Dakryn's Batshit Theory of the Week

[V.V.V.V.V.]

The Hindu Janus, then?

 

[Zephyrus]

That's what I was referring to.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

Yes, I know

 

[zabu of nΩd]

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Man_falls_down_elevator_shaft;_woman_breaks_his_fall

Man falls down elevator shaft; woman breaks his fall

Police reported on Monday, that a man in Frankfurt, Germany is recovering after he fell 25 feet down an elevator shaft early Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m. CEST (UTC+2), and survived. According to authorities, the only reason why the man is alive is because he landed on top of a woman who had fallen down the same shaft just one day earlier.

27-year-old Jens Wilhelms, who was not injured in the fall, was walking up a dark stairwell, passing by the elevator shaft which was undergoing repairs. When he peeked inside the open doors to see what was going on, he slipped off the edge.

"I saw the door open and I just wanted to check whether somebody was finally working on the elevator. I took a closer look inside the shaft as it was pitch black, and must have slipped off the edge somehow," said Wilhelms to the media.

Approximately 24 hours prior to Wilhelms' fall, an unidentified 57-year-old woman fell down the same shaft and was laying unconscious on the shaft's floor, bleeding internally.

Authorities say that although the woman sustained additional injuries from Wilhelms' fall, he likely saved her life.

"When Wilhelms fell down on her his weight caused additional damage to her body, but without that she could have laid there for days. The woman had been lying unconscious in the shaft for some time already," said Manfred Vonhausen, a spokesman for the Frankfurt Police Department.

The woman remains in a hospital where she is in critical condition.

That woman is a fucking beast.

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

Heres your next serial killer.

http://thesuburban.com/content.jsp?sid=16928034283737527947025696389&ctid=1000037&cnid=1014977

By Lisa Savage, The Suburban

It happened again recently. My four-year-old son opened a gift, a small cowboy character, that sent me into emergency weapons-disposal mode.

Like some kind of pacifist super spy disguised as a suburban mom, I employed advanced diversion techniques that allowed me to transform the heavily armed cowboy into a harmless horseback rider in a flash.

The tiny sidearm, holster, and rifle were in the trash before Thomas even got a glimpse of them.

Ours is a weapon-free home, you see. No toy guns, swords, or ninja stars, and no violent games, videos, or shows are allowed.

My husband and I just don’t see any good in exposing pre-schoolers to these things.

There are scads of studies that prove children behave more aggressively when they have access to violent images and toy weapons, but I don’t need a study to convince me of this obvious correlation. Monkey see, monkey do.

When Thomas sees kids playing rough, he wants to do the same.

After playing with Transformer toys at a friend’s house, he comes home, points his finger at me and makes that realistic shooting sound that every boy seems to master at a young age.

The abundance of violent toys, games and movies geared to boys tells me that most people aren’t concerned about this.

What’s the problem with boys indulging in a little rough-housing or pretending to kill their mothers? Boys will be boys, right?

To a certain extent, I agree.

Boys tend to be more aggressive and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Michael Gurian, author of several books about raising boys and girls, has made a career of explaining the biological differences between the sexes and how parents and educators should deal with those differences.

In his book, The Wonder of Boys, Gurian explains that boys are prone to aggression and physical risk-taking because of testosterone.

However, Gurian stresses that there’s a difference between aggression and violence.

Violence is learned behaviour, whereas the male tendency for aggression can be productively channelled.

For instance, Gurian suggests organized sports and other competitive activities can be a healthy outlet for boys’ natural aggressiveness.

A common refrain among my friends is that our husbands, friends, brothers, and dads all grew up playing with toy guns and little army men and they turned out all right.

Most kids are able to understand the difference between pretend violence and real violence.

So why shouldn’t I supply my testosterone-laden lad with toy guns, swords, and violent video games for him to act out his biological imperative?

Because I’m not convinced our husbands, friends, brothers, and dads did turn out all right.

We still live in a world that considers blowing each other’s heads off as an acceptable way for groups of people to sort out their differences.

Enormous amounts of time and money are spent training young men (and women now) how to kill others effectively.

Toy soldiers aren’t as popular as they used to be.

The most popular agents of destruction these days — for younger boys anyway — are giant robots or faceless ninjas, but don’t think for a second that kids don’t identify with these characters, whether they’re made of steel or flesh — they’re heroes. Weapon-toting, destructive, killing machines for our children to adore. Charming.

I’m not suggesting that kids who play with toy guns grow up to be killers, merely that they view killing as an unavoidable, natural part of being human.

When we encourage our children to play at killing, we are teaching them that ours is a violent world, even if they aren’t themselves violent.

We are teaching them to accept that war is inevitable, that evil people deserve to die, and that heroes are killers.

Since I’ve got a more peaceful world in mind for my son, I’ll continue my stealth toy transformations and ban the violent stuff from our home.

I’ll encourage my son to expend his aggressive energy on competitive play. I’ll teach him to believe that heroes are those that do good, and that violence is not a necessary aspect of the human condition.

2008-04-09 13:24:56

(Comments block at the bottom of the page)

Letters to the Editor:
editor@thesuburban.com

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

fucking moron

 

[Krigloch the Furious]

First New Refinery in 32 Years!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2008/06/04/news/top/4e608d46402d5adb8625745e00110beb.txt


Union County approves zoning ordinance for Hyperion
By Dave Dreeszen Journal business editor

ELK POINT, S.D. -- Flashing a smile, Joyce Bortscheller briefly hugged Hyperion Energy Center executive Preston Phillips as she greeted him in the backyard of her home here.

Bortscheller, president of the Elk Point City Council, had invited about 250 supporters to an outdoor barbecue Tuesday to await the returns for arguably the most important election in Union County's history. The big crowd didn't leave disappointed.

As midnight approached, they popped the champagne corks, celebrating a hard-fought victory that keeps alive the county's chances of landing the nation's first all-new oil refinery in 32 years.

By a solid 58 percent to 42 percent margin, county voters approved Hyperion's request to rezone 3,292 acres of farm land for a new classification, Energy Center Planned Development.

"What happened tonight, we were not supposed to be able to do," Phillips told a cheering audience. "Development projects like this are supposed to be outright rejected by residents and neighbors. But this project is a testament to our balancing the needs for growth and for protecting the environment."

At stake was billions of dollars in capital investment and thousands of high-paying jobs. From the beginning, Hyperion executives said they would abandon its Union County site, just north of Elk Point, if a majority of voters failed to give their blessing to the rezoning.

While conceding defeat, opponents vowed to keep fighting the controversial project on every imaginable front, pressing on with a lawsuit it filed against the county over the zoning procedures and opposing Hyperion as it applies for a bevy of state and federal permits.

"We have strategies in place to slow or delay all the permit processes," Ed Cable, chairman of the anti-Hyperion group Save Union County, said after the vote.

Tuesday's historic election culminated a months-long, emotionally charged campaign that pitted neighbor against neighbor in this extreme southeast South Dakota county.

Supporters cited the once-in-a-lifetime economic opportunities the $10 billion project would bring.

An average of 4,500 construction jobs would be required over four years. With the refinery up and running, Hyperion pledges to create 1,826 full-time jobs at hourly wages of between $20 and $30.

"I think it would be a great opportunity for young people to stay in this area instead of leaving for other states," Kelly Hoekstra, 31, of Dakota Dunes said after casting a vote in favor of the rezoning.

Opponents argued the massive development would not be worth the pollution and other troubles they claimed the refinery would bring. The health risks traditionally associated with a refinery weighed heavily on the minds of some voters.

"I live out here. I don't need the pollution," said Jim Schroeder of McCook Lake, after voting against the rezoning.

The contentious issue largely broke along urban and rural lines, with residents living the closest to the Hyperion site fighting the hardest to keep the refinery out of their backyards.

Tuesday's record turnout largely reflected that split, with early returns from the mostly rural precincts putting the "No" votes squarely in the lead. As votes were tallied in the more populated area, particularly in the southeast tier closest to Sioux City, that lead was slowly erased.

The ordinance took a slim 205-vote lead after 11 of the 13 precincts reported. Hyperion supporters declared victory after the Elk Point precinct results came in, increasing the rezoning lead by 150 votes.

Last to report was voter-rich Dakota Dunes, where an unusually large number of absentee ballots slowed the counting. In the Dunes, the ordinance easily passed, 1,017 to 236 votes.

"That's huge," Phillips told the cheering crowd.

The final tally was 3,932 votes in favor of the ordinance and 2,832 against.

Hyperion touted the so-called "green" technology in its proposed energy center, which it claims would be the world's cleanest. The refinery would process 400,000 barrels of tar sands crude a day from Alberta into low-sulfur gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

Supporters argued that tapping into reserves from our neighbor to the north would reduce the nation's dependence on Mideast oil and add badly needed refining capacity in the U.S., where the last all-new refinery was built in 1976.

Both sides flooded the county's nearly 10,000 registered voters with paid ads, direct mailers and door-to-door stops, combining to raise and spend more than $100,000.

A ballot question committee formed by Dallas, Texas-based Hyperion alone poured in at least $45,000.

"It was close, and one of the reasons why was negative campaigning worked," Phillips told supporters. "We have always taken the high road, and we will continue to take the high road."

Hyperion project executive J.L. "Corky" Frank, a former Marathon Oil executive, joined Phillips for Tuesday night's celebration, where supporters enjoyed music, food and drink and regularly checked their cell phones for up-to-date election numbers.

Addressing the audience, Phillips thanked the local supporters, including Bortscheller and her husband, Gary, for hosting the party.

Last summer, after Hyperion publicly announced its interest in the Union County site, Bortscheller, who is also a local economic development leader, organized a barbecue for Hyperion CEO Albert Huddleston to introduce him to local residents.

"From the very beginning I was on board because I felt it was the right thing for our county," Bortscheller said early in the evening.

Journal staff writer Michele Linck contributed to this story.

 

[skeptik]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080605/ap_on_el_pr/democrats_money

DNC will no longer take lobbyist, PAC money

NEW YORK - In his first order of business as his party's presumed presidential nominee, Barack Obama is instructing the Democratic National Committee to adopt his policy against accepting donations from federal lobbyists or political action committees.
ADVERTISEMENT

In addition, Obama is keeping Howard Dean as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, while bringing in one of his top strategists to oversee the party's operations.

Obama made changes at the party headquarters his first order of business as the presumed presidential nominee. Campaign adviser Paul Tewes was dispatched to help lead the changes Thursday, with Dean still as the chairman.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Obama appreciates Dean's hard work to grow the party.

The change involving lobbyists will make the party and the candidate have a consistent position. Obama often says banning the donations is one way to help keep him free of the influence of Washington insiders.

An Obama spokesman announced the change Thursday as the candidate prepared to fly from New York, where he had been raising money, to campaign in Virginia.

Obama himself planned to discuss the change at a town hall meeting in Bristol, Virginia.

The move indicates Obama will argue Republican rival John McCain is under the influence of special interests because of his advisers' lobbying ties.

McCain's senior advisers are former lobbyists, including campaign manager Rick Davis, and McCain was stung last month by the disclosure that two advisers worked for a firm that had represented Myanmar's military junta, which has restricted foreign assistance for cyclone victims.

The Arizona senator instituted a new lobbying policy that says no campaign staffer can be a registered lobbyist, resulting in three more departures from his campaign, including a top fundraiser, former Texas Rep. Tom Loeffler.

Obama's ban on lobbyists money is not ironclad. He does accept money from lobbyists who do not do business with the federal government and he also accepts money from spouses and family members of lobbyists. He has had unpaid advisers with federal lobbying clients, and some campaign officials also previously had lobbying jobs.

Obama strategist Paul Tewes, who ran the Illinois senator's successful Iowa campaign, is taking over the DNC and was at party headquarters Thursday meeting the staff.

The new policy will eliminate one source of contributions to the DNC, which has significantly trailed its Republican counterpart in fundraising. So far this election cycle, the DNC has raised $77.6 million and had $4.4 million cash on had at the end of April. The RNC, however, had raised nearly twice as much and had $40.6 in the bank.

The Democratic National Committee received more than $3 million in PAC contributions in this election cycle — a period covering all of 2007 and so far this year, according to its latest report with the Federal Election Commission.

Both parties also rely on lobbyists for money, but their biggest sources of money tend to be donors in the securities and investment industries or in real estate. The DNC raised more than $3 million so far this election cycle from lawyers and lobbyists, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. That was the narrowest category analyzed, meaning much of that money did not come from federally registered lobbyists.

The Republican National Committee raised $1.1 million this election cycle from lawyers and lobbyists, according to the center.

While the DNC has been the least successful fundraising operation in the Democratic Party, its takeover by the Obama camp means it will likely see a dramatic jump in fundraising. Obama has been the leader in the presidential money race, raising a record $264 million.

DNC Chairman Howard Dean set up a joint fundraising committee earlier to amass money for the eventual nominee. Acceding to Obama's wishes, that committee already was not accepting money from federal lobbyists.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

That is pretty motherfucking great.

 

[Hubster]

Wow, now this has certainly taken some time to finally reach court...

Case begins for 9/11 accused
From Fanny Carrier in Guantanamo Bay
June 05, 2008 11:42pm

FIVE men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks have appeared in public for the first time in years at the start of a US military hearing at the Guantanamo Bay base.

All dressed in white and without handcuffs, the five, including Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the attacks which killed some 3000 people, were seated at a table with their military defence team.

Sheikh Mohammed, a Pakistani, and his alleged co-conspirators Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Wallid bin Attash and Mustapha al-Hawsawi all face the death penalty if convicted by the military commission on the US base on Cuba.

Charges against them include conspiracy, murder, attacking civilians, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property, terrorism, and material support for terrorism.

The men appeared relaxed as they chatted in Arabic, waiting for the hearing to begin at which the charges will be read against to them by judge Colonel Ralph Kohlmann.

The judge opened the military commission by saying the government would consider any statements by the five as confidential because of their detentions in secret CIA prisons.

"Any statement by any of the detainees is presumptively classified," Judge Kohlmann said.

That means there was to be a 20-second delay before the defendants statements are broadcast by video to the nearby purpose-built press room in order to allow prosecutors to cut any sensitive information.

The five will get the chance to say if they accept their military and civilian defence lawyers, and whether they wish to plead immediately on the charges.

All the suspects were arrested between 2002 and 2003, and transferred to the controversial base on Cuba in 2006, allegedly after spending years in secret CIA prisons.

Sheikh Mohammed, 43, has claimed to have been behind not just the September 11 attacks but also some 30 operations against the West in the past decade, according to transcripts of his interrogation released by the Pentagon.

His appearance is the first time he has been seen in public since his capture in Pakistan on March 1, 2003.

The military tribunals have been mired in controversy since they were established by President George W. Bush at the end of 2001.

In 2006, the US Supreme Court ruled they were illegal, but then Congress adopted a new law allowing for them to be re-established and allowing indirect witness statements or testimony won under duress to be submitted as evidence.

Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, legal adviser to the military commissions, said the defence team had been granted "extraordinary" rights.

But he noted that if they are acquitted, the suspects could still continue to be held until the end of the so-called "war on terror".

"This is a fundamentally flawed process and we will zealously identify and expose each and every one (of its flaws). Our nation deserves better than this," countered chief defence counsel Colonel Steven David.

A village of tents has been set up on an old landing strip to accommodate the journalists and other visitors who have travelled to Cuba for the hearing.

 

[Ender Rises]

So much for a speedy trial. Every time I hear "Guantanamo Bay" or "Gitmo" my teeth grate in anger.

That is pretty motherfucking great.

Agreed. And people wonder why I support Obama.

 

[The Ozzman]

I've known this guy for 15 years. His visitation was today and I have almost broken down about a half dozen times today

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806060348

The search for Peter Gruber's body continues in Tennessee, but his family and friends are taking the first step toward healing.

Visitation for the 26-year-old Glendale man is 5:30-8 p.m. today at Moeller High School Chapel, 9001 Montgomery Road, Kenwood. A Mass of Eternal Rest is 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Gabriel Church, 49 W. Sharon Road, Glendale.

"We just feel his friends, our family and the community, we need this," said his father, Bob Gruber. "This is the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life."

Peter Gruber has been missing since May 25, when he jumped from a moving boat on Norris Lake near LaFollette in Campbell County, Tenn. He was not wearing a life jacket. He was there for a Memorial Day weekend getaway with his girlfriend, her family and friends.

Campbell County has sonar equipment that is inexpensive and limited in its scope. The small county can't afford more, Bob Gruber said, so one of the memorial funds established in Peter's name will help purchase upgraded equipment to use in searches.

Meanwhile, a team from Franklin County, Tenn., brought specialized side-scan sonar equipment and searched the 30,000-acre lake Tuesday. "They didn't find him," Bob Gruber said.

He has contacted Gene Ralston, a Boise, Idaho, sonar expert who will bring his equipment to the site. Ralston and his wife, Sandy, are expected to arrive Monday.

The Ralstons were able to find the bodies of a father and son who disappeared April 2, 2007, during a fishing trip on Harsha Lake in East Fork State Park, Clermont County. Searches for the bodies of Charles Chippendale and his son, Scott, had been unsuccessful until the Ralstons located them two months later.

The Glendale community feels a sense of loss over Peter's death, as well. Peter and his family moved there when he was 4. For 22 years, the community watched him grow up playing baseball and participating in Boy Scouts.

He attended St. Gabriel School, then went to Moeller High School, graduating in 2000. He graduated from the University of Dayton in 2004 with a business degree. He first worked in the family business, Busam Nissan in the Tri-County area. He was employed as an underwriter by Cincinnati Financial Insurance when he disappeared.

"He had a lot of friends," Gruber said. "He was our best friend. He'd do anything for people. Honest as the day is long, the kind of kid who would tell on himself."

A story on a blog in his memory exemplifies his character, his father said. A friend couldn't afford an engagement ring, so Peter loaned him the money.

"That sums it all up right there," Gruber said. "He never told a soul. He just did things for people. That's the kind of kid he was. That's why we're going to keep the memory going. We're going to celebrate his life."

Donations may be made to the Peter Gruber Moeller High School Scholarship Fund, c/o St. Gabriel School, 18 W. Sharon Road, Glendale, OH 45246. His family hopes to make an annual scholarship to a St. Gabriel student who plans to attend Moeller.

Fifth Third Bank in Glendale and the Campbell County, Tenn., Fire Department Rescue Team have opened a fund to help with the purchase of equipment for the team.

The fund came about when people asked the Fire Department how they could help. Donations may be sent to the Peter Gruber Fund at the Glendale branch, 38 Village Square, Glendale, OH 45246.

 

[V.V.V.V.V.]

wtf? Crazy.

 

[cookiecutter]

Why did he jump from the boat? And what is a visitation?

 

[The Ozzman]

Why did he jump from the boat? And what is a visitation?

He jumped from the boat because he wanted to know what it felt like to jump from a moving boat. It's not something I would ever see him doing. His brother on the other hand..

A visitation is where you give your condolences to the family at a place. It usually takes place at the funeral home the day before the funeral, but since there is no body yet, it took place where I went to high school.

 

[supseudonymous]

He jumped from the boat because he wanted to know what it felt like to jump from a moving boat. It's not something I would ever see him doing. His brother on the other hand..

Has anyone else ever noticed that everyone's brother is crazy?

A visitation is where you give your condolences to the family at a place. It usually takes place at the funeral home the day before the funeral, but since there is no body yet, it took place where I went to high school.

Your middle-American jargon confuses and infuriates me. It's called a wake.

 

[The Ozzman]

Your middle-American jargon confuses and infuriates me. It's called a wake.

It's pop, not soda

The term 'visitation' makes more sense than 'wake' though.

 

[False Joe]

It's wake.

Irish people spend their time getting wasted.

 

[supseudonymous]

The term 'visitation' makes more sense than 'wake' though.

wake n. - the consequences of an event (especially a catastrophic event);

 

[The Ozzman]

It's wake.

Or a visitation or a viewing