mik1of3's Blog

MOGADISHU, Somalia - A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.

Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.

Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.

"This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo," David Copeman, Amnesty International's Somalia campaigner, said in a statement Friday.

Somalia is among the world's most violent and impoverished countries. The nation of some 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.

A quarter of Somali children die before age 5; nearly every public institution has collapsed. Fighting is a daily occurrence, with violent deaths reported nearly every day.

Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaida have been battling the government and its Ethiopian allies since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006. Within weeks of being driven out, the Islamists launched an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.

In recent months, the militants appear to be gaining strength. The group has taken over the port of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks. They also effectively closed the Mogadishu airport by threatening to attack any plane using it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27484976

Waiting for the defense of the Islamic mentality that would justify such an action....and the followers of this faith who would WATCH this!!  So much for the 'religion of peace'. 

And just what happened to the RAPISTS of this baby girl?   Story doesn't say.  I guess if you're an Islamic man, this is OK.  Wonder how long it will be before an Islamic girl here in the States gets raped, and her Islamic family follows suit.

Jay, here I am.  Just click on my user name. 

To people wondering what the heck this is about...nunya.  Love yall though!!

Okay, I'm no economist, heck, I have trouble balancing my checkbook, but my mom emailed me telling me about Russell Crowe's personal plan to help each American citizen, instead of the idiots who didn't manage their money, wrote bad paper, etc.   He said flat out he was no economist, but since his opinion was based in logic, he didn't see how it couldn't work.

I googled it...Russell Crowe on Leno, and came up with this story from the Syndey Morning Herald....  www.smh.com.au

Russell Crowe's dollar dazeMarika Dobbin
October 1, 2008 - 8:38AM

Crowe announced his solution to America's financial crisis during a TV interview with talkshow host Jay Leno on Monday night, based on some dodgy arithmetic.

The would-be financial whiz-kid suggested the US government give America's entire population of 300 million people a gift of $US1 million ($1.26 million) each.

He reasoned the $US300 million outlay would only be a fraction of the $US700 billion financial bailout package politicians in Washington DC rejected yesterday.

"I have been intently watching the political process,'' Crowe told Leno.
"Um, so, here's the thing: They're looking for $700 billion, right? Which is a good chunk of change, but have you noticed whenever you go to a bank, or whenever you talk to a government department about what you need, they'll never actually give you all of what you need? So, I don't think we should do that for a start.

"But I was thinking if they wanna stimulate the economy, get people spending, let people look after their ... mortgage.

"I think you take the first 300 million Americans, if that's the population at this point in time, give everyone a million bucks.''

Crowe's idea to make every American a millionaire drew excited applause from the audience and agreement from Leno.

"Oh yeah, that'll work,'' Leno said. "What are the taxes on that? But OK, that would work, yeah.''

However, the New Zealand-born actor failed to do the maths, severely underestimating the cost of his bailout plan.

The actual expense would be $300 trillion - a figure greater than the US's entire annual gross domestic product.

In a policy proposal not likely to provoke the interest of White House hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain, the $US300 million 'Crowe Plan' would provide Americans with a paltry $1 each.

Crowe's $US300 trillion bailout is not likely to gain traction with the US Treasury, especially given criticism over the estimated $US3 trillion cost of the Iraq War.

Crowe is in the US to promote his new spy thriller with Leonardo DiCaprio and director Ridley Scott, Body of Lies, which opens in Australia on October 9.

The actor is preparing for another film with Scott, Nottingham, based on Robin Hood, and has grown his hair past shoulder length.

with AAP

Ok...now like I said, I'm no math whiz, but would someone...torchbearer,  prop dog, maybe...tell me how they figure 300 million would translate into 300 trillion?    It's probably obvious...but since I'm more of a words person than a numbers person, I really would like to know.

Could it work?  Sounds like it could, but like my mom says, since it doesn't benefit any politician and/or special interest group, just us lowly citizens, it will never happen.  Unless.....

My parents still live in the house I grew up in, and they have voted at the same location, Beverly Hills Park, since that poll has opened.  And not ONE time has that poll ever been as crowded as it was Tuesday.  They had to park almost a quarter of a mile away, and walking to the center, they passed a woman returning to her car.  She was on a cell phone, and talking loud enough for my parents to overhear.  (Plus my mom is nosy.  I get it from her, what can I say?)   She said, and I quote...

"Fine, you vote for that jerk, and you may as well pack your bags cause your headed right back to Iraq!!"  and clicked the phone shut.

She made eye contact with my mom and said, "You heard that?"  Mom nodded, and apologized for being nosy.  Woman didn't mind.  Turns out, she's married to a soldier, who has only been home from Iraq for six months. 

She voted for Barack.  Hmm. Wonder who her husband is voting for? 

Okay, despite my disdain for this holiday, I have to add to the frenzy. 

If you could received ANYTHING for Valentine's Day, what would it be?

Me?  A complete set of British, FIRST EDITION, Harry Potter books SIGNED by JK Rowling herself.

I know, I'm pitiful.  What kind of idiot takes books over bling? 

A bibliophile, that's who!                                                   
 

Okay, maybe I haven't been here as much as I used to, but it seems that the blogs aren't as updated as they used to be.  I've been trying to figure out why, and I realized that Chassan hasn't been posting.

Where did Chassan go?  Did I miss something during the Christmas break like I did with Asnapper being outed? 

I miss Chassan.  Any answers?

Mik

I first heard about this Iowa woman, Jane Hambleton, yesterday on Paul Harvey's commentary while driving in to work.  It's on the msn home page now, with more details. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22578679/from/ET/?gt1=1075
5

Mrs Hambleton,  I think deserves a medal for the stance she took regarding her 19 year old son.  She found empty liquor bottles under the seat of her son's car.  Of course, he says they weren't his (hey, we've all tried that argument) , and she says while she believes him, she had set two rules regarding the car...NO BOOZE, and KEEP IT LOCKED.  So she showed him no mercy, and sold the car, via  a newspaper ad that read as follows:

OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.

Don't you just love it?  Hambleton has gotten at least 70 calls from people everywhere congratulating her, thanking her for the example she was setting...from other parents, ER nurses, as far away as Georgia.  She says while the car has been sold, she let the ad run a couple more days.  While it was outrageously expensive, it was worth every penny.

Lynne Spears, Dina Lohan, Kathy Hilton..take note!!

I'm surprised no one has blogged on this yet.

April Davis, mother of Bobby Davis, driver of the Jeep that crashed into a Union Pacific train killing three friends, his brother, and severely injuring his friend Blake Barger, has left herself vulnerable to perjury charges after changing her story about whether or not Bobby or his brother had taken her car without permission.

She says she hid her keys from BLAKE, not her sons, and that her sons have NEVER taken the car without her knowledge.  Hm.  Strange, considering the Chronicle has a recording of her admitting they had, but only drove it to Blakes, thank God.

When asked about it, she says that the Chronicle misrepresented her.  WTF?!

Added into the mix  that on Thursday, testimony revealed that blood and urine drawn from Bobby Davis for medical purposes at Memorial Hermann Hospital 90 minutes after the crash showed the "presumptive" presence of four drugs in his system — marijuana, methamphetamine, lidocaine and benzodiazepine.

So not only was he a car thief twice over, but he was one FOUR drugs as well.

I stand by my statements back when this accident happened on June 14th.  It's sad that this happened, but the blame rests solely with the kids and their ignorant, indulgent parents.

Maybe Bobby & April can get Mommy & Me jail cells?

I have been vehemently opposed and appalled by the rapidly descending age of kids with cell phones.  My daughter, age 10, has been hollering for one for almost a year now, and we have been standing firm against it, thinking she is way too young for one.  I mean, she doesn't even talk on the regular phone!! 

She's like me..the phone rings, you answer it, answer the question, address the issue at hand, and hang up.  Not chitty chatting...the phone is more an intrusion than anything.  

I've heard the usual "But all her friends have one, she needs one to call her dad, (as if I ever keep her from doing so), even a lot of the pre-K kids have one (!!!)..etc, etc..blah blah blah.  But we've been adamant about it, or so I thought.

Her father finally broke down and got her one for Christmas.  He asked me about it last night.  After a lot of thought and some mitigating circumstances, I've changed my mind.

First set of mitigating circumstances..my daughter is on the Aquanauts swim team.  Their practices are 1 1/2 hours long, so sometimes I drop her off and take care of some errands.  There have been times of interrupted practices, cancelled practices, that necessitated the use of a cell phone.  Thankfully, I've been there, so it's never been my kid left begging to borrow someone's phone..not to mention, she doesn't have my cell # memorized yet.

Second one happened this weekend.  DD went to a friend's house en route to a sleepover.  This friend stays with her grandmother 90% of the time, but she, her cousin and DD went to her mom's house for a while.  Mom went to work, stupid step dad told playmate to "call your grandma to come get ya'll, I need to go pick up a TV set."   When playmate's grandma said she'd be there in 10 minutes, stupid stepdad said, "Well, I have to go NOW!" Packed up playmates two little half brothers ages 3 &2, and LEFT those three girls, ages 11, 10, and 8, ALONE! 

When DD told me what happened, I was FURIOUS!!  I told her IF that ever happened again, (which I'm pretty sure it won't  because she's not allowed to go to that house ever again) to call ME first THEN call the police.   She said "But Mom, how can I call you?"

That's when I decided well, maybe a cell phone wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

(I'm still considering calling the Pasadena police department on this loser.  My DH says for me to let it go, just don't let DD go to this playmate's mom's house any more and be thankful nothing bad happened, but the fact remains--how on earth can anyone leave 3 little girls alone in order to pick up a TV set?!)

Okay, evidently there's a new feature on this site that enables someone to post a comment and not allowing others to comment on it.  I've noticed that a few people commenting on the little thug car thief murderer in Baytown have utilized this new feature. 

Making a comment and then not letting people reply to it is chickens**t, if you ask me.  Kind of like a prank phone call, driving by someone's car and egging it. 

Drive by blogging.

Frankly, I'm glad they charged that little s**t, Bobby Davis.  I don't care if he's 15 or 25 or 55.  He stole not just one, but TWO cars.  The kids riding with them snuck out of their houses, (some of the parents KNEW their kids were sneaking out, but did little to stop it, echoing the oft said, "well, kids will be kids, what ya gonna do?" sentiment I've seen on this site.)  and those kids got IN BOTH cars knowing BOTH were stolen.  Heck, they stood and WAITED for Davis to steal the death Jeep.   To all intents and purposes, they were accomplices in those thefts.  So, Davis is hauling [...], comes round a corner to a train track that is FAMOUS in the community for being used as a drop / hook station by the company, and sees a car on the track.  He is unable to pull his head out of his [...] in time to stop and he KILLS most of his passengers.  I still fail to see how the RR company is responsible.  The parents? Yes.  The kids? Yes. The owner of the Jeep that was stolen?  NO.  The RR company who was using THEIR property for which it was made?  NO. 

Devin James was speeding when he clipped the truck driven by Jesus Renovato, 21, on I45 on July 22nd at 2:15am.  His 16 year old common law wife Cynthia, 8 1/2 weeks pregnant died in the accident, as did the fetus. 

It is alleged that James' was street racing another car.  Whether or not he was racing, whether or not he was drunk, the fact is he was speeding.  James says that Renovato cut him off. 

My concern is not of the wreck, tragic as it was.  My question is this...

Since when is it ok for a 21 year old man to live with a 16 year old girl, and have babies with her?  She's SIXTEEN!  NOT old enough to be married without her parents permission...and from all reports they are common law, which is NOT the same as being legally married.

I'm confused...when a 19 year old man messes around with a 15, 16 year old girl, he can and often does end up in jail, and on a sex offender list for the rest of his life. 

But this 21 year old man is living with a 16 year old minor girl, has impregnated her not just ONCE They have an 18 month old daughter, which means if my math is right, the mom was at least THIRTEEN when the EIGHTEEN year old man inpregnated her! 

Wouldn't that make this poor, bereaved father a CHILD MOLESTER?  Why isn't the DA looking into THAT? 

Just wondering..WHERE ARE THIS GIRLS PARENTS?!

Okay, now where did Mike go? 

I was only gone one week...well, two if you include the week I got back but couldn't blog because I was actually working (catching up) at work. 

I haven't seen him all week!  Not that JD ain't cool, I like him, too, but I miss Mike. 

And Mary Kennedy too, where's SHE?!

Gosh, turn your back for ONE second, and POOF, they change everything.  I HATE that!

Everyone has heard about the horrible backlog regarding passports due to all the new regulations..you need one for Mexico, for Canada, yada yada yada.   Well, the family is going on a Jamaica cruise in two weeks.  We booked this cruise in August of last year, the travel agent told us about the new laws regarding passports,  she wrote reminders on all our paperwork, she did her due diligence.  My daughter and I bought our passports in December--we wanted to make sure we got them in time, and I knew the rush would be horrible.

My baby sister and her fiancee, however, procrastinated and finally went on February 23.  (He said he didn't mind my posting this as long as I wrote a disclaimer stating he had been nagging her since the cruise was booked to go get their passports-he didn't want people to think he was just as lazy..so Andy, here it is.)  They did pay the extra fees for the "expedited" service.

Well, May28th.  No passport.  The cruise is in about a month.  They're getting worried, so Jules calls the 800 number on her paperwork, and enters, you guessed it, a voice mail carousel.  She navigated that thing for 30 minutes, never did find out anything, and slammed the phone down.  She next emailed the office.  They replied with an automated email that referred her to the 800 number.  (You KNEW that was coming, didn't you?)  She tried both methods for another week. 

June 1st..NOW she's TICKED, despite the gov't saying they would suspend the new regs due to cases like hers.  She didn't care..she paid the extra and by God, she wants what she paid for!!  She pondered it a minute, and 'click' she got an idea.

You remember when Lucy Ricardo got an idea?  That's Jules.

She decided to play the game.  She is assistant manager for an apartment complex inside the loop, and as such spends a lot of time on her computer.  So, every chance she got, she went to her email inquiry to the passport office, clicked on send, sent it again, and again.  Click.  Click.  Click.   She'd answer the phone, make her manager calls, and while on hold...click, click, click.  She had some down time..click, click, click.  She'd be answering emails. Oh, there's my inquiry email...click, click, click.  Every day for that entire week.  She clicked and clicked and clicked.  She has NO idea HOW many times she sent it..but oh did she send it. 

June 8th.  She gets a response from the passport department..with a real live person's name!  The email says, Thank you for your inquiry regarding your passports.  I am pleased to inform you that they have been sent out via Express Mail (Express!)  and you should have it by no later than June 12th.  Please refrain from emailing this office regarding this matter as no more communication is necessary.

She got her passport June 10th.  A day early.  She did her due diligence,  got nothing, got frustrated and figured out a way to get their attention without breaking the rules of the game. 

Oh...and did she say thank you?  Yes.  That evil maniacal brain covered with blonde hair responded  to the agent's email with an all caps THANK YOU SO MUCH over. And over. And over.  Click, click, clickety click click.

So much evil.  So much intelligence.  She could run the country if she wanted to.  She's just too lazy.

I do not work for Union Pacific, no one in my family works for Union Pacific, but I do not see how it can be Union Pacific's fault that these kids died in a car accident.

I know I'm going to take some hits for appearing to be "insensitive" and "cruel" for my remarks about the parents of these kids who died, and as a parent myself, I can only imagine the horror they are going through.  But I do NOT see how it is Union Pacific's fault that these kids died, as one certain talk show host suggests, and how one stricken father appears to feel.

The facts are simply:

A bunch of kids from ages 12-17 snuck out of the house, STOLE A CAR and went out joyriding in the middle of the night.  They were hauling butt, probably not paying attention, rounded this curve, and saw the train sitting there.  They tried to stop (10ft of skidmark on the road tells us this, and of course, considering the high rate of speed at which they were traveling they were not able to stop in time.  Some say the kids didn't know the train was there, and that's possible if they didn't live in that neighborhood.

The residents of that neighborhood say that it is common knowledge that the trains are left there overnight, for hours on end, etc and they have complained to community leaders, city leaders, federal agencies, and nothing has been done.  Evidently, UP is breaking NO LAWS by doing what they're doing.  

Do the laws regarding crossing arms need to be changed?  Yes, I would think so..but it doesn't make UP at fault, anymore than you or I would be at fault if we parked our car on the street, and some kids hauling butt around the neighborhood slammed into it and died...and it was LEGAL for us to park our cars on the street.  If the arms were down, would it have saved the lives of the four kids who died?  Who knows?  I don't think so as the kids were speeding anyway, and had come round a curve at a high rate of speed-they may have seen the arms down, but would it have registered in time for them to brake earlier? 

Like I said before, I'm a parent, and I can only imagine what those parents are going through. But that does not change the fact that these kids, ages 12--12!! And up, had snuck out of the house.  WHERE WERE THEIR PARENTS?  I know a lot of you will say, hey, teenagers sneak out, kids will be kids..but I can tell you, I NEVER SNUCK OUT OF MY PARENTS HOUSE!  I was too scared of my parents and what they, esp my dad, would do to me if I did!!  The one time I DID sneak out was during a sleepover at my friend Renee's house when I was 14.  Once her mom was asleep, we went out Renee's bedroom window and to Almeda Mall's parking lot where the high school kids hung out.  At 4:30am, she said her mom would be getting up at 5 to go to work, so we headed back.  We had to cross Kingspoint, and did at the stop sign..in front of a 1972 Ford Truck.  The truck waited for us..drove about 10 feet, and stopped.  It was my dad, on his way to work.  I realized it when he stopped, and I ran all the way back to Renee's.  He never mentioned it to me..when I asked him about it years later (of course) he said he just didn't think his daughter would do such a thing, that he and mom checked on us all night long, just in case and I had never done anything like that before..so he thought maybe it wasn't his daughter.   I never never snuck out again..from my house or my friends'!    My sisters didn't sneak out either...but they did sneak people in, and when my dad realized this, he screwed the screens into the windowsill.

Again, I'm sorry these kids had to die..but those parents need to take a long, hard look at themselves before they point the finger at Union Pacific.  But then again, bad parents will ALWAYS blame others for their kids, and in essence, their parenting mistakes. 

On the way back from a dive in Blue Lagoon, Huntsville, yesterday, my sister, brother in law, dad, and myself were talking about our girls;  our niece, 14, and my daughter, 10.  My sister said that kids today are emotionally older than we were back in the late 70s, 80s.  I disagreed..I said the only reason they are doing more adult things at younger ages is because they are exposed to more, and think that not only is that behavior normal, but expected of them, which is why, despite being called "overprotective, sheltering, and unrealistic" I, along with both her father & step, restrict what my daughter watches at the movies and on TV.   I said I thought that if we continued to be careful about what our children were exposed to, what they were allowed to do, and worried less about what society as a whole thought about us and put our children first for a change, then you would be surprised at how much kids would appreciate us letting them be kids instead of small adults.  My sister thought a moment and said yeah, Miki, you're probably right.

She'd remembered the day before, at the girls' swim meet.  My niece and her relay team members were discussing, of all things, Blues Clues and the hosts.  They couldn't remember the names of Blues owners, and my niece came running to ask "Mimi..who was the other guy in Blues Clues--not Steve, the other one?"  Not anyone else, me.  (See "about me" for an explanation, LOL.)  Of all the things for teenage girls to be discussing, they were talking about Steve and Joe from Blues Clues.  My sister also, upon thinking about it, said that 9 out of 10 times, when Kiersy is watching TV alone-not best friend, no school friends--she is watching Disney and Nickolodeon, instead of the MTV swill she usually watches when she has "her posse"  in attendance.

The kicker, I said, was by watching the kids on the swim team.  When they got out of the pool, especially when they did well, who were the first people they ran to?  Their parents..and not only did they allow us parents to hug and kiss and fawn over them, but they did so with smiles on their faces.  When they did poorly, or not up to their own expectations, they still ran to Mom, Dad, grandparents, aunts and uncles for comfort.   The team has a ready area where all the team members are supposed to stay until their events are called.  They use this time to socialize with their friends, mentally prepare themselves for their next race, meditate...and run back to their families for reassurance.  These aren't just preschoolers, kindergarteners, elementary and junior high kids, either. These are high schoolers, too..the very kids who claim to be embarrassed by parental shows of affection, seeking out their folks and not pushing them away when they are hugged, kissed, and petted.  They weren't embarrassed by it, they weren't teased because of it..it was no big deal.  How awesome is that?