quality of life in the cities. But Afghanistan’s embattled president, Hamid Karzai, said in Washington last week that security in his country had “definitely deteriorated.” One former national security official called that “a very diplomatic understatement.”

The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

2007-08-11T22:48:00.001-07:00

Hanging Gardens

The approach to the Garden sloped like a hillside and the several parts of the structure rose from one another tier on tier... On all this, the earth had been piled... and was thickly planted with trees of every kind that, by their great size and other charm, gave pleasure to the beholder... The water machines [raised] the water in great abundance from the river, although no one outside could see it.
Fruits and flowers... Waterfalls... Gardens hanging from the palace terraces... Exotic animals... This is the picture of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in most people's minds. It may be surprising to know that they might have never existed except in the minds of Greek poets and historians!
LOCATION
On the east bank of the River Euphrates, about 50 km south of Baghdad, Iraq.

HISTORY
The Babylonian kingdom flourished under the rule of the famous King, Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC). It was not until the reign of Naboplashar (625-605 BC) of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty that the Mesopotamian civilization reached its ultimate glory. His son, Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC) is credited for building the legendary Hanging Gardens. It is said that the Gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar to please his wife or concubine who had been "brought up in Media and had a passion for mountain surroundings".

While the most descriptive accounts of the Gardens come from Greek historians such as Berossus and Diodorus Siculus, Babylonian records stay silent on the matter. Tablets from the time of Nebuchadnezzar do not have a single reference to the Hanging Gardens, although descriptions of his palace, the city of Babylon, and the walls are found. Even the historians who give detailed descriptions of the Hanging Gardens never saw them. Modern historians argue that when Alexander's soldiers reached the fertile land of Mesopotamia and saw Babylon, they were impressed. When they later returned to their rugged homeland, they had stories to tell about the amazing gardens and palm trees at Mesopotamia.. About the palace of Nebuchadnezzar.. About the Tower of Babel and the ziggurats. And it was the imagination of poets and ancient historians that blended all these elements together to produce one of the World Wonders.

It wasn't until the twentieth century that some of the mysteries surrounding the Hanging Gardens were revealed. Archaeologists are still struggling to gather enough evidence before reaching the final conclusions about the location of the Gardens, their irrigation system, and their true appearance. Some recent researchers even suggest that the Hanging Gardens were built by Senaherib, not by Nebuchadnezzar II (ca. 100 years earlier).

the garden

7/26/07 Pat Tillman: photo of scene

2007-07-26T18:41:00.000-07:00

Pat Tillman investigation-
photo of scene

SAN FRANCISCO — Army medical examiners were suspicious about the close proximity of the three bullet holes in Pat Tillman's forehead and tried without success to get authorities to investigate whether the former NFL player's death amounted to a crime, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.

"The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," a doctor who examined Tillman's body after he was killed on the battlefield in Afghanistan in 2004 told investigators.

The doctors _ whose names were blacked out _ said that the bullet holes were so close together that it appeared the Army Ranger was cut down by an M-16 fired from a mere 10 yards or so away.

Ultimately, the Pentagon did conduct a criminal investigation, and asked Tillman's comrades whether he was disliked by his men and whether they had any reason to believe he was deliberately killed. The Pentagon eventually ruled that Tillman's death at the hands of his comrades was a friendly-fire accident.

The medical examiners' suspicions were outlined in 2,300 pages of testimony released to the AP this week by the Defense Department in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

Among other information contained in the documents:

_ In his last words moments before he was killed, Tillman snapped at a panicky comrade under fire to shut up and stop "sniveling."

_ Army attorneys sent each other congratulatory e-mails for keeping criminal investigators at bay as the Army conducted an internal friendly-fire investigation that resulted in administrative, or non-criminal, punishments.

_ The three-star general who kept the truth about Tillman's death from his family and the public told investigators some 70 times that he had a bad memory and couldn't recall details of his actions.

_ No evidence at all of enemy fire was found at the scene _ no one was hit by enemy fire, nor was any government equipment struck.

The Pentagon and the Bush administration have been criticized in recent months for lying about the circumstances of Tillman's death. The military initially told the public and the Tillman family that he had been killed by enemy fire. Only weeks later did the Pentagon acknowledge he was gunned down by fellow Rangers.

With questions lingering about how high in the Bush administration the deception reached, Congress is preparing for yet another hearing next week.

The Pentagon is separately preparing a new round of punishments, including a stinging demotion of retired Lt. Gen. Philip R. Kensinger Jr., 60, according to military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the punishments under consideration have not been made public.

In more than four hours of questioning by the Pentagon inspector general's office in December 2006, Kensinger repeatedly contradicted other officers' testimony, and sometimes his own. He said on some 70 occasions that he did not recall something.

At one point, he said: "You've got me really scared about my brain right now. I'm really having a problem."

Tillman's mother, Mary Tillman, who has long suggested that her son was deliberately killed by his comrades, said she is still looking for answers and looks forward to the congressional hearings next week.

"Nothing is going to bring Pat back. It's about justice for Pat and justice for other soldiers. The nation has been deceived," she said.

The documents show that a doctor who autopsied Tillman's body was suspicious of the three gunshot wounds to the forehead. The doctor said he took the unusual step of calling the Army's Human Resources Command and was rebuffed. He then asked an official at the Army's Criminal Investigation Division if the CID would consider opening a criminal case.

"He said he talked to his higher headquarters and they had said no," the doctor testified.

Also according to the documents, investigators pressed officers and soldiers on a question Mrs. Tillman has been asking all along.

"Have you, at any time since this incident occurred back on April 22, 2004, have you ever received any information even rumor that Cpl. Tillman was killed by anybody within his own unit intentionally?" an investigator asked then-Capt. Richard Scott.

Scott, and others who were asked, said they were certain the shooting was accidental.

Investigators also asked soldiers and commanders whether Tillman was disliked, whether anyone was jealous of his celebrity, or if he was considered arrogant. They said Tillman was respected, admired and well-liked.

The documents also shed new light on Tillman's last moments.

It has been widely reported by the AP and others that Spc. Bryan O'Neal, who was at Tillman's side as he was killed, told investigators that Tillman was waving his arms shouting "Cease fire, friendlies, I am Pat (expletive) Tillman, damn it!" again and again.

But the latest documents give a different account from a chaplain who debriefed the entire unit days after Tillman was killed.

The chaplain said that O'Neal told him he was hugging the ground at Tillman's side, "crying out to God, help us. And Tillman says to him, `Would you shut your (expletive) mouth? God's not going to help you; you need to do something for yourself, you sniveling ..."

It's not another Vietnam. It's another Afghanistan. Soviet Afghanistan

2007-07-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

Joya

- It's not another Vietnam. It's another Afghanistan. Soviet Afghanistan

Caplewood

When Robert McNamara realized that the war in Vietnam had become a catastrophe, he wanted to understand the process by which all the smart people in Washington had made the decisions that lead to the Southeast Asian clusterfuck. The result was the Pentagon Papers, one of the most famous and important collections of documents ever printed on cellulose. As it turns out, the Russian General Staff went through a similar process with their similar Afghan disaster. An edited version of their study of their war was published in English in 2002 as The Soviet Afghan War. The following passage is quoted in Jeffrey Record's Beating Goliath: Why Insurgencies Win

When the highest leaders of the USSR sent their forces into this war, they did not consider the historic, religious, and national peculiarities of Afghanistan. After the entry, these peculiarities proved to be the most important factors as they foreordained the long and very difficult nature of the conflict. Now it is completely clear that it was an impetuous decision to send Soviet forces into this land. It is now clear that the Afghans, whose history contained many centuries of warfare with various warring groups, could not see these armed strangers as anything but armed invaders. And since these invaders were not Muslim, a religious factor was added to the the national enmity.
[. . .]
The Soviets had designed their armed forces to fight large scale high tempo operations exploiting nuclear strikes on the northern European plain and China. . . . Soviet force structure, weaponry, tactics, and support infrastructure were all designed to support this operational vision. These were all inappropriate for the long counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan.

Sound familiar?

Blood flowers and greenbacks

2007-07-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

Blood flowers and greenbacks
Last week, U.S. President Bush promulgated another Executive Order to contain terrorist funding for the Iraq insurgency, the “aid and support” of those who want to bring failure to the new government and reconstruction process. I have a more comprehensive, Iraq-focused post on this issue over at my other blog. Yet this Executive Order is equally relevant for FPA Central Asia–because of its major omission, rather than its commissions.

In no place is Afghanistan mentioned in this order. No attempt is made to interrupt financial aid and dollar comfort to the Taliban, or al-Qaeda, or any other terrorist or insurgent groups that attack Afghanistan’s government officials or Afghanistan’s infrastructure.

The Afghanistan war is fought in an area which has little in the way of an economy to sustain war: no oil, no timber, no gold, no diamonds or other precious substances. The sole economic self-help in this war occurs through an agricultural crop–the opium poppy. Right now, that crop has reached record-busting levels. Surrounding nations: Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan are all feeling the security breach occasioned by the crime associated with this economy, and the war; they are also daily assaulted by the public health and safety problems occasioned by the use of poppy byproducts. It has become the means for changes of balance of power in the five-state Central Asian area, and its tentacles are felt in Russia, the Caucasus, Europe, the Americas–everywhere.

We need, in some ways, to look at the poppy as if it was a hydrocarbon or a blood diamond–because it is ubiquitous on the ground and it is not going away. Instead of trying to bulldoze every field in Afghanistan, the nexus points of money transfer for arms and aid need to be found and stopped in order to cut off war funding for the insurgency. This more surgical method has the power to take poppy eradication from the small, starving farmer to the international crime and terror advocates who amass money in the name of violence; it cuts off those officials and officers from a corrupt, destabilizing source of income; and it also tamps down on terrorist or criminal efforts in areas beyond Central Asia or the Middle East.

That said, why is Afghanistan being ignored in the new measures for money laundering and bank account interdiction? I plain, flat, have no idea. But it certainly seems like an unfortunate, nay, glaring oversight, and one that is not good for Afghanistan, or for any other part of Central Asia.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Travis Armstrong and the Santa Barbara News-Press: here is an interesting article about Afghanistan. It is a complicated matter, this is a little start. We're hearing the Afghans do not like the warlords that we support any better than the Taleban warlords. When NATO eradicates crops it is often selective. What happens is the poor farmers get hurt. We are not eradicating opium, we let our favorite warlords profit, all the abuse and trafficing continues. There are better ideas for destroying the Taleban economy. America comsumes it's share of opium, who are we funding?

Don't you think more information and discussion is a good thing? Don't you want to learn more about the lack of intelligence, poor equipment, bad training that puts our troops in unnecessary danger in Afghanistan? Soon we may be spending more money to bomb No.Waziristan and our troops in Afghanistan will be even more rag tag. No one has thought Osama Bin Laden is in Afghanistan for awhile. Now POSSIBLY Osama Bin Laden is in No. Waziristan after we warn them... whatever, we'll bomb and more humanitarian aid will be needed. The animal kingdom is there as well.

Iraq is expensive, Afghanistan is on a budget plan, what will No.Waziristan cost? Saving Musharraf in Pakistan? Iran? How much?

Message to the Congress of the United States Regarding International Emergency Economic Powers Act
Executive Order: Blocking Property of Certain Persons Who Threaten Stabilization Efforts in Iraq

Just asking

2007-07-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

Why are there no local reports on the opium - poppy cultivation, morphine and heroin manufacturing in Afghanistan?

You might want to check out the Santa Barbara News-Press for their up to date information on the critical problems with Afghanistan's opium crop and narco-trafficing . Of special interest to the Laura Schlessinger family. (Deryk Schlessinger and Lewis Bishop).

UPDATE: 7/22/07 "Are parents or gangs in control?" by Travis Armstrong. Does Travis recall South Central back in the day? Does he write about the drug business part of this? Santa Barbara has no heroin? Ignorance is bliss and a great excuse to recycle bashing-blaming the same people?

DRUG CARTEL MURDER IN SANTA BARBARA
Sheriff Investigates Drug Cartel in County
Body Found in Sleeping Bag, Largest-Ever Pot Bust Linked

November 1, 2007
[...] Since border operations have tightened, Mexican drug cartels have resorted to different tactics in getting their drugs to California, Brown said, which means that, while grows used to be common only in Northern California, more grows are being discovered throughout Southern California as well. “It’s a very lucrative business,” he said. And dangerous. “The individuals tending these grows are typically armed and prepared to defend their crops,” Brown said. “The murder of Adan Ruiz, regardless of his involvement with these illegal marijuana operation, illustrates the vicious nature of the persons involved in marijuana cultivation.” [...]

"Sick, Vile, Barbaric"

2007-07-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

"It is a brutal, sadistic event motivated by barbarism of the worst sort and cruelty of the worst, worst, worst, sadistic kind. One is left wondering: Who are the real animals? Who are the real animals, who are the real animals?
.......the training of these poor creatures to turn themselves into fighting machines is simply barbaric. Barbaric! Barbaric! Barbaric!
Let that word resound from hill to hill and from mountain to mountain, from valley to valley across this broad land. Barbaric, barbaric!"
Senator Robert C Byrd 7/19/07

DERYK:
CARTOON RENDITIONS

"Who in God's name is teaching these kids this skewed and blury rendition of reality?"
Santa Barbara New-Press, Laura Schlessinger 7/1/07

Schlessinger commented on the honor students, Leah Anthony Libresco and Mari Oye, letter to the President. She failed to mention other kids being taught "skewed and blury rendition of reality". Senator Byrd was speaking of the horrendous dog training situation. Unfortunately, I've not heard anyone advocate with such passion for young people being prepared for horrendous training. Schlessinger is outraged when kids learn about the downside of torture, like it doesn't work and does train barbarians. More important then anything she says, is all she doesn't say.

"God needs soldiers to fight so his children may live free.
Are you afraid??? I'm not. SEND ME!!! "
Mark David Uhl, Liberty University

"I am the proud mother of an American paratrooper*" Dr. Laura
*More accurate would be infantry or artillery. Her own use of title is also embellished, 30 plus years ago she got a PhD in physiology. I've not found any legitimate authority as to the radio and writing shtick portrayal. No indication her religious flukes had much sincerity. Ethics and morals? She appears to be acting.

Schlessinger doesn't merely effect her son, Deryk Schlessinger. She sells a "family values" product, in a family business, Deryk and Lewis Bishop also benefit. They target other families to support their personal lavish lifestyle, estates, sports cars, sailing and whatever catches her fancy. Charity work is business, hopefully many others do benefit. As for her style, she's not hands on and she's questionable at best.

"I have a cup of coffee and go for a relaxing sail." Dr. Laura

2007-07-19T06:28:00.001-07:00

DR. STRANGELOVE satirizes the doctrine of Mutual assured destruction (MAD). MAD is a doctrine of military strategy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would effectively result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. It is based on the theory of deterrence according to which the deployment of strong weapons is essential to threaten the enemy in order to prevent the use of the very same weapons. The strategy is effectively a form of Nash Equilibrium, in which both sides are attempting to avoid their worst possible outcome â nuclear annihilation.

warrior training

2007-07-17T23:02:00.000-07:00

update: Fri Apr 25, 2008 ACTION DIARY:
HR 5876--a chance to protect kids from abusive "kiddie boot camps"

That's Laura Schlessinger, the
"doc", she was on a website for a bad boys/cum to Jeezus "academy".
A blogger saw the vessel* while on a visit to Santa Barbara, a google search found the images. Hence, "Dr. Laura" snapshot.. the young guns and Laura have since been removed from the site. Maybe after her son, Deryk, made a splash with his "lurid -repulsive" My Space...

Here is the post: Sunday, July 09, 2006 Jesus Is A Bodysurfer

from

Civic Center

San Francisco as seen through the Civic Center neighborhood: its politics, arts and characters.

"Earlier in the week in Santa Barbara, we stumbled across a large boat in the marina with WATERMANACADEMY.COM stenciled on its side and the name 'Rapture' painted on its back. (Click here to get there, if you dare. The photos are taken from the site.)

According to a 'Counselor' in his 20's who we talked to, the boat was originally a research vessel that had been turned into an "adventure" vessel that could sleep 110 people in bunk beds. It was based out of San Diego and took frequent trips to Catalina Island, usually with 13-to-19-year-old boys.
They claim to take alienated teenage boys in hand, and at
$6,000 for a three-week boot camp,
they turn the boys into 'men'." ( hmmmm.... did Deryk train here? )
ALL THIS FROM
Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog Monday, May 21, 2007
I keep track of Condoleezza's hairdo so you don't have to.

*vessel