text:
Forgive me for ranting, but the time has come to speak out.
Against advertising, that is. Or more precisely, annoying advertising.
As if our lives weren't already filled with enough distractions, now we have to contend with marketers who are devising ever increasingly creative (and annoying) ways to hold us hostage to their ad campaigns.
Driving along the 405 or 5 freeways after dark? Don't forget the sunglasses to protect your eyes from the glare of the mega-wattage electronic billboards promoting the latest episode of your favorite TV show.
Whether we're filling up on gas, or shopping for groceries, advertising campaigns are taking up every corner of our lives. From the gas station television monitors blaring commercials as we pump, or the shopping cart ads promoting local real estate agents, we just can't catch a break.
And speaking of desperate for eyeballs, the latest gimmick is parking stripe advertising, which made headlines last month in the Los Angeles Daily News when the ABC show "Desperate Housewives" marketed their season premiere via ads adhered onto parking space stripes outside a Ralphs supermarket in Valencia.
Yep. The company producing these ads, Parking Stripe Advertising, describes this latest trend on its Web site by explaining why parking lots are ideal spots to target consumers: "The audience is captive and they are walking wallets in the mood to spend all that disposable income."
Not to dash any hopes, but the only thing I'm in the mood to do is take a paint roller to these ad stripes and return them to their original white.
And I'm not the only one bothered by this latest ad assault. The Daily News reported that the Ralphs' manager had received complaints about the stripes and the story also quoted an ABC Entertainment marketing executive as saying, "There's a fine line. Are we just junking things up or is it appropriate?"
There's no arguing that the ads are eye-catching, but as a consumer I have to say that they're also a turn-off. In the end, will I buy the product being advertised if I'm bothered by the constant bombardment?
Take DVDs. If I've forked out $20 for Casino Royale, I'm interested in Bond, Bond and more James Bond. I'm not interested in being held hostage by my DVD, which forces me to watch commercial after commercial that I can't skip through.
Don't even get me going about movie theaters. It used to be that seeing a film was like going to a sanctuary. Sure, there were too many movie trailers, but you knew what you were getting – a night of entertainment and a break from everything else. Now, your overpriced movie ticket includeseverything else, from product placement in the films to commercials peddling products before the movie trailers start.
The truth is nothing is sacred anymore. Not even a woman's pregnant belly is ad free, as we've seen in the last few years with some moms-to-be using their bodies to promote everything from casinos to Internet companies.
They aren't the only walking billboards, either. Marketers have also tapped people willing to rent body parts, like foreheads, to advertise logos for products and services.
In the end, if a marketer's goal is to get us to buy, buy, buy, they're not succeeding with me. The only thing I'm inspired to do is tune out and turn off.
No, I'm not going to buy your vodka if you've plastered an obnoxious banner across the side of the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas. No, I'm not going to buy an ounce of your suntan lotion because the plane dragging your banner across the sky is spewing fumes and littering my Sunday at the beach with unwanted noise.
Fortunately DVRs came along to help cut down on commercials while we're glued to the tube. And if advertisers are worried that we're skipping through commercials, we are. But trust me if I see some stylin' boots while I'm fast-forwarding, I'm hitting pause!
I could keep ranting, but I'd rather let my wallet do the talking and the walking – far, far away from the clutter of advertisements getting in the way of my life. I'd rather buy the products whose ad campaigns don't get in my face as I step out of my car and don't pollute the scenery of our already cluttered communities.
I like my parking stripes in plain white, I like to drive at night without being blinded by billboards, and I like my restaurant menus sans the advertisements.
Simply put, don't find me, I'll find you.
Contact the writer: Contact the writer at 714-796-3649 or firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Dual Standards of western nations is nothing new or unknown to the world. We have discussed this before that how differently and strictly they deal with situations that harm their own beliefs but they will show utter disrespect for situations that hamper Muslim beliefs.
Under the umbrella of "Freedom of Speech and Press", the west will allow any kind of content regardless of how disrespectful it is for Muslims or how much hatred and unrest that content could cause in Muslim world. But the content (can be video, drawing or images) will not be removed because doing so will curb their "Freedom of Speech", for which west is so proud of.
But, same "West" will get so seriously involved and provoked if topless pictures of their princess are published somewhere because such acts are considered shocking, disrespectful, crossing the line, absolutely shameless and particularly indecent to the Royal Family. Same west will in fact take such a publisher to court in the respect of their monarchy to get the publisher fined and possibly the imprisonment too for the disgrace that he/she has caused for their Royal Family. And by the way, all this will never come under "Freedom of Speech and Press".
Just to clarify, before I move forward, I am not advocating the the publication of pictures. But rather I wanted to make a point that publication of such pictures is being challenged legally, despite all the slogans of "Freedom of Speech and Press" that are chanted by the west.
Talking specifically about the movie, which mocks Islam and Holy Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H). YouTube said that this video in question doesn't violate its community guidelines and will not be removed from the website, despite the fact that White House had itself to request the Google, the parent company of YouTube, to reconsider whether the video had violated YouTube's terms of service or not.
Just to add, YouTube's Terms of Services or community guidelines, under which the website operates, are available here.
I will pull a section from these guidelines for your review here:
We don't permit hate speech (speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity).
YouTube community guidelines further explain the term "Hate Speech" as following:
"Hate speech" refers to content that promotes hatred against members of a protected group. For instance, racist or sexist content may be considered hate speech. Sometimes there is a fine line between what is and what is not considered hate speech. For instance, it is generally okay to criticize a nation, but not okay to make insulting generalizations about people of a particular nationality.
So apparently, as it seems, over two dozen deaths and millions of Muslims protesting over the video clip is not considered as a "Hate Speech" and YouTube (or Google) isn't really convinced that video is spreading hatred amongst the humanity.
However, the same company, i.e. YouTube, removed a series of 10 animated movies just earlier this year which it thought came under "Hate Speech" and guess what, these animated videos were about Holocaust Denial.
Here is the complete report about the removal of these Holocaust Denial Clips.
There are countless other examples available when YouTube removed video clips because it were hurting their own beliefs, despite they allow "Freedom of Speech", meaning that anyone could say, draw or paint anything.
Just to add here, there are laws for Holocaust Denial in at least 20 countries (including Israel) where you could be charged for denying Holocaust. Even in United States, local state laws can be used to prosecute blasphemy and Holocaust Denial.
So anything against Holocaust will come under "Hate Speech", or anything against the Royal Family will be rated as indecent but anything against Muslims will come under "Freedom of Speech and Press".
What kind of a world we are living in, I leave it to you to decide.
Muslims should not get emotional to the extant of violance, please agitate under the boundries defined in Islam, our Govt. should have reacted in such a passion that Western World would get a message loud and clear.
Dr. Amir Liaquat has addressed with the rally Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah
Saleem Khan
Truly written. Muslims must not cross ethical and social limits. Isn't it amazing that we uses their developed technology and social medias…and speaks against them in such worst manner. Are there no black sheep in our own people? We must not forget that double standards are very common in us than them. If we are really serious to get respected then we must excel in science and technology. Build good repute in the world and then show our attitude… showing attitude having nothing in hand is simply madness.
very good article.
Thats the different standards they are using against us.
i feel as a muslim world or community we have no guts, (i am talking about the governments here).
Where is OIC ??? We are not even gathered at any platform. Where as the janta of the muslim world is protesting. and the governments are jst sleeping by jst blocking the youtube.
the governments should hold oic meeting. declare this act as an evil act and demand strict action.
Aamir Atta bahi chaa gay hain aap. MashAllah bhot hi achi aur bhot khoobsurat content likha hai apne. mazaa aa gya hai perh ker.
dil bag bag ho utha hai. I will email you a video regarding this a women was taken and arrested by police in live assembly in U.S Parliment because she was speaking about innocent people being killed through drone attacks.
She was dragged by police and wo kalu bandari she was like puting her han over her mouth… will email you soon. inshAllah
ok ok I got the address here it is
all are same videos but replicated so that if they delete one link it available on other.
good today every one say that world is now global village which simply means no civilization no culture no religion just a secular global village thats why they created a ;freedom of speech; when ever they create a cartoons or films instead observing silence from muslim world they observe strong condemns
simple is that we are muslims we have a faith we cant allow them in this kind of global village to insult them our Holy Prophet PBUH if they do so solution is Jihad in ki gardan ura do fitna khtam ho jae or deen sab allah hi ka ho jae
Kate Middleton Photos are banned http://t.co/31rdruVW but #MyProphetMuhammad #blasphemy is allowed, double standards of west, french magazine banned over publishing her nude photos
Mushahid Hussain
Kate Middleton pictures are banned only in the UK, you can still access them over the internet.
well done aamir bhai
French judge bans Closer magazine from publishing Kate Middleton topless pics
Naveed Haq
Well i guess you read my mind in a comment i made yesterday .. ! ..
Well said Amir Bhai and nice Research.
Actually all the media including big net companies are controlled by Jews and their black underground communities and organizations and I think google is one of them. They collected millions of dollars from the jewish donors for this movie.
So obviously they wont remove this movie from youtube.
article is good but ,
dear author instead of writing P.B.U.H, replace it
with Sallallaho alahe wasallam
what's the difference? pura blog english may hay, wo samaj aaraha hay to ye P.B.U.H kyon nahe aa raha?
Faisal Raza
Same was the case when Qaddafi (Libyan Ruler) was killed by the people Obama said that it public reaction.
Now when his Ambassador killed in Libya, I said that these are Muslim fundamentalists/terrorists.
Infact a very nice article. Keep up the good work Aamir
history repeats itself
Yaar article tu theek hey but why you are expecting this from youtube? Yeh bhi Musalmano ki hi shaan hey key insaaf ka mamla hey tu saggey baitey ko bhi 70 lashes laga diye. Bhai yeh jews hein, its their property. Why would they go against their nation or nation's interest? Why we are expecting from them to do justice? WHY?
Why we just can't hit them back where it hurts? I am not talking about violence? Why we have to use youtube all the time? There are many alternatives even in the same domain? Just a few days ago another article here mentioned about Google seeing Pakistan as a 52billion something market for them. Imagine what kind of market the whole Muslim Nation would be. A boycott on that level would sure take them on their knees. no?
Ye saary 50 Countries agr saari Google aur iss ki products ko ban kr dyn tou Google will see moon in DAYLIGHT.
:D:D:D Sahi kaha,,
Well Done Aamir! Great piece of writing…
Very well written Aamir bhai.
We need to such responses to these injustice. But unlike you, other Pakistani "English writer/bloggers" will not protest but will only criticize "some" violents events happened during the protest.
About this issue,its fact that if we did a very good protest against Facebook earlier, this step was not going to happen.
But against facebook we used "if and buts", and now some people are using same logics for youtube.
In Nutshell..Muslim world should unite again.. but its not possible.. hum log ab different FIQA mein divide ho gai hain. So, The Jewcwill continue to dominate us.. Next Year there will be another new film.. thats for sure..
way to go, very well written..
Munna badnaam
Sab freemason or illuminati ki harkat hai or royal family also bloodline of firoon.
anas saleem
Biased stupid and lame article
I really wish amir would make this site the tech site its supposed to be instead of a political and religious one
Btw just for the record the person who made the movie is currently under investagition and all those who died were killed by there own not the film maker if muslims wanted to make a stand towards the video they could have easily taken the man incharge to a world court or used political pressures to stop this non sense but sadly muslims these days just want to vandilize and destroy public property
And if we look at the rules and guides provided by islam we would find that any action that endangers another human is illegal, so all those who protested are indirectly and directly responsible for the troubles caused for the millions who use the roads dailly they have blocked. So kindly rewrite the article and discuss who the real culprits are
Thanks Anas for the feedback, however you missed the point – I am not asking someone to take the responsibility of deaths.
My question, if you feel appropriate to respond, is that how will you justify Holocaust denial as "Hate Speech", or topless pictures of Royal Family as indecent and why both the cases shouldn't come under "Freedom of Speech and Press"?
anas saleem
Because we tend to destroy public property instead of looking into the law and punish the culprits
I know the islamic law states that such a person should be executed but thats not possible considering that hes in a country where there are different laws but if im not wrong if a petition is filed under the harasment/discrimination law then youtube will have to take the video down
But we are busy destroying our own property
Btw ITCN 2012 has started i thought you would be covering the event
I am not asking if the video will be taken down or not or the damages these protests are causing, or the punishments or the laws?
Sawal Channam, Jawab Gandum… Sorry for relating this phrase here. But again if you could look at comment above and question that was raised.
For your reference, here's the question again: "How will you justify Holocaust denial as "Hate Speech", or topless pictures of Royal Family as indecent and why both the cases shouldn't come under "Freedom of Speech and Press"?
anas saleem
Simplr because what happened with the dutchess of cambridge is gonna give the journalists the right too shoot anyone anyway they like so they had to be punished
While the holocast well if u want to progress then u have to remember your past and considering how few jews are they have to keep themselves as the victims of the so called event to gain sympathy from the world
now if u study both the cases they used the legal approach so why cant muslims take the route they took, instead of destruction
If your justification is to be believed then:
– Allowing anti-Islam films will pave way for other film producers to mock your God and my God (i am assuming you are not atheist) and they will make movies to mock holocaust. So, according to your stance, allowing one freedom will ignite further hatred.
– We can approach legally, but as mentioned in the post above – their decision makers consider things against Muslims as "Freedom of Speech" and not as offensive.
Just to give you an example, Azhar Ahmed, 19, is charged when he updated his Facebook status as "all soldiers should die and go to hell", when six British solders had died in Afghanistan. The court said that his communication was "derogatory" and "inflammatory".
Complete story is available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-19604735
I am wondering, how in this world this blasphemous movie isn't derogatory and inflammatory?
And if you are wondering, legal way was adopted by many but here's what happens: German court OKs use of Prophet Muhammad pics at upcoming far-right rally
Story is available here: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/120816/german-court-oks-use-prophet-mohammed-pics-at-upcoming-f
I am amazed that you still don't agree that west demos double standards and you will still call this article biased.
anas saleem
I have been trying to find an authetic hadith or quranic verse that has a punishment for people who commit such crimes but i failed to do so
to answer your first question well my friend its simple u dont fight with a madman instead you show them what the reality is, there was a lady who converted to islam after the taliban kidnapped and then released her
The second part well the laws are different everywhere and i havent seen the movie so i cant really say what grounds have youtube used to host it even thou the us government asked it to reconsider the matter
And even if the laws say that youtube can host it legal actions can be taken to take it down, if every muslim in the world wants it taken down then even the laws cant help it
On azhars case well my friend pakistan too has the same law, because you wont support them who would lol the soilders are there fighting for you not for themselves thou its a vast debate n im sure they arnt actually for us
Regarding the german ruling well its a very different kind of state its some what communist so obvsly they allow such things, china banned fasting in ramadan n to make sure that people didnt fasted a lunch was introduced in schools where every kid was supposed to eat and officials were told to make sure that there subordinates didnt fasted by offering food in the day to those who are muslims
Well to end thid argument i would just say its better for muslims to grow out of this frenzy of hyping up and crying over dual laws and shit, if the laws arent perfect change them and if the law makers are biased then bring someone else. If we would have studied islam and learned from our past we wouldnt have been the ones who are ridiculed, islam tells us to gather and then strike its a religion which doesnt discriminates, so instead of showing the world how stupid we are why dont we show the world what Prophet (pbuh) truly was and how by insulting him the people are actually destroying themselves
Im not an optimistic person but i do one thing if half of muslims in the world started following the true islam the world would be forced to bow down to us
I have been following this conversation between Anis akram and the admin.Well u quoted the right phrase chana gandum wali..Well this article above potrays the true image of West..their dual standards And Mr.Anis is constantly trying to steer away from the main point.How Muslims should protest and how they should lead their lives is entirely a new debate and on that very issue we can go on and on..We r talking about west here who claims to be the most cultured civilication and talking about their government who is still reconsidering the matter…huh!! They are trying to pretend as if they r so helpless.What else is it if not their double standards when it comes to issues related to Muslims.
anas saleem = shahid saleem?
or are you brother of shahid saleem.
anas saleem
Whos shahid saleem
Shahid Saleem
Me. The person they like to hate.
Shahid Saleem, you're a beacon of light in a cave of darkness.
Keep up the good work.
shahid saleem its not about you ,its about your thinking.idiot
Shahid Saleem
Do you have any idea how many times people have insinuated that I am not a Muslim in the past year, here in these comments? When they do that, they do not attack my ideas or way of thinking. They attack me.
Usama Siddiqui
An excellent post amir bhai. Very well written.
Well, pointed out..
nice indeed :)
in my opinion 3rd world war ke liye mulims ki pulsese ko chek kia ja rha hy. is qism ki videos ko jari kr ky response check krty hein jews. kitni amani gharit baqi hy. kai jews ne to makka aur madina me attomic bomb use krny ki bat b ki.
mery khiyal se yahodi apny world order ko fully implemnt krny ky liye muslims world ko apny liye threat samjhty hein. aur anqreeb world wide war b ho gi. lekin abe us ke liye munasib waqt ni samjhty kyu k abe b Allah ke Rasol ki mohabat dilon me mojad hy.
You wrote "abe b Allah ke Rasol ki mohabat dilon me mojad hy"
Jin ki aap baat kar rahe hain unhon ne Rasool (P.B.U.H.) ki taalimaat ka zara bhi khayal nahe kia, sirf naam le kar apne he logon ko naqsan de raha hain. Kya yehi hay mohabbat k apne mehboob ki baat na mano aur us ka naam le le kar violence karte raho?
Islam aqal ka deen hay, jehalat k andheron ko khatam karta hay, but practically we are not following Islam and doing what is expected from Jahil…
Good article
Irfan Raza Attari
They are arrogant due to their materialistic development. They think. What they do that is right.
Internally they do not like Muslims and Muslims are dying to following their culture which shows their complex.
Kindly stop following them. Lets get back to our holy values. ALLAH عزوجل will return the respect we have lost.
Irfan Raza Attari
Do they (Non Muslims) have 1 ruler like حضرت عمر رضی اللہ تعالی عنہ?
Dear Admin it's a great artical.
Meri English achi nai so urdu ma type kr rha hoon.
Ye sab Allah dekh rha ha k us k piyaray Prophet (P.B.U.H) k baray ma kia kiya ja rha ha …
Or hum muslims us ka kiya response de rhay hain. mera khyal se all world main Protest ho rha ha (against this thing) or kuch logon ko is ki is ki parwah b nai ha..
I think that's an offer of Jihad by Allah.
and we must say labaik ..
يا رب! دل مسلم کو وہ زندہ تمنا دے
جو قلب کو گرما دے ، جو روح کو تڑپا دے
The argument that topless pictures be less decent that the movie being talked about is just ridiculous. To even compare them is stupid I guess.
Though I do agree with the dual standards of media and governments regarding the holucast and all. BUT, its just stupid, and degrading your self at the same time, to the standards the guy displayed in the movie, if one is reacting to that movie. If a mad man abuses you, you don't start a fight with him, you ignore and move on.
Its just because of the 'Muslim' reaction the movie gained traction, I am 100% sure if you, I, and others will just stop talking about it, it will go into the dustbin in a few days.
So many people being killed over a pathetic movie like that, just goes to tell how illiterate most of us are. Again, if a mad man abuses you, you don't start a fight with him, you ignore and move on.
Do they ignore the holocaust denier? and move on?
Did they ignore the paparazzi and publisher for the publication of pictures and moved on?
>Do they ignore the holocaust denier? and move on?
Aamir bhai, I said, I agree to this point and the dual standards of the west on this. They are just shams. But if a mad man jumps into a pit, we don't follow him. If I were to get upset about what each and every person on earth had to say about my religion and my Prophet (PBUH) I would have a heart attack and die, hence my statement about moving on.
>Did they ignore the paparazzi and publisher for the publication of pictures and moved on?
Its only fair to charge him with defaming, I am sure it was the right thing to do, don't you? If not there will be a trend of people shooting pictures nude pictures of someone and everyone and start posting online and in magazines. Its illegal in any society.
whenever western world do something wrong its nothing in western eyes and they don't follow the rules which they made for whole of the world specifically talking about youtube they make rules to follow i guess just for Muslims not for Christians Jews and Hindus and the criteria of youtube and Facebook spam is not upto mark.
Al Kufro milat waida .. !!!
anas saleem
I m not a scholar but i guess everyone knows of the women who used to throw garbage on the Holy Prophet (pbuh) but when she got sick the Prophet (pbuh) went to her house and when she found out that the Holy Prophet (pbuh) has came she thought He (pbuh) is there to kill her but instead He(pbuh) was there to inquire about her well being……. Its an old story but it has a message in it, instead of protesting we should have showed that person what the Prophet (pbuh) truly preached and taught which might have resulted in that film makers conversion to islam or saved a lot of innocent lives that are now lost due to foolish decisions taken by the so called leaders of islam i.e the jahil mullahs and aalims
This is exactly what I am talking about, why give something that stupid, our time and our energy let the dumb guy be happy at what he does and die and then face the consequences.
I agree with the article about dual standards. Specially in case of holocaust. However the example of princess is not comparable. That trail was successful on the grounds that it was breach of privacy and not because publishing those pictures was disrespectful.
Very very Very very Very very Very very Very very good article.
khawar riaz
I have a simple question. Why don't you make a youtube alternate only for muslims and similarly a search engine targeted for muslims. when their intelligence agencies can make a social media why can't our intelligencies do the same thing???? Make them all for muslims and declare them halal, i bet they will not repeat this kind of childish behaviour. get all your servers hosted in China or Russia or somewhere else so they don't even touch your websites. then see how well they will really behave. it does not take a rocket scientist to build these kinds of website any more. and by the way there is a muslim social media netweork in malaysia or indonesia in the process of launch only meant for muslims. so things are going to change inshallah. :) .
"Freedom of Speech and Press" advocates must also know about the "empathy"
—- "Empathy is the capacity to recognize feelings that are being experienced by another sentient "
Wicked Youtube management must read
Double standards examples
ہٹلر کیفے، اسرائیلی سفیر ناراض
India's 'Hitler' stores spark outrage
muslims should hack all websites related to such material
good research and nice article.
Government of Pakistan announced to celebrate Friday, 21 September, 2012 as " Youm E Ishaq RASOOL (S.A.W.S). I appeal to every Pakistani that make your best (peaceful and legal) contribution to mark this day successful and memorable in history and to get maximum out of this day. Our Aamir Attaa bhai and all other webmasters should also make their contribution.
double standard of gora's, really dislike these activities
Can anybody provide me logical reason(s) for killing a person who has committed blasphemous acts against our Prophet (PBUH)? Don't take me wrong I need this for some debate.
Tumhari girl-friend say koi zara si baat bhi karlay to tum uski jaan kay peechay par jaatay ho,,,yeh to phir hamaray Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) hain.
And logics fail against emotions.
So, thats the logic.
I won't kill anybody if someone abuses my girlfriend or whomsoever. Of course, I would be offended and I may take the person to court but neither any court nor me would have the right to hang this person.
Please, read the question carefully.
Answer doesn't exist.
So, that means this is one part of religion for which we have no logical explanation for death penalty.
This means if any non-Muslim asks for clarification in this area (and his acceptance of Islam rightfully depends upon this question) and all we have to say is answer doesn't exist.
So, this means anybody can refute Islam. This means Islam is not a perfect religion since answer for this crucial question doesn't exist.
This means we cannot defend punishment of a person who has committed blasphemy under our Islamic laws.
You are talking about apples and oranges, a photo of someone is a privacy matter while an opinion of someone is a freedom of speech. All photos of me are my property unless i give permission, if you take a photo of me and publish it somewhere, regardless of its content, i can sue you for it.
This film is an opinion of a retarded person who is enjoying watching Muslims kill each other. Its not even a film man, there are hundreds videos like that out there and they are all insignificant unless we Muslims make it a big deal about it. Just like we cant blame the entire Muslim world for the actions of few extremist terrorist, we can't blame the entire west for the actions of literally ONE guy. Now many more retards are going to join him to mock Muslims for their irrational self destructive behavior.
Finally a comment that made sense. Thank you.
All good but (and in this case a huge one) this is exactly the reaction that they wanted to achieve.
They have double standards…. everyone knows that. Clear example is of veto power in UN from a single permanent member and all these permanent members want democracy and freedom for rest of the world.
Question is if you do exactly what they plan to achieve from such silly attempts (that we are doing actually) we achieve nothing. The better option in my personal opinion would have been what is proposed by Waqas above. Had some top Ulemas knocked the door of the movie maker with gifts and books about the prophet it would have created a better perception of Islam. They're really worried about the fast spread of Islam in their countries and what better way to tarnish the perception of Islam than this kind of reaction from us?
On a side note, I think a law is only applicable on someone who is within the jurisdiction of it, so that would be on a Muslim be he/she anywhere in the world or anyone living in a muslim country. This may be debatable by knowledgeable persons but just stating my understanding of the situation.
Ending with these ash'ars of Iqbal;
Yaqeen mahkam, amal paiham,Mohabbat fateh-e-alam;
Jehad-e-zindgani men Hain yeh mardon ke shamsheeren
Like Kamran said, the comparison between the royal photos and the anti-Islam movie is false – the ban was based on privacy violations and not on freedom of speech laws.
The comparison between the removal of the anti-Holocaust videos from YouTube and the failure to remove the anti-Islam movie appears to have some validity. However, YouTube is a company and not a government organization, and therefore they have the right to refuse service to anyone they wish – regardless of "freedom of speech" rights granted by law. They chose to refuse service to the folks who posted the anti-Holocaust videos but have not yet refused service to the person who posted the anti-Islamic video. Does it mean they are showing bias and a double-standard…quite possibly. You are welcome to complain about their failure to enforce policy in an equitable manner, and could probably even take them to court over it and just might win. The anti-holocaust videos were removed because of "requests" from a reputable organization – the Islamic world might want to try copying such behaviors and see if it makes YouTube (and the western world in general) more inclined to want to help in the future. Bias on the part of YouTube does not mean, however, that the western world at large, and the United States government specifically, enforces the freedom of speech laws (LAWS, not corporate policy) unequally. I doubt the US government could have forced YouTube to remove the anti-Holocaust videos – YouTube chose to do so because someone asked nicely. There's a difference between corporate policy and law. If you want to convince YouTube to help you out, you might try sweet-talking them instead of threatening the lives of people who might be their friends and family.
Children often practice insulting each other, and a common response is to mockingly sing "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." The lesson is that the best response to insults is to mock the person trying to insult you by reminding them that words can't hurt you. Large portions of the Islamic world apparently never learned that lesson. Until that lesson is learned, the Islamic world is going to be easy prey for those who want to use Islamic violence as an excuse to come in and take over for their own purposes. There are far better, far more effective ways to protest garbage like that video, ones that won't make the Islamic world look like the bad guys.
>YouTube is a company and not a government organization, and therefore they have the right to refuse service to anyone they wish
And they use (and will always use) this right to insult Muslims.
>You are welcome to complain about their (YouTube) failure to enforce policy in an equitable manner, and could probably even take them to court over it and just might win.
This is what your Courts do: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/germany/120816/german-court-oks-use-prophet-mohammed-pics-at-upcoming-f
>The anti-holocaust videos were removed because of "requests" from a reputable organization
How shameful that one organization is considered reputable while 1 billion Muslims are nothing compared to it.
>I doubt the US government could have forced YouTube to remove the anti-Holocaust videos – YouTube chose to do so because someone asked nicely.
US Government doesn't control YouTube, how interesting – especially when they control other corner of the World but not an organization with-in their border. You probably need to read this: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/exclusive-google-cia/ and countless other pieces to establish a connection.
> you want to convince YouTube to help you out, you might try sweet-talking them instead of threatening the lives of people who might be their friends and family.
No one is threatened, everyone was rather reporting the video. That's the nicest possible way of Asking Youtube – I believe.
Shahid Saleem
The Executive branch of the US government (President, etc) DO NOT CONTROL COMPANIES in the US. Give me an example of a president forcing a company to do anything. Link to a press item.
Shahid Saleem
Keep in mind that if you post Anti-Holocoust videos, it will likely be taken down. But if an Islamic scholar posts an anti-Jewish video *based on teachings of Quran and Sunnah* it will be accepted.
Farhan Syed
very well written Content….. Truly representing the views of Muslim community
Sikandar Butt
Dear all , I have an idea. Why we should fight the whole western world? Instead, first of all we should boycott Google and all its sister comapnies like youtube and others. Also, most importantly their Android. All the muslim world should stop purchasing android handsets which is their most profitable thing. Think about it.
Very nice article. I believe we will continue to see such incidents unless something is done at OIC (and then UNO) level to stop such stuff.
There are many things that can be presented as per west's double standards but I think what you presented should be enough for those believes in equality.
Finally UN chief break the shackles and condemned as well, so keep everyone up on this issue.
I 100% agree with this post. We should do work really hard and in a proper way to come up economically, socially and morally. Then we will be able to defeat them.
Shahid Saleem
If your goal is to defeat them, you have already lost. Your goal should be to help ourselves. Whether they are defeated or not is just a side effect.
And in a world with just over 1 billion Muslims and a total population over 6 billion people, you're not going to defeat them.
'And in a world with just over 1 billion Muslims and a total population over 6 billion people, you're not going to defeat them.'
Totally agree
You have answered your own question. As you say' " We have discussed this before that how differently and strictly they deal with situations that harm their own beliefs but they will show utter disrespect for situations that hamper Muslim beliefs."
Isn't it logical? Because in Muslim countries, Muslims control the situations that harm Muslims own beliefs and show utter disrespect for situations that hamper others beliefs. (I can't know for the life of me how the words 'harm' and 'hamper' fit here, by the way)
For example, you have this blasphemy law that puts people to death for 'blaspheming' against your faith and prophet, but you haven't got any such death sentence for those who may 'blaspheme' against Hinduism, Christianity or any other religion. So you are protecting your own interests here in Muslims countries, and then you expect from non-Muslim countries to keep your interests above theirs/ If anything, this is double standard. Try to analyze issues with an open mind and unbiased position.
Hi there,
I am English, and not a muslim. I'm not particularly politically affiliated – I'm not a fan of the "system", I'm a man of peace, love and the easy life : )
I can't talk for the double standards of press or anything like that, but what I can give you is the straight views of I guess the people that make up England/the UK. Lots are like me, not so passionate about religion or politics (each to their own) but the train of thought is put simply:
Lots of very innocent people died because of a YouTube video.
Thats how we see it. People lost their lives, people fought. Because of a YouTube video. We don't even know who posted it.
Because we aren't politically or religiously motivated, we don't understand it. And while I personally DO understand the reasons, the whole situation doesn't compute with me. The poor people who were killed in a blind retaliation. Thats all we're hearing this side.
I wish you all the best, and hope this calms down.
Loving Englishman
As long as the Muslim population remains around 1% of any given country/region/city they will be regarded as a peace-loving minority and not as a threat to anyone. Say Nation % Muslim United States 1.0% Australia 1.5% Italy 1.5% Norway 1.8% Canada 1.9% China 2.0% At 2% and 3% they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs: Nation % Muslim Denmark 2.0% United Kingdom 2.7% Germany 3.7% Spain 4.0% Thailand 4.6% From 5% on they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. They will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. Nation % Muslim Switzerland 4.3% Philippines 5.0% Sweden 5.0% The Netherlands 5.5% Trinida and Tabago 5.8% France 8.0% At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islam is not to convert the world but to establish Sharia law over the entire world. When Muslims reach 10% of the population, they will increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions (Paris: car-burnings). Any non-Muslim action that offends Islam will result in uprisings and threats (Amsterdam – Mohammed cartoons). Nation % Muslim Guyana 10.0% India 13.4% Israel 16.0% Kenya 10.0% Russia 15.0% After reaching 20% expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings and church and synagogue burning: Nation % Muslim Ethiopia 32.8% At 40% you will find widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks and ongoing militia warfare: Nation % Muslim Bosnia 40.0% Chad 50.1% Lebanon 59.7% From 60% you may expect unfettered persecution of non-believers and other religions, sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon and Jizya, the tax placed on infidels: Nation % Muslim Albania 70.0% Malaysia 60.4% Qatar 77.5% Sudan 70.0% After 80% expect State run ethnic cleansing and genocide: Nation % Muslim Bangladesh 83.0% Egypt 90.0% Gaza 98.7% Indonesia 86.1% Iran 98.0% Iraq 97.0% Jordan 92.0% Morocco 98.7% Pakistan 97.0% Syria 90.0% Tajikistan 90.0% Turkey 99.8% United Arab Emirates 96.0% 100% will usher in the peace of 'Dar-es-Salaam' ? the Islamic House of Peace ? there's supposed to be peace because everybody is a Muslim: Nation % Muslim Yemen 99.9% Afghanistan 100.0% Saudi Arabia 100.0% Somalia 100.0% Of course, that's not the case. To satisfy their blood lust, Muslims then start killing each other for a variety of reasons like Shiya, Sunni, Wahibi, Ahmedi etc


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RE: Murder Suspect Arrested
The Texarkana Arkansas Police Dept. has arrested two suspects in connection to the weekend murder of Jessie James Latham.
On Saturday, December 19, 2009, officers responded to the 700 block of Pinehurst Street in reference to a deceased man laying in the yard of a residence. When Officers arrived they located Mr. Latham, with apparent blunt force trauma to the head and torso, deceased.
Detectives worked late into the evening Saturday and developed information that lead them to believe that the person or persons involved, frequented the immediate area of this described crack "smoking" house. Using evidence found at the scene of the murder, Detectives identified Demetris Jordan, B/M, 39 yoa, of Texarkana as one of the suspects in the murder. The other suspect is a 17 year old juvenile male, also of Texarkana. These suspects were identified early Sunday morning. Interrogations of these two suspects yielded confessions that corroborated evidence found at the scene.
Both Jordan and the juvenile have been arrested and charged with Murder 2nd Degree. Detectives are seeking to certify the juvenile as an adult at which time he will be prosecuted under the same standards and face the same punishments as an adult.
As with any other crime, anyone with information regarding this crime is encouraged to notify TAPD or Texarkana area CrimeStoppers at 903-793-STOP.
Thank you and you can visit the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department online at http://www.txkusa.org/arkpolice.
Contact Information
Officer Kristi Mitchell
Public Information Officer
903-798-3187 (office) 903-824-4199 (cell)
903-798-3023 (fax)
Texarkana Arkansas Police Department ©


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Precious Metals and The Economy: Impact of QE3
At times such as these the economy reminds us of the inscription that Dante read at the gates to hell, "Abandon Hope, All Ye Who Enter Here." My firm takes a different view of this grim admonition. At the risk of sounding pollyanish, we look for the silver lining instead of succumbing to panic.
Can the economy get any worse from here? Perhaps, yet the situation brings to mind an old aphorism, "The worse things were…the better they got." The Gershwin Brothers put the same thought another way, "With gloom to lead the way, I've seen more skies of gray, then any Russian play can guarantee." The time to buy stocks is when the lumpen are terrified, not euphoric.
Click here to view the full article.


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When I go out, I get lightheaded, short of breath and nervous
Do these symptoms have to do with the insulin I am taking, I take insulin 4 times a day. I am Type 2 diabetic. It is just when I exercise and walk alot, that I feel this way.
2 replies
It would be irresponsible to try and diagnose your problem based on your online report of your symptoms. Those sympyoms could be indicative of anything from blood sugar related to an anxiety disorder to a heart problem. If you haven't seen a primary care physician about your symptoms, my free advice to you is go see a doc (or nurse practitioner) as soon as possible so you can be reliably diagnosed and helped. My opinion only.
Quite possibly. Do you test your blood sugar at those times? Physical activity will make you more insulin sensitive so the insulin you take will be more effective. It could be that your blood sugar is getting a little low and you are experiencing symptoms of that.
Next Discussion: Has anyone on here cured their type 1 »


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Who can recall the last time the CEA and the CSC concluded contract negotiations in a timely manner?
Anyone? Well, we plan on doing it the next time around. Continue reading
Who can recall the last time the CEA and the CSC concluded contract negotiations in a timely manner?
Anyone? Well, we plan on doing it the next time around. Continue reading
We are looking for civic minded members who will negotiate wages, benefits, and working conditions for our 2018 – 2020 contracts. We are looking for cleat thinking volunteers to help break the broken negotiation cycle and reach agreement before the expiration of our current agreement in August, 2017. Continue reading
In the past few weeks as the snow continued to fall, the CEA continued to move slowly toward our goal of creating the schools our students deserve. A review of the highlights follows. Continue reading
We need to fight in order to win. We may not always win, but if we don't fight we can't win. Continue reading
Anyone who would prevent a union worker from speaking to a union official would be in violation of a state law. Continue reading
In the next few weeks, members of the CEA will participate in three important initiatives; contract negotiations and member up-date, Building Rep training, and a Member Forum. Please join us. Continue reading
How can you say you put students first, if you put teachers last? Continue reading
Welcome, you princes and princesses of Massachusetts, you kings and queens of New England. Continue reading
Like a bear awakening from a deep winter sleep, Unit A contract negotiations are returning to life after a brief summer vacation. All other units, traditionally put on hold until teachers settle, are lining up for initial talks with the … Continue reading
The no cell phone conversation between teacher and student takes time away from teaching and learning. Figuring out how to violate the policy develops the kind of clandestine skills better suited to the CIA than to passing biology. Continue reading


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- State Lobbying & Gift Law Guide
Former Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Farmer and Seven Others Charged with Violating Kentucky Ethics Laws; Farmer Indicted by Federal Grand Jury
Richard "Richie" Farmer, the former Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture from 2004 to 2011, has been charged with 42 counts of violating state ethics laws. The Executive Branch Ethics Commission's ten-month investigation resulted in the largest number of ethics charges ever filed against one person in Kentucky history. The charges against Mr. Farmer range from pocketing excess cigars ordered for a state conference to hiring his mistress and forcing department managers to falsify her timesheets. Although many of the charges focus on activities within the agency, some of the allegedly unlawful conduct involves private sector businesses.
One example of alleged unethical gift-giving involving Mr. Farmer took place when he reallocated tickets contractually given to the Agriculture Department for a basketball tournament and gave them to his extended family. Other alleged violations included charges of unethical solicitation in 2008 in connection with the Kentucky-hosted Southern Association of State Departments of Agriculture (SASDA) Conference. According to the indictment, Mr. Farmer directed department employees to buy excess gifts such as firearms, carry cases and knives meant as gifts for visiting Agriculture Commissioners and Mr. Farmer kept the extra gifts for himself. In addition, Mr. Farmer purportedly directed Department staff to purchase excess food, candy, alcohol and other items and to give the extras to his wife. In another matter involving the SASDA Conference, Mr. Farmer allegedly sought out donations for the conference from businesses that the Department of Agriculture regulates or has business relationships with, and from entities that are represented by groups that the department regulates. Farmer allegedly used his position to have a "Kentucky Proud" vendor at the SASDA conference create wooden hats and wooden bowls for attending state commissioners, promising the hat maker special treatment in the future. In another instance unrelated to the SASDA Conference, Farmer is said to have used his influence with a private company to have an all-terrain vehicle gifted to himself and his father in exchange for the promise of grant money from the Agriculture Department.
On a second front, Mr. Farmer has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly misusing property and funds. The charges include four counts of misappropriating property and money and one count of soliciting property to influence Agriculture Department business. The counts carry a maximum sentence of ten years' imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. It is estimated that Farmer misappropriated $450,000 in federal funds.


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Hip fractures kill and cripple far too many elderly women and men. Every year roughly 350,000 people in the U.S. shatter their hips and end up in the hospital, where more than 14,000 of them die. Another 24 percent die within a year of the injury; half lose their ability to walk. Most of these fractures, which cost about $17 billion in medical care annually, result from a withering of the skeleton known as osteoporosis.
Physicians have long used x-rays to estimate the density of bone minerals—a rough indicator of bone strength. In 2011 the influential U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which sets testing standards that Medicare and other health insurers tend to follow, began urging all women to get an enhanced x-ray—known as a DXA (dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry) scan—of the hip or lower spine to check for small fractures or worn spots at age 65. The National Osteoporosis Foundation suggests that all men have the same screening scan by age 70.
Although everyone benefits from such baseline bone scans, most healthy people do not need screens every two years. "Repeat bone density testing has been oversold as a screening tool," says Steven R. Cummings, a bone researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. Evidence shows many doctors focus too narrowly on reduced bone density, particularly in younger women, confusing one sign of osteoporosis risk with the disease itself. A better measure of skeletal health, Cummings suggests, puts bone density in a broader context, taking into account smoking status, drug interactions and history of prior fractures. Together these factors more accurately predict the risk of serious bone breaks, offering a better a guide to who should start taking fracture-preventing drugs and who should not.The Roots of Osteoporosis
For centuries doctors assumed frail bones and stooped postures were just irreversible aspects of aging. In the 18th century, however, investigators began to uncover hints in experiments with animals that bones undergo continual remodeling throughout life.
Eventually scientists identified the key members of the bone construction crew: three types of specialized cells. Osteoclasts excavate small pits in old or cracked bone, whereas osteoblasts extrude into those pits a blend of soft collagen and other proteins, which they subsequently harden with calcium phosphate and other minerals. A third group of cells, the osteocytes, helps to coordinate skeletal repair via chemical signals to the demolition and construction crews. By overhauling about a million scattered, tiny patches of bone at a time, the adult human body renews its entire skeleton approximately every 10 years.
A remodeled chassis might seem like an automatic upgrade, but cross-sectional views of hips and vertebrae reveal that new bone is not as well crafted as the original. The honeycombed interior of freshly laid trabecular (from the Latin for "small beam") bone surrounding the marrow has fewer cross-struts to lend it strength and elasticity. Even though the hard outer shell, or cortical bone, grows thicker in some spots over time, autopsies show that these thickened sections are often riddled with holes.
The consequences of this lopsided bone repair—more destruction than construction of the adult skeleton over time—hit women harder and earlier in life than men. In the late 1930s endocrinologist Fuller Albright finally began to puzzle out why. Based partly on the bone-building benefits of estrogen in animal experiments, Albright surmised that the back and hip pain and collapsed vertebrae of his osteoporotic female patients might be related to the sudden drop of estrogen in menopause. He gave some of his patients estrogen, and, sure enough, many reported pain relief. Blood and urine tests for calcium and other bone metabolites confirmed that as long as they were taking the estrogen, they lost less bone.
Albright's findings began to reframe osteoporosis as a treatable progressive disorder. His work launched a new wave of research into bone biology that continues today and has stimulated a lucrative market for drugs that either spur the creation of new bone or—in most cases—slow the loss of old bone. Hip fractures were the main concern because they are so deadly, but many other types of fractures significantly reduce quality of life. As scientists began testing the new drugs, they needed a machine that could detect subtler changes in bone than conventional x-rays. Eventually the DXA scan emerged as the clinical standard for measuring bone density: it compares how hard bone and soft tissue differentially absorb low-energy beams directed at the same spot in the skeleton. As DXA scanners became less expensive in the 1990s, the market for bone drugs soared.Risk is not Disease
Bone density tests quickly became a rite of passage for many postmenopausal women in their 50s. When doctors started scanning these women, however, a problem emerged, says Cummings, who has co-authored some of the largest studies of osteoporosis in the past three decades. Instead of regarding "low bone density" as one sign of risk, doctors equated it with full-blown osteoporosis. Even worse, under the banner of early detection and prevention, bone density that was slightly lower than average got its own medical label—osteopenia—and some doctors started treating that condition with drugs, too.
The conflation of disease with disease risk might not be so bad, Cummings says, if bone density tracked tightly with the incidence of serious fractures at every age, under every condition. But it does not. Among 16,000 postmenopausal women in Manitoba who received baseline bone scans at age 50 or older, for example, most of those who eventually suffered fractures had normal bone density, according to a 2007 study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. As the studies piled up, Cummings notes, "it quickly became evident that in a group of people with the same bone mineral density, some got fractures and others didn't. Clearly, some other feature of bone plays an important role here."
That should not come as a surprise, says Markus Seibel, who studies bone metabolism at the University of Sydney. Much of modern medicine is about treating risk instead of symptoms, he notes. Doctors attempt to lower bad cholesterol in hopes of preventing a heart attack, for example. But relying strictly on numbers to predict health outcomes is tricky. "The more we move away from actual disease, the harder it is to predict what will happen in a particular patient," Seibel says.
So far, Seibel observes, scientists have not identified the underlying physiological features that make a bone resistant or prone to cracks. Large epidemiological studies, however, have revealed more characteristics of people that, when taken together with measurements of bone density, can help improve predictions about who will suffer a major fracture. In 2008 the World Health Organization integrated 12 of the most influential of these risk factors into an algorithm that is the basis for an easy-to-use online risk calculator known as FRAX.Beyond Bone Density
Frax relies on a long list of variables that influence risk: age; sex; weight; height; previous fractures in patients and their parents; current smoking status; prior chronic treatment with glucocorticoids; a diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis (not osteoarthritis); a diagnosis of secondary osteoporosis (bone loss from a trauma or illness); level of alcohol consumption (more than three daily glasses of wine, or the equivalent, increases the likelihood of a break); and low bone mineral density at the femoral neck (a frequent site of hip fracture, just below the bony knob of the upper thigh bone).
After patients fill out a simple online survey, the FRAX calculator weights the risk factors according to the most recent data and spits out two numbers—a 10-year probability of hip fracture and a 10-year probability of any major fracture of the hip, spine, forearm or shoulder. Those numbers are a rough guide, the WHO emphasizes, and should not substitute for a doctor's clinical judgment about a particular patient. Someone who smokes and binge drinks frequently and has already had a painful fractured hip, for example, is probably more likely to suffer another broken hip than a light smoker and drinker of the same age who has had a painless vertebral fracture that could barely be detected by x-ray. Even so, the FRAX calculator would give those two people the same score.
Despite FRAX's flaws, Cummings says the tool is an improvement in risk prediction because it puts bone density in proper context as "one factor—an important factor but just one factor—in your likelihood of fracture." Bone health experts currently recommend a baseline bone scan and FRAX calculation around age 65. And anyone—male or female—older than their mid-50s who fractures any bone in the absence of a car accident or similar trauma should be evaluated for osteoporosis and considered for bone-building drugs. Too many emergency room doctors today, Seibel says, are still just setting the broken arm or wrist and sending the patient home. After late middle age, experience and statistics confirm, there is no such thing as a simple fracture.
Comment on this article at ScientificAmerican.com/aug2012


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Volkswagen will launch higher performance versions of the next-generation Golf GTI
Big changes are coming to the Volkswagen Golf GTI, according to a new report from Auto Bild. Since the original MKI Golf GTI debuted in 1975, the hot hatch has never attempted to compete with serious performance models, but has instead focused on providing drivers with a fun-to-drive factor.
The present generation GTI, with the optional performance pack, develops 220 horsepower, certainly nothing to sneeze at, but far below rivals like Subaru WRX and its 268 HP output. "Wait," you're saying, "that's what the 300 HP Volkswagen Golf R is for." An excellent point, dear reader, but with emerging rivals like the 345 HP Ford Focus RS on the horizon, even Volkswagen's Golf R is out-classed.
The answer, it would appear, will not come in the form of an R-badged Golf, but a higher performance GTI lineup, each one with significant power bumps.
Before the next generation Volkswagen Golf is revealed in 2018, the German automaker will reveal a facelifted hatch in 2016, and an electric concept at CES in January.
After the standard Golf goes on sale, the first of the new GTI variants will debut in 2019 under the name "GTI Classic." The entry-level trim will boast 265 HP, an increase of 45 horses over the performance-pack 2015 model. Soon after, a "Performance Edition" will raise output to 300 HP, matching the current Golf R. And finally, the GTI-range-topping "Clubsport" will bring 326 ponies to the table.
Though the GTI Clubsport would still train the most powerful production hatchbacks, it's part of Volkswagen's plan to leave the 420 horsepower, all-wheel-drive R400 as the ultimate Golf.
And for the impatient lot, a current generation Golf GTI Clubsport will debut to celebrate the brand's 40th anniversary; the Clubsport will pack 261 horsepower in a uniquely-styled package.
On the efficiency end of the Golf spectrum, Volkswagen plans to introduce a plug-in hybrid version of the next-generation hatch with an all-electric range of 31 miles. Its powertrain will deliver 201 HP and 258 pound-feet of torque.


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Useful Information when attending the Festival
1. Buy your glass and tokens on arrival
All beer and cider can only be bought with the tokens. Soft drinks can be bought with cash from the stall in the centre of the barn.
2. You may return your glass for a cash refund
You may return your glass for a cash refund when you leave and get your money back on any unused tokens (or drop them into the charity collecting pot at the exit). Or you may wish to keep your glass as a souvenir. Please note the cash desk closes 20 minutes after last orders so you will need to return your glass by then if you want a refund.
3. Pick up a free programme
Pick up a free programme on arrival, too, which contains the beer list and entertainment listings.
4. Popular and unusual beers sell out fast!
If there is a high demand for a beer you want to try, then don't leave it too long before you buy!
5. Beer tasters are available
Please ask for tasters before you buy a beer if you're not sure. However, please try to limit such requests at busy times.
6. Food stalls take cash
Food stalls around the barn offer curry, hot snacks, olives and local cheese. Food stalls take cash, not tokens.
7. Toilets are outside the barn
Toilets are outside the barn – please use them sensibly and let staff know if you spot any problems.
8. Do think about joining CAMRA
Do think about joining the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). You will get free admission to all sessions of the Kent Beer Festival (except Friday evening) as well as to many other CAMRA beer festivals around the country. Go to CAMRA for more information or pick up a leaflet from the Membership Stand at the Festival.
9. Check out The Good Beer Guide
If you want to keep drinking great beer after the Festival is over, buy a copy of the Good Beer Guide from the CAMRA shop at the Festival or via www.camra.org.uk and check out where you can find excellent beer in a pub near you.
10. Smoking
The festival is a non-smoking area, like restaurants and pubs. Smoking will be permitted outside the barn.


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The Vestry works with the Rector in executing the ministries of the parish. The Vestry is specifically charged with managing the resources of the parish in support of the ministries and vision that God has given us.
Lionel Gibbs, Warden Gayle Campbell, Warden
Elaine Santiago, Clerk of the Vestry
Members of the Vestry
Class of 2019 - Kitty Newell
Class of 2020 - Tim Munn, Elaine Santiago, Gary Sorensen
Class of 2021 - James Bryant, Anne DeGroff, Jeanne Taylor
Wardens and Vestry
Qualifications, Expectations, and Terms of Office
Vestry Member:
Vestry Member:


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Editorial: Results unlikely 'marking' bullets, despite intentions
It shouldn't come as a surprise Second Amendment supporters are riled by a state legislator's proposal to require serial numbers be etched into all bullets sold in Illinois.
Under the measure introduced this week by Chicago state Rep. Sonya Harper, bullets or bullet casings would be imprinted with a laser etching of a unique identifying number. Ammunition sellers would be required to maintain a database that could allow police to match the number on the casing to the buyer.
It might seem like a good way to counter gun-related violence, until you consider things like cost to both consumers and businesses, privacy issues, and the lack of respect criminals seem to have for things like laws and regulations.
The idea is not a new one. It is one that has been pushed by a group called Ammunition Accountability since about 2008.
"Law enforcement personnel will be able to easily trace the ammunition involved in a crime … and solve even the most difficult cases," the group says.
Ammunition Accountability, interestingly enough, was founded by the same people who own a company called Ammunition Coding System.
Guess what that company does?
Yep, it has a patent on a system to imprint bullets and casings.
Dozens of states have floated legislation that would require ammunition imprinting and dozens of states have essentially allowed the idea to fade away. According to Brietbart News, Maryland officials dumped their attempt at a similar requirement after five years because despite spending $15 million, the system did not help solve a single crime.
A report commissioned in 2008 by the U.S. Department of Justice didn't immediately dismiss the potential of imprinting bullets, but basically said more research was needed.
Illinois has tried to jump on the bandwagon earlier, during the 95th General Assembly in 2008. House Bill 4258, labeled the Ammunition Accountability Act, would have required coding on all ammunition sold in the state within two years and directed those who had non-imprinting bullets to give it to someone in another state or turn it into a federally licensed firearms dealer.
The legislation was referred to the House Rules Committee in January 2008 and died there a year later.
Proponents argue that the cost involved in putting this system into place would be minimal. Gun owners and store owners believe the actual cost is being understated and could raise the cost of every single bullet about five cents or more, before taking into account the additional expense of maintaining and ensuring paperwork is handled according to regulations.
We're sympathetic to the epidemic of gun-related violence. But most of the acts such legislation would hope to quell are by criminals who are well-aware of how to game the system.
A quick visit to a neighboring state that doesn't require ammunition imprinting, the acquisition of a few boxes of ammo through theft, or an easy purchase of old, uncoded bullets on the street is all it would take to erase the best of intentions.


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Bradenton Man Sentenced To 27 Years On Federal Child Pornography Charges
Tampa, FL - U.S. District Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich sentenced Brian Leavitt (25, Bradenton) yesterday to 27 years in federal prison for distribution and receipt of child pornography. The court also ordered Leavitt to forfeit a laptop computer and hard drive, which were used in the offense. He pleaded guilty on November 15, 2012.
According to court documents, in July 2010 and December 2010, Leavitt distributed at least eighty-six files of child pornography from his computer to undercover FBI agents through the use of a peer-to-peer file sharing program. In February 2011, Leavitt's computer was seized. A forensic search revealed more than 3,800 images and 13 videos of child pornography. Leavitt admitted to law enforcement agents that he had been seeking and downloading images and videos of child pornography. Leavitt had two prior juvenile adjudications for sex offenses against children.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer L. Peresie.
It is another case brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.


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Subject: I have found a DVD that I think you would enjoy
|The Life of Rayful Edmond - Rise and Fall Vol 1
Actor: Maurce Elmalem
Director: Maurce Elmalem
Genres: Action & Adventure, Documentary
R 2007 0hr 55min
In this video you will learn the many ways of Grabbing, Chokes, Applications and Solutions with live step by step demonstrations. You will learn the many ways of preventing grabs & chokes to the various parts of the body b... more »
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Give Me a Break!
C. Baker | Washington, DC | 08/09/2005
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Rayful Edmond III probably is the most notorious drug dealer in Washington, D.C. history. In the early 90's when he was arrested for running a criminal enterprise the trial riveted the area, or at least me. From news accounts he started drug dealing at an early age - in fact his entire family has a history of organized criminal activity dating back to the fifties. I read a newspaper account that claimed he was bagging cocaine for his father at the tender age of 3.
This docudrama uses news clips, interviews with Edmond associates and undercover cops, televised interviews with Edmund himself, and reenactments to tell Edmond's life story. For the most part it is okay but the choice of music is sometimes questionable and the arrest scene staged for this film was a bit silly and overblown.
This docudrama appears to be told from the point of view of Rayful Edmond. It tries to make Edmond out really not to be that bad of a guy. His associates describe him as a peaceful, fun loving guy throwing money around to all his friends and neighbors. For example, he settled a violent gang war because it was hurting both his business and the rival gang's. And all those witnesses schedule to appear at this trial that got murdered? That was somebody else not Edmond! Give me a break! This guy had connections to the Columbian drug lords and was crafty enough to broker drug deals from jail. I find it incredulous to claim he didn't have anything to do with witnesses getting knocked off or that he wasn't part of all the violence that gripped DC because of drugs in the late `80s and early `90s (and still does today).
So I have to give this so called documentary a thumbs down. It seems too slanted toward making the best case possible that Rayful Edmond was just a guy with a different line work. If it had told this story and the other side of the story then I'd sing its praises, because who knows? Maybe there is more to Edmond than news accounts make him out to be. But this documentary certainly doesn't make a very convincing case for it."
"the Babe Ruth of crack dealers?"
golgotha.gov | Texas | 03/27/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
directed by Kirk Fraser
approx. 75 minutes
This is probably the best of the recent slew of documentaries on high profile drug dealers. Rayful Edmond was the biggest drug dealer in the history of Washington, D.C. His family had been involved in illegal activities when he was a youngster and this laid the path for his own "career path". In the cocaine explosion of the mid 1980s he reportedly made $300,000,000 a year distributing poison to Americans including many within his own community.
We see the "rise" of Edmond's rapid accumulation of material goods and expansion of his "operation". He bought several expensive cars and gambled thousands of dollars "as a joke". It covers his closest friends who became instrumental in his arrest and ultimately testified against him in court and the ridiculous trial. The epilogue states that while incarcerated, Edmond became involved with the notorious Medellin drug cartel (which was itself connected to CIA asset Barry Seal.) Perhaps it is not a shock that in order to help his mother get out of prison he became a government informant.
I will say one thing which is that the story has a lot less glamorized violence than other similar stories. In clips from the TV news show "DATELINE", Edmond seems remorseful and says he wasn't trying to get anybody killed but that he didn't have the foresight of that aspect of his "business". He seems sincere that he wasn't trying to get anybody murdered but of course he was the "king" of selling a toxic substance to drug addicts. In the special features, the director and producer state that they are trying to show people the error of Edmond's ways and that there are other options besides drug dealing. Whether you think they succeed or not, it at least shows more self-awareness than other similar DVDs.
The movie is very well made in that it cuts between "dramatizations" and interviews with Raymond's former associates and people at various levels of law enforcement who were on the Edmond case. The makers of this DVD went the extra mile to get the news footage from the time and various interviews with Edmond. The music is mostly repetitive ambient music similar to the TV show 'UNSOLVED MYSTERIES". Occasionally there is sort of religious sounding music (for example in the arrest scene) which is intended to make the turning points of the story seem like major events in history. Edmond seems like a smart man, I wonder what he could've accomplished if he had chosen a different path. I will check for Kirk Fraser's movies in the future."
Terrible Documentary
David Rusk | Austin, TX | 10/20/2006
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I watch alot of documentaries and this is by far the worst I have ever seen. I looked forward to watching it being somewhat familiar with Rayful's story but this dvd is just not made very well. This is an hour of reenactments. The story told in this dvd is so one sided. There is so much left I was left wondering why?
There is a quote at the end of the film that is almost comical basically saying the producers did not want to glorify drug dealing. If you do not want to glorify drug dealing try showing all the bad that came out of all the drugs in D.C. at the time.
I read that Kirk Fraser the maker of this film dropped out of film school at Howard University after watching this I think he should have stayed in school. This looks like it was made by a high school kid."
What a waste of telling a GOOD STORY
S. Johnson | va | 12/20/2005
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I'm from DC so I know how the story went. A lot of details were left out. A lot of things were highly exaggerated. None of the actors (especially the guy who played Rayful) looked like the people they were playing, his arrest did NOT go down like that, no one was wearing ALL-DAZ clothing BACK THEN and they never mentioned anything interesting about Rayful that people don't already know ...like his sexuality.
With a little more planning, better casting and creative advice from established Directors this documentary could have been a whole lot better.
Since this is Kirk's first documentary he'll get a pass."


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Two Considerations Individuals Do Certainly Not Understand Dealing With LASIK Eye Medical ProceduresThe eye can be taken a look at with relative ease as to both its function and its structure. A practical examination consists of the capability to relocate the orbit and the response of the pupil to light and accommodation.
The function of the eye may be evaluated in numerous methods. The patient may be asked to determine illuminated letter or things of varying sizes on what is referred to as the Snellen chart.
Alternatively, the assessment of the structural part of the eye may be made in several ways. Tension within the eyeball is determined by a "tonometer." In particular illness, especially in glaucoma, the tension in the eyeball is increased significantly.
Nevertheless, it needs to be well kept in mind that a patient with an eye problem may have other issues as well. Frequently other physical conditions are primary and affect the eye as a repercussion. The appearance of the eye can notify the patient and the physician to difficulties in some disturbances of other parts of the body even before other symptoms present themselves.
One's dependence on sight is emphasized when one faces a temporary or possible irreversible loss of this essential sense. When corrective procedures are sought, certain kinds of vision correction such as contact lenses or spectacles are recommended.
On the other hand, some people are troubled with that they have some framed lenses or contact lenses in front of their eyes.
For this factor, advanced surgical operations were developed to motivate decreased usage of contact lenses or glasses. One of which is the now popular LASIK eye surgical treatment.
Essentially, LASIK eye surgical treatment is the short term for "Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis." Like its tangible equivalent, LASIK eye surgical treatment is another type of vision correction. The only difference is that with this type of surgical treatment, one's vision is fixed permanently.
With LASIK eye surgical treatment, the refractive errors in the cornea are completely transformed. This can be done utilizing an "excimer laser."
The main function of this surgery is to develop a threadlike, rounded "flap" in the cornea using a blade referred to as "microkeratome." In a series of unfolding and laser processing, the cornea is finally reformed, permitting better the eye to direct more light into the retina.
Appeal vs. Disadvantages
Amidst the growing appeal of LASIK eye surgery, there are still disadvantages that individuals need to know. Most likely, the main reason that this type of eye surgery has actually become well accepted is due to the fact that the majority of its cases had been effective.
However, in spite of its success, there are still some downsides. Here is the list:
1. It is an operation applied to the most sensitive part of the eye
Due to the fact that LASIK eye surgery involves the operation of the retina, which is one of the most sensitive portions of the eye, the majority of people say that the operation can be extremely dangerous.
To puts it simply, a simple error might almost cause an individual's lifetime blindness. It is crucial to think about many elements before choosing whether LASIK eye surgical treatment is the ideal corrective step one has to undergo.
2. It is not a ideal treatment
LASIK eye surgical treatment might correct your vision but it does not necessarily indicate that it can provide you a twenty-twenty. Even if analytical reports show that 70% of the patients may have 20/20 vision, this does not necessarily indicate they have perfect vision.
Provided all these things, it can be you could try these out deduced that, in spite of the appeal of the operation, LASIK might not constantly be the perfect eye surgical treatment the way a lot of individuals see it
Alternatively, the evaluation of the structural part of the eye may be made in numerous methods. It must be well remembered that a client with an eye issue might have other problems. Frequently other physical conditions are primary and affect the eye as a consequence. The appearance of the eye can notify the patient and the physician to difficulties in some disruptions of other parts of the body even before other signs provide themselves.
Like its tangible counterpart, LASIK eye surgery is another kind of vision correction.


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Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness.
Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.
(1.) Heb. tannim, plural of tan. The name of some unknown creature inhabiting desert places and ruins (Job 30:29; Psa 44:19; Isa 13:22; 34:13; 43:20; Jer 10:22; Mic 1:8; Mal 1:3); probably, as translated in the Revised Version, the jackal (q.v.).
(2.) Heb. tannin. Some great sea monster (Jer 51:34). In Isa. 51:9 it may denote the crocodile. In Gen 1:21 (Heb. plural tanninim) the Authorized Version renders "whales," and the Revised Version "sea monsters." It is rendered "serpent" in Ex. 7:9. It is used figuratively in Psa 74:13; Eze 29:3.
In the New Testament the word "dragon" is found only in Rev. 12:3, 4, 7, 9, 16, 17, etc., and is there used metaphorically of "Satan." (See WHALE.)
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- Central
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Missing Madeleine: six years on
It has been reported that the Met Police will launch a full investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. The Leicestershire parents of missing Madeleine McCann have said they have not lost hope.
Live updates
Gerry McCann completes charity triathlon
The father of missing girl Madeleine McCann has finished the Virgin Active London Olympic Distance Triathlon.
Gerry McCann, from Rothley in Leicestershire, completed the charity race, which includes a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run in under two and a half hours.
He was raising money for a charity that helps the family and friends of missing people.
Charity triathlon for Gerry McCann
The father of missing girl Madeleine McCann is raising money this weekend for a charity which supports family and friends of missing people.
Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine has been missing for more than six years, is running the Virgin Active London Olympic Distance Triathlon.
The triathlon will see him complete a 1.5k swim, 40km cycle and finish with a 10km run.
Madeleine McCann's dad to compete in charity triathlon
The father of missing Madeleine McCann has been speaking publicly for the first time since the Metropolitan Police re-opened the investigation into his daughter's disappearance.
He told ITV's Daybreak about the renewed hope that it's given the family, and of the triathlon he's competing in at the weekend - in support of the Missing People charity.
Gerry McCann to take part in charity triathlon
The father of Madeleine McCann will take part in a triathlon this weekend in aid of a charity which supports family and friends of missing people.
Gerry McCann, whose three-year-old daughter Madeleine went missing six years ago in Portugal, will take part in the Virgin Active London Olympic Distance Triathlon on Sunday to raise funds for the charity Missing People.
The triathlon will see him complete a 1.5k swim, 40km cycle and finish with a 10km run.
It comes after his wife Kate raised almost £22,000 when she completed the London Marathon in April in aid of the charity.
Madeleine went missing from the family's holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal's Algarve on May 3 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday.
Met Police to launch full investigation into missing Madeleine McCann
It's being reported that the Metropolitan Police will launch a full investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann.
It follows a two-year review of the case by Scotland Yard officers who have already identified around 20 new suspects.
It's not yet been confirmed, but it is expected that the Home Office will fund a new inquiry into the disappearance of Madeleine, who was from Rothley, Leicestershire.
KATE MCCANN: "The search goes on"
The mother of missing Madeleine McCann from Rothley in Leicestershire has vowed never to give up looking for her missing daughter.
The Met Police are currently reviewing the case of Madeleine's disappearance and are liaising with police in Portugal where she went missing six years ago today.
Madeleine's birthday is 'more difficult' than anniversary
Kate and Gerry McCann says Madeleine's birthday is more difficult than the anniversary of her disappearance.
Madeleine would be celebrating her tenth birthday on the 12th May 2013.
The couple admitted they still celebrate her birthday with a birthday tea and cake.
Sixth anniversary of Madeleine McCann's disappearance
The parents of missing Leicestershire girl, Madeleine McCann, will mark the sixth anniversary of her disappearance with a small service in their village today.
Kate and Gerry McCann will attend an ceremony this evening in the centre of Rothley where they will say prayers and read poems.
It is six years to the day that Madeleine went missing in Praia da Luz in Portugal's Algarve on May 3rd 2007.
Madeleine would now be ten years old.
McCanns continue to hope Madeleine will be found
Madeleine McCann's parents have told ITV they won't give up hope that their daughter will be found, as they prepare to mark the sixth anniversary of her disappearance.
Kate and Gerry McCann from Rothley in Leicestershire, said the hunt for their daughter is escalating rather than winding down, following the involvement of the Metropolitan Police. Kate Fisher reports.
McCanns say it's hard giving their other children independence
The parents of missing Madeleine McCann said this morning that it's hard letting go of their twins as they grow up.
Latest ITV News reports
McCanns admit struggle allowing twins normal childhood
The parents of Madeleine McCann have admitted it was "difficult" to allow their twins to enjoy the same freedom as other children.


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Anne Connolly
Calder Wood Press
A curious thing happens when you read the poetry of someone who has lived in exile from their birth country for a while. You are forced to face the issues that you might have dodged in your own work; issues of religion or politics, as well as people and places that evoke strong connections to your own way of thinking.
Anne Connolly's accomplished chapbook, Downside Up, faces these issues implacably; affording us a good hard stare at life as it has been lived in Ulster as well as in Ireland too. Poems such as 'The Price of Petrol,' take us back to the 70s, to a time of petrol shortages and sectarian preferential treatment. But this poem cannily reflects the present as well: ' "How're ye Wullie?" / "Disappointed." ' It's how little words like 'Disappointed' can wholly capture the resigned feeling of that time. All one could do was to quietly endure, when you were refused petrol at the station in favour of someone like 'John Citizen,' who
holds a banner in his hand
and on bonfire night
his boys laugh
as they burn
a well-stuffed pope.
Connolly leaves it as it is: the actions of the small (minded) community speak for themselves.
But her poems go far outside the hold of the near-polemic as well. There's a strong lyrical touch about her work that reminds me of John Hewitt, in the use of townland names in a poem like 'Sky Road;' 'Derrygimlagh bog,' 'the tail of Clifden bay. Connolly easily straddles the border in Ireland, drawing out the essentials of all myths and legends, whether it is a recent tale, such as the landing of a Vickers Bomber in a western Irish bog, in 'Sky Road,' or 'the ancient tumulus of Newgrange…her belly pregnant with the dead,' in 'Solstice.' In this latter poem, Connolly imagines 'Kings lie at Newgrange waiting… long[ing] for luminescence, / the solar triumph.' She catches completely the significant essence of Newgrange, without resorting to over worn clichés, bringing it shining into the modern era.
I admit that poems like 'Aran' lie close to my own interests and interpretations. In this poem Connolly uses the interwoven lines to underscore the intricacy of the stitches described, as well as their ascribed meanings. I remember my mother explaining the meaning of the stitches that go into making up an Aran pattern; each islander family had its own specific set of stitches used, and these explanations are deftly 'knitted' together in this poem.
I think one of the reasons why I've responded to Anne Connolly's work so deeply, is because I find strong echoes of my own themes and meanings. In Anne's 'Reflections,' I see Heaney's 'Peeling Potatoes,' one of the Glanmore Sonnets he wrote in memory of his mother; which in turn sparked off my own 'Roosters.' In Anne's 'Reflection,' her mother 'peel[s] potatoes / elbows leaning on the sink edge.' In that sparse economy we have a woman getting on with the everyday chores that must be done; her 'Jesus, Mary, Joseph' the refrain of many a woman in pain. The life before is succinctly captured as, 'Her dancing days lay / at the bottom of the drawer,' inverting the old-fashioned trousseau drawer as something that holds memories of a former life, rather than a future.
Connolly's work is deservedly garnering attention in Scotland, where she resides now, but I would hope for a wider audience for her pamphlet, Downside Up, in Northern Ireland, and indeed across the hazy border into the Republic. I hope to see more of her work soon. Visit Calder Wood Press for this and many more reasonably priced poetry pamphlets