Friday, November 27, 2009

Adam Lambert Is Gay. We Get It.

Article

The entertainment news is full of anger and outrage today because following the cancellation of Adam Lambert's Good Morning America appearance, it was learned an interview and performance was scheduled for Chris Brown. Feminists and Gay Activists are wondering why a rapper convicted of abusing his girlfriend rates over an openly gay singer. Like anything, there's more to this story.

Adam Lambert is gay. This is supposed to mean something to us. Why? I'm not sure, but we're just supposed to go with it. As is the ABC Network. The evil, gay-hating, abuse-loving ABC Network. Dirty, naughty, bad ABC Network....had enough yet? Me too.

ABC aired the American Music Awards. They commissioned Lambert to give a performance during the awards. Lambert rehearsed his act in front of the producers and censors and it met their approval. However, this was not the performance that Lambert gave when the awards aired. He completely changed his performance, and he added several lewd acts in the mix. This caused viewer outrage and a backlash which ABC may or may not recover from.

Following his AMA performance, ABC canceled Lambert's appearance on the Good Morning America show, because even though they'd barely skated by the previous night due to the time he gave the performance, they didn't want to take a chance of him pulling more shenanigans during a morning slot when they definitely would be fined.

Yep, that pretty much says it all...

I bet ABC feels like this guy right about now.

The truth of the matter is, Chris Brown was booked way before any of this even happened. If you haven't been living under a rock, you've heard of the Chris Brown hoopla. It's been out for months, and his scheduling for Good Morning America was to be in response to Rhianna's recent interview. It's also a lot more important than Adam Lambert trying to extend his fifteen minutes of fame in the entertainment world.

Is entertainment news really important at all? No. Does a famous superstar couple airing their dirty laundry in the media beat out an attention queen with a gay agenda acting the part on a music awards show? Yes.

Yet still, we have to hear about how this is discrimination against gays, and how we're supposed to accept Lambert's irresponsible acts because it's all about gay rights and freedom of speech. Well, Adam, here's a clue: If you want to exercise your freedom of speech--go right ahead, but do it on your own dime, not someone else's.

Are we really going to blame ABC for reacting this way after the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake fiasco? Adam Lambert didn't just go with the flow once he took the stage, this was a completely planned out ruse. He deliberately auditioned one act to pass the censors, and then bent ABC over and rammed it home the minute he took stage. All so he could push his gay agenda, and cause a big enough controversy to make the headlines.

What is ABC's message to Lambert in all of this? You deceived us and put us in a compromising position. We can't afford to be fined for your puerile little whimsies. We no longer trust you. Have a nice career on another network.

What is my message to Lambert in all of this? You're gay. We get it. No one cares. Being gay doesn't make you special anymore than being straight makes me special. You either have talent, or you don't. Your gay agenda has no place here. If you have to shove your gayness in everyone's face to get them to notice you, then you're a no-talent hack who needs to quit music and go be a tax lawyer.

Friday, November 20, 2009

The Peruvian Weight Loss Plan

Article

Here's a hotter tip than the one you got from your stockbroker this morning. Don't go to Peru. The Peruvian police say they have busted four members of a gang they are calling Los Pishtacos. The gang members allegedly killed dozens of people, extracted their fat in makeshift labs, and sold the fat on the Black Market to buyers for cosmetic manufacturing.

Four people were arrested and charged with kidnapping, murder, and trafficking in human fat. The police are still searching for additional suspected members of the gang, as well as the people who bought the fat.

"We have people detained who have declared and stated how they murdered people with the aim being to extract their fat in rudimentary labs and sell it," said Police Commander Angel Toldeo.

In addition to those taken into custody, police said they were searching for others who bought fat from the gang or might have worked with it.

Remains from some of the victims were found at a rural house in the region of Huanuco where the group worked, according police video.

The police are investigating 60 disappearances in the area which have possible connection to the investigation. The investigation began after they received a tip about a shipment of fat which arrived in Lima via bus from the Andes.
According to a report by the Associated Press, the Peruvian police said one of the suspects had described to them how they would cut of the heads, arms and legs of their victims, take out their organs and hang the torsos from hooks above candles to warm the flesh so the fat could drip out into tubs positioned underneath.

Colonel Jorge Mejia, chief of Peru's anti-kidnapping police, told the press that two of the suspects were carrying bottles of liquid fat when they were arrested, and had told the police it was worth 15 thousand (US) dollars a litre.
El Pishtaco
A Pishtaco is a fantasy figure, a boogeyman, in the Andes region of South America, in particular in Peru. According to folklore, it is an evil vampire-like man, often a stranger and often a white man, who seeks out unsuspecting Indians, to kill them and abuse their bodies in disgusting ways, for instance by cutting them up and selling their flesh as fried chicharrones.

Spanish missionaries were feared as Pishtacos by the Andean aboriginals, who believed they were killing people for fat with which to oil their churchbells. Pishtaco is derived from the local language quechua word: "pishtay" which mean to "behead, cut the throat or cut into slices" --From Wikipedia
Medical experts in the U.S. are rejecting the theory of a black market for human fat, citing the global obesity epidemic. However, there is one dermatology professor at Yale University, Dr Lisa Donofrio, who conceded there might be a small market for human fat. Human fat has been used to make products to keep skin supple, but Dr. Donofrio said the science behind this is "pure baloney".

Other experts conveyed skepticism, explaining that it is too easy to procure human fat legally to take the risks involved in getting it illegally. They also explained that many instances in which they use it, like anti-wrinkle treatments, the fat is taken from the patient's own body to reduce the risk of life-threatening immune system reactions.

I say, who cares? These people have killed at least 60 people for their fat, and they sold it. That tells me all skepticism aside, there's a market. It doesn't really matter what it's being used for in the end, it's being used. All the "expert's" skepticism is telling me, is that they either have never thought of it, or they don't want to admit that they've thought of it. Add to that the fact that it's being harvested and sold, and this tells me some of them have probably done more than think about it.

Why would you even go to anyone in the U.S. to inquire about this anyway? Who says this was sold to anyone in America? According to the doctors here, we have plenty. That doesn't mean that's the case in other countries. It also doesn't mean we're the only country who would have a demand for such a product. It's rather short-sighted on their part to come to such conclusions in their hurried panic to stave off the bad publicity aftermath of a possible media frenzy.

There's also the case of Dr. Alan Bittner, a cosmetic surgeon in Beverly Hills, who claimed he used fat removed from his patients during liposuction surgeries to power his 4x4 truck. Bittner said his patients were on-board, and actually requested that he used their fat for fuel. Bittner posted on his website lipodiesel.com, that he used the "lipodiesel" to power his Ford Explorer and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator.

An investigation into the matter began after law enforcement were made aware during another investigation they were conducting due to a lawsuit filed against the doctor from several patients. The patients claim Bittner allowed his assistant and his girlfriend to perform operations on them while neither of them held a medical license.

Oddly enough, Bittner's current whereabouts are believed to be in South America. Trust me, cancel that vacation to Peru.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Uneven Burn

Article

Recently, the American public got a true taste of American politics. Through a series of town hall meetings held across America, our "Representatives" spoke to us about the proposed government-run health care program. The one thing that we learned out of the circus which ensued resonated both loudly and clearly. These people not only do not represent us, they think they are smarter than us, and think they know more about what is good for us and what we want than we do. Today's article documents just how smart they really are.
WASHINGTON (AP) - With a simple marketing twist, tobacco companies are avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxes by exploiting a loophole in President Barack Obama's child health law.

Obama and Congress increased taxes on tobacco products earlier this year to pay for expanded children's health insurance, but tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes saw a disproportionate leap, from $1.10 to $24.78 per pound. Some predicted the tax would kill the roll-your-own industry, which had offered a cheaper alternative to packaged cigarettes.

But tobacco companies quickly adapted. The Associated Press found that as soon as the tax was on the books, companies all but shut down their roll-your-own brands and reinvented them under a less-restricted, less-taxed category: pipe tobacco. It's still destined to be rolled and smoked, but it's taxed at barely a tenth the rate, $2.83 per pound.

In their general hasty, ineffectual way, Congress passed a bill which was then signed by our equally adept President, that placed a huge tax increase on roll-your-own tobacco. As usual, they didn't take the time to weigh the consequences of the bill. No doubt, they didn't even read it before they passed it, as is the common practice with the present Congress. The roll-your-own manufacturers were then able to find a loophole (the size of the Mexican/American border) which allowed them to completely bypass the imposed tax.
Normally, pipe tobacco is coarser and moister than cigarette tobacco. But nothing says it has to be. In fact, the federal government says the only distinction between the two is how it's labeled. That effectively gives tobacco marketing executives an opportunity to shape the company's tax rate.

"They tried to make a product within the elements of the law that they could, in fact, market as pipe tobacco," said Scott Bendett, owner of Habana Premium Cigar Shoppe in Albany, N.Y., which advertises the new pipe tobacco for hand-rolled cigarettes.

Tobacco companies say they're just trying to find a legal way to stay afloat after being saddled with an enormous tax increase. But both the Obama administration and some in Congress say they'll try to come up with a distinction between the tobacco types, closing a loophole that could cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars year.

"If the companies won't do what is right, then we will," said Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., a reliably anti-tobacco voice in Congress.
Now, Congress will spend millions of tax dollars to correct the bill, which should have never been passed in the first place. Why is the U.S. Government passing a bill to raise taxes on tobacco to discourage young people from smoking? Isn't that why there's an age limit on tobacco? If making it illegal to buy tobacco before a certain age or telling them no isn't going to discourage them, imposing a gigantic tax increase isn't going to work either. The only thing the tax increase is going to do, is put the manufacturers out of business, which then in turn will decrease consumption of tobacco marginally. The government does not have the right to tax someone into bankruptcy. If that isn't tyranny, I don't know what is.

Tax? What tax?

When will they learn? Making something illegal is not going to stop people from getting it. Making something more expensive is not going to detour people. How smart are these people if they can't even learn from our own history?

Prohibition did not stop the selling and consuming of alcohol. All Prohibition did was hurt honest, hard-working businessmen who had spent years perfecting their fine wines and spirits and growing their businesses, and make psychopathic criminals (Al Capone anyone?) rich and powerful.

We could even mention that which shall not be mentioned--Vietnam. That country has been at war for centuries, with one country after another trying to take control for the vast drug wealth it holds. We didn't learn our lesson there either, because now we're in the same situation in Afghanistan. Those poppies are just for decoration and our banana muffins. Honest.

Yet drug use has never waned or dwindled, even after a quote "War on Drugs". If people want it, they're going to get it. It doesn't matter how illegal it is, what the penalty is, or how much it costs. It's not going to stop anymore than prostitution.

On the day the Earth finally crashes into the Sun, somebody somewhere will be snorting cocaine off a Prostitute's ass, while a midget with a camera smokes a cigar and drinks a martini in the corner.

What Bill Clinton started by going after Big Tobacco, has now come around full circle like a roundhouse kick to the face. The would-be demons who market and sell death to the little kiddies, are now the heroes. They're now the ones standing up for our freedoms. The ones fighting the good fight. The devils in our closets who sell candy-flavored deathsticks to the underaged are now the company who cares about their customers, who found a way for their customers to get what they want, and who made sure their customers didn't have to pay more for it.

And the brilliant minds who were going to tax them right out of business, have now made them more successful than ever. They've sold record numbers, which never would have happened before, and by the time Congress can procure enough spackle to cover the "loophole", they'll have enough time and money to fight their way around it again.

Kevin Altman, who represents a handful of small companies with the Council of Independent Tobacco Manufacturers of America, acknowledged that some companies were exploiting the loophole, packaging cigarette tobacco and marketing it as pipe tobacco.

"What are you going to do? You're trying to save the company," Altman said. "And what they're doing ... , as far as I can tell, is within the limits of the law."

Still, Altman said his companies want the government to make the definition clearer. The ambiguity hurts those companies that didn't make the marketing switch and must sell their tobacco at higher prices.

"Many times our government passes things without first taking an extra few days to say, 'What are the unintended consequences?'" Altman said. "That's what happened here."

It looks like Congress took a cue from Rhode Island when they bungled a bill which opened a loophole for legal prostitution, and these are the same people we are supposed to trust to make a health care bill. I'm pretty sure this is a blinking neon sign in our faces telling all of us that's a bad idea.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Caught in Their Own Trap

Article

There's an old joke about how the last person you want to see when you're with your girlfriend is your wife. This scenario may trump that. In South Wales, Cheryl Roberts suspected her husband David of being a pedophile.

Cheryl first became suspicious of her husband when he started spending long periods of time in his study. Then she saw a message pop up on David's desktop.

“It said, ‘You are a f-----g beautiful b---h’ and was signed Corky — his nickname,” prosecutor Martyn Kelly told the court. “She realized the message on the screen was one her husband had posted to a young girl. She had decided to pose as a schoolgirl to confirm her fears.”

One day, while David was in his study, Cheryl plugged in her laptop in the living room and signed into the chatroom. Posing as a teenage girl, she began a conversation with David. Through the course of the conversation, David performed lewd acts via web cam and then asked her to meet him for sex. Rather than confront him, Cheryl took the information to the Police.

Police discovered several images of child pornography downloaded on the computer, which David thought had gotten him nabbed. Detectives did not reveal until weeks later that David had been chatting with his wife and that she had turned him in.

Roberts confessed to possessing illegal images and engaging in indecent acts in the presence of a child. He was banned from contacting anyone, in person or online, under the age of 18, and was given three years of community service.

The Robertses have since separated and are seeking a divorce.

Surprise! I am pedo!

About a month ago, the FBI arrested Lawrence Silipigni, pictured above. Larry is a 41 year-old father of two daughters from Boston. He took a picture off someone's myspace profile and was using it to pose as a 17 year-old named Jamie. Larry posed as Jamie online to get underaged girls to make sex tapes for him. He was arrested when he attempted to trade them with someone for other child pornography tapes.

In one instance, he struck up an online relationship with a 13-year-old California girl, who he eventually convinced to masturbate on a Web cam for him.

The girl was subsequently contacted by a 16-year-old girl named "Jane" who said she too had had a relationship with "Jamie," which even progressed into a face-to-face meeting. Jane wrote to the California girl to warn her that Jamie was in fact a much-older man. Another girl, "Alice" also wrote to the California girl to warn her about Jamie.

Upon discovering Jamie was not who he seemed, the California girl wrote to him: "You r pedo." (Pedo is short for pedophile.)

"Sigh," Silipigni wrote back, the complaint alleges. "I'm lonely and hate being old."

The FBI investigation found that Silipigni had conversed with several underaged girls and that most of them had made videos for him.

During an April 2009 search of Silipigni's house and computer, according to the complaint, the FBI turned up numerous videos and evidence that Silipigni was in online chatrooms every day talking with girls he knew were minors.

According to the complaint, Silipigni admitted making videos of young girls via webcam chatrooms, but "did not recall" if he ever made the videos or conversations with the girls public.

Silipigni was arrestsed without incident at his home on Sept. 18 and was due to be transferred today to Los Angeles by U.S. Marshals.

These are not isolated occurrences. This sort of thing happens every day. In a World with the Internet, Myspace, Twitter, Facebook, Cellphones, Data Phones (iPhone, Blackberry, et al), texting, and a wealth of other mediums for our children and teenagers to communicate with others unsupervised, it's little wonder why this happens.

We teach our children to not talk to strangers, then we let them go on internet chatrooms to do just that. We let them on Mypspace and Facebook to tell the World all about themselves and where they can be found. We let them have cellphones to talk, text, and twitter to only God knows who.

Technological advancements can be wonderful, but they can be perverted and used for evil. Just because we have these things, doesn't mean that we have to let our children have them. Does the fact that all the other kids' parents let them have them mean you have to cave to the peer pressure yourself and jeopardize the safety of your children?

Will there be a future for today's youngest generations? Only time will tell, but at present, the outcome looks bleak. Seeing these two stories, and then seeing some of the other news stories which broke this week, it makes you wonder.

90,000 reported rapes last year in the U.S. with an estimated 75,000 unreported. The WHO reported this week that the number one cause of death and disease amongst women in their childbearing years, 15-44, is AIDS. A Vice President of UPS killed himself rather than facing the music for raping a 21 year-old university student. The Anthony Sowell case went international this week as they found evidence which may connect him to crimes in Japan as well as California and the Carolinas.

We keep seeing news stories showing reports and studies which show the crime rate going down, but we see more and more strange crimes. The amount of crime is decreasing, but the severity, depravity, and insanity of the crimes which are being committed is growing. However, as the economic depression gets worse, and the unemployment rate skyrockets, it's only a matter of time before those decreasing crime rates start climbing back up.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

A Clockwork Yellow

Article

Maybe it was lack of sleep, or perhaps catching A Clockwork Orange on cable late last night which made this article pique my interest. Either way, a nineteen year-old university student, Philip Laing, was warned today he could be facing jail time amongst other punishments. His crime? The young lad got drunk, and then he urinated on a war memorial.

The event was photographed and published in a national newspaper. Laing, a Sheffield Hallam University student, was then arrested and charged by the Sheffield Police. Laing told the police he was "very, very drunk, the drunkest I've ever been since I've been at university."

Laing drank a bottle of firewater before attending a drinking event sponsored by a private company, Carnage UK. As if there weren't enough issues with college raves, Carnage UK tours throughout the UK organizing student drinking events for students at the various establishments across England.
"The image of your urinating over the poppy wreath on the war memorial in this city will make most turn away in disgust, shock and sadness," said District Judge Anthony Browne.

"It has undoubtedly distressed and upset many. The war memorial is a sacred and a special place."

"Carnage is the name of the organization who promote this type of activity and some might say that somebody should be standing alongside you this morning," the judge said.
One might see this as the ultimate anti-war statement, but don't get out the tie-dye shirt and peace-symbol necklace just yet. If you're looking for any meaning or statement in Laing's actions, you need only remember he is a member of today's society and generation. Which means anything he did had absolutely no meaning or purpose.

I guess it's true, wasted looks the same no matter where you are.
Prosecutor Ian Conway said Laing had immediately admitted the offence when arrested and told police he was "very, very drunk, the drunkest I've ever been since I've been at university."

"The disgusting and reprehensible act the defendant carried out was in no way premeditated, targeted or politically motivated," Conway said.

"His actions were sadly the result of having consumed large amounts of alcohol."

Laing told officials he has absolutely no recollection of his actions whatsoever. His lawyer has stated Laing is merely a victim of today's culture of drinking far too much, and "It's difficult to articulate just how embarrassed and ashamed this young man is." We should, however, feel relieved that there is no one-armed man holding a beer bong in all of this, Laing has pled guilty to his actions, and is prepared to take whatever comes to him. Afterall, it can't be worse than the hangover.