People In the News - YOUR Reaction !!

[Harlan Huckleby]

Mountain out of a molehill. In 2 weeks, nobody will give a shit about what Mel said, except people who have an axe to grind---that is, people who didn't like Mel in the first place.

he got revealed as being a human being, and not the perfect guy that he pretends to be.

caution: if i say any other goofy stuff tonight, it's cuz I'm a little stoned.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Well, I never bought into the hype of Gibson as Christian spokesperson, but I don't think he's ever insinuated that he's perfect. In fact, he'll tell he's pretty damn flawed.

[K-town]

Mugshot Mania

To see your favorite celebrity (or most-despised B-lister, or whatever), visit the Smoking Gun for Mugshot fun!

As God is my witness, I will never knowingly rhyme anything again, as long as I live. And this time, I mean it.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/index.html

[woodbuck27]

Saddam won't enter plea as second trial begins

21/08/2006 7:30:39 AM



A defiant Saddam Hussein refused to enter a plea on charges of genocide and war crimes against Kurds in the 1980s as his second trial got underway Monday.

Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein looks on during the first day of the Anfal trial in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone on Monday. (AP / Daniel Berehulak)

Saddam and six other defendants are on trial for the crackdown on Kurds in 1987-88 that is believed to have killed tens of thousands.

It was named "Operation Anfal," which is Arabic for "spoils of war."

As the trial began Monday, chief judge Abdullah al-Amiri asked Saddam to identify himself.

"You know me," the 69-year-old ex-Iraqi leader retorted.

When asked if he was innocent or guilty, Saddam replied,

"That would require volumes of books."

The judge entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

One of Saddam's co-defendants is his cousin, Ali Hassan al- Majid, who allegedly led Operation Anfal. He is known as "Chemical Ali" for allegedly ordering poison gas attacks on Kurds in northern Iraq.

Majid was also defiant Monday. Entering the courtroom on a cane and wearing a red headscarf, he proudly identified himself as "Fighting comrade First Major Gen. Pilot Ali Hassan al-Majid.''

Then the prosecution opened its case by saying that Saddam ordered the launch of the Anfal campaign.

"The goal was clear -- to target the people of Kurdistan through killings, forced migration, persecution and denying them their personal freedoms,'' the prosecutor said.

The defendants are accused of using prohibited mustard gas and nerve agents against Kurds, who say their villages were razed in the crackdown.

The campaign was aimed at driving Kurds from their homes from large rural areas along the border with Iran. Saddam justified the operation by saying Kurdish rebels had been helping Iran in its war with Iraq.

All seven co-defendants are facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their role in Anfal.

Saddam and Majid face the additional much graver charge of genocide.

A separate investigation will be looking into the notorious gassing attack in March of 1988 on Halabja that killed 5,000 Kurds.

The proceedings are taking place in the same courtroom where Saddam and seven co-defendants spent months on trial for the killings of more than 148 Shiite Muslims from the town of Dujail.

The killings followed a crackdown on the town after a 1982 assassination attempt on Saddam.

Verdicts in that case are expected on Oct. 16.

With files from - The Associated Press

Comment woodbuck27:

Here we go again.

[Sparkey]

You know what??? Im gonna pull a Mel!!


I hate White people! They are responsible for the high cost of suntan lotion!!!

Us whities keep that suntan lotion cost DOWN DOWN DOWN. Manufacturing in volume is what keeps per unit costs low.

[Scott Campbell]

Good point Sparkey.

And you don't see us Crackers blaming the Mexicans for the price of tortillas.

[MadtownPacker]

Yeah but how about the cost of marriage certificates? You Utah guys arent exactly helping out with that either!

[woodbuck27]

Re-Call " the misery on some people here" back @ the JSO Packer Forum?

When I read the following. I was brought back to that painful/confusing time, that demonstrated "the pain/agony" that can be implemented by one person/person's against another/other's.

The Internet is for people here, a useful tool to enhance the quality of OUR lives through proper information exchange. Some treat that privalege, to offer their agendas that are dangerous/distructive.

Too often, we are careless in the manner we offer compassion to OUR fellows. We are blind... to examine in ourselves, OUR place as individuals to offer support for... the good... distain for what is wrong/bad.

We may question? What can I really do? Often we totally ignore current events.... fail ourselves in terms of OUR best place as human beings.

Someone?... said this. (and I paraphrase)

"When OUR time here is measured; it will not be for what we do for OURSELVES but rather what we did for OTHER's."

With that Introduction. The story that made me think.... got me to this post:


Ottawa lawyer asks CRTC to block access to US-based hate websites

23/08/2006


TORONTO (CP) -

One of two U.S.-based hate websites was taken offline Wednesday as an Ottawa lawyer and a Jewish lobby group asked Canada's telecommunications regulator to take the unprecedented step of blocking access to the sites from north of the border.


SEAN PATRICK SULLIVAN
The website, hosted by Google's weblog service Blogger, was one of two that human rights lawyer Richard Warman has asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to review.

In an application to the CRTC, Warman said the websites, operated by a "notorious" Nazi sympathizer based in Virginia, contain material intended to incite violence against him that has caused him to fear for his life.

"We want Blogger to enable free expression, including the hosting of views and opinions that are unpopular," Google spokesman Steve Langdon said.

"However, advocating violence against a person is not acceptable."

Some entries on the websites call for "violent overthrow" of the Canadian government and the "extermination" of Jews in Canada.

The application to the CRTC described Bill White of Roanoke, Virginia, as a neo-Nazi who has encouraged people to "take violent action" against Warman and even posted his home address on the sites.

Although the sites are beyond the reach of Canadian law, the CRTC has the rarely used power to order Internet providers to temporarily block them from Canadian web surfers.

But the regulatory body must first issue an order allowing Internet carriers to do so voluntarily.

Warman said he was prompted to file the application because the neo-Nazi movement, that has a history of engaging in violence against their perceived enemies.

"The fewer people in Canada who are reading incitement to murder me, the happier I'll be." Warman said.

"This is an application to protect all decent people from this sort of insane content. There's an actual call to murder myself and all Canadian Jews."

It's believed to be the first time the CRTC has been asked to block Canadian access to a foreign website, said telecommunications industry consultant Mark Goldberg.

"This is precedent-setting work" said Goldberg, who is also a member of the Ontario executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress.

If the sites were hosted in Canada, Internet carriers would find them in contravention of their user agreements, he said.

But Canadian law prevents carriers from blocking hate sites without the express permission of the CRTC, which is being sought by Warman.

Bernie Farber, the CJC's chief executive officer, said White has crossed "all kinds of legal lines" in inciting violence against Warman.

"We're not dealing with a free speech issue here, we're dealing with what I believe is a criminal matter - somebody counselling other people to go ahead and murder somebody," Farber said.

White, a former spokesman for the National Socialist Movement, one of the largest neo-Nazi parties in the U.S., readily admits to making the threats.

"All I am doing is making a point about tyrannical and dangerous the Canadian government has become," said White, who describes himself as the editor of a publication called the Libertarian Socialist News.

"I really can't see a difference between the Canadian government and the kind of governments we're told exist in countries like North Korea or Iraq."

He said blocking his sites won't work - he'll just move them to a different spot on the web.

Goldberg acknowledged that blocking the URL - the address typed into a browser to access the website - won't prevent the content from popping up somewhere else.

But he said a ruling would put a "speed bump" in the ability of a person to distribute hate material.

"Once we have precedence, hopefully it will be a reasonable process to say, 'This is the same site that just changed its name."'

Goldberg said he's had a positive response from Canadian Internet carriers about blocking the site if the CRTC gives its blessing.

Internet providers that don't block the sites may make themselves legally liable if a user acts on what they read online, Warman suggested.

"The law and the Internet is an evolving field," he said.

"This is perhaps one of the first times where there's been such a direct call to violence that has presented itself in this form."

Comment woodbuck27:

Please comment - as you may.

Have "a Great Day" PACKERRATS.