this week so far in news weather n sports

A 17 year-old 'hacker' named george hotz, along with another group called iphonesimfree has succeeded in breaking free the lock on the iphones that at & t had on them as their service provider. now you can get an iphone that will work on t-mobile, or other services.

An ex-college university president, prisilla slade, of texas southern univeristy in houston, texas is on trial for possible misspenditures of university funds for personal uses and expenditures. althought she appears to have billed the university for a couple of hundred thousand for improvement to her palacial home in swanky houston, she has been university president since 1999, and had a base slaary of $250,000 with a $5,000/mo personal and living expense account and a $50,000 general expense account. she could face anywhere from probation to life in prison; some related officials to the university, notably the school's chief finalcial officer, got 10 years it could be winter in america for the precious ms. slade.

Ex-Klansman sentenced to 3 Life Terms by federal judge in mississippi for the 1964 kidnapping and killing, by throwoing them into the raging mississippi river after beating them senseless, and tying them with weights to ensure drowning. one more evil one down, some more to go....

Watch out for lemons - cars that find their way back on the market for sale. every U.S. state has Lemon Laws but as usual the state laws vary in procedure and recording and sharing information. The key is the serial number - it should be registered with the state, along with the title and make/model. this puts the state on notice if they should fail to enforce against the manufacturer. it also would help in cases where fines against manufactuers and dealers can be imposed, a strong deterrent.

breaking news: possible terrorism involved in raging wildfires in greece. suspected as there are vids of 2- men starting the fire as arsonists. maybe that's it - but if you've ever been to southern europe it is easy to see how middle easterners can fit in to the lifestyle and look of the mediterranean. the fires threatened the greek parthenon artifacts, and has not had any brush fires in recent memory. hmmmm.......

This spring's a good time to visit Ottawa, Canada. this extremely stately-looking capital of canada is actually chic in dining anf shopping and sightseeing. check out the mussels at the metropolitan brasserie, the native american art at the canadian museum of civilization, and shopping on sussex st. you can also go kiyacking and check out the music scene.....while you're at it, visit baltimore too. they've got the hots n yummies for crabs, oysters, and yingling lager.

oh yeah, and owen wilson just got rushed to the hospitsl with slashed wrists. they think it's a suicide attempt. i think it was a lousy and lame attempt to regenerate your lame career.....

Georgia (the country, not the state) beat japan in a serious upset in the worldwide little league world series game yesterday.

The Philadelphia Eagles lost ot the steelers, something like 28-3. but the steelers were playing with their stars qb rothesburger and receiver hines, while the eagles played most of the game with roookies kolb and rb hunt. good way to test the real strength of their teams b4 the real season begins.

And enuf of Michael Vick: he's getting punished. we hate people who mistreat poor dogs. we love our dogs and hate our bad boyz. that's the kind of moral, democratic society we have that you should all want. yeah, right . . . the media's definitely overplaying it now....

The First LGBT Political Debate on LOGO TV last nite

IF you're like me, you've been pissed at times that there were no free channels after HBO, Showtime and Cinemax pay channel listings. The dial sps here, no free porn for you, mister. Ok so maybe most of you are not like me. But if you go further down the channel guide and presume this time you have the channel and stop there, you may be surprised what you find.

Channels like The Tube, g4, LOGO, Rave, Noticias, not to mention those wonderful 700-level HD channels further down the tube. All with stunning programming, if not in quality of picture then in the level of programming. Great live concert shows, more content for a wider diversity of people, and more risque in expanding our programmable minds.

LOGO is on of these channels that's changing television. Not necessarily the first gay-content channel, it is also not that either. It provides natural programming to those who can use the information and focus, to connect with your community. That's responsible television, programming of the individual's choice, not what Mother tells us it should be. It recently had a "talk" debat with several Dem candidates. All attended except Biden and Dodd (they will both pay for it soon), Edwards did attend and was asked by one of my favorite rock stars, the wonderful lesbian woman Melissa Ethridge (bless her heart) if he was now comfortable around gays, he wasn't b4. hmmm... :0

Kevork Djansezian / AP thanks Kevork!

Obama spread open his life as the child of an interracial couple who experienced some of the exclusionary practices at law of the world in those days, and Hillary were there spreading love and hope, but the LGBT community is in love with none other than: Dennis Kuscinichz. He speaks to them and completely support them. As Melissa said, "I hope you keep running forever and ever until you win, man". That sez it all.

None of the Republicans invited accepted an invitation to do a similar show on another day. I don't blame them, because the party's position on gays wouldn't be served that way. However, Guliani you're a hypocrite because you do support gay rights! Or you have in the past! And that cross-dressing you did (TWICE!) on SNL and other forums should make u a brunt of criticism for not accepting a "talk" with them, you owe them that. That would be like a closet supporter of civil rights politician like so many of the Northeastern politicians of the middle of the 20th century when machine politics controlled your patronage. You need the minority vote but can't be seen in public with them, or go on their turf or their forums (like Bloomberg did in the last mayoral election in HARLEM).

The gay and lesbian community is largely Democratic and politically active.

Today's voter wants change - simple as that! Today's politician must have vision, be more open, more inclusive, more open to changes in the way we interact, do things, deal with others. It's going to require a renaissance leader.

Oh yes, the debate, or talk as you will. Who won? I don't know, I changed the channel to watch the Pink Floyd reunion concert they were showing on VH1 Classic Channel.

as i sit here and watch this talking ass in the white house...

As I sit down with my glass of chardonnay and watch this fool W "put up his dukes" like he knows how to actually box like Muhammed Ali. He ain't no fckn Muhammed Ali. But it makes me realize that I would like to see the next president have strength of his conviction AND WORKING, LISTENING EARS.

Bush is not always wrong - he does have some strong convictions (no the war is not one of them). But his huge ears aren't plugged in to the iPod of his mind. He's just winging it until Janauary 2009. You can stomp and cry all you want. He has no intention of changing course on anything. He knows the next president won't be a Republican, he knows for sure it won't be him. So no harm in playing the field, he can move in any direction he wants (and that doesn't take his popularity poll below 25% - anything lower signals imminent revolution). He can even ignore his own party. So why not leave the coming mess to the Democrats?

Do y'all realize it will take a MINIMUM of 18 MONTHS to get our troops out of there with a full-phased, rapid redeployment (and note 'redeployment' = moving our men to other nearby battle staging locations somewhere in the middle east, europe, possibly north africa). In that time, approximately 1,300 U.S. soldiers will be killed using overall monthly trends. oh, that's a low estimate. We're in for a doozy of the next 10 years, folks, brace yourselves.

UNGAWA BLACK POWAH...

Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's New Force

well white folks, it finally happened! black people now control the world!!

ok, not really, just fckin' wif y'all. but indeed the words of a black man, with the physical features of a malcolm x, indeed a muslim name; the words of a possible president or vice-president of the united states in 2009 with the possible legal precedent left over (perhaps) by vice-president dick chaney to be in control of the military and going to war, that if need be we're going in with our military to get al-queda and osama bin laden once and for all, with or without the help of pakistan's president musharraf, shook up the world today. pakistan is considering declaring a state of emergency to shore up its sovereignty. we are now facing a new plateau, in that loss of musharraf's alliance will have to shake up u.s. strategy in the region, a situation the next president will surely inherit. barack has made a name for himself and shook up the world.

we're not looking at a warmonger, or any other person that has come forth for this office before, or at least not for some time. a bobby kennedy-self-style and grace longed for by america for so long, and a 21st century renaissance man at that, barack brings the hopes and prayers of many who want world peace, equity, the security of mutual trust not unilateral fear, comfort and livability for all, prosperity for all, love for all things terran. his words and approaches may bring lasting peace and foster in an era of socioeconomic parity, or perhaps begin the the ugliest phase of the war on terror in years to come. with the world braced for what happens next, that's unprecedented power that black america hasn't seen asserted since stokley carmichael uttered, no SHOUTED, those famous words "BLACK POWER" in 1966.

so what if a black man takes the anglo-american diaspora into probably the largest global conflict the western caucasian powers have faced since their colonial grip started weakening in the 1950s and 60s? in case you haven't noticed, the west is steadily losing its economic and political grip on world events, a deveoping trend since the early 2000s and china. that said, america is still technologically an economically strong, and still the best hope in any military conflict. another 'coalition of the willing' could produce a significant military deterrence. but lead by a black man? o'yeah buddy, that would be phat...

whichever way it goes, i think barack's words, no matter how inexperienced, should tell america and the world that the time for change is imminent, and we should prepare AND strive for a new way of thinking. otherwise, we face endless conflict with more deadly weapons and a certain demise as a planet. he may not understand fully how the white house works, but he does understand how america feels. besides, if he's there it won't be a "white house" anymore anyway, will it?

DC Metro loses its mind once again

The Metro!!!! Fuck!!


Metro General Manager John Catoe is considering replacing the night-owl weekend trains with buses as a way to cut costs and provide more time for the agency to work in stations and on tracks.

Read the article here

My first reaction to this was, "LOL, what?"

Then it turned to "What the hell, man??"

Metro, listen up. YOU CANNOT CUT BACK ON SERVICES WHILE CHARGING US MORE MONEY AT THE SAME TIME. THOSE WARNING BELLS ARE NOT A FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION. IT'S A BAD FCKING IDEA!!!

You wanna cut costs? STOP RUNNING OVER PEDESTRIANS AND KILLING PEOPLE ON THE TRACKS!

Yes, let's give drunk people an even better excuse to get behind the wheel! And using the buses as an alternative? Come on now, you know they run on CP time.

Man, this is gonna be one huge LOLERFEST. Can we work on the Cop-A-Block catastrophe first before any more bright ideas??

"tokyo driftin" the sport of the summer of '7

cycle racing in the outskirts of the city: in the bronx around yankee stadium, in queens around the whitestone bridge, in brooklyn out on rockaway beach, and elsewhere in that undisclosed location near you....

and u loved the last story? check this out...

now it must be official: washington is buiding a new Iraqi power force to take over the country and turn it back into a totalitarian (albeit controlled by the U.S.) democratic nation. Notably, the U.S. is successfully arming what looks like around 75,000-125,000 Iraqi insurgent troops as the data and figures in this morning's Washington Post should clearly represent to you:

Weapons Given to Iraq Are Missing

GAO Estimates 30% of Arms Are Unaccounted For

By Glenn Kessler

Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, August 6, 2007; Page A01

The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

The author of the report from the Government Accountability Office says U.S. military officials do not know what happened to 30 percent of the weapons the United States distributed to Iraqi forces from 2004 through early this year as part of an effort to train and equip the troops. The highest previous estimate of unaccounted-for weapons was 14,000, in a report issued last year by the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction.

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The United States has spent $19.2 billion trying to develop Iraqi security forces since 2003, the GAO said, including at least $2.8 billion to buy and deliver equipment. But the GAO said weapons distribution was haphazard and rushed and failed to follow established procedures, particularly from 2004 to 2005, when security training was led by Gen. David H. Petraeus, who now commands all U.S. forces in Iraq.

The Pentagon did not dispute the GAO findings, saying it has launched its own investigation and indicating it is working to improve tracking. Although controls have been tightened since 2005, the inability of the United States to track weapons with tools such as serial numbers makes it nearly impossible for the U.S. military to know whether it is battling an enemy equipped by American taxpayers.

"They really have no idea where they are," said Rachel Stohl, a senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information who has studied small-arms trade and received Pentagon briefings on the issue. "It likely means that the United States is unintentionally providing weapons to bad actors."

One senior Pentagon official acknowledged that some of the weapons probably are being used against U.S. forces. He cited the Iraqi brigade created at Fallujah that quickly dissolved in September 2004 and turned its weapons against the Americans.

Stohl said insurgents frequently use small-arms fire to force military convoys to move in a particular direction -- often toward roadside bombs. She noted that the Bush administration frequently complains that Iran and Syria are supplying insurgents but has paid little attention to whether U.S. military errors inadvertently play a role. "We know there is seepage and very little is being done to address the problem," she said.

Stohl noted that U.S. forces, focused on a fruitless search for weapons of mass destruction after Baghdad fell, did not secure massive weapons caches. The failure to track small arms given to Iraqi forces repeats that pattern of neglect, she added.

The GAO is studying the financing and weapons sources of insurgent groups, but that report will not be made public. "All of that information is classified," said Joseph A. Christoff, the GAO's director of international affairs and trade.

In an unusual move, the train-and-equip program for Iraqi forces is being managed by the Pentagon. Normally, the traditional security assistance programs are operated by the State Department, the GAO reported. The Defense Department said this change permitted greater flexibility, but as of last month it was unable to tell the GAO what accountability procedures, if any, apply to arms distributed to Iraqi forces, the report said.

Iraqi security forces were virtually nonexistent in early 2004, and in June of that year Petraeus was brought in to build them up. No central record of distributed equipment was kept for a year and a half, until December 2005, and even now the records are on a spreadsheet that requires three computer screens lined up side by side to view a single row, Christoff said.

The GAO found that the military was consistently unable to collect supporting documents to "confirm when the equipment was received, the quantities of equipment delivered, and the Iraqi units receiving the equipment." The agency also said there were "numerous mistakes due to incorrect manual entries" in the records that were maintained.

The GAO reached the estimate of 190,000 missing arms -- 110,000 AK-47s and 80,000 pistols -- by comparing the property records of the Multi-National Security Transition Command for Iraq against records Petraeus maintained of the arms and equipment he had ordered. Petraeus's figures were compared with classified data and other records to ensure that they were accurate enough to compare against the property books.

In all cases, the gaps between the two records were enormous. Petraeus reported that about 185,000 AK-47 rifles, 170,000 pistols, 215,000 pieces of body armor and 140,000 helmets were issued to Iraqi security forces from June 2004 through September 2005. But the property books contained records for 75,000 AK-47 rifles, 90,000 pistols, 80,000 pieces of body armor and 25,000 helmets.

A military commander involved in the program at the time, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the report, acknowledged in an e-mail, "We did issue some items, including weapons, body armor, etc. to new Iraqi units that were literally going into battle."

But, the commander argued, "there was, frankly, not much of a choice early on: We had very little staff and could have held the weapons until every piece of the logistical and property accountability system was in place, or we could issue them, in bulk on some occasions, to the U.S. elements supporting Iraqi units who were needed in the battles of Najaf, Fallujah, Mosul, Samarra, etc."

The GAO plans to look for similar problems in the training of Afghan security forces.

During the Bosnian conflict, the United States provided about $100 million in defense equipment to the Bosnian Federation Army, and the GAO found no problems in accounting for those weapons.

Much of the equipment provided to Iraqi troops, including the AK-47s, originates from countries in the former Soviet bloc. In a report last year, Amnesty International said that in 2004 and 2005 more than 350,000 AK-47 rifles and similar weapons were taken out of Bosnia and Serbia, for use in Iraq, by private contractors working for the Pentagon and with the approval of NATO and European security forces in Bosnia.

hayabusa cycle racing is here!

just a random pick of life in the fast lane!

sunday after the talk shows...

by the way, before we begin, just wanted to less those of us less finacially fortunate and that need one that computers doing what most of us want our computers to do, and more specfically wireless portable laptops or hand-helds, can now get one for less than $500. if not at many discount stores definitely online. and name brands, too.

go 4 it!

NEWS
u.s. army pfc spielman facing 110 years for raping and murdering an iraqi girl: could this be about more? like a jewish-american male soldier committing a hate crime on a muslim iraqi minor female civilian? should this be investigated? should he be charged with a hate crime as prescribed under international law?

video resumes: the next new wave in selling yourself to employers.

iraq/terrorism/the 2008 presidential election: this will be the test for the GOP:

1, would a terrorist attack or message just before the election (like in 2004) help the republican candidate? will it lead you to vote republican - AGAIN!?

2, would a positive development in the war on terrorism or in iraq be more or less helpful to a GOP candidate than a precipitous withdrawl?

3, who gets the benefit? obama? clinton? or guiliani? ...better still, how does fred thompson benefit from a significant middle east event at all?

economy in U.S. likely to tighten: there's a looming credit crunch, u.s. federal reserve chairman bernaike is meeting with the fed board for their quarterly meeting, and interest rates are expected to go up slightly. meanwhile, the u.s. is struggling mightily against global markets, particularly china, india and venezuela - not to mention the more peaceful parts of the middle east: dubai, bahrain, omar and saudi arabia with dramatic real estate development all over and sirloin-steak-size foreign aid packages coming soon - yummy! in the meantime the u.s. is losing a serious and quite real products/manufacturing war with china that's threatening our very economic existenceat. add to the story is that latin america is incresing its manufacturing capacity in venezuela, ecuador, bolivia and argentina, and get this - mexico is increasing production - right as its citizens keep climbing mountains and river to get here. what is going on? the housing and unemployment in our cities and countryside is getting worse and we should be getting concerned, because that's our future we're looking at. immigration and trade policies need to be tightened more in favor of american interests, or maintain and improve our infrastructure here, as the recent interstate highway bridge collapse proved. note these highways were built in the 1950s for, among less important reasons given then, for "our national defense". your ability to commute was considered a convenience and an economic vitality which was desired, but in the event of a nuclear war those roads are supposed to hold tanks and mobile missile launchers. so whatsup wif that?

the news in brief

hugo chavez: funkified: our darling all-too-kewl favorite dictator prez hugo chavez taking hollywood stars, most recently sean penn, around caracas, villa de cine, venezuela's new movie studio developed to rival hollywood in film location and production facilities, and western venezuela, where economic and social improvement is focusing attention on chavez from a positive PR perspective. all in an attempt to get not only worldwide support for his policies, but also to undermine american government dissidence to his policies, thereby creating or attempting to create isolation for its policies while hoping to open a new world opinion fissure.

search, just don't seize: the recent federal court decision that the search of the congressional offices of rep. william jefferson by the FBI circumvented the Constitution of the United States, as a violation of the separation of powers act. the justice dept and the FBI knew it of course, and were hoping the court challenge and the psudeo-bull so-called 'independent' FBI investigators could decide objectively by any valid assessment what is congressionally protected material or not. however, the overall search was legal, and the court ruled mr. jefferson, no matter how valuable a public figure, is not above the law. he also appears to be the dem's possible alter-character to scooter libby: trying to bribe a prominent nigerian energy commission official, hiding $90K in the fridge, several junkets to africa and dealings with several european, african, and asian nations - not to mention some contacts with the U.N. over the years. yeah he got a thing or 2 goin' on....

oaktown's a'burnin' again: the recent shooting of a prominent Oakland CA newspaper editor highlights a fight that has been going on between prominent members of the black journalistic corps and the nation of islam and black muslim sects formed in the early 1970s. most y'all young jeezys weren't alive during the 1970s when the most violent of these clashes was ongoing, taking lives in kareem abdul jabbar's house in suburban DC and killing off a prominent Philadelphia black mafia/black muslim druglord and rackets boss major coxson in his suburban NJ home. not to mention it had an impact which led to the end of the infamous New York drug kingpin nicky barnes as well. oakland of course has its own history with clashes betwwen the press, police, black panthers and the muslims that are stuff of legend. but the recent killing of oakland post editor chauncey bailey and the arrest of several muslim bakery workers, including the son of oakland black muslim legend the late yusef bey (who owned the bakery) only makes for another story of intrigue....

another sorry love song again: now another town is getting into the xenophobic act: carpentersville, illinois, trying to enact anti-immigration laws sure to inflame latino and asian residents. can't they just all get along? or at least follow the law - i.e., it's not up to you stupid, it's up to the FEDERAL government, just like the constitution sez....

ringtones for real estate?: more to follow on this one. a new trend: just like paint and new doors, or like digital photgraphy has enhanced what a person can do to present their house better, now comes theme or mood music you can upload from your iPod or other source to sell your house and the appearance (or ambiance) it can give. i got a song to start: luther vandross' classic hit "and a house is not a home".....

more to add and follow....