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Obama and Wife Accused of Becoming King and Queen of America

EU Times — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:26:06 +0000

King Obama

Barack and Michelle Obama are entitled to vacations, but they are not King, Queen or royalty such as the King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain. The Obamas should remember that US families are suffering from the horrible economy.

The last time I checked, the United States of America was a constitutional republic with three co-equal branches of government. Obviously, the President and his wife missed civics class and believe we are living in a monarchy. What else can explain their outrageous behavior? They think they are the King and Queen of America, to hell with the U.S. Constitution.

During his tenure as President, the First Couple has enjoyed lavish parties, state dinners, multiple vacations, concerts, golfing trips and expensive Broadway dates. It has been one non-stop party at our expense. Over the last 19 months, the First Couple has been living as monarchs instead of public servants. This opulent lifestyle has not been earned, but is being financed by suffering American taxpayers.

The latest outrage occurred last week in Spain, where Michelle Obama vacationed with her daughter and forty of her closest friends. As this country deals with the long term ramifications of Obama’s policies, Mrs. Obama was dining with the King of Spain, Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia and Princess Letizia. On the resort island of Mallorca, the First Lady munched on gazpacho, turbot, veal escalopes, rice, a vegetable ratatouille and fruit with ice cream. How nice to dine with royalty as millions of average Americans are looking for a job and trying to provide food for their families.

This five day jaunt cost taxpayers close to one million dollars. What an outrage, just the latest example of a tone deaf administration. In good economic times, this type of outlandish travel is inappropriate, but especially in this horrible economy, it sends the wrong message.

If Mrs. Herbert Hoover took a trip on the Queen Elizabeth with dozens of her friends and charged the taxpayers of this country, the media of the early 1930’s would have vigorously complained. Today, the only criticism comes from the dreaded world of the Internet and talk radio. The lap dog lame stream media thinks it is just great for the First Couple to act like royalty.

Average Americans think much differently from the lame stream media. Among the media elite, Barack and Michelle Obama are still very popular; however, in real America, the popularity of Obama style politics is plummeting. While the media constantly bombards us with stories of his accomplishments or her great fashion, the American public is not listening. In fact, as the media reports the President playing basketball with NBA stars or Mrs. Obama lunching with monarchs, the American people are becoming angrier.

Ironically, the media is making it worse for their heroes. The only thing that will help Obama reverse his poor standing is a turnaround in the economy and his policies are preventing a true recovery from ever starting.

In the meantime, there is an ongoing political disconnect with the American people. The Obamas continue playing the role of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” while Americans live paycheck to paycheck, if they can even find a job. Americans know that the bad economy has been made worse by the President’s policies.

If the First Couple were truly concerned about the plight of their constituents, they would be more mindful of their actions. In contrast, the Obamas don’t consider the American public their bosses, but really their subjects.

They rule over us with their feel good liberalism, espousing unworkable high minded policies for a variety of problems. Unfortunately, none of the Obama agenda is working. For example, the stimulus package was a dismal failure and the healthcare bill is incredibly unpopular in this country.

It seems the administration is purposely pursuing an agenda that is at odds with the wishes of the American public. While media cheerleaders show the President playing basketball or his wife jet setting across the globe, the popularity of the Obama administration only declines more.

The American people have had enough of this presidential partying. The Obamas should understand what they are creating, a climate for the type of political revolution that has not been seen in this country for many years. Of course a revolution is the last thing any real or phony monarch wants to see from his loyal subjects. Does anyone remember King George III?

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Indonesian man forced to Marry Cow after caught having Intercourse with the animal

EU Times — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 09:05:14 +0000

It was on a terrace between two paddy fields like this that Balinese teenager Ngurah Alit was caught having intercourse with a cow, who he claimed had flirted with him.

It was reported that a Balinese teenager, Ngurah Alit, 18, was caught having intercourse with a cow. Because of the act of bestiality, Alit was forced to marry the cow. Alit ended up passing out on Friday during the ceremony which was witnessed by hundreds of understandably curious onlookers.

The Jakarta Globe had reported earlier in the day that Alit, who is an unemployed youth from the seaside village of Yeh Embang in Jembrana, was caught completely naked positioned behind the cow in a rice field.

Alit did admit to the act of bestiality but he had claimed that the cow, which he truly believed was a young and beautiful woman. He believed that the “young and beautiful woman” had flattered him with many compliments.

A ceremony was done to cleanse the village of the very unholy act of a man mating with a cow which was part of a Pecaruan ritual. Because of that, Alit was forced to marry the cow. However, Alit had been surrounded by locals and police, who attempted to prevent journalists from covering the spectacle. During that time, Alit had passed out.

When Alit collapsed, his mother started to scream hysterically while the other family members shouted at photographers to not take pictures. Did Alit at least get a chance to say “I do?”. That was never certain. As part of the ceremony, Alit’s new bride and victim was drowned in the ocean. Alit was symbolically drowned and bathed on the beach, when his clothes were thrown into the ocean.

Village chief Ida Bagus Legawa declared that the village had been “cleansed” from the “defilement from the incident.”

Alit was not notorious for doing anything of this nature. In fact a villager referred him to being a “quiet kid”. Quiet kids can sometimes have some skeletons in the closet and Alit had accidentally taken one of his out!

3-year-old Chinese girl Ya Wen is Addicted to Cigarettes & Beer After Van Smash

EU Times — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:19:19 +0000

Chinese 3-year-Old Ya Wen Is Addicted To Cigarettes & Beer After Van Smash

New York [RR] Beijing—the shocking Indonesia addicted Kid smoker is not alone these days. China has Ya Wen addicted kid smoker as a competitor. Reports say that she “puts yet another cigarette to her lips and takes a long, hard drag – at just three years old”.

Chinese addicted Kid smoker’s Ya Wen, was reported knocked down by a speeding van and suffered serious head injuries and her world changed RR learned. 3-year-old Ya-Wen’s parents say she is addicted to cigarettes, beer and even prefer dressing like a boy sources told Republicreport.

RR reported the shocking Indonesia 2-year-old Ardi Rizal an addicted smoker who calling to his parents throw tantrums if he can’t light-up record-breaking 40 cigarettes a day. Credible reports say Ardi has cut-down to 15-cigarettes a day after our report a week ago.

“He’s totally addicted”, Ardi’s mother, Diana, 26, was quoted saying last week. “If he doesn’t get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick”.

Our source says the Chinese Ya Wen’s mother Mum Gao Ya Man, make a living trading materials rummaged from garbage-dump in Huizhou, China was quoted saying, “The first time I found her smoking was in the toilet. She also likes drinking. Three glasses of beer is no problem for her”.

Credible reports say the doctor at Huizhou hospital where Ya Wen was treated was quoted as saying, “People can undergo changes to their personalities if they suffer brain injuries”.

The Chinese toddler has nothing to do with Indonesian toddler Ardi simply coincident of two addicted kids. But Gao Wen said her daughter’s personality changed dramatically after he got hit by speeding van; she started acting like an adult shorting after leaving the hospital reports say.

3-year-old Ya-Wen was busted hiding in the toilet smoking her father’s cigarettes sources told RR. Then she began putting her fingers on cigarettes stores—literally stealing them—to a point the owner let her have them on credit, thinking that she was buying them for her father—who is also a smoker.

“The first time I found her smoking was in the toilet” her mother told reporters. “Before that, I often saw cigarette butts in the toilet but thought they were my husband’s until I saw my daughter smoking there”.

Sources told Republicreport that the store owner said that he assumed that 3-year-old addicted smoker was buying for butts for Dear Old Dad, stating that the child would take up to two packs away at a time. 3-year-old Ya-Wen lives with her parents in a shelter in Huizhou, China, where they collect and trade garbage for money.

The good News is that unlike the Indonesia parents who seem undaunted about their 2-year-old addicted smoker, Ya Wen’s father gave up smoking to set a good example for his child even though the daughter still cries for cigarettes daily.

The world is changing rapidly given time and space, with these shocking developments on your face, experts say, “The challenging and difficult times are ahead of us… at the end of the day the buck stops with intelligent parenting, alleviating impoverished developing countries and enlightenment through educational tools”.

Another commentator added: “We live in an interesting time” says a Chinese adage.

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Robber caught counting money outside police station

EU Times — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:52:15 +0000

An 18-year-old man is accused of a robbing a woman at gunpoint Wednesday morning before counting the stolen money outside a Chicago police station on the West Side.

Jermaine Howard, of the 4800 block of West Adams Street, was charged with armed robbery with a firearm, a felony, police said this morning.

The man allegedly robbed the woman at the Kedzie Avenue CTA Pink Line station near 19th Street and Kedzie Avenue about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday as he was getting off a train. The robber fell down the stairs as he was being chased by the woman, who had also been on the train, police said.

A witness, Munchie Wade, said he was waiting for a bus outside the station when he heard footsteps on the stairs and saw the robber fall.

“She (the woman) was saying, ‘Help! Help! I’m getting robbed!,’ ” said Wade, 18.

The woman and the robber struggled for the purse and he pulled out a .22-caliber revolver, police said. The woman pleaded for her purse back, so the robber just took her wallet, police said.

Wade called 9-1-1 on his cell phone but said he also followed the robber on foot and noticed when the suspect stopped in front of the Ogden District station at 3315 W. Ogden Ave.

Wade said he walked into the police station and told a female officer about the robbery and that the robber was in front of the station. The officer, Wade said, then referred him to an officer sitting in a police SUV in front of the station.

Wade said he opened the door to the SUV and told the officer about the robbery.

“He’s right here. He’s counting the money,” Wade recalled telling the officer as the robber walked in front of the police station.

Wade said the officer got out of the SUV and the robber tried to run away by crossing the street. But the officer caught up to the robber on foot about 10:45 a.m. and subdued him with a Taser, Wade and police said.

The money was recovered and the gun seized, police said. The woman was not hurt.

“I was trying to do the right thing and help the young lady out,” said Wade, who missed his bus.

Howard’s bail was set at $125,000 during a bond hearing Thursday. His next court date is set for Wednesday.

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New Bulgarian beer said to enlarge women’s breasts

EU Times — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:12:34 +0000

Inventors of a Bulgarian lager claim their beer has been brewed specifically to make women’s breasts grow bigger.

Bohza beer was originally developed as a health drink to help new mothers who have trouble breast feeding, the Austrian Times reports. It was unclear how the beer, fermented with wheat flour and yeast, helped the women breast feed.

Women, however, are now flocking to brewers Yavor-M in Ruse after female drinkers started to see their breasts grow one to two cup sizes.

Brewery spokesman Kristian Gyoshev said the company makes no special claims, but after hundreds of testimonials of eye-popping results explained drinking the lager is “cheaper than any surgery.”

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India Failing to Control Open Defecation Blunts Nation’s Growth

EU Times — Sun, 30 May 2010 09:56:08 +0000

Indian man manually cleaning sewers of you know what... and yet they have the capacity to build nuclear weapons and become software engineers in order to work in the West...?

Until May 2007, Meera Devi rose before dawn each day and walked a half mile to a vegetable patch outside the village of Kachpura to find a secluded place.

Dodging leering men and stick-wielding farmers and avoiding spots that her neighbors had soiled, the mother of three pulled up her sari and defecated with the Taj Mahal in plain view.

With that act, she added to the estimated 100,000 tons of human excrement that Indians leave each day in fields of potatoes, carrots and spinach, on banks that line rivers used for drinking and bathing and along roads jammed with scooters, trucks and pedestrians. Devi looks back on her routine with pain and embarrassment.

“As a woman, I would have to check where the males were going to the toilet and then go in a different direction,” says Devi, 37, standing outside her one-room mud-brick home. “We used to avoid the daytimes, but if we were really pressured, we would have to go any time of the day, even if it was raining. During the harvest season, people would have sticks in the fields. If somebody had to go, people would beat them up or chase them.”

In the shadow of its new suburbs, torrid growth and 300- million-plus-strong middle class, India is struggling with a sanitation emergency. From the stream in Devi’s village to the nation’s holiest river, the Ganges, 75 percent of the country’s surface water is contaminated by human and agricultural waste and industrial effluent. Everyone in Indian cities is at risk of consuming human feces, if they’re not already, the Ministry of Urban Development concluded in September.

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Sulphuric acid attacker who left man looking like ‘zombie’ facing jail

EU Times — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:11:22 +0000

Muslim scandal in UK! A Muslim man who carried out a horrific acid attack on another Muslim man of 25-year-old over his intimate relationship with a married woman was facing a life sentence today.

Awais Akram was left severely disfigured after he was targeted in revenge for his liaison with businesswoman Sadia Khatoon, whom he met on Facebook.

When her husband and family found out, they got Ms Khatoon, 24, to lure the victim out of his flat, where concentrated sulphuric acid was poured over his head.

Acid attack: Awais Akram before the attack, left, and how he appears now, as shown in this court drawing

Mr Akram, who was left with 47 per cent burns, said he was in so much pain at the time that he wanted to die.

‘My whole body started to burn,’ he said.

He said: ‘When I started feeling this, I did not know how to understand it.

‘At that point I just felt that I would be dead. Death was, I felt, a better solution than to be burning like this.’

One witness said he looked like a ‘cross between a zombie from a horror movie and the Incredible Hulk’ after the attack last July.

Ms Khatoon and her husband Shakeel Abassi, 32, later disappeared in Pakistan and detectives said they now feared for her safety.

Severe: Awais Akram sustained 47 per cent burns to his body during the attack. ‘I started burning, my whole body started to burn,’ he told the court

Injuries: Mr Akram’s neck, left, and torso were left badly burned after the attack. He said that at the time he felt death was ‘a better solution than to be burning like this’

Her brother Mohammed Vakas admitted pouring the acid on Mr Akram, during a taped police van conversation with cousin and fellow conspirator Mohammed Adeel.

During the attack, the men received instructions from Ms Khatoon’s husband Abassi, who was in a hotel room near Heathrow with his wife. She was on the phone with the unsuspecting victim who was telling her his whereabouts.

Vakas, 26, of Walthamstow, north east London, was found guilty today of conspiracy to murder.

Adeel, 20, also of Walthamstow and a 17-year-old youth were cleared of the charge but convicted of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

Police hailed the victim’s bravery in coming forward to give evidence against them despite being deeply traumatised by what happened and one officer described him as an ‘incredible young man’.

Disfigured: Awais Akram’s hands and forearms show the extent to which he was injured. He told the court his attackers had tried to pour acid into his mouth

Mr Akram survived the attack but faces a lifetime of treatment to help him recover as far as possible from his life-changing injuries.

He has been helped by his family and his wife Sameera, 27, who he had just married at the time of the assault.

Mr Akram described how on the night he had heard footsteps from behind him before being attacked.

‘Somebody hit me on my leg first from behind and then I fell on the ground and then two, three or four people surrounded me and then they all started to assault me by beating, then they threw acid before they left.

‘At that time I did not know that this was acid, when they were trying to push it into my mouth, but I knew that there was something very dangerous that they were trying to force into my mouth.

‘This is why I tried to cover my mouth, but he did throw it on me.

Taped: Mohammed Vakas has been found guilty at the Old Bailey of conspiracy to murder and is facing a life sentence

‘At that time I wasn’t conscious enough to understand but whenever I think of it now I really start shaking and shivering, and I can’t believe that someone can do this to another person.’

Mr Akram did not know his attackers but at the time heard the name ‘Sadia’.

‘Before that I did not understand why they were beating me up, now I understand it was because of my relationship with Sadia.’

Asked about his feelings towards her now, he said: ‘Whoever are involved in this, I hope they get a big sentence.’

He added: ‘Because of this attack on me I feel that all my confidence is lost and my life is all changed.’

Mr Akram described the psychological effects as well as the physical damage to his skin.

‘I have a fear that somebody is going to attack me from behind, I always have that in my mind all the time.’

He said he did not know how long his treatment would take – ‘four years, maybe more, maybe the whole of my life’.

Speaking through an Urdu interpreter, Mr Akram said: ‘I thank God, I thank Allah, that I am still alive and that I have the support of everyone.’

He added: ‘Everybody has been praying for me. I know the doctors had said I would not survive.’

Doctors at the Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, are continuing to treat Mr Akram for his injuries but he says he is not sure how much the scarring on his face can be repaired.

‘Whenever I am walking on the road, people are looking at me in the way that upsets me,’ he said.

An artist’s impression of Awais Akram (centre) at the Old Bailey where he was giving evidence of the acid attack which left him badly disfigured

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Is Michael Jackson Alive?

EU Times — Tue, 11 May 2010 22:53:17 +0000

Dave looks just like Michael Jackson

Is Michael Jackson alive? A WEBSITE which claims Michael Jackson is still alive and masquerading as a burns victim is clocking up an astonishing one million hits per day.

Internet rumours on YouTube and Facebook also claim the King of Pop is appearing on TV talkshows as Dave Dave, 33, a man who suffered severe facial disfigurement after his father set him on fire.

The scenario might seem unbelievable, but one web forum regular said: “There’s no doubt Michael Jackson is still alive. We have the evidence, now we want to let everyone know.”

Dave was born David Rothenberg to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, New York. In 1983, aged just six, he survived a terrifying attack by his own father.

In a twisted attempt at revenge over a custody disagreement Charles Rothenberg poured kerosene over his little boy while he slept in a Californian hotel room and set him alight. Rothenberg later served six years in jail for the crime.

The little lad suffered more than 90 per cent burns and amazingly survived, but was left badly scarred.

His mother Marie, who later wrote a book about her son’s ordeal which was turned into a TV movie, organised a trip to Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch as a treat, and the singing legend took the boy under his wing.

Dave, now a law student living in Utah, changed his surname to break all ties with his father.

He has said of Jackson: “He befriended me. He took me into his life, which is very rare for Michael to do.

Thriller ... Dave's MySpace snap

“But he opened up his arms to me and accepted me as a very good friend of his. And throughout the years, he never let me go.”

Dave appeared on the Larry King show to talk about his memories of Jackson on the day of the star’s memorial service last year.

But the show sparked a series of rumours which have snowballed into an internet sensation and become a huge talking point on michaeljacksonhoaxforum.com.

Mystery

Many bloggers have said Dave’s high-pitched voice bears a remarkable resemblance to the singing legend’s, and observers claim his eyes have changed colour from his previous blue/green to brown.

His extensive facial scarring is supposedly a perfect cover for Jackson’s surgically altered features, while the Larry King clip has been posted hundreds of times on YouTube, with web users analysing the similarities in their mannerisms.

Souza, a blogger and administrator of michaeljacksonhoaxforum.com, asserts: “Michael Jackson attended Larry King Live on the day of the funeral disguised as Dave Dave.”

The 28-year-old, from the Netherlands, runs the site, which gets around a million hits per day, with her friend Mo, a 40-year-old mum-of-two, and the pair call themselves Michael Jackson Death Hoax Investigators.

She told The Sun: “At first we started investigating Michael’s death as it was a gut feeling we both had.

“The media told us two different stories. TMZ.com reported he died six minutes before the doctor pronounced him dead, and CNN kept telling us he was in a coma. What really happened still remains a mystery.”

Lawyer Brian Oxman, who acts as Dave’s spokesman, scotched the rumours, telling The Sun: “The stories that have surfaced on the blogs concerning Michael Jackson still being alive are part of the worldwide grief that everyone whoever loved Michael Jackson now feels.

“He was so remarkable that people find it difficult to believe he is no longer with us. They long for him to remain a part of our lives.

“Dave Dave is an extraordinary young man. Michael Jackson took care of Dave for many years and asked nothing in return.

“I have spoken to Dave within the past several weeks, and he is doing well. He is going to school in Utah, and he is studying to be a lawyer.

“I can assure you that while Michael Jackson would be thrilled that Dave would become a lawyer, Michael Jackson never wanted to be a lawyer himself. He would shudder at the very thought.”

Jackson died aged 50 in June last year.

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Black Man wearing Adolf Hitler T-shirt robs Oklahoma City convenience store

EU Times — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:03:06 +0000

Nazi black man robber

A black man wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Adolf Hitler on the shirt is sought by Oklahoma City police in connection with the robbery of a convenience store.

Surveillance video of the man taken just before the April 20 robbery at Prime Foods Store, 3914 N Pennsylvania Ave. was released by police.

The robber wore khaki shorts and stood in line with a bottle of Gatorade. The video ends just before the man pulled out a gun and robbed the clerk.

The man apparently leaned over the counter and blocked the full view of the video camera during the robbery, police Master Sgt. Gary Knight said.

The robber fled on foot.

Anyone with information as to the identity of the robber can call Crime Stoppers at 235-7300. Callers to Crime Stoppers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.

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All Music Declared Un-Islamic, Somalia goes Tuneless

EU Times — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:57:21 +0000

Music Banned

If, as my colleague Sarah Wildman reports, the Francophonic world is intent on curbing expressions of fundamentalist Islam belief, then the radical Muslim world is taking no prisoners with the West, either. Last week, the Somalian fundamentalist Islamic group Hizbul Islam announced that music of any kind is “un-Islamic,” warning of “serious consequences” for those who dare to violate their decree. In response, radio stations all over the country, including those run by the moderate Muslim transitional government, cut all music from their broadcasts. Even intro music for news reports was scrapped. In its place? “We are using sounds such as gunfire, the noise of vehicles and the sound of birds to link up our programmes and news,” said one Somalian head of radio programming.

Somalia has been wracked with inter-tribal violence for nearly two decades. In the last few years, increasingly radical Muslim militants, including the dominant Shabab group, have taken over large parts of the country and become closely affiliated with al-Qaeda. A moderate Muslim transitional government, helmed by a former teacher named Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, controls a small part of the country. His government is largely propped up by African Union peacekeepers, with United Nations’ and U.S. support.

In the meantime, Islamic radicals like Shabab have gone on a campaign the New York Times described as “a quest to turn Somalia into a seventh century style Islamic state.”

The music decree follows a string of fundamentalist decrees, including prohibitions on wearing bras (also “un-Islamic”), the banning of modern movies and news channels, including the BBC and Voice of America.

As evidence of a power struggle between the moderate Muslim government and the hard-line radicals who control many parts of the country, Sheik Ahmed’s government responded last Sunday by saying any radio stations that stopped playing music would face closure. In the government’s eyes, those radio stations that complied with the ban were colluding with the radicals.

In the meantime, the radio stations have been caught between a rock and a hard place. “The order and counter-order are very destructive,” radio director Abukar Hassan Kadaf said in the Times article. “Each group are issuing orders against us and we are the victims.”

In the escalating tug-of-war between Western and Islamic powers over freedom of expression, what remains to be seen is how much of a causal relationship exists between the two. Is a proposed burqa ban in Quebec a result of the shuttering of a radio station in Somalia? Does a call for prohibition of headscarves in Paris force a bra-burning in Mogadishu?

If Islamic decrees do, in fact, fuel the fire for legal actions in the West (and vice versa), then continued and increased prohibition seems inevitable. But if radical Islam and a skeptical West are destined to one-up each other in a battle of bans, the powers that be might remember the men and women caught in the crossfire. That is, the women in the West who wear niqabs by choice, or the men and women in Somalia who just want to listen to music. What is perhaps most strikingly absent in all the brouhaha surrounding sharia vs. Western law are the voices of the moderate Muslims themselves. In the end, perhaps the gulf between the two sides will prove too great to be bridged, but for the immediate future, we would do well to remember the ground we share in common. Before there’s nothing left to ban.

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Korean man living in Japan Adopts 554 Children to Claim $1,000,000 Child Support

EU Times — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 14:02:04 +0000

A Korean man living in Japan has reportedly adopted 554 children in order to claim 86 million yen in annual child support payments.

The man, said to be a Korean in his fifties, approached the benefits office at the city of Amagasaki in Hyogo prefecture, where he enquired about the possibility of claiming child support for his children.

He introduced his Thai wife and explained that the couple, in addition to their own child, were now the legal guardians of all the orphans at a Thai monastery, and had the official documents to prove it.

He presented a list containing the details of 554 children – the clerk reportedly asked “Which child is yours?” to which he replied “All of them.”

Japan’s DPJ administration recently passed a law providing free money to parents based on the number of children they have.

However, shortly after being passed it was realised that a major loophole had been left in the incompetently drafted law, as there was no upper limit on the amount that could be claimed or the number of children who could be claimed for.

Worse yet, the law allows parents to claim for children not living in Japan, and is available to non-Japanese residents of Japan (which is essentially reasonable as they have to pay the same taxes and national insurance contributions as Japanese).

Japan’s generally highly xenophobic right wing soon began spreading fanciful tales of benefits offices crammed with Chinese immigrants trying to claim a fortune in benefits for their non-existent families overseas.

These tales were soon disproven, but this case seems to demonstrate a kernel of truth – when the man approached the benefits office, he was able to claim a monthly allowance of ¥13,000 for each child, yielding an annual income of 86,580,000, nearly a million dollars.

Although legally entitled to the funds, the embarrassed Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said it would be “impossible” to provide him with the money, “as they are not living together.” There is apparently no legal basis for denying him the funds, however.

Just what will become of the 554 orphans is not recorded.

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Obama Bows In Greeting Chinese Communist Leader Hu

EU Times — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:32:33 +0000

President Barack Obama greets Chinese President Hu Jintao during the official arrivals for the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Monday April 12. Here’s also a photo from Yahoo.com where humble Obama bows again to someone.

Somali “Engineers” Build State-Of-The-Art Helicopter

EU Times — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 14:16:37 +0000

Somalian Air Force

Three Somalis from Somaliland who, ever since they were young dreamed of building a helicopter have designed and built their own helicopter in their own backyard using scrap metals and an old engine from a van.

The trio, Mohamed Abdi Barkadle, Saed Abdi Jide and Abdi Farah Lidan said the purpose of their helicopter was to be used to fight fire in the city and surrounding area. They receive no major sponsors, financial nor material support from any one including the government, it is a three men vision and ingenuity.

This is the first ever helicopter built in any Somali speaking state. The fact that the trio could do so much with so little will inspire a lot of Somalilanders.

To many Somalilanders, this is historical moment for Somaliland and it is possible very soon others will start manufacturing their own electronics and devices.

This is the time to support these promising Somalilanders!, all stakeholders and regulatory agencies should rally round and assist these men to achieve their goal.

We wish them all the best from here Somalilandpress, we are certainly with you and we hope all the Somalilanders, friends and others who might be inspired by them get involved.

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Saudi Arabia preparing to Behead a Lebanese Sorcerer

EU Times — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:47:33 +0000

Lebanese Sorcerer

A Lebanese man charged with sorcery and sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia is scheduled to be beheaded on Friday, the man’s lawyer said Wednesday.

May El Khansa, the attorney for Ali Hussain Sibat, told CNN that she and Sibat’s family were informed about the upcoming execution. She said she heard from a source in Saudi Arabia with knowledge of the case and the proceedings that Saudi authorities “will carry out the execution.”

The Saudi Ministry of Justice could not immediately be reached for comment on the matter.

El Khansa said she has appealed to Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri, and president, Michel Suleiman, to stop the execution. Amnesty International, the human rights group, has called on Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah to block it as well.

TV presenter gets death sentence for ‘sorcery’

Sibat is the former host of a popular call-in show that aired on Beirut-based satellite TV channel “Sheherazade.” According to his lawyer, Sibat would predict the future on his show and give out advice to his audience.

El Khansa told CNN her client was arrested by Saudi Arabia’s religious police (known as the Mutawa’een) and charged with sorcery while visiting the country in May 2008. Sibat was in Saudi Arabia to perform the Islamic religious pilgrimage known as Umra.

Sibat was then put on trial, and in November 2009, a court in the Saudi city of Medina found him guilty and sentenced him to death.

According to El Khansa, Sibat appealed the verdict. The case was taken up by the Court of Appeal in the Saudi city of Mecca on the grounds that the initial verdict was “premature.”

El Khansa tells CNN that the Mecca appeals court then sent the case back to the original court for reconsideration, stipulating that all charges made against Sibat needed to be verified and that he should be given a chance to repent.

On March 10, judges in Medina upheld their initial verdict, meaning Sibat is once again sentenced to be executed.

“The Medina court refused the sentence of the appeals court,” said El Khansa, adding her client will appeal the verdict once more.

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Australian Government attacks Encyclopedia Dramatica. ED vows never to surrender right of free speech

EU Times — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 21:45:37 +0000

I’m Joseph Evers. Very few of you know or care about me. I’m the largest shareholder of ED, and I guess that makes me the “owner”. I’m generally pretty absent in the management of this website. I’d apologize for that but it doesn’t make a lot of money. What we do at Encyclopedia Dramatica is a labor of love, and we all put in what we can. Largely, the great team of volunteers really makes things work for this website, and your donations and page views have been (barely) making ends meet lately. No matter what the current administration and news will tell you, we are in a worsening depression. The last depositors of my fund left 2 years ago despite year after year profitability with no losses and they haven’t come back. Most everyone I know is broke and unemployed. Things are hard, and if Encyclopedia Dramatica were still relying on my pocketbook it would have died when that particular well dried up. So thank you all for contributing to this community. This is truly the most free collaborative publishing platform on the Internet and it would not exist without your love and support.

This weekend I returned from a very much needed vacation in Mexico. I saw Tulum, Coba, Chichen Itza, and Uxmal. If you’re ever in the Yucatan you should eat a few grams of highly potent mushrooms (there are street vendors if you know how to pay attention) and walk amongst the ruins of Chichen Itza. You will not regret it. I arrive Saturday night at LAX on Mexicana Air and get off the plane. When I turn on my Blackberry there are two notable things. The first is a great interview with Australia’s Channel 9 that Anonadmin did. It is a fantastic piece and I really recommend you read it. I normally discourage our users and moderators from talking to the press, but I’m glad he did. This really addresses a lot of points which are going to be of note in the rest of this post.

The second bit was a rather curious bit of correspondence from Australia’s Human Rights Commission.

For those unaware, Encyclopedia Dramatica has been in a lot of trouble in Australia lately. First ED was placed on the ACMA blacklist, a “secret” list of websites to be censored throughout Australia in their upcoming internet filter. After this list was leaked to the public, we all laughed about how we were put on a blacklist with “Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites, websites of fringe religions, Christian sites, and even the websites of a tour operator and a Queensland dentist“. Meanwhile, Australia Communications Minister Stephen Conroy called for the arrests of Australians publishing the list.

Next the “Aboriginal” article was recently removed from Google Australia’s search engine results. This was right after Google had done a large amount of grandstanding about fighting Chinese censorship. Which proves they’re a bunch of spineless hypocrites. Really, you have to admire the shrewdness of Google. China was a gigantic business failure, and a loss leader. With a bunch of CIA and shareholder money Google went in promising that their search technology was really so much better (FYI: from a perspective of pure technical achievement, Yahoo’s is best in the business right now, though they do poison their search results with paid entries) that the Chinese market would fall in a fortnight. Years and what is likely billions later, Baidu completely dominates the Chinese search market. By spinning an obvious business failure as a failure of RED POLITICS Google was able to pull out of China without losing face. Their idiot shareholders sat there and applauded them for wasting billions of their money. For that I give Google a lot of respect. They are some of the most brilliant marketers around, but as anyone who has used Google’s ad placement can attest, the only thing they really excel at selling is themselves.

As for the correspondence from the Australian HRC, well, I’ll just show the first page of the PDF verbatim (click through for high res):

So here’s the deal. This is an initial investigation into charging me, personally, with the violation of Australia’s Racial Discrimination Act. While I act in complete compliance with both the civil and criminal codes of the United States of America, and am assured the right of free speech according to our Constitution (which, if not the greatest political document in the entire history of law, is certainly on the top five) I can personally be jailed and fined for the violation of this law. Check out the court precedent they cite, Dow Jones & Co Inc v Gutnick, where a United States paper had to pay 580k for publishing an article about a globalized company headquartered in Australia and its CEO whilst completely in compliance with United States civil precedence. This isn’t a far-fetched legal theory, they have used it before. Welcome to the one world government, folks. Is this what you wanted? Is this what you had in mind? Cause this is what you’re gettin’.

Encyclopedia Dramatica will never be censored in any way. We will keep publishing this content and our Australian users will be able to view it up until the point that your God-forsaken government blocks it with their soon-to-be-implemented secret list of banned material. ACMA’s child pornography blacklist is only one half child pornography. The rest is religious and political speech. You really want Soviet-style communism as your future? I know some people that had to escape from the GDR. Many of your children will be in that position. The house of cards is about to come down, and they’re making sure your mouths are taped shut first. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

My counsel has advised me that I can never under any circumstances visit my family in Sydney again, nor otherwise make any appearances on Australian soil. Here’s to the hidden cost of freedom.

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