http://www.liveleak.com/browse?channel_token=961_1302955621 Items in channel 'joey7chicago' Sun, 26 May 2013 22:55:44 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?channel_token=961_1302955621 Sat, 24 Mar 2012 11:31:02 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=15f_1332602378 joey7chicago From the excellent period documentary on the making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1968). Director George Roy Hill narrates. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=15f_1332602378 joey7chicago How to Film an Explosion Butch Cassidy, George Roy Hill,motion pictures,explosion,Neuman,Redford Sat, 05 Nov 2011 20:56:10 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=33a_1320540866 joey7chicago Back when Playboy featured real women. The busty beauty graced the cover of the men's magazine in December, 1968 - just three months after she turned 18. The Toledo, Ohio native also tried her hand at acting and made appearances on Playboy mogul Hugh Hefner's Playboy After Dark TV series in 1969, before going on to land roles in 1970's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and 1972's Molly and Lawless John. Details about her death have yet to be revealed, but Hefner broke the news on his Twitter.com page on Friday (04 Nov11), writing, "I'm saddened by the news of the passing of beloved Playmate Cynthia http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=33a_1320540866 joey7chicago Playboy Playmate Cynthia Myers Dies - Age 61 Cynthia Myers,Playboy,Playmate,Boobs,Natural Sun, 30 Oct 2011 10:09:39 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f9d_1319983172 joey7chicago In response to j00nero's recent post. Thanks. The still photos are the executioner in the printed interview. The video is a different executioner. JEDDAH, 5 June 2003 - Saudi Arabia's leading executioner Muhammad Saad Al-Beshi will behead up to seven people in a day. "It doesn't matter to me: Two, four, 10 - As long as I'm doing God's will, it doesn't matter how many people I execute," he told Okaz newspaper in an interview. He started at a prison in Taif, where his job was to handcuff and blindfold the prisoners before their execution. "Because of this background, I developed a desire to be an executioner," he says. He applied for the job and was accepted. His first job came in 1998 in Jeddah. "The criminal was tied and blindfolded. With one stroke of the sword I severed his head. It rolled meters away." Of course he was nervous, then, he says, as many people were watching, but now stage fright is a thing of the past. He says he is calm at work because he is doing God's work. "But there are many people who faint when they witness an execution. I don't know why they come and watch if they don't have the stomach for it. "Me? I sleep very well," he adds. Does he think people are afraid of him? "In this country we have a society that understands God's law," he says. "No one is afraid of me. I have a lot of relatives, and many friends at the mosque, and I live a normal life like everyone else. There are no drawbacks for my social life." Before an execution, nonetheless, he will go to the victim's family to obtain forgiveness for the criminal. "I always have that hope, until the very last minute, and I pray to God to give the criminal a new lease of life. I always keep that hope alive." Al-Beshi will not reveal how much he gets paid per execution as this is a confidential agreement with the government. But he insists that the reward is not important. "I am very proud to do God's work," he reiterates. However, he does reveal that a sword will cost something in the region of SR20,000. "It's a gift from the government. I look after it and sharpen it once in a while, and I make sure to clean it of bloodstains. "It's very sharp. People are amazed how fast it can separate the head from the body." By the time the victims reach the execution square they have surrendered themselves to death, he says, though they may hope to be forgiven at the last minute. "Their hearts and minds are taken up with reciting the Shahada." The only conversation with the prisoner is when he tells him to say the Shahada. "When they get to the execution square, their strength drains away. Then I read the execution order, and at a signal I cut the prisoner's head off." He has executed numerous women without hesitation, he explains. "Despite the fact that I hate violence against women, when it comes to God's will, I have to carry it out." There is no great difference between executing men and women, except that the women wear hijab, and nobody is allowed near them except Al-Beshi himself when the time for execution comes. When executing women he will use either gun or sword. "It depends what they ask me to use. Sometimes they ask me to use a sword and sometimes a gun. But most of the time I use the sword," he adds. As an experienced executioner, 42-year-old Al-Beshi is entrusted with the task of training the young. "I successfully trained my son Musaed, 22, as an executioner and he was approved and chosen," he says proudly. Training focuses on the way to hold the sword and where to hit, and is mostly through observing the executioner at work. An executioner's life, of course, is not all killing. Sometimes it can be amputation of hands and legs. "I use a special sharp knife, not a sword," he explains. "When I cut off a hand I cut it from the joint. If it is a leg the authorities specify where it is to be taken off, so I follow that." Al-Beshi describes himself as a family man. Married before he became an executioner, his wife did not object to his chosen profession. "She only asked me to think carefully before committing myself," he recalls. "But I don't think she's afraid of me," he smiles. "I deal with my family with kindness and love. They aren't afraid when I come back from an execution. Sometimes they help me clean my sword." A father of seven, he is a proud grandfather already. "I have a married daughter who has a son. He is called Haza, and he's my pride and joy. And then there are my sons. The oldest one is Saad, and of course there is Musaed, who'll be the next executioner," he adds. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f9d_1319983172 joey7chicago Life of a Saudi Excetioner saudi,execution,beheading Fri, 28 Oct 2011 23:31:06 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=53a_1319858872 joey7chicago DEADLY surface-to-air missiles from Col Gaddafi's weapons cache could fall into the hands of al-Qaeda, British military commanders fear. The Libyan civil war has left the country awash with the rockets which are able to down a jet liner or a British helicopter. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=53a_1319858872 joey7chicago Gaddafi's Weapon Stockpiles found Unguarded in Libyan Desert Gadaffi,Libya,Weapons Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:14:47 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fdd_1319847188 joey7chicago 10/28/2011 NYT WASHINGTON - Despite a pledge not to take money from lobbyists, Obama has relied on prominent supporters who are active in the lobbying industry to raise millions of dollars for his re-election bid. At least 15 of Obama's "bundlers" - supporters who contribute their own money to his campaign and solicit it from others - are involved in lobbying for Washington consulting shops or private companies. They have raised more than $5 million so far for the campaign. Because the bundlers are not registered as lobbyists with the Senate, the Obama campaign has managed to avoid running afoul of its self-imposed ban on taking money from lobbyists. But registered or not, the bundlers are in many ways indistinguishable from people who fit the technical definition of a lobbyist. They glide easily through the corridors of power in Washington, with a number of them hosting Obama at fund-raisers while also visiting the White House on policy matters and official business. As both a candidate and as president, Obama has vowed to curb what he calls the corrupting influence of lobbyists, barring them not only from contributing to his campaign but also from holding jobs in his administration. While lobbyists grouse about the rules, ethics watchdogs credit the changes with raising ethical standards in Washington. But the prevalence of major Obama fund-raisers who also work in the lobbying arena threatens to undercut the president's ethics push, raising questions about whether the campaign's policies square with its on-the-ground practices, some of those same watchdogs say. "It's a legitimate concern," said Craig Holman, a registered lobbyist for "Public Citizen", a "nonpartisan" ethics group in Washington. "The campaign has to draw the line somewhere, but the reality is that the president is still relying on wealthy special interests and embracing those people in his campaign." Take Sally Susman. An executive at the drug-maker Pfizer, she has raised more than $500,000 for the president's re-election and helped organize a $35,800-a-ticket dinner that Obama attended in Manhattan in June. At the same time, she leads Pfizer's powerful lobbying shop, and she has visited the White House four times since 2009 - twice on export issues. But under the byzantine rules that govern federal lobbying, Ms. Susman has not registered with the Senate as a lobbyist. Nor has David L. Cohen, who oversees lobbying at the Comcast Corporation and is also a member of Obama's exclusive $500,000 bundling club. At a June fund-raiser in the backyard of his Philadelphia home, Mr. Cohen hosted the president and some 120 guests who paid at least $10,000 each to attend; Mr. Obama called Mr. Cohen and his wife "great friends." As a matter of policy, Obama's re-election campaign goes beyond what campaign law requires by refusing contributions from any "individual registered as a federal lobbyist." Registered lobbyists are not even allowed inside his fund-raising events, and the campaign routinely returns checks from those trying to contribute. Republican candidates, in contrast, have placed no restrictions at all on accepting lobbyists' money. Mitt Romney had a closed-door fund-raiser just this week in Washington at the American Trucking Associations that was expected to include many K Street lobbyists. The Obama campaign, which raised a huge $43 million last quarter, would not specifically discuss its fund-raisers who work in lobbying. Most of the bundlers themselves also declined to comment, referring questions to the campaign. Through interviews and public records, The New York Times identified at least 15 major fund-raisers for the Obama campaign who have been involved in different aspects of the lobbying and influence industry, representing a range of corporate interests from telecommunications and high-tech software to Wall Street finance, international commerce and pharmaceuticals. While none of the bundlers is currently registered as a federal lobbyist, at least four of them have been in the past. And a number of the bundlers work for prominent lobbying and law firms, including Greenberg Traurig and Blank Rome. Although Obama has helped make lobbying something of a dirty word in Washington - most firms refer to it by the euphemism of "government affairs" - that has not stopped a number of his fund-raisers from advertising their access to power brokers as they seek out clients. Alex Heckler, for instance, runs a Florida consulting firm he founded, LSN Partners, which boasts of its ability to "win results for our clients" at the national, state and local levels and to tap into "a strong national network of lobbying firms" through its contacts with "key decision makers." Mr. Heckler, a noted Democratic fund-raiser in Florida who raised money for the presidential bids of Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, has already brought in at least $200,000 for the Obama campaign, records show. (The campaign uses only broad dollar ranges for the money raised by its bundlers, and it declined to provide more precise data.) Likewise, Andy Spahn, owner of a government relations company in Los Angeles, tells visitors to his Web site about its "extensive relationships in Washington, D.C.," and elsewhere in advocating for "high net-worth individuals," corporations, nonprofit groups and others. Mr. Spahn, who made his name doing lobbying work for DreamWorks film studio and was appointed by Obama to a presidential committee on the arts, has raised at least $500,000 for the president's re-election. And Michael Kempner, who has also brought in at least $500,000 for the campaign, runs a team of Washington lobbyists at his New Jersey firm, MWW Group, who, according to its promotional material, use their "important relationships with both the Democratic and Republican leadership" to wield influence for their private sector clients. Seven of the lobbyists he employs are registered in Washington, but Mr. Kempner, the chief executive at the firm, is not. The Obama campaign declined requests to discuss specific fund-raisers and their ties to lobbying work. Ben LaBolt, a campaign spokesman, stressed in a statement that "the president has fought to limit the outsized influence that lobbyists have over the policy making process, passing laws that promote reform and disclosure and establishing rules ensuring that industry lobbyists can't come into the government to oversee the industry for which they used to work." He said that while Republican candidates were actively raising money from their groups, Obama "drew a bright line" by "rejecting" contributions both from political action committees and from "Washington lobbyists whose job it is to "influence federal policymakers"." The hypocrisy between Obama's public stance on lobbyists and his use of fund-raisers who are active in the lobbying industry rests in part on the ambiguity in the law over who must register as a federal lobbyist. Under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, the complicated rules define lobbying in part as "active" or "direct" contacts meant to influence a public official, but they exclude "routine" contacts meant to simply gather information. The rules also take into account a variety of specific criteria, including how much time is spent advocating for a particular client, how much is paid, and which government officials are contacted. Obama has run into political problems before over the question of who should be considered a lobbyist under his ethics restrictions. Just weeks after the inauguration, in fact, Obama's first pick as Health and Human Services secretary - former Senator Tom Daschel of South Dakota - came under attack for acting as a highly paid "strategic adviser" to clients looking to influence government policy but failing to register as a lobbyist. (His nomination was ultimately withdrawn.) More controversy came last year over the White House's informal contacts with lobbyists. The administration drew criticism over reports that White House officials were routinely sitting down with registered lobbyists at off-site locales, like a nearby Caribou Coffee shop, for meetings that would not show up on official White House visitor logs. Some Washington lobbyists suggest that the Obama administration's tough public stance against lobbyists has served only to discourage those active in the lobbying industry from registering as lobbyists in the Senate. "What all this rhetoric does is to drive lobbying even further into the shadows," said a Democratic lobbyist who works frequently with the administration but spoke on the condition of anonymity. "Obama will not take money from registered lobbyists like me," the lobbyist said with some bitterness, "but that doesn't mean that he won't take money from people who are lobbying. There's a big difference." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fdd_1319847188 joey7chicago Hypocrisy? Obama Backers Tied to Lobbyists Obama,cash,hypocrisy Thu, 27 Oct 2011 00:20:17 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1bc_1319688893 joey7chicago By Chika Oduah 4:38 PM on 10/26/2011 Conservative activist Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani, chairman of the right wing blog ragingelephants.org, called the Democrats a racist party of the Klu Klux Klan at a Houston Tea Party rally. "They're the racists, not us," he said alluding to the Democratic party's past affiliation with Jim Crow and segregation. The words were spoken at an event sponsored by the Clear Lake Tea Party where Herman Cain was the keynote speaker. Cain took the stage after Kamau-Imani and has not condoned nor condemned Kamau-Imani's comments. "Our campaign is all about promoting civil dialogue -- while there may be differences of opinion on a wide variety of topics, we believe in never being disagreeable," Cain's spokesman toldNBC News. Kamau-Imani continued with his comments, name-calling prominent individuals. "Somebody needs to get in Al 'Shakedown' Sharpton's face and call him a liar. Somebody needs to get in Cornell West's face and call him a bald face gap tooth liar." And that's not all. "Somebody needs to get in front of Jesse 'castration' Jackson and call him a liar." Cain was not in attendance while Claver was speaking and his spokesman said he does not think the presidential hopeful was aware of Kamau-Imani's contentious remarks. Other Tea Partiers spoke at the event as Cain autographed copies of his newly-released memoir, This is Herman Cain!: My Journey to the White House. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1bc_1319688893 joey7chicago Black Conservative at Cain Event Calls Dems 'Party of KKK' Apostle Claver Kamau-Imani,kkk,Democratic Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:22:35 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9be_1319152520 joey7chicago Elder stateswoman of world superpower. -uh huh. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9be_1319152520 joey7chicago Hillary Clinton: Mission Accomplished Hilary Clinton, Qaddafi, embarrassment Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:14:35 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a2a_1319068937 joey7chicago Video: Sheriff Matt Lutz and wildlife expert Jack Hanna on the situation in Ohio Police have shot and killed dozens of exotic animals that escaped from a private zoo in Zanesville, Ohio. Sheriff Matt Lutz said he personally gave the order to shoot the escaped animals, including grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, tigers and lions. On Wednesday, Mr Lutz said police believe they have now accounted for all 56 animals except one monkey. The animals' owner, Terry Thompson, was found dead at the zoo, and police believe he killed himself. Mr Lutz said a preliminary investigation suggested Mr Thompson left fences open at the farm. 'Incredibly dangerous'Officials said the "volatile situation" of animals escaping from the 73-acre (29-hectare) Muskingum County Animal Farm and the approach of nightfall on Tuesday had prompted the shoot-to-kill order. Forty-eight of the 56 animals were then shot dead on the sheriff's orders. Among those killed were 17 lions and 18 Bengal tigers. US nature TV host Jack Hanna said the killing of the tigers was especially tragic as there were only about 1,400 remaining in the world. Six animals - three leopards, one grizzly bear and two monkeys - were captured and have been sent to the nearby Columbus Zoo. One wolf was also found dead, leaving just a monkey unaccounted for. Staff from the nearby Columbus Zoo were called on to tranquilise the roaming animals. Mr Hanna, a former director of Columbus Zoo, in the nearby Ohio state capital, said tranquilising animals in the dark was incredibly dangerous, and told reporters that "the sheriff did the right thing". "You cannot tranquilise an animal like this, a bear or a leopard or a tiger ," Mr Hanna told ABC before the news conference. "If you do that, the animal gets very excited, it goes and hides, and then we have in danger of losing their life, and other people." Lax regulationMr Hanna said the scope of the event was immense. "This is like Noah's Ark wrecking here in Zanesville," he said. Overnight, police have urged people in Zanesville to stay indoors and flashing signs along nearby highways told motorists: "Caution exotic animals" and "Stay in vehicle". Several local school districts cancelled classes. "We didn't want kids waiting by the bus stop and seeing these big animals," Mr Lutz said. Police have several suspects in custody after they attempted to steal one of the animals Tuesday evening. Another animal was struck by a car on a nearby highway. Ohio has some of America's most lax regulation of exotic pets, reports say - and some of the country's highest rates of injuries and deaths caused by them. In 2010, an animal caretaker was killed by a bear at a property in Cleveland. The death was eventually ruled a workplace accident. Sheriff Lutz said his office began getting phone calls at about 17:30 local time (21:30 GMT) on Tuesday, saying animals were loose on a road just west of the town. Four armed deputies were dispatched to the zoo, where they found Mr Thompson's body and the animal cages open. Several aggressive animals found near the body were shot, Mr Lutz said. Mr Mr Thompson had been released from federal prison three weeks earlier after serving a one-year term on firearms charges, according to the AFP news agency.His farm was reportedly raided June 2008, seizing more than 100 guns. A local resident, Bill Weiser, said Mr Thompson had been a colourful character who flew planes, raced boats and owned a custom motorcycle shop which also sold guns. "He was pretty unique," Mr Weiser told AP. "He had a different slant on things. I never knew him to hurt anybody, and he took good care of the animals." said his main concern was protecting the public in the largely rural area."This is a bad situation," Mr Lutz said. "It's been a situation for a long time." Federal Division of Wildlife officers were drafted in to help with the situation, a local official said. A neighbour of Mr Thompson, Danielle White, said he had been in legal trouble, and police said he had recently been released from jail. A colourful character"He was in hot water because of the animals, because of permits, and escaping all the time," Ms White said. A few weeks ago, she said, she had to avoid some camels grazing on the side of a freeway. "He was in hot water because of the animals, because of permits, and escaping all the time," Ms White said. A few weeks ago, she said, she had to avoid some camels grazing on the side of a freeway. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a2a_1319068937 joey7chicago Ohio Police hunt mass escape of exotic animals including 17 lions and 18 bengal tigers. zoo, animal escape, lion, tiger, escape, suicide Sun, 09 Oct 2011 15:29:18 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=25c_1318187912 joey7chicago The New York TimesBy CHARLIE SAVAGE Published: October 8, 2011 WASHINGTON - The Obama administration's secret legal memorandum that opened the door to the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki , the American-born radical Muslim cleric hiding in Yemen , found that it would be lawful only if it were not feasible to take him alive, according to people who have read the document. The memo, written last year, followed months of extensive interagency deliberations and offers a glimpse into the legal debate that led to one of the most significant decisions made by President Obama - to move ahead with the killing of an American citizen without a trial. The secret document provided the justification for acting despite an executive order banning assassinations, a federal law against murder, protections in the Bill of Rights and various strictures of the international laws of war, according to people familiar with the analysis. The memo, however, was narrowly drawn to the specifics of Mr. Awlaki's case and did not establish a broad new legal doctrine to permit the targeted killing of any Americans believed to pose a terrorist threat. The Obama administration has refused to acknowledge or discuss its role in the drone strike that killed Mr. Awlaki last month and that technically remains a covert operation. The government has also resisted growing calls that it provide a detailed public explanation of why officials deemed it lawful to kill an American citizen, setting a precedent that scholars, rights activists and others say has raised concerns about the rule of law and civil liberties. But the document that laid out the administration's justification - a roughly 50-page memorandum by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, completed around June 2010 - was described on the condition of anonymity by people who have read it. The legal analysis, in essence, concluded that Mr. Awlaki could be legally killed, if it was not feasible to capture him, because intelligence agencies said he was taking part in the war between the United States and Al Qaeda and posed a significant threat to Americans, as well as because Yemeni authorities were unable or unwilling to stop him. The memorandum, which was written more than a year before Mr. Awlaki was killed, does not independently analyze the quality of the evidence against him. The administration did not respond to requests for comment on this article. The deliberations to craft the memo included meetings in the White House Situation Room involving top lawyers for the Pentagon, State Department, National Security Council and intelligence agencies. It was principally drafted by David Barron and Martin Lederman, who were both lawyers in the Office of Legal Counsel at the time, and was signed by Mr. Barron. The office may have given oral approval for an attack on Mr. Awlaki before completing its detailed memorandum. Several news reports before June 2010 quoted anonymous counterterrorism officials as saying that Mr. Awlaki had been placed on a kill-or-capture list around the time of the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner on Dec. 25, 2009. Mr. Awlaki was accused of helping to recruit the attacker for that operation. Mr. Awlaki, who was born in New Mexico, was also accused of playing a role in a failed plot to bomb two cargo planes last year, part of a pattern of activities that counterterrorism officials have said showed that he had evolved from merely being a propagandist - in sermons justifying violence by Muslims against the United States - to playing an operational role in Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula 's continuing efforts to carry out terrorist attacks. Other assertions about Mr. Awlaki included that he was a leader of the group, which had become a "cobelligerent" with Al Qaeda, and he was pushing it to focus on trying to attack the United States again. The lawyers were also told that capturing him alive among hostile armed allies might not be feasible if and when he were located. Based on those premises, the Justice Department concluded that Mr. Awlaki was covered by the authorization to use military force against Al Qaeda that Congress enacted shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 - meaning that he was a lawful target in the armed conflict unless some other legal prohibition trumped that authority. It then considered possible obstacles and rejected each in turn. Among them was an executive order that bans assassinations. That order, the lawyers found, blocked unlawful killings of political leaders outside of war, but not the killing of a lawful target in an armed conflict. A federal statute that prohibits Americans from murdering other Americans abroad, the lawyers wrote, did not apply either, because it is not "murder" to kill a wartime enemy in compliance with the laws of war. But that raised another pressing question: would it comply with the laws of war if the drone operator who fired the missile was a Central Intelligence Agency official, who, unlike a soldier, wore no uniform? The memorandum concluded that such a case would not be a war crime, although the operator might be in theoretical jeopardy of being prosecuted in a Yemeni court for violating Yemen's domestic laws against murder, a highly unlikely possibility. Then there was the Bill of Rights: the Fourth Amendment 's guarantee that a "person" cannot be seized by the government unreasonably, and the Fifth Amendment 's guarantee that the government may not deprive a person of life "without due process of law." The memo concluded that what was reasonable, and the process that was due, was different for Mr. Awlaki than for an ordinary criminal. It cited court cases allowing American citizens who had joined an enemy's forces to be detained or prosecuted in a military court just like noncitizen enemies. It also cited several other Supreme Court precedents, like a 2007 case involving a high-speed chase and a 1985 case involving the shooting of a fleeing suspect, finding that it was constitutional for the police to take actions that put a suspect in serious risk of death in order to curtail an imminent risk to innocent people. The document's authors argued that "imminent" risks could include those by an enemy leader who is in the business of attacking the United States whenever possible, even if he is not in the midst of launching an attack at the precise moment he is located. There remained, however, the question of whether - when the target is known to be a citizen - it was permissible to kill him if capturing him instead were a feasible way of suppressing the threat. Killed in the strike alongside Mr. Awlaki was another American citizen, Samir Khan, who had produced a magazine for Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula promoting terrorism. He was apparently not on the targeting list, making his death collateral damage. His family has issued a statement citing the Fifth Amendment and asking whether it was necessary for the government to have "assassinated two of its citizens." "Was this style of execution the only solution?" the Khan family asked in its statement. "Why couldn't there have been a capture and trial?" Last month, President Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan , delivered a speech in which he strongly denied the accusation that the administration had sometimes chosen to kill militants when capturing them was possible, saying the policy preference is to interrogate them for intelligence. The memorandum is said to declare that in the case of a citizen, it is legally required to capture the militant if feasible - raising a question: was capturing Mr. Awlaki in fact feasible? It is possible that officials decided last month that it was not feasible to attempt to capture him because of factors like the risk it could pose to American commandos and the diplomatic problems that could arise from putting ground forces on Yemeni soil. Still, the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan demonstrates that officials have deemed such operations feasible at times. Last year, Yemeni commandos surrounded a village in which Mr. Awlaki was believed to be hiding, but he managed to slip away. The administration had already expressed in public some of the arguments about issues of international law addressed by the memo, in a speech delivered in March 2010 by Harold Hongju Koh, the top State Department lawyer. The memorandum examined whether it was relevant that Mr. Awlaki was in Yemen, far from Afghanistan. It concluded that Mr. Awlaki's geographical distance from the so-called hot battlefield did not preclude him from the armed conflict; given his presumed circumstances, the United States still had a right to use force to defend itself against him. As to whether it would violate Yemen's sovereignty to fire a missile at someone on Yemeni soil, Yemen's president secretly granted the United States that permission , as secret diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks have revealed. The memorandum did assert that other limitations on the use of force under the laws of war - like avoiding the use of disproportionate force that would increase the possibility of civilian deaths - would constrain any operation against Mr. Awlaki. That apparently constrained the attack when it finally came. Details about Mr. Awlaki's location surfaced about a month ago, American officials have said, but his hunters delayed the strike until he left a village and was on a road away from populated areas. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=25c_1318187912 joey7chicago Obama administration's secret memorandum authorized killing of American-born Muslim without trial. Obama,Anwar al-Awlaki Sat, 08 Oct 2011 20:53:29 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=742_1318121270 joey7chicago A group of polar bears have attacked a small town in Russia's Far East. Witnesses insist one person was eaten alive - and have pictures of her picked-over remains. Meanwhile, more attacks are reported to have taken place. A horrifying video was uploaded to the internet in the RU zone by the user x25rus showing polar bears attacking people in a small town in Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Region. The bears appeared to be living in abandoned houses and were roaming the town in small groups of five. At the end of August, the animals were chased away from the town, but not before local people had endured a living hell at the hands of the unwelcome guests. This video shows a young woman, apparently drunk and on the of relieving herself near an abandoned house. Suddenly, a bear attacks. Passersby shouts to the girl to run away. Then they start throwing bottles at the bear in the hope of saving the girl's life. It works - the bear runs off and leaves his victim alive, though badly injured. According to Rosbalt, on August 19 a bear killed a man in the town, causing widespread fury. Local people hunted down and killed three bears found wandering the streets. The bears first appeared in the locality in the middle of August and settled in an abandoned house which had once served as a pigsty. On September 19, a town-dweller, Stanislav Ettuvge, 32, was heading to work when he was suddenly attacked by a bear. Townspeople shot dead and killed both the bear that had attacked Stanislav and the one that mauled the young woman, together with a bear cub. The remaining bears fled the town. Source: http://rt.com/news/bear-attack-victim-russia-863/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=742_1318121270 joey7chicago Polar bears attack small town in Northeastern Russia - Video Russia,Polar Bear,animal attack,Chukotka Fri, 30 Sep 2011 18:48:11 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=285_1317421944 joey7chicago By Pete Williams. Is it legal for the federal government to kill a U.S. citizen overseas, someone who has never been charged or convicted of a crime? Civil liberties groups are condemning the killing of Anwar al-Awlaki. No U.S. court has ever weighed in on the ques consider these sorts of issues exclusively matters for the president. Anwar al-Awlaki's father, Nasser, with the help of the ACLU, sued President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and CIA Director Leon Panetta a year ago, when it became clear that the U.S. was targeting the younger al-Awlaki. But U.S. District Judge John Bates threw the case out , ruling that federal courts were in no position to evaluate whether someone was a terrorist whose activities threatened national security and against whom the use of deadly force could be justified."This court recognizes the somewhat unsettling nature of its conclusion -- that there are circumstances in which the executive's unilateral decision to kill a U.S. citizen overseas is 'constitutionally committed to the political branches' and judicially unreviewable," Bates said, quoting an earlier decision on a similar issue. The ACLU lawyer who handled the case, Jameel Jaffer, said Friday that the U.S. program that targeted al-Awlaki was a violation of both U.S. and international law."The government's authority to use lethal force against its own citizens should be limited to circumstances in which the threat to life is concrete, specific and imminent. It is a mistake to invest the president, any president, with the unreviewable power to kill any American whom he deems to present a threat to the country," Jaffer said. But Kenneth Anderson, an international law scholar at American University's Washington College of Law, said U.S. citizens who take up arms with an enemy force have been considered legitimate targets through two world wars, even if they are outside what is traditionally considered the battlefield."Where hostiles go, there is the possibility of hostilities. The U.S. has never accepted the proposition that if you leave the active battlefield, suddenly you are no longer targetable," Anderson said. In early 2010, the director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, told a congressional hearing that the U.S. was prepared to kill Americans affiliated with al-Qaida, without mentioning al-Awlaki by name."If we think that direct action will involve killing an American, we get specific permission to do that," by which he meant authority from the executive branch, not the courts. Blair said the military and intelligence agencies had authority to kill U.S. citizens abroad who were engaged in terrorism if their activities threatened Americans. Since then, U.S. officials have said that al-Awlaki's role in al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) had shifted from propagandist to operational tactician and strategist. The State Department's senior legal adviser, Harold Koh, plainly stated last year the Obama administration's view that it had authority to undertake drone attacks in countries where al-Qaida operatives were located."The U.S. is in armed conflict with al-Qaida as well as the Taliban and associated forces in response to the horrific acts of 9-11 and may use force consistent with its right to self-defense under international law," Koh said in a speech to a Washington legal symposium. Though he did not specifically address the issue of targeting Americans, many legal scholars believe his speech was an implicit statement that U.S. citizens could be legitimate targets.Robert Chesney, an expert on international law at the University of Texas School of Law, concluded in a recent law review article that al-Awlaki could be legally killed "if he is in fact an operational leader within AQAP, as this role would render him a functional combatant in an organized armed group." Anderson, of American University's law school, said it's important to note that al-Awlaki was not targeted because of his role as an al-Qaida propagandist. "The U.S. is not justifying this on the basis that it's going after him for incitement. He was being targeted because he had gone operational," Anderson said, adding that he believed the killing was entirely legal. "My view of this targeted killing is straightforwardly, congratulations, Mr. President," he said. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=285_1317421944 joey7chicago Can U.S. legally kill a citizen overseas without due process? Obama,CIA-Al-Qaida,Law,Anwar Al-Awlaki Fri, 26 Aug 2011 20:46:27 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=222_1314405445 joey7chicago In response to K57 (thanks). Rickles's opening monologue from a guest-host stint on Carson's Tonight Show. Two Parts - sorry for quality (not my capture). Enjoy. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=222_1314405445 joey7chicago Don Rickles Hosts The Tonight Show 1978 - Monologue Don Rickles,Tonight Show, Johnny Carson, TV, classic