http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=gamut Mon, 20 May 2013 23:20:35 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=gamut Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:00:08 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=73b_1365544480 Setright by Giuliana Sgrena, April 09, 2013 Tunisian families have begun to dread knocks on their doors, or late-night phone calls, fearing that the messenger will bear the news that their son has been smuggled out of the country to join the "jihad" in Syria. Families here told IPS that they have no way of contacting their sons once they leave - whether by choice or coercion they will never know - for the warring nation nearly 3,000 miles away. At most, family members receive an inaudible telephone call from Libya, where the soon-to-be militants are trained, the muffled voice on the other end of the line saying a quiet and final goodbye. After that point, no news is good news. If they are contacted again, it will only be an anonymous caller announcing the death of a son, brother or husband, adding that the family should be proud of their martyred loved one. The next day, the family might find a CD, slipped under the door, containing filmed footage of the burial. There are no reliable data on exactly when young Tunisian men began rushing to join the Free Syrian Army, currently engaged in a battle to depose Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, but experts and civil society activists are agreed on one thing: the number is increasing. On Mar. 29, local sources reported that between 6,000 and 10,000 men have left the country, while the Algerian press say the number could be closer to 12,000. Families tell IPS the self-proclaimed jihadists leave in secret, often under cover of darkness, and change their names en route so that Facebook and internet searches yield no results. They believe mosques and charity organisations serve as fronts for this "recruitment" process. Widely considered the cradle of the Arab Spring, Tunisia has gained a reputation as a progressive country, bolstered by the strong democratic current that toppled former dictator Zine Abadine Ben Ali in January 2011. The election of the moderate Islamist party Ennahda in October 2011 further raised hopes that the country would stay on track towards a more inclusive future. But beneath the moderate veneer, a strong ultra-conservative undercurrent remained, steered by Salafist-controlled mosques - like Fath, Ennassr, Ettadhamen, and the great mosque of Ben Arous located on the outskirts of Tunis - that are now serving as headquarters for the smuggling of fighters. A true revolution is made by the people, not by jihadis coming from other countries. The imams of these mosques often hail from the Gulf and are skilled at convincing young men - who run the gamut from poor, uneducated Tunisians, to wealthy professionals - that they must "help their Syrian brothers" in the "jihad" against Assad. Charity organisations like Karama wa Horrya, Arrahma, Horrya wa Insaf, which provide basic humanitarian assistance to the poor, also play a role in this network that gathers able-bodied Tunisians, transports them to Libya and then, after a brief stop in Turkey, sends them onwards to the frontlines of the Syrian war such as the north-western border with Lebanon, and the city of Aleppo. Young fighters' first point of contact in Syria is with the Jabhat al Nusra (meaning the 'Support Front for the People of Syria'), considered the most aggressively militant arm of the FSA. Beyond these vague details, very little is known about the actual recruitment process. The only credible information comes from wounded jihadis who are sent back to Tunisia if their injuries have resulted in handicaps that render them unfit for battle. Most die in the fighting and those that return are often too afraid to speak of their experiences. Tunisian youth, who played a crucial role in the 2011 revolution here, have conflicting views about the Syrian uprising, and their countrymen's participation in it. For some, like Semi Ghesmi, elected representative of the technological department of the National Student Union, Syrians are engaged in an outright jihad in the strictly religious sense of the term, meaning a battle between "good" Muslims and "kafirs", or infidels. In this war, the FSA has the moral highground and must be supported. Others like Nassira, a student at the Manouba University in Tunis, say the Syrian conflict "is not a revolution like the Tunisian one". In her opinion, a true revolution is "made by the people, not by jihadists coming from other Muslim countries". She favours the Tunisian model, which was dictated not by a small circle of extremists but by the majority of the people. During the recent World Social Forum, held in Tunis from Mar. 26-30, the division between supporters and opponents of the Syrian rebels came to light when local participants burned FSA flags in the streets. Jihadis - or racketeers? Most families who spoke to IPS were too afraid to give their names, fearing reprisals. They suspect powerful and wealthy interests have a hand in the smuggling of fighters, since some families have received as much as 4,000 dollars in "payment" for each jihadi recruit. Those who spoke to IPS under condition of anonymity believe the recruiters themselves also receive a fee. Many denounced the government for allowing this "business" in human lives to thrive. A local journalist who has been investigating the process, but did not want to be identified by name, told IPS the government almost certainly makes money off this racket as well. Experts believe Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi's statement, issued through the Ministry of Religion, that "we don't suggest young people leave... but we have no right to prevent them" is tantamount to an admission that the government has no plans to put a stop to the practice, or apprehend those involved. Observers find further proof of the government's complicity in an agreement, signed in the Libyan capital Tripoli on Dec. 11, 2011 by Ennahda's Ghannouchi; Burhan Ghalioun, former chief of the Syrian National Council (SNC); and Mustafa Abdel Jalil, former chairman of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC), outlining plans to send weapons, along with Tunisian and Libyan jihadis, to Syria. The contents of the agreement were leaked to the public last year. Not content with recruiting only men, clerics have begun to urge women and girls - some as young as 14 years - to take up "jihad through marriage" by travelling to Syria to satisfy the sexual needs of anti-Assad forces. The phenomenon picked up speed after a Saudi religious scholar named Mohamed al-Arifi issued a fatwa in December 2012 allowing the "temporary marriage", sometimes lasting just a few hours, of young girls to Syrian insurgents. Though he has subsequently revoked the edict, following a public outcry, the practice continues. Here again, numbers are impossible to pin down - but IPS has heard of several cases in the last three months of Tunisian teenage girls who have gone missing, which has sparked fears of a new form of religiously sanctioned sexual trafficking. The conspiracy against Syria and its people continues to unravel! http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=73b_1365544480 Setright Tunisia Now Exporting 'Jihadis' to Syria Syria, Tunisia, Terrorists, Jihadis, Tue, 05 Mar 2013 15:58:17 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=449_1362514600 aydeo Rabbi Menachem Froman of the West Bank passed away Monday night at his home, after a long battle with cancer, leaving behind a huge void among often opposing publics, Including Arabs,Peace Now activists,Settlers,Palestinians (Who also took part in his funeral),Jewish rabbis and even Hamas leaders. Many in the region are lamenting the death of the man who was both a settler and a pro-Palestinian activist, a rabbi and a spiritual leader, who embodied a distinguished halachic personality - as well as a graceful personality. Froman was unique among settler rabbis in that he was a leading proponent of Israeli-Palestinian dialogue as far back as the 1980s, when contact with the PLO was still illegal. He met in the past with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, as well as with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat before him . He participated in the 1991 Madrid Summit and met with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan following the 2010 raid on the Marmara. More recently, he championed the idea of dialogue between Jewish and Islamic religious leaders as a path to peace , in which context he held intensive talks with religious leaders from both Hamas and Israel's Islamic Movement, such as Hamas spiritual leader Sheik Achmed Yassin. Froman was considered one of the most colorful and modernistic rabbis in the Religious Zionism movement. Despite his objection to the removal of settlements for ethical reasons, he was established close ties with Palestinian and Muslim leaders, with whom he attempted to reach a formula that would allow coexistence and pave the way to a peace agreement. As the "leftist marker" among settlers, Froman established the Eretz Shalom (Land of Peace) social movement, which works towards the advancement of peace and dialogue between the Jewish and Arab inhabitants of Judea and Samaria. Rabbi Froman was also welcomed by leaders of the Arab sector in Israel. He was adamantly - and outspokenly - against "price tag" acts and any manifestation of Jewish terror. The Peace Now movement lamented Froman's death on Monday, saying in a statement that "Rabbi Froman was a symbol of peace between Jews and Arabs. While most people see religion as grounds for battle between people, Rabbi Froman proved that religion can be a bridge to peace and coexistence rather than a tool for increasing conflicts and radicalizing opinions. His legacy will live on until the day the conflict is over." "We were a small group of students just starting our path in the world of Torah," Rabbi Rontzki told Ynet. "And already then, I felt a strong connection to his innocence. At the time you could see it in the teaching, in the way he lived it, in the way he would jump, get excited and almost cry, and later in the other things he was famous for. He had the innocence of a child, it was like he lived in the afterlife. "When I served as chief military rabbi, he would offer to help the IDF with the Palestinians, because he lived in another world and really believed that religious officials on both sides can chant 'Allahu Akbar' (God is great) together and solve the crisis or bring about Gilad Shalit's release. We need such innocent people in our world, which is very formal, businesslike, technical and realistic." "Alongside his pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, he saw the connection of the Israeli society to the Torah as a great value. In the past few weeks I got to talk to him several times, and these conversations strengthened us greatly in all our work." said Tzohar Chairman Rabbi David Stav. In recent years, Froman launched several religious peace organizations. He also developed close ties with a wide range of people who spanned the political and ideological gamut, including army officers, politicians and, above all, creative artists from the worlds of literature, music and theater. He was welcomed by Palestinian and Muslim leaders, with whom he partnered in an effort to devise ways to bridge the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and prompt coexistence. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4352341,00.html http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4352549,00.html http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/memorializing-rabbi-froman-not-with-a-funeral-but-a-cultural-spiritual-happening.premium-1.507507 Photos: Joint Muslim-Jewish prayer led by Rabbi Froman (4), The Rabbi funeral today (5-8) http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=449_1362514600 aydeo The Jewish Rabbi settler who was highly respected by Palestinians,Arafat,Jews,Hamas,Settlers,Peace Now and Erdogan Rabbi Froman,Peace,Jews,Arabs,Palestinians,Muslims,Settlers Mon, 04 Mar 2013 04:14:10 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b31_1362388363 TheDarkHalf Growing up on the family farm, Anthony Eddy learned early on not to get too attached to animals, including household pets. His devoted customers are a different story. Pet lovers across the country count on the Saline County, Missouri, taxidermist to faithfully preserve Brutus, Fluffy and other beloved companions for posterity. Even if it means shelling out thousands of dollars and waiting more than a year for the pets' return. 'They're very distraught, because their child has died. For most people, this animal is their life,' said Lessie 'Les' Thurman Calvert, Eddy's office manager. 'Some are kind of eccentric. But most of them are just like you and me. They don't want to bury or cremate them. They can't stand the thought. ... It helps them feel better about the loss.' The front showroom of Eddy's Wildlife Studio in downtown Slater is a testament to pet owners' perseverance. Lifelike dogs and cats of all sizes are scattered along the floor, from a perky-looking Brittany spaniel to a regal Persian cat, a lone iguana and the stray cockatiel or two. Departed pets of all persuasions spend up to one year in hulking, freeze-dry metal drums before they are painstakingly preserved and returned to their owners. Eddy said his business is one of the few in the country to specialize in pet taxidermy and has a two-month waiting list. A former high school chemistry and biology teacher, hog farmer and Air Force veteran, Eddy started out in traditional taxidermy, stuffing great horned owls and pheasants with the help of a local veterinarian. He originally used the freeze-dry technique to preserve mounted turkey heads for hunters before realizing in the mid-1990s it could also work with pets. Eddy, 64, compares his line of work to the mortician's trade. He'll share broad details about the process with customers but likes to keep some mystery to the process and steer clear of the gross-out factor. He's quick to embrace the artistry of his craft, especially when it comes to the primping and prepping required once the internal organs and body fat are removed and the carcass is fully dry. Depending on the customer's preference, pets can be posed with a skyward gaze, an extended paw or with eyes closed, seemingly asleep. 'You just have a knack for it,' he said. 'It's like an artist painting a picture.' The degree of difficulty - and the scrutiny of demanding pet owners who can immediately detect flaws or imperfections in their loved ones - keep many traditional taxidermists from the domestic animal sector, said Steve Wolk, president of the National Taxidermists Association. 'No matter how perfect your pet comes out, there can still be something wrong,' said Wolk, who owns Little Creek Taxidermy in Festus, Mo. 'When you go deer hunting, you don't know what that deer looks like. Everybody knows exactly what their pets look like.' Debbie Rosa, a 59-year-old teacher who splits her time between southern Maine and Port Charlotte, Fla., had her 17-year-old fox terrier, Lexi, preserved by Eddy when the dog died just before Christmas 2005. She said the choice was an easy one. 'I could stare at an urn, or I could stare at the ground in the cemetery, or I could hold and pet her,' Rosa said. 'Her spirit is in heaven, but her body is here on Earth.' Eddy and Calvert estimate they receive two to three pets each week, every week. The studio charges $850 for pets under 10 pounds and $40 for each additional pound.Allen McConnell, a psychology professor at Miami University in Ohio who studies pet owners' behavior, said those who opt for animal preservation can be motivated by grief, a need for belonging and anthropomorphism - the act of ascribing human attributes to animals or even inanimate objects. 'It's very common for people to memorialize important members of their family,' he said. 'We often visit relatives in family gravesites on birthdays. ... It's part of an extended connection that people have. 'Eddy said he is no longer surprised by unusual requests from customers. It seems that as long as humans embrace animals as four-legged friends, those bonds will continue past the pet's expiration date. 'It runs the whole gamut,' he said, mentioning turtles, guinea pigs, snakes and more. 'If you've got a pet of some kind, somebody's going to want you to preserve it.' Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2287653/Meet-man-FREEZE-DRY-pet.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b31_1362388363 TheDarkHalf Freeze Dried Fido Freeze, Dried, Fido Thu, 26 Apr 2012 20:04:23 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=880_1335484603 ghostsofmany ..of tricks ... http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=880_1335484603 ghostsofmany Butterfly Knife/Balisong owner runs the <span class="highlight">gamut</span>.. balisong, knife, butterfly, trick, deter, robbed, fight, bad, gamut, Wed, 30 Jan 2013 21:27:59 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=733_1359598912 dcmfox by Josh Feldman 8:00 pm, January 30th, 2013The Senate held hearings on gun violence today, and the testimonies ran the gamut from defenses of the Second Amendment to calls for more gun control to the real villain in all this: violent video games. Yes, one of Washington's favorite punching bags is back in the conversation, and as if to perfectly encapsulate the way in which our leaders view gaming culture, on MSNBC this morning, Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander actually told Chuck Todd that he thinks video games are "a bigger problem than guns." Todd asked Alexander if he would be willing to put his support behind a bill calling for universal background checks. Alexander indicated he is not exactly eager to jump on board, and bizarrely brought up video games in his remarks. "Chuck, I'm going to wait and see on all these bills. You know, I think video games is a bigger problem than guns because video games affect people. But the First Amendment limits what we can do about video games. The Second Amendment to the Constitution limits what we can do about guns. So the details matter to me. I'm going to be skeptical of any of these proposals and examine them in the light of the Second Amendment to the Constitution." Okay, first off, let's credit to Alexander for recognizing that the First Amendment does protect video games. They're not great works of literature or anything, but I'm pretty sure there is no legal distinction between The Scarlet Letter and Red Dead Redemption . But how can a sitting senator, an elected official, actually think that video games are a bigger problem than guns? Guns are not the sole problem, but I'm pretty certain the weapon used to carry out these horrible shootings should at least get a little more blame than virtual ones. And when he says that video games "affect people," what exactly is he talking about? The same anti-violent video game study that actually points the finger of blame more at guns? Alexander wasn't the only one who invoked the horrors of video game violence. During the testimonies today, both Senator Chuck Grassley and NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre spoke out against them as well. LaPierre too acknowledged the First Amendment right of companies like Activision and Rockstar Games to develop violent games, but said he wants to try and convince them to stop releasing games with such rampant violence. Because if there's one thing that's going to make all our problems go away, it's less Grand Theft Auto s and more Epic Mickey s. Everything that's needed to be said about why this claim is ridiculous has been said, and yet politicians and pundits who don't actually know anything about video games are continuing to chatter on about gaming violence. If Joe Biden really wants to do some research into violent video games and the effect they have on people, the least he can do is make sure the people doing the investigating have some semblance of what a video game is and can name a console made in the last five years. Watch Alexander's remarks below, courtesy of MSNBC http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=733_1359598912 dcmfox AR-15s Or RPGs? Senator Says That Video Games Are 'Bigger Problem Than Guns Chuck Todd, gun violence, Guns, Lamar Alexander, Video Games Sat, 29 Dec 2012 21:02:20 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2d4_1356832682 dcmfox By Jason Grant/The Star-Ledgeron December 28, 2012 at 12:15 PM, updated December 29, 2012 at 1:43 PM NEWARK - Tim Ryan climbed from his FBI-issued van and started toward the beige-brick building that holds roomfuls of forensic evidence from across the state: blood samples, human skeletal fragments, markings from tools used in crimes, ballistics results. He swiped his security card and passed through several doors. Then he walked through long corridors before stepping inside the forensic computer lab. On a table in front of him sat a DVD. It had two simple words scrawled across it in black. Baby Pics. "God, please get me through this," the FBI agent prayed silently. As he lifted the DVD and carried it toward an open computer tray, grim memories trudged through his mind. Ryan knew that in his job, DVDs crammed with thousands of images of young children's bodies usually depicted a choreography of vile and depraved crime scenes. And little else. "I don't know if I can do (review) a whole DVD disk, 4.67 gigabytes of a baby being raped," Ryan said to himself. This scene - and others that follow - are taken from a long series of interviews with Ryan and other FBI agents. The incident happened in 2008, early in Ryan's career as a child pornography investigator, but it's a day he said he remembers because he was still learning the horrors of his assignment. He and other agents agreed to talk about the bureau's specialized team of child pornography and sexual abuse crime fighters in New Jersey - providing a rare glimpse into a world the public never sees and detailing the stress it exacts on the agents. Like colleagues across the country, these agents spend days and nights immersed in a depraved, internet-based society that encourages and trades on the monstrous abuse of children. To do their jobs, they are forced to struggle and adjust, hopefully creating an island of calm and normalcy in their own minds, even as they are surrounded by depictions of evil. Ryan left the FBI five months ago, but said his struggles changed him, as a man and a father. He admitted watching over his own children much more carefully and scrutinizing men who drift through public spaces. Are there any child predators among them, he will ask himself. The moment from early in his career also represents, he said, the kind of psychological battles waged deep within many men and women who staff the FBI's euphemistically named "Innocent Images" unit. Ryan left the FBI after four years of supervising the "Innocent Images" team in New Jersey. But he will look people in the eye as he describes the never-ending battle between the abusers and the agents who go after them and try to save the children. "Like pedophiles have a nose for vulnerable kids, we have a nose for pedophiles," he said. "So ... they can smell a child they're going to be able to groom. Well, we can smell a pedophile." PREPUBESCENT CHILDREN To grasp how explosively images of child porn and sexual abuse are proliferating across the internet, consider: In 2010, law enforcement officers across the country sent nearly 14.2 million images and videos of child pornography to the National Center for Missing &amp; Exploited Children, a congressionally authorized clearinghouse for child porn that assists criminal investigators. In 2011, that number jumped to more than 22 million. The 55 percent increase, said Michelle Collins, a vice president at the center, is one example of what investigators know already: Internet-traded child pornography has multiplied exponentially over the past decade, as hoarders of often violent material use increased access to high-speed internet and the vastly increased digital storage of computers to their advantage. Even as inventions such as smart phones, thumb drives and cloud computing have also made it easier for these offenders to round up child pornography, Collins said, other tools such as anonymizers and encryption have enhanced their ability to stay hidden. The pornography itself focuses mostly on prepubescent children, experts and investigators said. Collins reports that of the identified victims her clearinghouse sees again and again in images and videos, 76 percent are preteen or young teenagers who have yet to show physical signs of sexual maturation. Among that 76 percent, one in 10 is an infant or toddler. Meanwhile, the abuse seems to know no bounds. "You are seeing babies having their diapers removed so they can be assaulted," said Joshua Wilson, an FBI agent based in New Jersey who has spent nearly five years working full time on child pornography. RAIDING 'SATAN'S DEN' Ryan, a fit man with thickly muscled shoulders, talked in quiet and reserved tones about how agents spend hours, even days, reviewing and cataloguing often-revolting images. And he explained that for many agents, the first six months are the toughest. Growing animated, he also described the high-wire moments of the "bust" - those tense hours, often beginning near dawn, during which a team of FBI investigators descends on a suspect's home, warrant in hand. His most memorable raid, he said, took place in April, 2009, not long after dawn. Ten FBI agents, clad in dark-blue tactical vests draped with handcuffs, batons and bullet-filled clips, hustled up the narrow flight of steps to the house's second floor. Ryan, a commander of the team, kept watch from somewhere in the group's center. (The details of the raid come from him.) "FBI, search warrant, open up!" screamed out two agents as they pounded on an apartment door. Outside, in the dim light of an early spring morning, several black sport utility vehicles blocked off a small street in Hudson County. Two or three minutes passed as the agents stood in the hallway. They waited, they knocked. They yelled. Ryan said eventually a nervous and diminutive-looking man, single and in his mid-30s, opened the door. Suddenly the 10 team members rushed in, controlling where the man could sit and stand. Then, quickly, they started to sweep and clear the dirty, smallish apartment, looking for signs of danger. Ryan said he remembers standing in a cubby-hole of a space - a "man cave," he called it - where the suspect kept his computer, along with a lockbox, pictures, papers and receipts. He began to rifle through a pile of documents. An FBI agent works on a a computer in the bureau's office in Newark. Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger "Tim, you need to see something," another agent said as he walked into the study. Ryan moved, in turn, to the kitchen, where he stared wide-eyed at a refrigerator. Suddenly, his urgency and adrenaline shot up. Staring back at him were three coloring-book pages, adorned with the block-letter crayon-red writing of a small child. Two of the sheets also had the chubby-faced outline of a six-whiskered "Hello Kitty" figure printed on them. One of the child's crayon messages read simply, "I Love You." The other appeared to describe what Ryan and his fellow agents believed to be a sex act. "I love it when you do ..." it began. Remembering the feeling among the "Innocent Images" agents as they started to realize that the mid-30s man had done much more than possess pornography, Ryan said, "All of the sudden, you just realize you're in Satan's Den." Then: "Anytime you find indications of contact with a child - anytime - you know it's probably going to be a problem. ... We've seen cases where right next to the guy's computer are children's toys, like a tea set for kids to play with. "In this case, it was 'Hello Kitty' pictures. And kind of what made that stand out was they were clearly ... I mean, clearly it was a child who was writing to him, like, a love letter." Immediately, Ryan said, he and other agents started thinking the same thing: We have to find the victim. Right away. Around the same time, the 30-something man, who'd said little to the agents, confessed only that he recently had yanked a hard drive from his computer, then torn out its plates and tried to destroy them. He said nothing about contact with children. Ryan then phoned a federal prosecutor in Newark. And soon he had the man taken away in handcuffs. Meanwhile, FBI experts in the "man cave" turned on a home computer there and started to analyze its contents, using forensic-technology tools and disks they'd carried in with them. The hunt for clues about the "Hello Kitty" child was now on - full tilt. "Are there envelopes with these letters?" Ryan said he wondered. "Where does it look like they came from? What language is on an envelope? What weird words are used in the message? "We need everything from within the apartment: all his receipts, his phone records, his mail, everything." Then another agent spotted a new picture - a photograph of the man from the apartment standing next to an approximately 13-year-old girl at an amusement park. The photo sat on top of a TV cabinet, and the girl was clearly much older than the child who wrote the "Hello Kitty" notes. The agents' focus would shift again. A TEAM OF FOUR In New Jersey's Newark Division of the FBI, a small but close-knit team of four agents works exclusively on child-porn and sexual-abuse investigations. In addition, said Michael Ward, the division's head, more than a dozen other agents who focus on cyber-intrusion crimes jump into the fold when caseloads spike. The unit is aided by forensic computer specialists who mine confiscated computers for evidence and leads. At the same time, investigators also work closely with federal prosecutors who staff New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman's general crimes unit based in Newark. The cases themselves come frequently and can develop quickly, making child porn and sexual abuse among the most prosecuted crimes in Fishman's office of 130 prosecutors, he said. In 2012, his office has sent out 47 press releases on perpetrators and alleged perpetrators being charged, pleading guilty and/or being sentenced for their crimes. In 2011, that number was 36; in 2010, it was 24. Ryan, meanwhile, talked about the high numbers of child sex crimes potentially being perpetrated across New Jersey in a different way. He described a specialized Google map that investigators populate with electronic pins as sources tell them about alleged pedophiles in the Garden State. "If you go for like a week," he said, "the state of New Jersey is covered in these pins." A FEELING OF ALARM As he answered more questions about the Hudson County raid in 2009, Ryan recalled he and other agents walking up to and staring at the photo of the alleged offender and the 13-year-old girl, standing shoulder to shoulder. It was an eerily friendly seeming picture, sitting in open view. Ryan, though, felt unnerved, he said. Alarmed. New Jersey Attorney General Paul Fishman is pictured in 2011. Noah Addis/For The Star-Ledger Meanwhile, near the kitchen, other agents pored over envelopes and written words for clues to the "Hello Kitty" child. Ryan said he thought about the stacks of papers and receipts strewn across the man cave and its adjacent bedroom. He was hungry for information. Minutes later, he and other FBI agents started sliding out desk drawers in both rooms - and rifling through the lockbox they'd opened with the man's key. It was hours into the raid, and the victims' identities and whereabouts remained a mystery. AN EMOTIONAL TOLL Both Wilson and Ryan emphasized that investigators must communicate openly and often to deal with the flood of emotions and psychological challenges they confront. Some agents said they must fight the urge to keep going - and always do more - even as they sink deeper into a battle that seems impossible to win completely. "If I were single," said Wilson, "I would work myself to death. Because how do you justify going home to watch TV at night when you could open another case, or prepare another search warrant, to try and stop a kid from getting abused." Sitting at a long brown table in an FBI conference room, his sunglasses resting next to him, Wilson was reluctant to dissect each and every way his job has affected his life. But once the topic of the images and videos he's pored over was raised, his struggle became clearer. "It wasn't all in one day," Wilson said, "but I think the largest review I've ever done consisted of over 8,000 images and over 800 videos depicting child pornography." The kindly looking, round-faced investigator then added quietly: "The work definitely brings you down. It's depressing, saddening - and it kind of makes you angry, too. You run the gamut." Wilson also admitted he and fellow investigators will turn away and seek out a colleague during a review when the toll becomes too much. They work in mostly banal computer rooms, said investigators, that typically feature charts on the walls, screens and computer tools on desks, and family pictures perched on shelves. But a place to sit for lunch is not too far away, Wilson pointed out. And a hurried conversation about sports can divert the mind, he said, as can a walk outside on a breezy day. Now in his early 30s, Wilson also remembered one of his methods of coping with his job, after first volunteering to join the FBI's "Innocent Images" group in 2007. "If anything," he said, "I was probably over-reacting in my head to compartmentalize - just trying to put up a massive wall between my work and my home." MAKING PROGRESS Ryan said he remembered looking up from a stack of papers as an agent approached him, eyes wide, several hours into the "Hello Kitty" raid three years ago in Hudson County. In the man's home-computer room, he was shown a new image of the 13-year-old girl. In it, she was performing oral sex on a male whose head and face were not revealed. Ryan noticed that the man was wearing a unique article of clothing, he said. And he and some other agents soon recalled that only hours before, they'd seen the same type of clothing - of the same color - in the man's apartment. A strong evidence-link was forged. Other agents, meanwhile, flipped through papers they'd yanked from the man's lockbox. Eventually, said Ryan, they found travel documents and ATM receipts that indicated the man had been in Illinois earlier that month. Agents also located an Illinois phone number in the apartment. Then, finally, they found a revealing letter from a girl with a home address in Illinois. Ryan said he dashed down the steps inside the house, then walked out to a front-porch area. He hoisted his cell phone. He punched in a number that would help him soon be connected to a cyber-crimes FBI supervisor in Illinois. VIEWING, PARTICIPATING According to a study conducted by Michael Bourke, a leading sex-offender treatment specialist and chief psychologist for the U.S. Marshals Service, 85 percent of men arrested for the possession and/or distribution of child pornography have also committed a hands-on offense against a child. AP PhotoIn 2010, law enforcement officers across the country sent nearly 14.2 million images and videos of child pornography to the National Center for Missing &amp; Exploited Children, a congressionally authorized clearinghouse for child porn that assists criminal investigators. In 2011, that number jumped to more than 22 million. The researcher, who said he has interviewed more than 1,000 pedophiles, also noted that, on average, the abusers in his 2009 study admitted to having violated between nine and 13 children each. "These are guys who had 40,000, 50,000 - sometimes 900,000 images of child pornography" on their computers and digital devices, Bourke said of the 155 men he studied at a federal prison in Butner, N.C., that specializes in housing sex offenders. "How many people are in possession of 20,000 baseball cards and have never been to a baseball game?" he then asked, rhetorically. "Or, if given the opportunity, wouldn't go?" He also said, "Sex is a drive. ... And some of these guys are in white water rapids as far as the strength of their drive. And there is no research that shows that pedophilia can be cured." At the same time, the sexual abuse of children is a "crime of access," said both Bourke and Collins, the vice president at the missing and exploited center. They said offenders usually have legitimate ties to their victims. And Collins said that of the child-porn manufacturers her national clearinghouse is aware of, some 22 percent are parents or guardians of their victims, 10 percent are otherwise related, and 47 percent are family friends. Meanwhile, Bourke said more than 90 percent of child-porn watchers and producers are male, and most are Caucasian. In New Jersey, Fishman was emphatic when he described how his office devotes key resources to investigating and prosecuting cases of child pornography and sexual abuse. "We are trying to send a very powerful message with these prosecutions," he said. He then launched into a passionate defense of child-porn federal sentencing rules that are both tough and, to some, controversial. The statutory minimums include five-year sentences for receipt or distribution and 15-year sentences for production. "Even if they (defendants) are sharing or possessing the pornography only," said Fishman, "they know they're creating a market for other people out there to commit this reprehensible offense." FINDING HIDDEN CLUES During many child-porn takedowns in a suspect's home, Ryan and Wilson said, the alleged offender will confess to some or all crimes right there. In fact, Wilson said, "I've interviewed several individuals where I start talking to them about what they're into, and what child porn they view, and what search terms they use to find the material on the internet, and they actually look relieved as they're speaking to me. Because they've never talked with anyone in person about this material, and about their desires." But when a suspect believed to be a hands-on child abuser doesn't confess, agents said, the hunt for clues can take on a raw intensity. Most prolific child abusers shield their own face and sometimes the youngster's, too, as they produce images, Ryan said. But the rest of the scene may unlock identities and locations, agents said - showing, for instance, a local school name or mascot, an area phone book on a shelf, or a soda can or bottle found mostly in one area of a country or the world ... to name just a few. Before an alleged-offender interview during a bust starts, Wilson said, he often knows "exactly what they've been looking at, and where they've been going on the internet." He and colleagues have often used various methods - some of which they won't discuss - such as posing undercover in internet chat rooms, reading sensors that alert law enforcement to people viewing child porn, and/or securing a search warrant before digging through a perpetrator's computer to lift out information that will create a map to a different offender's actions. Listening or reading along as an alleged offender communicates online can take a toll on an investigator, too, said Wilson, even when no images or videos are involved. "You have to hear these guys (offenders communicating via the internet while being monitored by agents) the night before we arrest them," he said. "He is unabashed. ... He's talking about kids like they are vile objects to be degraded. He's saying what he would do to them. "Hearing that can be just as freaky as seeing some of the images. And then the next day, you arrest him and he's in tears. But we know who he is really - the computer tells you who somebody really is." AN OVERSEAS ADDRESS By mid-morning of the Hudson County raid, Ryan was able to describe for the FBI agent in Illinois some of the items unearthed in the man's apartment, he said; then he gave the supervisor what he believed to be the home address of the girl. Moments later, he walked back into the apartment. Ryan said he soon grabbed some papers and studied clues discovered among the "Hello Kitty" coloring-book pages and notes penned by the child, who he believed was about 5 years old. He also examined an envelope bearing a return address that indicated the child lived in a southeast Asian country. Ryan still doesn't know whether the "Hello Kitty" child was rescued. But he said he was certain the FBI's legal attach'e in the Asian country was given all the relevant information and worked with authorities there to do all they could. He also said: "I think he had a contact overseas. He (the mid-30s man) is from the U.S., but somebody in that country was grooming the child for this behavior." A LONG, UGLY HISTORY According to a BBC article, in 1874 the London studio of Henry Hayler, one of the Victorian Era's most prominent producers of pornography, overflowed with 130,248 obscene photographs. The sheer amount of the material, the article claims, "gives some idea of the extent of (pornography's) appeal" in 1870s England. Ryan said Hayler's pornography included images of children - his own. "He's the one I use when people ask me, 'Oh, isn't child porn really an internet phenomenon?' "You know, it's really not. The internet is just the latest way for pedophiles to indulge themselves." Sitting in a dark-tinted SUV parked behind Newark's federal courthouse, Ryan also said that in today's world - unlike Hayler's - duplicating a picture "hundreds of times is as easy as clicking a mouse." "Most child porn that we find on computers we've already seen," he said, "Like take a series. So there's a little girl who's been abused repeatedly, let's say her name is Vicky - the 'Vicky Series' becomes well known and spreads, and we find it on many different computers." Agents and experts also said many children, including those contacted via the internet only, stand little chance against adults who will spend years "grooming" victims for sex. The deliberate process of bending the prepubescent child toward the act, Wilson said, can be devious, even ingenious. In just one example he gave, a perpetrator will chat on the internet with a youngster and convince him to remove his shirt in front of a video-cam for money - or admit he's smoked a cigarette or used drugs. Then the offender will find the cell phone number or e-mail address of the child's father. Next, he contacts the boy again and tells him that if he doesn't go much further sexually this time, he'll tell the father about his smoking or drug use, or send the father images of the boy removing his shirt in front of a camera. STAY CONNECTED 24/7 Download our free NJ.com mobile and tablet apps to keep up with the latest New Jersey news, sports and entertainment. Still, when a child-porn voyeur or producer is caught, Bourke said, they will often tell him that they don't believe their actions have harmed the child. "They (offenders) may say to me at first, 'Well, what I did, yeah, the child didn't enjoy it, but you know, the next day when he saw me he gave me a big hug," and that shows that what the offender did was okay, Bourke said. "Or they will say, 'Well, she came on to me,' or, 'She was dressed seductively and she was touching me.' Then when I ask, 'How old is your victim?' the offender may say, 'Well, she was 4 years old.'^a http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=2d4_1356832682 dcmfox A depraved world: FBI agents wage a stressful battle against child pornography fbi, child, porn, depraved, world, haunting, predators, stress, sex, sick, people Sun, 11 Nov 2012 02:03:47 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ed3_1352617051 Lake8737 The school say they have moved their website to another server but it cost too much to print new ID's., so they keep using those old ID's with old URL. Google translate Shenzhen Jinhua experimental school a student rebellion to the media said, actually appeared on the back of their school student ID card issued by the school website opens a pornographic picture, they are disgusted, worried parents. URL printed on the student card, I use the computer to open this site. I saw the title bar of this site out there: "gamut H network - every day free adult sexual content", the website below is filled with a variety of offensive pornographic pictures. On the afternoon of November 6, I came to Shenzhen Jinhua experimental school to understand the situation. Jinhua Experimental School, this site has long been set aside, and that student card on the website they ignored that student card is printed before. School commitment to the students as soon as possible to re-printed student ID card, and marked with the updated URL. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ed3_1352617051 Lake8737 Porn website link shows up on students' ID's china,chinese,school,porn Wed, 31 Oct 2012 03:21:01 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7fb_1351667275 deathgod198255 "The First step in developing true compassion is being able to recognize, to open to, and to acknowledge that pain and sorrow exist. Everywhere, absolutely everywhere, in one way or another, beings are suffering. Some suffering is intense and terrible; some is quiet and small." Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg One of the most natural emotions humans feel is grieving. This process is usually brought on with the death of a loved one. As humans, we have a natural arrogance to believe that we are the only ones capable of complex thought, as well as the whole gamut of emotional experiences. Western philosophies have perpetuated this belief that we humans are the only beings capable of superior thinking--e.g. tool use, and the ability to communicate beyond the rudimentary mechanics of daily survival. These philosophies have been perpetuated through the ages beginning as early as Aristotle and Descartes, right through to present time (please see animal hierarchy) "As I watched Tonie's vigil over her dead newborn, I got my first very strong feeling that elephants grieve. I will never forget the expression on her face, her eyes, her mouth, the way she carried her ears, her head, and her body. Every part of her spelled grief" (Joyce Poole P.90) However, research and observation has proven that elephants are indeed capable of many complex functions of thought and feeling. There have been many observations of elephants grieving. In Joyce Poole's Coming of Age with Elephants , a situation is described where a mother elephant is seen grieving over her stillborn baby for a few days. This mother physical stature was observed as slumped, appeared to be crying, while trying to revive her baby. This mother elephant was seen to be in denial which is a common reaction with humans confronting death. Finally, after some time had elapsed, the mother finally succumbed to the reality that she no longer had a live baby. She had to move on. In another anecdote, Poole goes on to illustrate the depth of elephant grieving. A clan of elephants was moving towards newer territory, when suddenly one of the elephants fell over in. Soon enough the other elephants noticed that one of their group was in trouble. Arriving by the elephants side, they realized she was not moving. They attempted to get her up on her feet but to no avail (see a similar account in Africa's Elephant Kingdom) . As a last resort, the male elephants attempted to mount her in order to arouse her to consciousness. This was not to be. The elephant then left the dead body and moved on. The next day, elephants returned to mourn and pay homage to the lost friend, family member, clan member and elephant. These two stories and many more create a good picture of the elephant's emotional depth. The plain truth is that elephants have a deep need to remember and mourn lost ones. This can even be observed many years since the death of a loved one. Without prior knowledge of an in-depth longitudinal study our observations would be meaningless. But, as observed by Joyce Poole, when an elephant walks past a place that a loved one died he/she will stop dead still; a silent and empty pause that can last several minutes. An elephant pause. I wonder if, like us, they relive experiences shared with the loved when they visit their place of death or resting spot. This is not that implausible given their need to investigate and touch the bones of a dead fellow elephant. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7fb_1351667275 deathgod198255 Elephant mourning the dead / Elephant Grieving Elephant mourning Elephant Grieving nature animals desert death feelings Wed, 06 Jun 2012 09:06:17 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b14_1338987694 abdulruff Permanent strains in US-Pakistan ties-2 US Hegemony and Pakistani Gimmicks - COL DR. ABDUL RUFF ______ ONE At long last, after tolerating the US hegemony for years, Pakistani state is revolting against US drone terror operations. Genesis of deterioration of US-Pakistan tensions is not at all difficult for anyone to ascertain. It was a big blow to USA when Pakistan denied the superpower USA permission for transit of terror and other goods to Afghanistan via Pakistan. Obviously, America did not foresee the sudden twist in Pakistani attitude towards the masters. USA is desperate to get the strained ties with Pakistan renewed to advance its illegal interests, while Pakistan continues to pursue cumulative interests of rich and elites of Pakistan as well as the US illegal interests in the region. Pakistan's recourse in opposing NATO operations from Pakistani soil clearly indicates that the boss cannot keep hitting the trapped Pakistanis as slaves forever. When the pain became intolerable, the affected people would revolt one day. USA always imposes its will on its terror partners. One stumbling block in the US-Pak negotiations was reportedly Islamabad's demand that Washington issue an unconditional apology for the slaying last November of 24 Pakistani troops in strikes by US attack helicopters and fighter jets against a border post inside Pakistan. Over the past 17 months, the US's bullying and flagrant violations of Pakistani sovereignty have been a cause of increasing concern for the Pakistani elite. Faced with mounting opposition to the war among the Americans, the USA has been determined to make Pakistan accept more of the burden of fighting the AfPak War, regardless of its destabilizing impact on its Islamabad clients and the ruinous impact on the Pakistani people. Since January, Pakistani authorities, under tremendous pressure from Washington which shamelessly used the bogus aid to coerce the regime in Islamabad, have repeatedly made clear that they plan to reopen the supply routes, but wanted parliament's approval to provide the decision with some semblance of popular legitimacy. The Obama regime has used drone terrorism as key means to force Islamabad to help the NATO with killing Pakistanis and Afghans. There have been some 3,000 Pakistanis killed in drone attacks, of whom only 170 have been identified for official purposes as "militants" or "insurgents". Last month, US Special Envoy Marc Grossman arrived in Pakistan, after a prolonged delay, to lead two days of high-level talks between senior US and Pakistani officials on a gamut of issues. These included the US's plans to intensify military operations in Afghanistan, while simultaneously seeking "peace talks" with the Taliban, and reopening the Pakistani land supply route to the US-NATO forces occupying Afghanistan. The drone strike comes on the heels of last week's negotiations in Islamabad between the Pakistani government and a US team led by US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman. Earlier, notwithstanding the usual tricks of USA to bully Pakistan, Islamabad had refused to accept his visit pending the completion of the parliamentary review, which was launched in response to a NATO air strike on two Pakistani military posts that killed two dozen Pakistani soldiers. It appears that the US is banking on placating Pakistani authorities by offering economic and other inducements. Whenever it faced opposition in Pakistan, USA chose to go slow. As a tactic to fool the Pakistani leaders and elites, Washington had formally ended last month a month-long pause in its campaign of drone attacks in Pakistan's tribal areas, killing four "suspected militants" in North Waziristan and provoking a formal protest from the government in Islamabad, only to restart the terror operations. What is shocking is Washington's unconcealed contempt for the Pakistani sovereignty and Pakistani government, which had publicly conditioned a resumption of its full collaboration in the so-called AfPak war on a halt to the drone attacks. The strike by the remotely piloted aircraft on Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan, part of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas is an overt indication of What the USA wants to do in Pakistan. The Pentagon's story is that the incident was a result of "friendly fire," a mistaken clash in which both sides bore blame. Pakistan's military has categorically rejected this account. In any case, the US military is strongly opposed to issuing any apology, holding Pakistan responsible for harboring forces fighting the US occupation of Afghanistan, in particular the so-called Haqqani network, which was blamed for the coordinated attacks in the center of Kabul and other areas on April 15. The Obama White House is not about to cross the Pentagon on such an issue in an election year. Moreover, an apology would cut across the right-wing re-election campaign being waged by the Democratic Party, which is extolling the US Seal assassination of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan a year ago and suggesting that Obama is more militarily aggressive than his presumptive Republican rival Mitt Romney. However, Pakistani regime continues with its double-speaks, badly affectibng the future of the nation. It denied the NATO rouges only the road transit. And Pakistani air space has been open to US and NATO supply planes throughout the five-month diplomatic wrangle arising from the November air strike. This provision fitted the NATO terror syndicates to operate as before. TWO Negotiations between Washington and Islamabad on Pakistan's role in the Afghan War and the perpetuation of the US-Pakistani strategic alliance began following the Pakistan Parliament's passage earlier last month of a resolution titled "Guidelines for revised terms of engagement with US/NATO/ISAF and general foreign policy." The Parliament resolution did not explicitly say when the US can resume ferrying supplies to Afghanistan via land. Instead, it leaves the issue up to President Asif Ali Zardari and the Pakistan People's Party (PPP)-led government. It is widely expected that the supply routes will be opened soon, now that negotiations have officially resumed, although a possible obstacle could be Islamabad's request for sharply increased transit fees. The resolution calls for deepening Islamabad's strategic partnership with China, strengthening Pakistan's relationship with Russia and the European Union, and pursuing a gas pipeline project with Iran. In addition to its concerns over the destabilizing impact of the war, the Pakistani elite has grown increasingly frustrated by Washington's aggressive courting of its archrival India as a major strategic partner. The US has encouraged New Delhi to play a key role in propping up the stooge regime of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan, much to the dismay of the Pakistani bourgeoisie, which views its influence in Afghanistan as crucial to its strategy against India. The section of the resolution dealing with Islamabad's foreign policy specifically mentions the US-Indo nuclear accord, which further tilted the balance of power in the region in favor of India. The resolution merely demanded that the US give an official apology for the air strike and end its illegal drone missile attacks so that Pakistani puppet can resume the services to NATO terrorism. Following the passage of the resolution, Pakistani PM Yousaf Raza Gilani claimed that it has "brought real and substantive oversight and democratic accountability to our foreign and security policy." May be in a cynical attempt to appear defiant, parliament imposed the condition that NATO materials passing through Pakistan cannot include weapons or ammunition, even though the NATO bluffs that their convoys have only been transporting non-lethal supplies. The phony nature of the resolution was also demonstrated by Islamabad's stance on the issue of reopening the supply routes to NATO forces in Afghanistan. The same resolution demanded an immediate halt to the drone strikes. The attack was the first on a target inside Pakistan since March 30. While Grossman left Pakistan Friday night with no agreement, Pakistani officials reported that a team of 10 US officials from the State and Treasury departments, the Pentagon and other agencies had remained in Islamabad to iron out a deal. Despite the early French withdrawal, NATO wants to show a united front in the last two years of combat in an increasingly unpopular war in Europe and America. The NATO alliance used the summit to reassure Afghan puppet President Hamid Karzai that NATO will fund his security forces and continue training beyond 2014. NATO's terror chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen urged Islamabad to back efforts to stabilize Afghanistan as he prepared for talks with Pakistani puppet President Asif Ali Zardari, on the eve of a NATO summit. NATO announced a milestone in the effort to provide a pan-European missile defense system, which has now has reached "interim capability. It also formally endorsed an agreement for 14 countries to jointly purchase five US-made unmanned drone aircraft. Many claim that austerity has played a role in NATO leaders' efforts to make progress on "smart defense" - making resources go further by encouraging NATO allies to share key capabilities. Resentments over US bullying and Washington's courting of India notwithstanding, the reactionary alliance with Washington remains central to the geopolitical and class strategy of the Pakistani elites and bourgeoisie. The fact that such a statement had to be made at all demonstrates the neo-colonial character of the US-Pakistan relationship and the venal Pakistani elite's subservience to US imperialism. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry issued a formal statement saying that it "strongly condemns the US drone attack that occurred in North Waziristan today." The statement continued: "Such attacks are in total contravention of international law and established norms of interstate relations. The Government of Pakistan has consistently maintained that drone attacks are violative of its territorial integrity and sovereignty. The matter will be taken up through diplomatic channels both in Islamabad and Washington." But meanwhile, Pakistani officials had indicated that a deal was in the works in which Pakistan would agree to reopen its borders to the transport of materiel for the US-led occupation troops in Afghanistan in return for the payment of some $1.1 billion in withheld coalition support funds, money which Washington and its allies had agreed to pay Islamabad for expenses incurred in counterinsurgency operations in the border region. No payments have been made since mid-2010. The deal is of decisive importance for Washington, given that the route from Pakistani seaports to Afghanistan is far less costly than the alternative it has pursued through Central Asia to the north. Moreover, given the carrying through of a scheduled drawdown of large numbers of US and NATO troops, it will be next to impossible to ship out the huge quantities of vehicles, heavy weapons and other equipment that have been amassed in Afghanistan over more than a decade of war without access to the Pakistani supply routes. THREE So, Pakistani regime remains the enemy of Pakistani nation and people. The long-delayed Pakistan Parliament's Afghan War and foreign policy resolution received unanimous support, including from opposition parties that for a time boycotted the review. The fraudulent and hypocritical character of the resolution cannot be overstated. While the resolution calls for an end to US drone strikes on Pakistani territory, it proposes no mechanism to enforce such a ban. Zardari was invited to the summit in Chicago amid expectations that Pakistan will lift a six-month blockade against NATO supply trucks that was put in place after US air strikes killed 26 Pakistani troops in November. As expected, the NATO has pressed Islamabad to "do more" to prevent "insurgents" from taking advantage of the porous Afghan-Pakistani border region to take sanctuary inside Pakistan. "We can't solve the problems in Afghanistan without the positive engagement of Pakistan," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a policy forum in Chicago. "We have to solve these problems," he said, referring to the safe havens used by insurgents in Pakistan to launch attacks on NATO troops across the border. Pakistani regime is eager to pressure Washington to be "more accommodating" to the geopolitical and economic interests of the Pakistani elite. The parliamentary resolution was intended to provide the government with political cover in defying popular sentiment and resuming full and open cooperation with the US in the illegal neocolonial Af-Pak War targeting Muslims and Pakistani nukes. Further, the US reaffirmed its intention to violate Pakistani sovereignty by regular drone strikes, whenever it deems it in the "national interest" almost as soon as the resolution was passed. Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar maintained the Pakistani position on the drone strikes categorically as before. It seems, the US and Pakistan were prepared to work out some sort of face-saving statement that would fall considerably short of the apology, which had been set as part of the "terms of engagement" in a resolution approved by the Pakistani parliament last month. -------- http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b14_1338987694 abdulruff Permanent strains in US-Pakistan ties-2 : US Hegemony and Pakistani Gimmicks Permanent strains in US-Pakistan ties-2 : US Hegemony and Pakistani Gimmicks Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:25:29 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=69f_1334510247 smyle sweet blues via smyletube... this upload's catagorie is Music and Entertainment, any political comments will be deleted. Please sit back and Enjoy. Red White and Blues, at the White House 2012. Tuneage: I'd Rather Go Blind (written by Ellington Jordan and Billy Foster) . Tribute to the late Etta James (Jan. 25, 1938 -- Jan. 20, 2012). RIP Derek Trucks, blues/blues-rock guitarist , born Jun 8, 1979 in Jacksonville, FL, is the nephew of longtime Allman Brothers drummer Butch Trucks. He displays a command of slide guitar styles running the gamut from blues to classic R&amp;B and early rock &amp; roll to classic jazz. Although blues players like Buddy Guy, Elmore James, and Duane Allman have been a strong influence on Trucks' slide guitar playing, so have pre-'70s jazz players like John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and Sun Ra. Trucks began playing guitar when he was nine, and shared stages and sat in with the likes of Buddy Guy and the Allman Brothers Band by the time he was 12. In 1997 he formed The Derek Trucks Band, with whom he won a GRAMMY Award in 2010. Today, in addition to touring with The Allman Brothers Band, Trucks co-leads Tedeschi Trucks Band with his wife, Susan Tedeschi. Ranked as #16 in Rolling Stone's recent poll of the 100 Greatest Guitarists. Susan Tedeschi, born on November 9, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts. Tedeschi has opening for John Mellencamp, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, The Allman Brothers Band, Taj Mahal and Bob Dylan. In 2000, Just Won't Burn reached Gold record status for sales of 500,000 in the United States, rare for a blues production. She recorded two tracks with Double Trouble band members Chris Layton and Tommy Shannon for their album. She opened for The Rolling Stones in 2003. Susan Tedeschi's voice has been described as a blend of Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin, not surprising given that both have been her influences. Her guitar playing is influenced by Buddy Guy, Johnny "Guitar" Watson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Freddie King and Doyle Bramhall II. 2000 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist 2003 Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance 2004 Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Wait For Me 2006 Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Hope and Desire 2010 Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Blues Album for Back to the River 2012 Grammy nomination for and WON Best Blues Album for Revelator (Tedeschi Trucks Band album). Warren Haynes, born in Asheville, North Carolina on April 9, 1960, A powerhouse singer and guitarist, North Carolina-native and GRAMMY Award-winner Haynes earned his reputation as a member of three of the greatest live groups in rock history: The Allman Brothers Band, The Dead and his own Gov't Mule. ~Blues greats Freddie King and B.B. King were both early influences on Haynes, who has a dynamic gravel-and-honey voice and a guitar universe that encompasses rock, soul, R&amp;B and jazz. ~Haynes is also a major supporter of Habitat for Humanity, for which he organizes his annual "Christmas Jam" benefit, now in its 23rd year. He is ranked number #23 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time. Booker T. Jones ( musical director/band leader), Bobby Avila (bass), Jesse Johnson (guitar), Narada Michael Walden (drums), Ernie Fields, Jr. (saxophone), Freddie Hendrix (trumpet) and Fred Wesley (trombone). Taped on February 21, 2012. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=69f_1334510247 smyle Etta James Tribute: Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Warren Haynes - &quot;I'd Rather Go Blind&quot; Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, Warren Haynes, I'd Rather Go Blind, Red White and Blues Sat, 03 Mar 2012 08:54:03 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ee1_1330782639 104JebackaBrigada Maybe Patrick Bateman wasn't such an outlier. One out of every 10 Wall Street employees is likely a clinical psychopath, writes journalist Sherree DeCovny in an upcoming issue of the trade publication CFA Magazine (subscription required). In the general population the rate is closer to one percent. "A financial psychopath can present as a perfect well-rounded job candidate, CEO, manager, co-worker, and team member because their destructive characteristics are practically invisible," writes DeCovny, who pulls together research from several psychologists for her story, which helpfully suggests that financial firms carefully screen out extreme psychopaths in hiring. To be sure, typical psychopathic behavior runs the gamut. At the extreme end is Bateman, portrayed by Christian Bale, in the 2000 movie "American Psycho," as an investment banker who actually kills people and exhibits no remorse. When health professionals talk about "psychopaths," they have a broader range of behavior in mind. A clinical psychopath is bright, gregarious and charming, writes DeCovny. He lies easily and often, and may have trouble feeling empathy for other people. He's probably also more willing to take dangerous risks -- either because he doesn't understand the consequences, or because he simply doesn't care. An appetite for risk can seem like a positive business trait on Wall Street, where big gambles sometimes lead to big rewards. But for the people DeCovny is talking about, the outcomes matter less than the gambles themselves -- and the chemical rush of serotonin and endorphins that accompanies them. This is hardly the first time that mental illness has been equated with a certain capacity for professional success -- especially in the financial sector, where some stock traders have actually scored higher than diagnosed psychopaths on tests that measure competitiveness and attraction to risk. Some psychologists have long claimed that the qualities that make for a high-achieving politician or stockbroker are also the same traits that psychopaths have in abundance . Other researchers generalize it to bosses as a species, saying that about 4 percent of all executives are psychopaths -- and that their relative lack of scruples is what helps them excel in business. At the same time, the fast-moving, high-pressure environment of Wall Street probably compromises the mental health of some of its employees. A recent study found that many young bankers develop alcoholism, insomnia, eating disorders and other stress-related ailments within just a few years on the job. Stockbrokers have also been shown to experience clinical depression at a rate more than three times as high as the general population. DeCovny writes that for someone with a "latent" compulsive gambling problem , a job trading stocks can trigger pathological responses that send the person into an escalating pattern of lies, debts and even embezzlement and fraud. A person with this problem would feel gratified by an enormous loss, because of the way their brain's reward system works -- which DeCovny says may explain the activities of such notorious rogue traders as Kweku Adoboli, Jerome Kerviel and Nick Leeson, three men who gambled and lost the combined equivalent of $10.3 billion for their respective institutions over the past 17 years. Want to find the places that have a better work-life balance than Wall Street? Here are the countries with the best work-life balance:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/28/wall-street-psychopaths_n_1307168.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ee1_1330782639 104JebackaBrigada One Out Of Every Ten Wall Street Employees Is A Psychopath, Say Researchers One Out Of Every Ten Wall Street ,Employees Is A Psychopath, Say Researchers Fri, 30 Dec 2011 04:07:22 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=285_1325235552 aydeo Published: Friday, December 23, 2011 The Detroit area's Jewish community is continuing a tradition of working with Muslims to serve their Christian neighbors while they celebrate Christmas. About 125 Muslims are expected to join about 800 Jewish volunteers Sunday for Mitzvah Day, the single largest day of volunteering by the Jewish community. It's the third year for the team-up between Jews and Muslims. The volunteers will be helping 40 Detroit-area social service agencies at sites throughout the day. The Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit has sponsored Mitzvah Day for more than 20 years. This will be the third year that Muslims have joined the effort. Mitzvah means "commandment" in Hebrew and is generally translated as a good deed. Jews, Muslims lend a holiday helping hand - This Christmas Day, Christian volunteers across the area will have a chance to take a day off from working with others and spend the holiday celebrating with their friends and families thanks to their neighbors: Their Muslim and Jewish neighbors, that is. Christmas Day, or Dec. 25, is known as Mitzvah Day to hundreds of Jewish and Muslim community volunteers across the metropolitan Detroit area. It is a day when community volunteers across different religious boundaries step in to help out so that Christian volunteers can celebrate the tradition of Christmas. This is the third year the religious communities have come together in an effort to relieve their Christian neighbors of their duties as volunteers. "It's a chance for non-Christian brothers and sisters to 'take up the helm' of their Christian friends and neighbors who volunteer and give them the opportunity to celebrate their holiday with their friends and family," said Kassem Allie of Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. "We are stepping in for them so they can have some time off from their great efforts to be with their families. "It's a tradition that Muslims have had over the centuries that there is collaboration and cooperation between Hebrew and Christian faiths," Allie added. "It is not always highlighted and sometimes it is drowned out by the people who want to point out the friction and focus on the differences." This is the third year that Allie has volunteered with his family: Wife Zinab and children Jasmine, 15; Khalil, 14; Adam, 10 and Kareem, age 8. It is becoming somewhat of a custom for the family and has also provided an opportunity for the family to learn about other religious faiths, even providing some teachable moments as families sort out the overly commercialized messages that surround the Christmas holiday. "We are bombarded with all the commercial aspects of Christmas as soon as Halloween is over. On Nov. 1, it falls right into place like clockwork. On the television , on the radio and on the internet we are bombarded with buy, buy, buy. It's easy for kids to see this and get wrapped up in what they want." Allie said. "Taking part in Mitzvah day helps them to see the other side: what it means to give. The generosity and charity that we all have within us that needs to be activated." This year they will be volunteering at a shelter location in delivering gifts to needy families. "It is such a wonderful opportunity to provide some cheer and joy to families in need. The payback is tremendous because of the reactions of the children and their families," Allie said. Oakland origins Micki Grossman, vice president of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit, said that the Jewish community has been sponsoring a Mitzvah Day Christmas in the Metro Detroit area for approximately 20 years. In fact, she believes that the idea of a community-wide Mitzvah day might well have had its origins right here in Michigan's Oakland County. "If we didn't start it, we sure were darn close," Grossman said. She said that idea of Mitzvah refers to Jewish religious obligation to do any good deed. "Mitzvah is a command from God that you help your neighbor and that you do not turn your back on the needy; it is our religious duty. It is a command that we live with and this is a great chance for the Jewish community to do good things and make a visible community effort in and around Detroit," said Grossman. Farmington Hills resident Grossman started out many years ago as a Mitzvah Day volunteer before becoming a co-chairwoman, serving alongside co-chairs Hy Safran and Janet Berman. Although the majority of her time is spent coordinating volunteer sites and man (and woman and children) power, her strong desire to volunteer often finds her working alongside other volunteers with her cellphone powered on in case of emergencies. And emergencies occasionally do happen, Grossman said. "A couple of years ago we were called to a location where they were delivering meals. Our volunteers showed up on Christmas Day in order to relieve the regular volunteers of their duties; to give them a chance to take a day off and be with their families. The only problem was, they volunteers did not want to be relieved of their duties. They had come to care so much for the people that they delivered meals to that seeing them on this special day was important to them ... it was so touching. So most of these are actually happy 'emergencies,'" she said. The Volunteering opportunities are wide-ranging and can take workers anywhere from soup kitchens to special needs group homes; from orphanages to animal shelters. "We go where we are needed. It gives the staff the chance to cut back and spend time with their families, Grossman said. She also noted that the Jewish Community Center in Oak Park is open to the entire community and will remain open on Christmas day with volunteers organizing games and activities. "We expect at least 100 families to attend," Grossman said. Another one of the charitable organizations receiving services on Mitzvah Day is the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in downtown Detroit, run by the Franciscan brotherhood and serving thousands of homeless through the Detroit area. "The Jewish and Muslim people coming to volunteer during this very important Christian holiday is a show of wonderful solidarity," said Capuchin Brother Jerry Smith. "It's is a most hopeful expression if brotherhood and sisterhood of human beings and the powerful proclamation that we can live together In peace and harmony respecting each other's beliefs and support each other in the name of the creator," Smith said. Help aplenty Although the volunteer opportunities run the gamut and are wide-ranging, they are always filled and volunteers often find themselves scrambling to find an opportunity to help out, said Muzammil Ahmed of Michigan's Council on American Islamic Relations. There are so many people within both the Muslim and the Jewish communities that want to be a part of this, Ahmed said. "The Jewish Community Relations Council does a great job of posting volunteer opportunities online; there are at least a dozen sites with opportunities to deliver toys, package and delivers food and much more. You have to be quick to find a spot," Ahmed said. "Even though as Muslims, we do not celebrate Christmas ourselves, we want to provide an opportunity for everyone to enjoy Christmas. We thought this was a great way partner with the Jewish community to get to do something useful and also offers a chance to get to know one another; getting to know one another helps us to overcome any misunderstandings," Ahmed said. Ahmed, the father of four young children, said he and his wife appreciate the chance to help their children learn a little bit more about the important religious traditions of their neighbors. "Our children are enamored of Christmas. Even though they go to an Islamic school , they still want to know if Santa is going to visit. This gives us an opportunity to teach them about it in a unique way and acknowledge Christmas in a respectful and positive manner," he said. Ahmed said the family live in a diverse community. "Everyone around us is celebrating Christmas and for the sake of us as a community, we need to acknowledge and recognize the important of other people's religious traditions and holidays. It encourages good feelings and good will," he said. Kassem sums it all as humbly as he possible can, saying, "It is as simple as it sounds. People of all faiths, helping out the community." http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2011/12/mitzvah_day_metro_detroit_jews.html http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20111225/NEWS27/112250356 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=285_1325235552 aydeo Mitzvah Day: Jews, Muslims work together to serve Christian neighbors Mitzvah Day,Jews, Muslims,serve, Christian neighbors,Christmas