Sunday Morning Cry

It started when I watched "Last Letters Home" on HBO this morning.

Yup, see the FAMILIES DESTROYED by George W. Bush and his LIES!!!!!!!!

Then I came across this in the paper.

"Kentucky base braces for soldiers' return; A surge in stress-related illness feared" by Lolita C. Baldor, Associated Press | November 30, 2008

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - Some 15,000 soldiers are heading home to this sprawling base after spending more than a year at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and military health officials are bracing for a surge in brain injuries and psychological problems among those troops.

Facing prospects that one in five of the 101st Airborne Division soldiers will suffer from stress-related disorders, the base has nearly doubled its psychological health staff. Army leaders are hoping to use the base's experiences to assess the long-term impact of repeated deployments.

The three 101st Airborne combat brigades, which have begun arriving home, have gone through at least three tours in Iraq. The 3d Brigade also served seven months in Afghanistan, early in the war. Next spring, the 4th Brigade will return from a 15-month tour in Afghanistan. So far, roughly 10,000 soldiers have come back; the remainder are expected by the end of January....

*************

Noting that some soldiers in the 101st Airborne units have been to war four or five times, General Peter Chiarelli, vice chief of staff of the Army, said he is most worried the military will not be able to find enough healthcare providers to deal effectively with the troops needing assistance....

Whadda ya mean they WON'T GET THEIR HEALTH CARE?!!! The military has PLENTY of DOUGH to FUND WAR LOOTERS, so WHAT is with the EXCUSES?!!!

Also see: Iraq for Sale

More than 63,600 active duty Army soldiers have done three or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. That is a nearly 12 percent of the total number of soldiers who have deployed at least once. Roughly four in 10 soldiers who have gone to war have served more than one deployment - and that number is growing....

Colonel Richard Thomas, the director of health services at Fort Campbell:

"We're seeing a lot of soldiers with stress related issues. They're not bipolar or schizophrenic. But they're deploying three and four times and the stress is tremendous. They're having relationship issues, financial issues, marital problems - all stress related."

Related: Surprise!: Boston Globe Discovers Anti-War Protests

According to Dr. Bret Logan, deputy commander for managed care at the base, extended war zone stints that have lasted as long as 38 months over the course of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have taken a severe toll. More than 3,000 of the 15,000 troops returning home, Logan estimated, probably will experience headaches, sleep disorders, irritability, memory loss, relationship strains or other symptoms linked to stress disorder. --more--"

Like DU sickness?

These guys ought to get the health coverage Congress gives itself!! Yeah, support the troops! Get 'em the fuck out of there!!!!!

I Pledge Not to Pledge

I never liked the damn thing anyway, and I resent having to stand at the basketball tournaments.

Not because I hate AmeriKa, but because I love AmeriCa!

"One nation indivisible, one town torn in two; Pledge of Allegiance push shakes small Vt. hamlet" by Brian MacQuarrie, Globe Staff | November 30, 2008

WOODBURY, Vt. - .... At the Woodbury Elementary School, an aggressive effort to return a daily recital of the Pledge of Allegiance to its four small classrooms has pitted neighbor against neighbor, unsettled students and staff, and spawned a vitriolic burst of incendiary name-calling.

No one in this tiny community of 809 people can recall anything like it. And the rancor has settled so deeply into the psyche here that residents and school officials say the wounds might take years to heal.

That's another by-product of a WAR based on DAMNABLE LIES!! The FRACTURING of COMMUNITY!! Nice going, UNITER-in-chief! ANOTHER BUSH LEGACY!!!!

"I can see the devastation of this. It's real, and it's palpable," said Mark Andrews, co-superintendent of schools. At issue is whether the Pledge of Allegiance should be recited in the classroom every day....

The move has been spearheaded by a retired Marine Corps major, who quickly gathered 310 signatures on a townwide petition after the Pledge of Allegiance, which used to be recited once a week in a schoolwide assembly, disappeared entirely in the spring.

(Blog author just exhaled in disgust)

"People were pulling the clipboard out of my hand and saying, 'That's disgraceful,' " said Ted Tedesco, a veteran of the Gulf War. Conflicting definitions and questions of patriotism, values, and ideology have polarized the town, residents said, and longtime friendships have become one of the casualties of an issue that had hardly crossed anyone's mind until the petition surfaced.

9/11 Truth has the same effect.

"I've seen people in this town who have been friends for years that now won't speak to each other," said Jeff Kaiser, a nurse who lives on a 46-acre hilltop spread with his wife and two daughters, one of whom is a first-grader.

Principal Michaela Martin said the omission of the Pledge of Allegiance was inadvertent. School officials responded to the petition with out-of-classroom options to help shield pupils whose families object to its use of "under God," which was added in 1954.

Yup, those SECULARISTS really gotta mucky up everything, don't they?

WTF? God was ADDED in 1954? Because of the GODLESS COMMIES?

If the Pledge of Allegiance were held in class, school officials said, those students who remained seated might be scorned or shunned by their peers....

Yeah, LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT IT!!

My explanation to my peers back then (when I was steeped in leftism) was that there WAS NOT LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL -- and that was BEFORE INDEFINITE IMPRISONMENT and TORTURE!!

Yeah, I'll be taking a seat when the pledge is read!

In an experiment, Woodbury pupils were invited to walk to a second-floor gymnasium to recite the Pledge of Allegiance each morning. But when less than half participated, officials opted for a schoolwide gathering in the building's entry foyer, only a few steps from the doors of all four classrooms. There, an older student stands on a small wooden riser, makes the daily announcements, and leads the school in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Those pupils who wish to say it can do so. Those who do not remain silent. "It's a win-win," Martin said. "The community got their needs met, and it's a great way to start the day."

For Tedesco, who said he remains convinced that the Pledge of Allegiance was dropped intentionally, that format is not acceptable. "The Pledge is legal, the Pledge is traditional, and the Pledge is convenient when it's said in the classroom," Tedesco said. "To reduce it to essentially a crowd - a literal mob scene - in a cramped lobby is to remove the instructional component from the environment."

Well, SCREW YOU and YOUR INTOLERANCE, buddy!!! I am TIRED of ALWAYS REACHING OVER to the OTHER SIDE! I'm FOLDING MY HANDS and YOU MUST REACH OUT now, dink-wad!!!!

That displeasure, given a high-profile voice in print and television reports that circulated nationwide, has caused the community's wounds to fester, many residents said.

Yeah, nice going DIVISIVE, AGENDA-PUSHING MSM!!!

Did youmknow 80% of this country wants the damn wars over?

School staff have received threatening phone calls from out of state. Tedesco and several allies were asked to leave the building recently after watching the Pledge of Allegiance. And one teacher turned for home instead of class when she saw a critical e-mail from a former pupil, who is now in the military, posted to the school door.

What, the cream of our crop, our great liberators and protectors THREATENING PEOPLE?

Even students, Andrews said, have voiced concerns about safety and a new atmosphere they have difficulty understanding. "Let's look at ourselves in the mirror: What are we doing?" Andrews said. "People need to put down their swords and come together."

I could not have said it better!

Stephanie Fraser, who has a first-grader at the school, said she was horrified when she saw the petition beside the cash register at the village store. Later, she stunned a public meeting when she displayed a salute, which resembles the Nazi gesture, that accompanied the Pledge of Allegiance for many years after its introduction in 1892. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Congress banned the salute in 1942 because of its similarities to the Fascist greeting.

Oh. Seems stunningly appropriate for AmeriKans today!

"If we give in to a bully, we have no place to talk about bullying to our children," Fraser said. "The townsfolk I talk to say they just want this all to stop."

So why did the country bend over for George W. Bush, one of the worst bullies in history? And does she mean the pledginator is a bully? Don't you support the troops, ma'am?

Several residents interviewed said that they readily endorsed the petition, but that they are satisfied with the foyer solution despite continuing efforts to push the issue.

"I happily signed because I totally think we should say the Pledge," said Ellen Demers, the parent of a kindergartner, as she colored a customer's hair in her beauty salon. "They wanted it back, we got it back, and I think it's more important that we say it rather than where it's said."

Sig Heil!!!!

Earlier that day, Demers attended a monthly community lunch at the school, where pupils, parents, grandparents, and other residents gathered in the gymnasium. Her 5-year-old daughter, Abigail, who now says the Pledge of Allegiance whenever she sees a flag, helped bake an apple pie for the occasion.

Hey, look: they got one!!!

"We're all a little afraid to talk, because nobody knows where they stand," Demers said....

Reminds me SO MUCH of 9/11!!!!

Andrews said the school has much more important business to conduct than a prolonged debate over the Pledge of Allegiance. "Let's not put all this energy on saying the Pledge," he said. "Let's focus on getting kids ready for the 21st century."

One would think so.

Tedesco, for his part, said he has not finished. "This discussion is not over," he vowed. "There is more to be said." --more--"

And how much you wanna bet the MSM will give him a megaphone to say it?

They did today.

Oh yeah, almost forgot: Sig Heil (with heel-click)!!!!!!

Transition Terror Attack Coming

Certainly seems to be the IMPLICATION of the ARTICLE, no?

"Homeland Security in disarray, officials warn; Delayed projects, reforms in limbo await Obama" by Bryan Bender, Globe Staff | November 30, 2008

WASHINGTON - As the Department of Homeland Security prepares for its first transition, a series of major projects - including a communication network linking state and locals officials in a crisis, a system to scan shipping containers for terrorist weapons, and a massive border-control initiative - face serious technical delays or cost overruns.

Related: The Pentagon Spending Sprees

U.S. Military Spending to Keep Growing

In addition, the agency is struggling in its relationship with Congress, where it answers to dozens of committees with jurisdiction over its operations - a chaotic structure that requires a large number of personnel simply to respond to lawmakers' requests.

And with an estimated three-quarters of its headquarters staff having less than two years of experience managing the agency's $50 billion-a-year operation, there is an urgent requirement to invest in "human capital," according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former senior government officials.

The result, they say, is disarray at the federal department responsible for developing the nation's defenses against terrorism and natural disasters....

******************

The list of problem-plagued programs includes the $24 billion "Deepwater" project to build a fleet of Coast Guard vessels, helicopters, and other high-tech gear that is experiencing major delays and ballooning costs.

All this $$$ WASTED for that damnable lie!!!!

The Secure Border Initiative, costing more than $2 billion this year alone, is a major effort to increase Customs and Border Protection personnel, introduce detection technologies, and construct a fence along the border with Mexico. But major elements of the project, including a network called SBInet to ensure different agencies can coordinate, have been put on hold pending further testing and development.

Yeah, funny how we can't secure that damn border!!! Sigh!!

Meanwhile, although recent intelligence assessments have warned that a biological attack poses the greatest terror threat, signature defense measures - including the multibillion-dollar Project Bioshield to stockpile antidotes - have made only limited strides, according to Tom Ridge, the first secretary of homeland security.

And GUESS WHO will be BEHIND THAT (just like 9/11 and the anthrax): Bush Prepares Release of Bio-Weapons on American Public

Ridge said in a recent interview [that] Americans "have spent billions on the development of a bio-defense stockpile but they don't have much to show for it."

Yeah, NO KIDDING?

Specialists in the field have criticized the process by which the Department of Homeland Security determines which biological threats to defend against. Another struggling program is the Homeland Security Information Network, designed to allow "all states and major urban areas to collect and disseminate information between federal, state, and local agencies involved in combating terrorism."

"That platform," said David Heyman, director of the Homeland Security Program at the nonpartisan Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and coauthor of a new report, Homeland Security 3.0, a blueprint for strengthening domestic preparedness, "has increased in cost and has performance shortfalls and delayed schedules."

Ridge, who served as homeland security chief from 2003 to 2005, said that getting a handle on the procurement system at the department will be a chief challenge for the new administration. "The system is a mess and it is crying out for reform," he said....

It is not crying out for reform, it is crying out for TRUTH and an ABOLITION of such TYRANNY!!!

***************

With the prospect of a terrorist attack at any moment - and the transition period considered particularly attractive to terrorists - the department needs a new leadership team that can take over almost seamlessly, according to members of the current and incoming teams.

Can they MAKE IT ANY CLEARER to you, s***-chomping 'murkn?

"At the Justice Department you can postpone cases if you have to," said one Obama adviser who asked not to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media. But at Homeland Security, "you have to be operational on day one."

C'mon, Obama, get with it! You are a smart, computer-capable man; you know 9/11 and the "terrorists" is a bunch of hogwash!

.... Obama's homeland security review team, led by Rand Beers, a former Bush administration national security aide and adviser to Senator John F. Kerry's 2004 presidential run, visited the agency's headquarters Nov. 17. It was inundated with briefing books and other materials spelling out the Herculean task ahead, according to officials involved....

Rear Admiral John C. Acton, director of the homeland security presidential transition team, in an interview:

"[What the new team needs most is] correct, accurate information [about the department's operations and a] very candid [assessment of the challenges ahead]."

And that means 9/11 TRUTH, which means NO MORE MASS-MURDERING WARS on INNOCENT PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

--more--"

AmeriKa's MSM Honors Bloggers Over Mumbai Crisis

They don't mean you or me, readers!

"Citizen journalists offer timely, new perspectives on events" by Brian Stelter, New York Times | November 30, 2008

NEW YORK - .... The attacks in India served as another case study in how technology is transforming people into potential reporters. At the peak of the violence, more than one message per second with the word "Mumbai" in it was being posted onto Twitter, a short-message service that has evolved from an oddity to a news platform in two years.

I'm one!! What do you think the blog is?

It is MY "NEWSPAPER!" I'm the EDITOR!

Those descriptions and others on websites and photo-sharing sites served as a chaotic but critically important link among people across the world....

BLOGS!!

******************

For a small segment of the Lubavitch Hasidic community in the United States, Twitter became a way to follow the fate of their rabbi, Gavriel Holtzberg, his wife, Rivka, and their son, who were being held hostage.

(Blog author chuckles here, as he reflects that of course the Zionist-controlled War Daily would have to turn this into a story about Jews)

"I relied on Twitter heavily," said Mordechai Lightstone, 24, a freelance journalist and Lubavitcher with a Twitter account. "It gets frustrating when the news cycles on itself."

It's kind of funny hearing a Zionist say that; it is YOUR GUYS in CONTROL of the LOOP!!!!

Lightstone said that only a week or so ago he persuaded the leaders of his community to use Twitter as a publishing tool.

Why am I now suspect of Twitter? Must control of every communication channel be turned over to Zionists?

Reading Lightstone's posts, as well as those of another Lubavitcher, Reuven Fischer, gave a glimpse into a community fearing for one of its own. Lightstone wrote, "This is pure hearsay, but I was told that the shlucha was rescued - again this unsubstantiated chabad mumbai," using the Yiddish word for the rabbi's wife. As the news that the rabbi and his wife had been killed emerged, and the Sabbath approached, Lightstone and Fischer tempered their sadness with the joy of the day of rest. Fischer wrote: "We should Honor Shabbos with joy this week. We can mourn after Shabbos doing Mitzvot in honor of ALL effected by this tragedy." --more--"

Yeah. Of course, the newspapers never come near the truth blogs. That's what is so startling about comparing the two. Like night versus day.

I would like to add the tremendous bloggers who are INVESTIGATING the TRUTH to the list.

Among them: Divining the News

There Are No Sunglasses

Wake the Flock Up

Wake Up From Your Slumber

Winter Patriot

(Only a partial list; the thank you is extended to all those carrying forth the fight for truth)

Also see: Mumbai Massacre: Is 'India's 9/11' another false flag event

More Theories on Mumbai

India's 9/11. Who was Behind the Mumbai Attacks?

FLASHBACK: Did Mossad attempt to infiltrate Islamic radical outfits in south Asia?

Final MSM Street Sweep on Mumbai

What is so strange is that the MSM is confirming much of what the blogs reported within hours.

"Day of reckoning in India after siege ends; 6 Americans among 195 found dead" by Somini Sengupta and Keith Bradsher, New York Times | November 30, 2008

MUMBAI, India - .... As the reckoning began after the three-day terrorist siege here, questions arose about the apparent failure of Indian authorities to anticipate the attack or respond to it more swiftly....

Perhaps the most troubling question to emerge yesterday for the Indian authorities was how, if official estimates are accurate, 10 gunmen could have caused so much carnage and repelled Indian police officers, paramilitary forces, and soldiers for more than three days in three buildings.

As the investigation continued, it was unclear whether the attackers had collaborators already in the city or whether others in their group had escaped. All told, the gunmen struck 10 sites in bustling south Mumbai. Nine of the gunmen were killed and one was captured, officials said....

Notice how they are trying to leave you with the impression that it was only 10 gunmen? I read somewhere it had to be in the hundreds to take ten sites, so WTF? What gives, MSM?

When the gunmen seized Nariman House, the headquarters of a Jewish religious organization, neighbors mistook the initial shots on Wednesday night for firecrackers to celebrate India's cricket victory over England. But when drunken revelers in a nearby alley began throwing bottles and stones, two attackers stepped onto a balcony of Nariman House and opened fire on passersby.... Contrary to earlier reports, it appeared that Westerners were not the gunmen's main targets. They killed whomever they could....

Well, that is about ALL I NEED!!!!!

--more--"

For a compilation of reports and links, go here and scroll down.

Iran Knows What to Do With Western Intel Assets

Related: Iran Knows What to Do With Spies

"Three to be hanged in mosque bombing" by

TEHRAN - Iran's Revolutionary Court has convicted three men of involvement in a bombing inside a packed mosque that killed 14 people in April and sentenced them to be hanged publicly near the scene of the attack. The court said yesterday that it also found the three men guilty of having links to the United States with orders to destabilize Iran through a campaign of bombings and assassinations. It said they had confessed (AP)."

I've said many times I don't believe in "suiciders," noted mosque bombings, etc, only happen AFTER we get there, and on the stunning and voluminous evidence of western intelligence, false-flag operations and directions. It is sad; however, when you trace back "terrorists" they invariably are FUNDED and DIRECTED by WESTERN GOVERNMENTS -- primarily the United States, United Kingdom, and, yes, Israel!!

Also see: U.S. Government Harbors Terrorist Jundallah

P.J.A.K.

Operation Ajax

Iranian airliner shootdown

M.E.K.

Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against Iran

Terrorism, definition:

"[An] act of terrorism, means any activity that (A) involves a violent act or an act dangerous to human life that is a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or any State, or that would be a criminal violation if committed within the jurisdiction of the United States or of any State; and (B) appears to be intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by assassination or kidnapping."

"The hope that Iranians will blame their own government for their hardships, and that their complaints will influence the regime"

Are we CLEAR?

If a U.S. Missile Lands in Pakistan, Does AmeriKan MSM Make a Sound?

Well, yeah, but it sort of gets lost with the Mumbai operation, huh?

"Pakistan to investigate possible links to attacks; President vows 'swiftest of action'" by Mubashir Zaidi and Laura King, Los Angeles Times | November 30, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - .... Already on the defensive over the Mumbai attacks, Pakistan's government also has been put in an awkward position by a continuing campaign of missile strikes in its tribal areas along the Afghan border, presumably carried out by US forces. Another such strike yesterday killed two people and destroyed a house in the North Waziristan region.

"Presumably?" Well, WHO ELSE COULD IT BE?

WTF?!!! That's "journalism?"

The Pakistani government denies having given a tacit go-ahead for such strikes aimed at militant leaders, but it is suspected of having given the United States quiet approval for the raids by pilotless drones targeting Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders....

"Pakistani officials have made clear that they regard the Predator attacks as a less objectionable violation of Pakistani sovereignty"

Yup, give the go-ahead on the murder of your own people, then pretend it outrages!

Hassan Abbas, a Pakistan scholar who is now a research fellow at Harvard University, told the AP that the army was probably riled by Indian and American media reports suggesting that New Delhi was considering a military response, including air strikes on suspected militant training camps in the portion of Kashmir controlled by Pakistan.

--more--"

And HELLO, WWIII!!!!!!!

Occupation Iraq: U.S. Gets Taste of Own Medicine

Now you a**holes know how the Pakistanis feel!!!

"Rocket attack kills 2 in Green Zone; Earlier, strike hits US compound in Baghdad" by Tina Susman, Los Angeles Times | November 30, 2008

BAGHDAD - A rocket slammed into a compound near the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone yesterday, killing two people in an attack that seemed likely to reflect the anger of Shi'ite militias over a new US-Iraqi security pact.

Late Friday, a rocket hit Camp Victory, the main US military compound in Baghdad, the military announced. Both rocket strikes bore the hallmarks of Shi'ite militia attacks, and the one that targeted the Green Zone was the first reported there in more than a month....

Anytime I see the Zionist MSM using the term "hallmarks" my sniffer starts smelling s***!!!!!

Although Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has held his militia to a cease-fire since August 2007 and said he is focusing its activities on social and educational activities, Sadr also says his "Promised Day Brigade" has the right to attack Americans if they do not leave Iraq....

Not that I want to get picky or anything, but the guy is right!!! When battling an ILLEGAL and WAR CRIMINAL OCCUPATION, the native peoples have a RIGHT to use WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY to EXPEL the INVADERS!

****************

The Green Zone was pummeled by mortar shells and rockets in March and April during fighting that pitted Iraqi and US forces against Shi'ite militiamen. The barrages stopped after Sadr called for a cease-fire.

Notice how the retrospective of the spring doesn't mention all the dead women and children from America and its "ally" government?

Related: Occupation Iraq: Hospital Air Strike

Occupation Iraq: Sadr City Women Speak

Occupation Iraq: A Parent's Story

The US military said Iranian-made rockets had been used in both of the recent attacks, although it gave no details.

Yeah, yeah, I covered that yesterday: Occupation Iraq: Iran Attacks Over Security Pact

A UN spokeswoman said the rocket that hit near the compound struck about 6:15 a.m., killing two and injuring 15. All were workers for a catering company supporting the UN staff in Iraq, and none was Iraqi, she said. She did not give their nationalities.

In what could be read as a show of support for people wary of the security pact, a statement from the office of Iraq's most influential Shi'ite leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said yesterday that there was "concern toward the security pact." Sistani does not involve himself in politics, but his opinions carry great weight because of his religious standing.

If Sistani voices doubts, that "pact" is finito!!!!

The statement said the pact lacked national consensus and was vague on some issues. It said the final judgment on the pact would come from Iraqis, who are to vote on it in a referendum to be held by July 30. If they reject the deal, Iraq's government would be obliged to cancel it or to seek amendments.

Strange how IRAQIS VOTES MATTER while AMERICA'S VOTERS do not, 'eh, American? You voted OUT of this thing YEARS AGO, and we are in deeper than ever!!!!

Sistani's comments are expected to put pressure on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-led government to sell the deal to the public before the referendum.

Talk about a FOOL'S ERRAND!!!!

--more--"

Where There is Oil, There is War

And a Christian/Muslim war to boot? CUI BONO?

"Toll rises to 300 in Nigeria violence; Religious centers, homes burn in sectarian fighting" by Ahmed Saka, Associated Press | November 30, 2008

JOS, Nigeria - Mobs burned homes, churches, and mosques yesterday in a second day of riots, as the death toll rose to more than 300 in the worst sectarian violence in Africa's most populous nation in years.

Sheikh Khalid Abubakar, the imam at the city's main mosque, said more than 300 bodies were brought there yesterday and 183 could be seen near the building waiting to be interred.

Those in the Christian community who were killed would probably not be taken to the city mosque, so the total death toll could be much higher. The city morgue wasn't accessible yesterday.... Red Cross officials estimated that 7,000 people fled their homes because of the fighting and had taken shelter in government buildings and religious centers.

The hostilities mark the worst clashes in the restive West African nation since 2004, when as many as 700 people died in Plateau State during Christian-Muslim clashes. Jos, the capital of Plateau State, has a long history of community violence that has made it difficult to organize voting. More than 1,000 people were killed during rioting in September 2001.

The city is in Nigeria's middle belt, where members of hundreds of ethnic groups commingle in a band of fertile and hotly-contested land that separates the Muslim north from the predominantly Christian south. Authorities imposed an around-the-clock curfew in the hardest-hit areas of the city, where traditionally pastoralist Hausa Muslims live in tense, close quarters with Christians from other ethnic groups.

The fighting began as clashes between supporters of the region's two main political parties after the first local election in the town of Jos in more than a decade. But the violence expanded along ethnic and religious fault lines, with Hausas and members of Christian ethnic groups doing battle.

Angry mobs gathered Thursday in Jos after electoral workers failed to post results in ballot collation centers, prompting many onlookers to assume the vote was the latest in a long line of fraudulent Nigerian elections. Riots flared Friday morning and at least 15 people were killed. Local ethnic and religious leaders made radio appeals for calm yesterday, and streets were mostly empty by early afternoon. Troops were given orders to shoot rioters on sight.

The violence is the worst since the May 2007 inauguration of President Umaru Yar'Adua, who came to power in a vote that observers dismissed as not credible. Few Nigerian elections have been deemed fair since independence from Britain in 1960, and military takeovers have periodically interrupted civilian rule.

About 10,000 Nigerians have died in sectarian violence since civilian leaders took over from a former military junta in 1999. Political strife over local issues is common in Nigeria, where government offices control massive budgets stemming from the country's oil industry.

Violence has flared in the past in Jos, where Muslim herdsmen mix daily with Christian farmers, which can lead to friction over land rights and religion. More than 200 foreign workers have been kidnapped in nearly three years of violence across the oil-rich southern part of Nigeria. The hostages are normally released unharmed after a ransom is paid. --more--"

Romania Rejects Globalists

Hey, nobody likes them. Who embraces a slave master?

They know it, too; they know they have to shove this thing down our throat, that the peoples of the planet wouldn't willingly swallow global governance.

"Romanians to elect new parliament; Vote expected to sting leaders who favor West" by Alison Mutler, Associated Press | November 30, 2008

BUCHAREST - Romanians fearful that the global economic crisis will bring layoffs and painful belt-tightening will elect a new parliament today in a vote expected to deliver a rebuke to pro-Western leaders many see as out of touch.

Just a few weeks ago, Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu suggested publicly that the nation of 22 million was somehow immune to the meltdown gripping the faltering world economy.

Time for another moment Ceasecue, Romanians!

But a string of grim economic news punctured that optimism and has given the left-wing Social Democrats their best chance in years of winning this weekend's elections. Tariceanu's center-right Liberal Party has lagged far behind in recent polls with about 20 percent support.

Gonna be hard to steal that election.

Turnout was expected to be low because of widespread distrust in politicians - perhaps the lowest since a bloody revolt toppled communism in 1989.... Critics of Tariceanu's minority government contend it has exposed Romania to financial disaster through the same freemarket policies that helped bring it into the European Union in 2007.

Mircea Geoana, the leader of the Social Democrats - which includes former Communist Party leaders - has capitalized on fears that years of unprecedented economic growth are giving way to job losses and austerity measures. At least one poll suggested that Geoana's party was surging ahead of President Traian Basescu's centrist Democratic Liberal Party.

It appeared unlikely, however, that the bloc would get enough votes to form a majority, meaning another coalition government is likely.... In the past three years, Romania's economy has grown by a robust 8 percent a year. Wages also have increased, partly because of a flat tax of 16 percent on both personal and corporate income that Tariceanu's Liberals introduced in 2005 to help attract foreign investment.

Maybe we should try that here, America!

The burgeoning economy was boosted by the estimated 2 million Romanians working abroad in menial jobs, particularly in Italy and Spain, who sent home an estimated $9 billion in remittances last year alone.

Translation: Romanian ILLEGALS (maybe not in the EU, but compared to America) are sending money back home like AMERICAN ILLEGALS!!!!

But now, thousands of jobs are in jeopardy as the global crisis increasingly is felt....

--more--"

Government Grenades Bangkok Protesters

To sow chaos with their agent provocateurs.

Related: AmeriKa's Thai Teachers

"Grenade dropped on government protesters in Bangkok; 46 hurt at rally in occupied compound" by Ed Cropley, Reuters | November 30, 2008

BANGKOK - A grenade blast wounded 46 government protesters in Bangkok, hospital officials said yesterday, the latest escalation in the country's increasingly violent political crisis.

The blast occurred about midnight at Government House, where thousands of supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy were attending a rally. The group has occupied the prime minister's compound since August in a bid to unseat him. A spokeswoman for Erawan Medical Center said at least 46 people had been wounded.

Channel 3 television showed footage of the wounded being rushed to hospital in pickup trucks. It said at least two people were in critical condition. "I had come down from the stage about 30 minutes before the grenade dropped into a crowded area," PAD leader Suriyasai Katasila told the station.

He blamed government supporters for the attack, which occurred as the PAD's dramatic blockade of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport entered its fifth day. During yesterday's confrontations at the airport, hundreds of protesters attacked through two police cordons intended to shut them off from supplies. In one attack, the protesters overran a police checkpoint staffed by about 150 riot police, who were forced to flee....

***************

Earlier, about 2,000 PAD members forced riot police to abandon another checkpoint near the airport. There was no violence, but one police officer was detained by PAD "security guards," the Nation newspaper reported on its website.

PAD supporters have vowed to "fight to the death," and youths armed with iron stakes manned barricades, scanning the horizon with binoculars for signs of police or progovernment gangs.

"If they come, we'll not open the door. If they shoot us, we'll shoot them back. We'll die if that makes the country better," PAD leader Sondhi Limthongul told supporters, the most explicit admission yet by the movement that they are armed.... --more--"

Meanwhile, AmeriKans sit on their fat asses watching football.

You are breaking my heart, America.

Whadda ya' mean you don't want to talk about 9/11?

Sarkozy's Slip on China

Related: Of Tibet and Torture

"Sarkozy, Dalai Lama ties fuel China's ire; Scholar: Meeting could hurt trade" by Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press | November 30, 2008

BEIJING - .... Trade retaliation is one of the most potent weapons in China's arsenal, and China's decision to pull out of a summit with the European Union that was to have begun yesterday in France has already prompted hand-wringing among French business leaders.

The Chinese aren't stoo-pid! They know where to hurt you (right in the old pocketbook).

More than 150 Chinese business executives had been expected to meet with European counterparts at an event on the summit's sidelines organized by the French employers' lobby Medef. France has "underestimated China's resolution to protect its sovereignty," said Feng, who is the European studies director at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. Feng's institute is associated closely with the Foreign Ministry.

French leaders want to "play the Tibet card and at the same time maintain good economic trade relations with China, which is very difficult to achieve," Feng said. "China doesn't want the West to think that 'OK, we will meet the Dalai Lama and business will go on as usual,"' he said.

China routinely objects strongly to meetings between foreign leaders and the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet for India in 1959 amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule. However, the summit's cancellation was a dramatic example of the lengths to which Beijing will go in its campaign to isolate the Dalai Lama internationally.

Abortive uprising? My state school told me China INVADED?! (Arrrrgggh)

China's uncompromising attitude toward the Dalai Lama's calls for greater Tibetan autonomy has hardened further since deadly riots broke out in the Himalayan region in March. Those set off the biggest revolt against Chinese rule in decades, to which China responded by flooding Tibetan areas with heavily armed troops.

Yup, and we know who was behind that -- and why !

Also see: Olympic Happiness

While Beijing sought to remain low key and avoid criticism ahead of the Olympics, authorities have since discarded any such restraint, recently vilifying the Dalai Lama and his followers as racist thugs intent on splitting China and returning feudal theocracy to Tibet.

China says Tibet has been part of its territory for 700 years, although many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of that time. Beijing's anger appears to be stoked in part by the fact that the Dalai Lama remains deeply revered among Tibetans and well respected internationally for his commitment to freedom and nonviolence.

Well, I guess you know where the agenda-pushing AmeriKan MSM stands.

Too bad the guy is a FRAUD!!!!

The Dalai Lama blessed a child yesterday upon his arrival in Prague for a meeting with former president Václav Havel. He also had plans to address the Tibet Group in the Czech Parliament. (Petr David Josek/ Associated Press)

I know it is painful, readers; however, the guy is a CIA asset. That explains why the college loved the guy, and the overwhelmingly positive coverage that guy gets in the AmeriKan MSM! Another of life's beliefs is shattered!

The 1989 Nobel Peace Prize recipient has met in recent months with President Bush, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, drawing protests and differing levels of economic and political retaliation from Beijing.

Look at the MAN of PEACE meeting with all the GLOBALIST SCUM!!! Man, is the respect ever fading fast!

Beijing's latest protests have focused attention on pending Chinese orders for Airbus aircraft made by France, with the company forced to deny rumors of cancellations. China's top three airlines are state-owned, and aircraft orders are timed for maximum political effect. --more--"

Yeah, THANK GOD that AMERICA doesn't award contracts based on POLITICS, huh?

(Blog author once again shaking his head at the s*** journalism)

Sri Lankan Surge

Of water!

I must admit a certain neglect for Sri Lanka over the years; the focus of the blog was originally 9/11, get the U.S. out of Iraq, and prevent a stolen election in 2006 (mixed bag). Nevertheless, this brief caught my eye (for many reasons):

"Floods kill seven, displace 88,000

COLOMBO - Floods caused by days of heavy rain killed at least seven people, left four soldiers missing, and displaced 88,000 in insurgency-ravaged northern Sri Lanka. The Disaster Management Center said yesterday that the northern Jaffna peninsula and the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts were inundated and that nearly 8,000 houses have been destroyed (AP)."

Related: Mossad in Sri Lanka

Which sets of alarm bells when it comes to these:

More Female Suiciders in Sri Lanka

Who is Bombing the Buses of Sri Lanka?

And given what went on in India this week, what are we supposed to think?

Obama's Changes

Ah, yes, the times they are a changin'.

"For Obama, a chance to push big changes" by Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff | November 30, 2008

Amid the almost surreal numbers that describe the nation's financial crisis, President-elect Barack Obama and his incoming team are positioned to take advantage of a changed political environment and push for programs and reforms that only a few months ago might have been unimaginable....

But it will NOT be the CHANGE YOU VOTED FOR, America. You know, an end to the wars and that sort of thing. And if it is not a good change.... (shudder)

The projected budget deficit this fiscal year may top $1 trillion - more than double the record - and the national debt has shot up a breathtaking $15 billion per day in the past 10 weeks, to $10.7 trillion and counting, according to the US Treasury's Bureau of the Public Debt.

Mounting job losses in a braking economy have provided an opening for the Democratic president-elect, who will enjoy an expanded partisan majority in both chambers of Congress, to join the ranks of previous presidents who have undertaken major initiatives in bad times. As Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago congressman who will be chief of staff in Obama's White House said recently, "Rule one: Never allow a crisis to go to waste . . . They are opportunities to do big things."

That is just damn spooky!

Rice: 9/11 an “enormous opportunity”

Rumsfeld: "Why Not another 911"

Related: PNAC

Clean Break

Bloggers See Through the Green Fart Mist

Biden Foretells Coming False-Flag Terror Event

***************

Paul C. Light, a professor at New York University's graduate school of public service.... predicted that the stimulus package will include such initiatives as Obama's campaign vow to expand national service programs like AmeriCorps.

Yup, gonna get that DRAFT THROUGH!

Obama has also said his economic team will identify waste and programs that don't work to find savings to offset some of the increases. Light, who has chronicled the growth of the federal bureaucracy under Bush, said Obama may be able to achieve his goal of cutting $40 billion in contractor costs, a modest sum in light of the skyrocketing deficit. By Light's calculations, the Bush administration added 3.2 million contract employees at a cost of $250 billion, mostly for national defense and antiterrorism.

But Light said Obama will not be able to duplicate the Clinton administration's reduction of the federal payroll by almost 400,000 civilian employees because most of those cuts resulted from defense cuts and widespread military base closings after the end of the Cold War.

Stephen J. Wayne, professor of American government at Georgetown University, said the political and economic climate should heighten Obama's clout.

"Presidents have more power during crises when they are elected to fix something," Wayne said. "He should be able to push through a variety of programs when he is the strongest and the fear of not backing him is the greatest. . . . There is a crisis that demands action, and Congress has a lower public approval rating than President Bush, which says something."

Alice M. Rivlin, a Brookings Institution fellow who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget in the first Clinton administration, said Obama should seize the opportunity in this climate to harness the price-setting power of Medicare's single-payer model to increase efficiency and reduce the cost of healthcare, and to insure Social Security's long-term solvency....

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, who has written biographies of FDR and Lincoln, said, "What happens in times of crisis is the president can mobilize the sentiment of the country in a way that goes over the natural competing interests in Congress and the smaller obstacles in the way of change," she said. "It allows you to take much bigger steps." --more--"

You mean, like INVADING IRAQ?

Gee, they told us not to PLAGIARIZE in college, and yet HERE is SOMEONE getting accolades for doing JUST THAT!!!

Lieberman Returns Home

No, no, he didn't go to Israel.

Related: Sealing the Senate

"Lieberman comes home to mend fences with Democrats" by Gregory B. Hladky, Globe Correspondent | November 30, 2008

Mend fences, huh? Why doesn't he just put up a wall?

HARTFORD - US Senator Joe Lieberman made a wary return to his home state last week, his first since winning a reprieve from Senate Democrats and President-elect Barack Obama for the central role he played in John McCain's campaign.

Lieberman was grateful for being allowed to keep his Senate Homeland Security chairmanship but also painfully aware that many Connecticut Democrats aren't ready to forgive what they consider his betrayal of their party.

"I have some very-longtime friends who I understand were disappointed and/or angered by my support of John McCain," Lieberman told reporters at a news conference. In fact, Connecticut's 72-member Democratic State Central Committee will meet a week before Christmas to consider censuring Lieberman.

"I would be very surprised if there wasn't some sort of action," state Democratic chairwoman Nancy DiNardo said in a telephone interview. "There's still a lot of anger out there."

After winning three terms as a Democrat, Lieberman lost the party primary to antiwar candidate Ned Lamont two years ago but went on to win the general election as an independent.

Yeah, about that general election: Stolen Elections: 2006

El STINKO!!!!

He has since continued to caucus with Senate Democrats and has refused calls for him to resign as a member of the Connecticut Democratic Party. Audrey J. Blondin, a Democratic state central committee member from Litchfield, said that her phone has been ringing "off the hook" since Connecticut Democrats learned that Lieberman wouldn't be punished by his Senate colleagues.

"They want something to express their displeasure with what has transpired, " said Blondin, who has proposed a resolution urging Lieberman to resign from the state party. State House Speaker James A. Amann, a Democrat from Milford, said he wishes now that he had not supported Lieberman's run as an independent in 2006.

"If I'd had a crystal ball, I wouldn't have endorsed him," Amann said, while still insisting that Lieberman will "always be my friend." Amann added that, in his eyes, Lieberman's actions during the campaign warranted some kind of party discipline.

"If someone did that in my Democratic House caucus, would I have reappointed him to a committee chairmanship? No," he said. It's not just Democrat voters who are unhappy with Lieberman. Recent state polls show his popularity has sunk to the lowest point since he was first elected to the US Senate in 1988.

A Hartford Courant-University of Connecticut survey conducted in late October found that only 41 percent of those surveyed approved of the way Lieberman was doing his job. Lieberman showed up at the Hartford news conference wearing a holiday-red sweater vest, and was accompanied by his wife, Hadassah. This was his first Connecticut news conference since the election.

"You know, I was hoping that Hadassah's presence would prevent you from asking such a question," Lieberman said when queried about how he could restore his abysmal standing with voters. "I'm just going to do my job. What else can you do? I'm going to continue to do my job and be the best senator I can be for Connecticut," he said.

"I've been in politics long enough to know that polls go up and down. . . . You ultimately have to measure yourself and hope your constituents and history will measure you by what you did."

He sounds exactly like George W. Bush!

And why wouldn't he? Zionism rules their brains!

Lieberman's drastic decline in popularity in Connecticut was triggered by his outspoken support for President Bush on the Iraq war, which fueled Lamont's bid against him in 2006. Last week, Lieberman said he believes the fact that American involvement in Iraq appears to be winding down will eventually remove that conflict "as a divisive issue" for people in his state.

I've heard that so many f***ing times that I don't even hear that anymore.

Sick of the LIES, Joe!

Lieberman reiterated that he has "regrets" about some of the things he said concerning Obama during the "heat of the campaign." But he said he has no intention of resigning his Democratic Party membership. "I think the economic crisis will overwhelm everything else," Lieberman said. And he was fulsome in his praise of Obama's performance as president-elect on economic matters.

Yeah, unless you and your Zio-Con buddies have another go at a false-flag attack on the U.S.!

"I think the president-elect understands that the problems we in America face are just too urgent to allow himself or anybody else the luxury of partisan division," Lieberman said. "We've got to unite."

And what is the BEST WAY to do THAT, huh?

Uniting with Lieberman isn't what's on the minds of some rank-and-file Connecticut Democrats.

"I haven't agreed with him since his choice to become an independent in 2006," Susan Arrigoni of Wallingford said while on a lunch break in downtown Hartford. "I don't think he's good for the Democratic Party." But Arrigoni said she doesn't think Lieberman should be expelled from the party. "I think he should resign on his own."

Joe Carbone, a Democrat from Southington, recalled how enthusiastic he was about Lieberman as the party's vice presidential candidate in 2000. "But the shenanigans he's pulled since then I've not been happy with," he said.

Lieberman's maverick status continues to please some independents.

(Blog author embarrassed that he would expect anything less from the Zionist War Daily)

Cathi Jenssen, an unaffiliated voter of East Lyme, said she still thinks Lieberman is "a good guy." "I think too much importance is placed on parties," she said. "One thing about Joe Lieberman, he's not wishy-washy."

Connecticut Republicans such as state Senate minority leader John McKinney of Fairfield say they are relieved Lieberman wasn't subjected to harsh partisan punishment in the US Senate. "I think he can hopefully play an important role in the US Senate," McKinney said, adding the country needs intermediaries like Lieberman "willing to work with both parties to break impasses."

Yeah, he's gonna be the FILIBUSTER FILTER -- just as he was the DECIDING VOTE on CONTROL of the Senate this last time out! COINICIDENCE?

As for the future, Connecticut politicians in both parties say Lieberman has lots of time to restore his relationship with voters before 2012. "In politics, four years is an eternity," said state Senate majority leader Martin M. Looney, a Democrat of New Haven.

Yeah, but voters tend to NEVER FORGET!

Lieberman, 66, gives no indication that he's contemplating retirement when his term ends: "I always follow the rule that if somebody is an incumbent, you have to assume they're going to run again. And that's my answer."

Oh, I don't expect the Zionist, Israel-first scumbag to vacate of his own accord! Connecticut citizens are going to have to pry that guy loose from the public teat!

--more--"

Connecticut's Good Cop

I'd hate to see what the bad ones are like!

"Conn. officer accused of brutality; Union officials say 'good cop' does some tough work" by John Christoffersen, Associated Press | November 30, 2008

NEW HAVEN - A New Haven police officer is facing two federal lawsuits accusing him of brutality and an illegal strip search, while records show he has been subject to a history of complaints of excessive force.

Union officials call Officer Dennis O'Connell "a good cop" who works in tough, violent neighborhoods. But the coordinator for the department's Civilian Review Board said complaints against O'Connell are high....

The department has a recent history of scandal. Three detectives were sent to prison for planting evidence and stealing money from crime scenes....

So it is NOT JUST HIM, huh?

But you can BELIEVE the COPS no matter what they say!!!!

Pffftt!

--more--"

Boston Cops Never Forget a Face

"Investigators will use hand-held devices and facial recognition software to gather and record information"

Related: The War on AmeriKan Soil

"Police setting up database on gangs; Officers to share reports statewide; System will rate criminal activity" by Jay Atkinson, Globe Correspondent | November 30, 2008

.... Law enforcement investigators across the Commonwealth are soon going to have a new tool to help investigate such incidents. In early January, the Criminal History Systems Board, a state agency responsible for the law enforcement telecommunications network, plans to launch MassGangs, a database that will store information on violent street criminals by describing such factors as associates, criminal history, and tattoos that indicate gang affiliation.

This intelligence system, funded by a $1.2 million Department of Justice grant, will allow investigators to share gang-related information in "real time," adding new data to a gang member's history as it becomes available....

And you know who populates most gangs, readers? ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS!! It is interesting that in this article, the Globe focuses on ASIAN GANGS -- neglecting the Mexican drug-running enterprises.

And why wouldn't they? We all know that illegal drugs are the way the power elite hid ill-gotten gains to use for off-the-budget black-ops and personal enrichment!

Among many other gangs based on ethnicity, there are about 30 Asian gangs like the Piru Bloods operating in Massachusetts, with more than 1,000 members, according to a 2006 study conducted by the Commonwealth Fusion Center and the New England State Police Information Network.

Today, not only in Boston, where neighborhood or "block" gangs predominate, but also in places like Revere, Lynn, Lowell, and many other communities, violent street gangs are a high priority in law enforcement. "Gangs have risen to the number two problem after drugs in the social order," said Lieutenant John Goodwin, 46, gang unit supervisor for the Revere Police Department....

Time to take the DRUGS OUT of our IMMIGRATION WARS!!

Investigators from the State Police, FBI, local police departments, and several other agencies participated in the development of MassGangs, according to Wood. Investigators will use hand-held devices and facial recognition software to gather and record information, he said.

And HOW LONG until the technology is applied to EVERYONE?! That's how it works: they get spying powers to spy on terrorists, and the next thing you know, they are spying on YOU! But the TOTALITARIANISM is always for YOUR OWN GOOD!

--more--"

Maybe if we LEGALIZED the DRUGS and SEALED the BORDER we could KILL TWO BIRDS with ONE STONE, huh? Which is why it DOESN'T HAPPEN!

The Liquidator

He'll be back!!!!

He must have been around here lately; quite a few storefronts uptown and at the malls are EMPTY!!!

"As retailers reel, a call for the liquidators" by Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | November 30, 2008

It was 10 a.m. in Indiana when David Spehar got the call: Tweeter was unraveling fast and he needed to get to Boston immediately. Spehar hopped into his pearl-white Escalade, already packed with laptops, printers, two suitcases, and some "Going out of Business" signs, and drove 15 hours to his bosses' office, Hudson Capital Partners, ready to roll.

Executives at the liquidation firm briefed him on the situation: Tweeter had run out of money. Spehar, nicknamed the "junkyard dog," would lead the effort to shut down the chain's 94 stores nationwide. The going-out-of-business sale would begin the next day.

As the credit crunch and economic slowdown drags down merchant after merchant, liquidators like Hudson Capital are having a banner year. Major retail bankruptcies - more than two dozen so far this year - have tripled compared with last year as merchants who built too many stores and relied heavily on credit have been hit hard. Distressed retailers can't borrow money to finance a turnaround. Potential buyers cannot get loans to purchase floundering chains.

That's when liquidators step in. They typically put up millions of dollars of their own money to buy assets from struggling merchants and guarantee creditors payments upfront, usually as part of a bidding process in bankruptcy court. Spehar is part of the shock troops: They parachute in from anywhere, quickly sell off every asset - sweaters, hangers, delivery trucks, desks at headquarters - and, in a matter of weeks, close for good companies that took decades to build.

But it's not that simple. Liquidators need to motivate employees who are losing their jobs to sell merchandise faster and better than they did when their jobs were safe. Companies like Hudson Capital must price the goods and time the discounts precisely so they can earn the amount they promised - and make a profit. Along the way, they bear the brunt of the anger of employees who see them as vultures finishing off their jobs and irate customers who have lost deposits, and can no longer use gift cards or return merchandise.

Over the past year, Hudson Capital has helped liquidate nearly 2,000 stores - almost 10 times more than in 2007 - from onetime giants such as Linens 'N Things, Steve & Barry's, Tweeter, Mervyn's, and Norwood furniture chain Domain Home.

But, but, but, where am I going to get all my Stephon Marbury jerseys (all apparel made in offshore sweat shops)?

Hudson Capital's sales revenues grew from $450 million to $2 billion. During the past 12 weeks, Hudson Capital has added 100 workers to its staff, mostly in the field, for a total of 200 employees. And the deteriorating economic environment means business could double next year.

Jim Schaye, who launched Hudson Capital in Newton in 2004 with several former colleagues from Gordon Brothers, a major liquidator in Boston, calls his business legitimate, but misunderstood. "We're like a S.W.A.T. team coming in and we get everything cleaned up," said Schaye, who serves as chief executive of Hudson Capital. The firm is one of the industry's biggest firms by number of deals, and a majority of it is owned by a hedge fund.

"I never took enjoyment from walking through an empty store and watching people lose their jobs," Schaye said. "But someone has to do it."

*********************

Inside, Patrick Kavanaugh, the Dedham store manager, said it was shocking and scary when the liquidators first took over. He said the incentives have helped to motivate employees - most are earning more money now than they once received under Tweeter. For example, managers are receiving up to $300 extra weekly based on sales. Other employees are now earning 5 percent of everything they sell, better than the 5 percent of profit under Tweeter.

Well, ENJOY IT while it LASTS, guys, because it WON'T BE FOR LONG!!!

Anyone else OFFENDED that the AGENDA-PUSHING MSM is trying to turn this GOING OUT OF BUSINESS into a POSITIVE?

But the promotions have also changed the ambience in Tweeter. Now, Kavanaugh said, it feels like a Wal-Mart. Spehar keeps on smiling. The job is almost done. He shuttered six stores last weekend, another 20 this weekend, and the last round is next week. Tweeter will close its doors for good next Sunday. Spehar will finish up payroll, hand over the keys, and tie up other loose ends.

And then it's off to the next stop: Wyoming, to take down western clothier Boot Town.

And I will bet they are as happy to see him as you would be to see the cybernetic Arnold asking if you are Sarah Conner, hmmm?

--more--"

Black Sunday

I will preface this post by saying if this had happened as the public was descending upon Congress and demanding an end to the occupations and immediate war crimes trials I would be a proud American. But it's not.

Such sick souls as we did it over SHOPPING!!! What an OUTRAGE!!! And now, one day later, the incident has devolved to a BRIEF!!

Hey, wouldn't want to put a DOWNER on that HOLIDAY SHOPPING SEASON!! That's why the cable tv news is ONE LONG COMMERCIAL for AmeriKa's malls and retailers!!!!

"Police review video in trampling death

NEW YORK - Police were reviewing video from surveillance cameras in an attempt to identify who trampled to death Wal-Mart worker Jdimytai Damour after a crowd of post-Thanksgiving shoppers burst through the doors at a Valley Stream store and knocked him down. Criminal charges were possible, but identifying individual shoppers in Friday's video may prove difficult, said Detective Lieutenant Michael Fleming, a Nassau County police spokesman. Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said. At least four people, including a woman who was eight months' pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries (AP)."

Oooooh, I'm so proud!

"Holiday shopping got strong start, data show" by Ashley M. Heher, Associated Press | November 30, 2008

CHICAGO - The holiday shopping season got off to a surprisingly solid start, according to data released yesterday by a research firm. But the sales boost during the post-Thanksgiving shopathon came at the expense of profits; the nation's retailers had to slash prices to attract the crowds in a season that is expected to be the weakest in decades.

Yeah, except for one guy (actually, make that three -- and their families)! Kinda spoils it for me, sorry!

Sales during the day after Thanksgiving rose 3 percent to $10.6 billion, according to preliminary figures released yesterday by ShopperTrak RCT Corp., a Chicago-based research firm that tracks sales at more than 50,000 retail outlets. Last year, shoppers spent about $10.3 billion on the day after Thanksgiving, dubbed Black Friday because it was historically the sales-packed day when retailers would become profitable for the year.

But this year, many observers were expecting consumers to spend more time browsing than buying, amid contractions in consumer spending and growing fears about economic uncertainty and trouble in the global financial markets.

"Under these circumstances, it's truly amazing when you think about all the news that led into the holiday season, it certainly appears that consumers are willing to spend more than most expected," said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak co-founder.

While it isn't a predictor of overall holiday season sales, Black Friday is an important barometer of people's willingness to spend during the holidays. Last year, it was the biggest sales generator of the season, while the Thanksgiving shopping weekend of Friday through Sunday accounted for about 10 percent of overall holiday sales. --more--"

Yup, that's what the HOLIDAYS -- you know, PEACE on EARTH and GOOD WILL TOWARD FELLOW MAN -- are ALL ABOUT!!!

And why does the paper have to LIE ABOUT CHRISTMAS?!!!!

Black Friday takes a hit from the economy

Why do they have to LIE about EVERYTHING (blog author practically sobbing)??

A Truly Black Friday

I can only conclude that our nation is no longer populated by human beings. It is now populated by selfish, greedy monsters!

"Wal-Mart worker dies in stampede" by Colleen Long, Associated Press | November 29, 2008

NEW YORK - A Wal-Mart worker was killed yesterday after an "out of control" throng of shoppers eager for post-Thanksgiving bargains broke down the doors at a suburban store and knocked him to the ground, police said.

Other workers were trampled as they tried to rescue the man, and customers stepped over him and became irate when officials said the store was closing because of the death, police and witnesses said.

If you needed an example of how heartless Americans are, there it is!

At least four other people, including a woman who was eight months pregnant, were taken to hospitals for observation or minor injuries, and the store in Valley Stream on Long Island closed for several hours. It reopened shortly after 1 p.m.

Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. called the incident a "tragic situation" and said it had tried to prepare for the crowd by adding staffers and outside security workers, putting up barricades and consulting police.

"Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred," senior vice president Hank Mullany said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those impacted."

(Blog author is flabbergasted that extra security, etc, would be needed for SHOPPING! What has our country come to? Have we truly devolved to such a degree?)

Meanwhile, in Palm Dessert, Calif., two people were shot to death in a crowded toy store yesterday in a confrontation apparently involving rival groups, city officials said. Palm Desert Councilman Jim Ferguson said police told him two men with handguns shot and killed each other. --more--"

I'm glad I'm not hitting the malls this year!

I'm one of these:

"Some people sit out the bargains altogether" by Jenn Abelson, Globe Staff | November 29, 2008

LYNN - Call it the Black Friday Boycott.

They are the maxed-out, the debt-ridden, the recently unemployed.

And yesterday, they turned their backs on the annual tradition of lining up at stores for doorbuster deals in the wee hours after Thanksgiving. Instead, they slept late, watched movies, and played with the Wii they bought last year on Black Friday - anything to avoid spending money....

I blogged! :-)

--more--"