|
|
|---|
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
PHOENIX DID PASS THE FOOD TAX!Just saw this need to be there or be square! domed shaped building in front of court house sign wave starts now!
Pursuant to A.R.S. Section 38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL and to the general public, that the PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL will hold a special meeting open to the public on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. located in the City Council Chambers, 200 West Jefferson Street, Phoenix, Arizona. One or more Council Members may participate via teleconference. The agenda for the meeting is as follows:
In accordance with a request from the Mayor of the City of Phoenix, received and filed with the City Clerk on February 2, 2010, in conjunction with the provisions of Chapter IV, Section 20, of the Charter of the City of Phoenix, a Special Meeting of the Phoenix City Council is hereby being called. Phoenix ready to impose 2 percent food tax 02-02-2010 • East Valley Tribune Phoenix City Council members appear ready to approve a 2% tax on food purchases. During a special meeting Tuesday, the council is likely to vote on the tax as a way of closing a $241 million budget deficit. It would take effect April 1 Pursuant to A.R.S. Section 38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL and to the general public, that the PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL will hold a special meeting open to the public on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. located in the City Council Chambers, 200 West Jefferson Street, Phoenix, Arizona.
One or more Council Members may participate via teleconference.
The agenda for the meeting is as follows:
In accordance with a request from the Mayor of the City of Phoenix, received and filed with the City Clerk on February 2, 2010, in conjunction with the provisions of Chapter IV, Section 20, of the Charter of the City of Phoenix, a Special Meeting of the Phoenix City Council is hereby being called.
Roll Call
Item 1 Request adoption of Ordinance G-5485 to amend Sections 14-465(q) & 14- 660(q) of the Phoenix City Code to impose a transaction privilege (sales) tax on food purchased for home consumption.
Adjourn
Persons paid to lobby on behalf of persons or organizations other than themselves shall register with the City Clerk prior to lobbying or within five business days thereafter, and must register annually to continue lobbying. If you have any questions about registration or whether or not you must register, please contact [masked].
For further information or reasonable accommodations, please call Scott Steventon at Voice/[masked] or TTY/[masked] as early as possible to coordinate needed arrangements.
February 1, 2010
http://phoenix.gov/PU...
Pursuant to A.R.S. Section 38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL and to the general public, that the PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL will hold a special meeting open to the public on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. located in the City Council Chambers, 200 West Jefferson Street, Phoenix, Arizona. One or more Council Members may participate via teleconference. The agenda for the meeting is as follows:
In accordance with a request from the Mayor of the City of Phoenix, received and filed with the City Clerk on February 2, 2010, in conjunction with the provisions of Chapter IV, Section 20, of the Charter of the City of Phoenix, a Special Meeting of the Phoenix City Council is hereby being called. Phoenix ready to impose 2 percent food tax 02-02-2010 • East Valley Tribune Phoenix City Council members appear ready to approve a 2% tax on food purchases. During a special meeting Tuesday, the council is likely to vote on the tax as a way of closing a $241 million budget deficit. It would take effect April 1 Pursuant to A.R.S. Section 38-431.02, notice is hereby given to the members of the PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL and to the general public, that the PHOENIX CITY COUNCIL will hold a special meeting open to the public on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 2:00 p.m. located in the City Council Chambers, 200 West Jefferson Street, Phoenix, Arizona.
One or more Council Members may participate via teleconference.
The agenda for the meeting is as follows:
In accordance with a request from the Mayor of the City of Phoenix, received and filed with the City Clerk on February 2, 2010, in conjunction with the provisions of Chapter IV, Section 20, of the Charter of the City of Phoenix, a Special Meeting of the Phoenix City Council is hereby being called.
Roll Call
Item 1 Request adoption of Ordinance G-5485 to amend Sections 14-465(q) & 14- 660(q) of the Phoenix City Code to impose a transaction privilege (sales) tax on food purchased for home consumption.
Adjourn
Persons paid to lobby on behalf of persons or organizations other than themselves shall register with the City Clerk prior to lobbying or within five business days thereafter, and must register annually to continue lobbying. If you have any questions about registration or whether or not you must register, please contact [masked].
For further information or reasonable accommodations, please call Scott Steventon at Voice/[masked] or TTY/[masked] as early as possible to coordinate needed arrangements.
February 1, 2010
http://phoenix.gov/PU...
“As of today your life will be different. Subject to certain rules and conditions, you and all other slaves will hereby be set free. The purpose of the rules is to reimburse me and my colleagues for the investment that we have made in you. When that debt has been paid, you will be completely free for all time. These are the rules:
1. You can live anywhere in the world you wish. As of today you can live in any housing you can afford. You pay for your own.
2. You can do any kind of work you want to do. You will work whatever hours you and your employer agree upon.
3. You will attend school through at least the age of 18 in preparation for your work. You will pay for your schools through taxes.
4. You may own a business if you so desire and are able to acquire the capital needed to start it.
5. You will carry an identification token all your life and through it your income will be tracked. I will know where you are working and for whom. I will know how much you earn and where you bank. 6. Directly and indirectly you will pay me and my colleagues 50¢ out of every dollar that you earn. This will apply toward payment of your debt to me.
7. If you need to borrow additional money and can convince a bank that you are a good ‘credit risk’, money will be created for you with the stroke of a computer key. This money costs the bank nothing to create and represents no risk to the bank, but if you fail to repay it with interest the bank will take away your house, your car, or any other assets you have that the bank required as collateral for the loan.
8. When the government needs to spend more money than it has collected in taxes, it will ‘borrow’ it from the Federal Reserve System which is a cartel of the world’s biggest banks. It will not need your permission to do this, but you and your descendents will be responsible for repayment of the loan. It will simply be added to whatever you already owe[3]. Naturally the value (buying power) of all the money (Federal Reserve Notes) in your possession will steadily diminish as the Fed continues this practice, so of course your debt to me and my colleagues will never be repaid in full.
9. In order to maintain your sense of freedom you will participate in general elections at regular intervals. The majority vote will determine who occupy the positions of elected officialdom. But the rules above will never be changed to your advantage…only to the advantage of the banking and labor cartels that are actually the owners of the whole system (including you). Accordingly, discussion of these rules will never be part of the general debate at election time.
10. The local, state, and federal governments of the United States will be responsible for enforcement of the rules above in keeping with its partnership in the banking and labor cartels. The courts will adjudicate any conflicts that arise; but discussion of these rules will be forbidden in court and any reference to them will be deemed ‘frivolous’ by the courts. In this way the rules become in themselves a form of law more potent and inviolable than the state and federal constitutions and local charters that might otherwise interfere with the working of the rules.”
1. You can live anywhere in the world you wish. As of today you can live in any housing you can afford. You pay for your own.
2. You can do any kind of work you want to do. You will work whatever hours you and your employer agree upon.
3. You will attend school through at least the age of 18 in preparation for your work. You will pay for your schools through taxes.
4. You may own a business if you so desire and are able to acquire the capital needed to start it.
5. You will carry an identification token all your life and through it your income will be tracked. I will know where you are working and for whom. I will know how much you earn and where you bank. 6. Directly and indirectly you will pay me and my colleagues 50¢ out of every dollar that you earn. This will apply toward payment of your debt to me.
7. If you need to borrow additional money and can convince a bank that you are a good ‘credit risk’, money will be created for you with the stroke of a computer key. This money costs the bank nothing to create and represents no risk to the bank, but if you fail to repay it with interest the bank will take away your house, your car, or any other assets you have that the bank required as collateral for the loan.
8. When the government needs to spend more money than it has collected in taxes, it will ‘borrow’ it from the Federal Reserve System which is a cartel of the world’s biggest banks. It will not need your permission to do this, but you and your descendents will be responsible for repayment of the loan. It will simply be added to whatever you already owe[3]. Naturally the value (buying power) of all the money (Federal Reserve Notes) in your possession will steadily diminish as the Fed continues this practice, so of course your debt to me and my colleagues will never be repaid in full.
9. In order to maintain your sense of freedom you will participate in general elections at regular intervals. The majority vote will determine who occupy the positions of elected officialdom. But the rules above will never be changed to your advantage…only to the advantage of the banking and labor cartels that are actually the owners of the whole system (including you). Accordingly, discussion of these rules will never be part of the general debate at election time.
10. The local, state, and federal governments of the United States will be responsible for enforcement of the rules above in keeping with its partnership in the banking and labor cartels. The courts will adjudicate any conflicts that arise; but discussion of these rules will be forbidden in court and any reference to them will be deemed ‘frivolous’ by the courts. In this way the rules become in themselves a form of law more potent and inviolable than the state and federal constitutions and local charters that might otherwise interfere with the working of the rules.”
Forty-five states and the District of Columbia levy general sales taxes. Most of those states have eliminated, reduced, or offset the tax as applied to food for home consumption. The relief strategies include full or partial exemptions from the sales tax for food purchased for home consumption and credits or rebates to offset the food tax. Of the states with sales taxes:
Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia exempt most food purchased for consumption at home from the state sales tax. South Carolina is the state that most recently eliminated its sales tax on food (effective November 1, 2007).
Seven states tax groceries at lower rates than other goods; they are Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. [1]
Five states — Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota— tax groceries fully but offer credits or rebates offsetting some of the taxes paid on food by some portions of the population. These credits or rebates usually are set at a flat amount per family member. The amounts and eligibility rules vary, but may be too narrow and/or insufficient to give eligible households full relief from sales taxes paid on food purchases.
Two states continue to apply their sales tax fully to food purchased for home consumption without providing any offsetting relief for low- and moderate-income families. They are Alabama and Mississippi.
Local governments, which in many states levy their own sales taxes, usually exempt food if food is fully exempt at the state level. Major exceptions include localities in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Grocery food purchases in those states are fully or partially exempt at the state level, but typically taxed at the local level.
Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia exempt most food purchased for consumption at home from the state sales tax. South Carolina is the state that most recently eliminated its sales tax on food (effective November 1, 2007).
Seven states tax groceries at lower rates than other goods; they are Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. [1]
Five states — Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota— tax groceries fully but offer credits or rebates offsetting some of the taxes paid on food by some portions of the population. These credits or rebates usually are set at a flat amount per family member. The amounts and eligibility rules vary, but may be too narrow and/or insufficient to give eligible households full relief from sales taxes paid on food purchases.
Two states continue to apply their sales tax fully to food purchased for home consumption without providing any offsetting relief for low- and moderate-income families. They are Alabama and Mississippi.
Local governments, which in many states levy their own sales taxes, usually exempt food if food is fully exempt at the state level. Major exceptions include localities in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Grocery food purchases in those states are fully or partially exempt at the state level, but typically taxed at the local level.
The last real survivor of the generational of leaders who won the Cold War spoke here last week and the so-called alert media here stretched its arms upward sleepily and emitted a huge yawn. A key member of a quartet that smote Communism…Ronald Reagan, John Paul II, and Margaret Thatcher…Walesa is the last healthy survivor of those hardy leaders (Thatcher is seriously enfeebled). But the media, evidently populated by callow 24-year-old assignment editors unacquainted with world history (Lech who?) declined to cover him notably in favor of the really vital stories.
Such as: how many graves were overturned in Burr Oak cemetery while Dan Hynes dithered…who found the TV tape of Harold Washington’s 1987 statement why he fired Pat Quinn as city revenue director…how many bucks Andy McKenna was “loaned” by his wife to keep his campaign going…did a last minute conversation with Jacqueline Heard of the mayor’s office concerning Michael Scott’s overspending on his expense account lead him to kill himself?
Enduring journalism, brother.
Not only were the 24-year-old assignment editors unimpressed with Walesa, the so-called top political reporter-pros of Chicago political reportage—from the Tribune, Sun-Times, Channels 2,5,7,9 and 11 were stonily unmoved. After all, who cares that Walesa, in danger of losing his life, managing against Communist orders a 1978 occupational shipyard strike that engulfed all of Poland causing Gen. Wojciech Jaruzsselski to declare martial law? Peanuts next to the real political story here:
Gay activist Senate candidate Jacob Meister withdrawing from the race after raving that an opposing candidate mentioning his marital status was homophobic because Meister can’t marry his boyfriend?
A major reason why the press didn’t cover Walesa, of course, was that the former Nobel Peace Prize winner…a recipient of the award when it really meant something…came here to support Adam Andrzejewski for governor, a social conservative as is Walesa. The glorious Tribune whose major editors live in tony DuPage suburbs want to appeal to ages 28 to 37 where the marketing dollars come from: and they don’t want to hear about stodgy old John Paul II gripping Walesa in a man-hug, supporting the first non-communist government in the Soviet sphere of influence. That story bores Carol Marin who really and truly…passionately, little college-girl-like with misty-eyed dedication…wants more women, more women to be involved in politics: by which she means liberal, pro-abort women.
And that icky message from Walesa that: the United States no longer leads the world politically…that America is slipping into socialism…that there is a cultural decadence here. All these things are un-trendy and rather embarrassingly old-hat…possibly racist…since they can be taken as criticism of the Lord High Jehovah Barack Obama. God, we wouldn’t want that! So no Carol Marin covering it with her TV camera from either NBC or WTTW…no Mike Flannery who gesticulates so outlandishly on camera on issues that REALLY MATTER…about like…Dan Burke’s campaign against Rudy Lozano, Jr…the spurious robo-calls peddling false rumors that Heather Steans gave money to “anti-choice” the p. c. way to describe er,er,er what the unlettered call “pro-life” groups!
These are the determinate big political stories, folks—not the ideas of a 67-year-old Pollack electrician who had something to do with…what?...changing the economic system of Poland to a market-based system? Who cares? Our system’s going the other way and it’s just right—that’s what Paul Krugman endorses in The Times. No editorials written about Walesa. But…hey, give us more about the lobbyist Robyn Gabel who’s seeking to replace Rep. Julie Hamos and who has the backing of Jan Schakowsky! Now that’s meaningful, baby! How about we write an editorial about THAT significant development?
How Did Obama Pass Constitutional Law in the 1st Place?
I’m beginning to understand why this Mystery President’s staff has nixed the idea of anybody getting hold of his grades at Occidental, Columbia and Harvard Law—the same people who have put a kibosh on the release of his original birth certificate. Aside from a certain gloss and suavity, he is perhaps one of the more illiterate people in the law who have ever held the post of the presidency. Consider now the case of the 11 terrorists who the administration has said should be tried in a federal civil court in New York.
Aside from the perfectly logical answer that as combatants in a war they should be tried in a military court, the Obama people’s arguments have a certain rough idealism. Why not try them in a civil court with all the trimmings of Miranda and the constitutional guarantees so as to show the world that our system of justice can triumph? Makes some kind of twisted sense.
Until you consider the statements that Obama and his press secretary Robert Gibbs have made about KSM—Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged plotter of 9/11. Here’s Obama’s the other day to NBC:
“I don’t think it will be offensive at all when he’s convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him.”
And here’s Gibbs’ delivered to CNN with similar wording he gave to Fox News last Sunday:
“Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is going to meet justice and he’s going to meet his Maker.”
What these statements do is pronounce an inevitability of guilt at the outset when under the rubric of our civil justice system, a defendant is presumed innocent until found guilty. So if Obama wants to show the world how fair our justice system is, he has just compromised it in the eyes of the world.
Any competent defense lawyer would say that the statements are prejudicial. And if in fact KSM is convicted, the statement of the president of the United States and his press secretary would warrant the conviction being reexamined by the Supreme Court for prejudicial content…with the possibility…just a possibility but existent…that KSM could go free basis the unremitting prejudice exerted to gain his conviction.
It leads me to think this: What in the world is this so-called lecturer in Constitutional law thinking of when he speaks that way…with language that offends the very basis of Constitutional law?
The entire background of this guy defies belief. How could anyone
purportedly even pass Law Studies 101 and be so ungodly dumb? With this
stupid Gitmo campaign promise…made very easy since George W. Bush
agreed (mistakenly) that Gitmo should be closed…Obama has built an issue
that begs to take a major place in the 2010 campaign. We know it occupied
a great role in the Massachusetts senatorial campaign. Now in an effort to
consign it to a military court, the Democrats are saying that the “expense”
of the trial…some $200 million…would be too expensive. Mayor
Bloomberg has said as much—although that really won’t fly. New York is
accustomed to expenses like this…be they full-dress ceremonies for royalty
or just the expenses of safeguarding the presence of the UN.
So it appears the Dems are going to use the “too expensive” route
to get out of the box that Obama has locked them in. But how will they
surmount the Catch 22 he has woven with his own ignorant words…
virtually guaranteeing the conviction and death of terrorists in a civilian
court where presumption of innocence is a central part of our system?
This man…supposedly our “deepest” and “most intellectual president”
is in reality incorrigibly obtuse and stupid—and stupid in the Law he is
supposed to be master of.
Such as: how many graves were overturned in Burr Oak cemetery while Dan Hynes dithered…who found the TV tape of Harold Washington’s 1987 statement why he fired Pat Quinn as city revenue director…how many bucks Andy McKenna was “loaned” by his wife to keep his campaign going…did a last minute conversation with Jacqueline Heard of the mayor’s office concerning Michael Scott’s overspending on his expense account lead him to kill himself?
Enduring journalism, brother.
Not only were the 24-year-old assignment editors unimpressed with Walesa, the so-called top political reporter-pros of Chicago political reportage—from the Tribune, Sun-Times, Channels 2,5,7,9 and 11 were stonily unmoved. After all, who cares that Walesa, in danger of losing his life, managing against Communist orders a 1978 occupational shipyard strike that engulfed all of Poland causing Gen. Wojciech Jaruzsselski to declare martial law? Peanuts next to the real political story here:
Gay activist Senate candidate Jacob Meister withdrawing from the race after raving that an opposing candidate mentioning his marital status was homophobic because Meister can’t marry his boyfriend?
A major reason why the press didn’t cover Walesa, of course, was that the former Nobel Peace Prize winner…a recipient of the award when it really meant something…came here to support Adam Andrzejewski for governor, a social conservative as is Walesa. The glorious Tribune whose major editors live in tony DuPage suburbs want to appeal to ages 28 to 37 where the marketing dollars come from: and they don’t want to hear about stodgy old John Paul II gripping Walesa in a man-hug, supporting the first non-communist government in the Soviet sphere of influence. That story bores Carol Marin who really and truly…passionately, little college-girl-like with misty-eyed dedication…wants more women, more women to be involved in politics: by which she means liberal, pro-abort women.
And that icky message from Walesa that: the United States no longer leads the world politically…that America is slipping into socialism…that there is a cultural decadence here. All these things are un-trendy and rather embarrassingly old-hat…possibly racist…since they can be taken as criticism of the Lord High Jehovah Barack Obama. God, we wouldn’t want that! So no Carol Marin covering it with her TV camera from either NBC or WTTW…no Mike Flannery who gesticulates so outlandishly on camera on issues that REALLY MATTER…about like…Dan Burke’s campaign against Rudy Lozano, Jr…the spurious robo-calls peddling false rumors that Heather Steans gave money to “anti-choice” the p. c. way to describe er,er,er what the unlettered call “pro-life” groups!
These are the determinate big political stories, folks—not the ideas of a 67-year-old Pollack electrician who had something to do with…what?...changing the economic system of Poland to a market-based system? Who cares? Our system’s going the other way and it’s just right—that’s what Paul Krugman endorses in The Times. No editorials written about Walesa. But…hey, give us more about the lobbyist Robyn Gabel who’s seeking to replace Rep. Julie Hamos and who has the backing of Jan Schakowsky! Now that’s meaningful, baby! How about we write an editorial about THAT significant development?
How Did Obama Pass Constitutional Law in the 1st Place?
I’m beginning to understand why this Mystery President’s staff has nixed the idea of anybody getting hold of his grades at Occidental, Columbia and Harvard Law—the same people who have put a kibosh on the release of his original birth certificate. Aside from a certain gloss and suavity, he is perhaps one of the more illiterate people in the law who have ever held the post of the presidency. Consider now the case of the 11 terrorists who the administration has said should be tried in a federal civil court in New York.
Aside from the perfectly logical answer that as combatants in a war they should be tried in a military court, the Obama people’s arguments have a certain rough idealism. Why not try them in a civil court with all the trimmings of Miranda and the constitutional guarantees so as to show the world that our system of justice can triumph? Makes some kind of twisted sense.
Until you consider the statements that Obama and his press secretary Robert Gibbs have made about KSM—Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged plotter of 9/11. Here’s Obama’s the other day to NBC:
“I don’t think it will be offensive at all when he’s convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him.”
And here’s Gibbs’ delivered to CNN with similar wording he gave to Fox News last Sunday:
“Khalid Sheikh Mohammad is going to meet justice and he’s going to meet his Maker.”
What these statements do is pronounce an inevitability of guilt at the outset when under the rubric of our civil justice system, a defendant is presumed innocent until found guilty. So if Obama wants to show the world how fair our justice system is, he has just compromised it in the eyes of the world.
Any competent defense lawyer would say that the statements are prejudicial. And if in fact KSM is convicted, the statement of the president of the United States and his press secretary would warrant the conviction being reexamined by the Supreme Court for prejudicial content…with the possibility…just a possibility but existent…that KSM could go free basis the unremitting prejudice exerted to gain his conviction.
It leads me to think this: What in the world is this so-called lecturer in Constitutional law thinking of when he speaks that way…with language that offends the very basis of Constitutional law?
The entire background of this guy defies belief. How could anyone
purportedly even pass Law Studies 101 and be so ungodly dumb? With this
stupid Gitmo campaign promise…made very easy since George W. Bush
agreed (mistakenly) that Gitmo should be closed…Obama has built an issue
that begs to take a major place in the 2010 campaign. We know it occupied
a great role in the Massachusetts senatorial campaign. Now in an effort to
consign it to a military court, the Democrats are saying that the “expense”
of the trial…some $200 million…would be too expensive. Mayor
Bloomberg has said as much—although that really won’t fly. New York is
accustomed to expenses like this…be they full-dress ceremonies for royalty
or just the expenses of safeguarding the presence of the UN.
So it appears the Dems are going to use the “too expensive” route
to get out of the box that Obama has locked them in. But how will they
surmount the Catch 22 he has woven with his own ignorant words…
virtually guaranteeing the conviction and death of terrorists in a civilian
court where presumption of innocence is a central part of our system?
This man…supposedly our “deepest” and “most intellectual president”
is in reality incorrigibly obtuse and stupid—and stupid in the Law he is
supposed to be master of.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Apparently PETA has decided that the most badass groundhog on the planet, Punxsutawney Phil, is not treated with the respect he deserves, and instead of doing the job himself, they want a robot groundhog to let the world know if springtime is on its way or not!!
Gemma Vaughn, an Animals in Entertainment Specialist for the organization looking out for our animal friends, wrote in a statement,
“Make the compassionate decision to use an animatronic Phil and retire the live groundhogs who are used for Groundhog Day activities to a sanctuary. Tradition is no excuse for cruelty.”
Animatronic Phil? They might as well use one of the robot dinosaurs from Jurassic Park to do the job if tradition is so passé!
The Groundhog Club, which takes care of Phil, responded with,
“Phil is probably treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania. He’s got air conditioning in the summer, his pen is heated in winter … He has everything but a TV in there. What more do you want?”
HAHAHA. If that's truly the case, then we're gonna have to side with The Groundhog Club. Sounds like Punxsutawney Phil lives a pretty sweet animal life.
Do U agree?
Gemma Vaughn, an Animals in Entertainment Specialist for the organization looking out for our animal friends, wrote in a statement,
“Make the compassionate decision to use an animatronic Phil and retire the live groundhogs who are used for Groundhog Day activities to a sanctuary. Tradition is no excuse for cruelty.”
Animatronic Phil? They might as well use one of the robot dinosaurs from Jurassic Park to do the job if tradition is so passé!
The Groundhog Club, which takes care of Phil, responded with,
“Phil is probably treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania. He’s got air conditioning in the summer, his pen is heated in winter … He has everything but a TV in there. What more do you want?”
HAHAHA. If that's truly the case, then we're gonna have to side with The Groundhog Club. Sounds like Punxsutawney Phil lives a pretty sweet animal life.
Do U agree?
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is on a mission to save Punxsutawney Phil. The animal rights group has suggested the season-predicting groundhog
, appointed to determine how long we’ll have to tolerate Ol’ Man Winter each year, should be replaced with a robot, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Wednesday.
The tomfoolery of this organization never ceases to amaze me. Why are these people allowed to walk the streets without medication?
, appointed to determine how long we’ll have to tolerate Ol’ Man Winter each year, should be replaced with a robot, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Wednesday.
The tomfoolery of this organization never ceases to amaze me. Why are these people allowed to walk the streets without medication?
Gemma Vaughan, an Animals in Entertainment Specialist with PETA, penned a letter to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club on Wednesday arguing that keeping Phil on display year-round is a “cruel” way to treat the animal. Blah….Blah…Blah!
“Make the compassionate decision to use an animatronic Phil and retire the live groundhogs who are used for Groundhog Day activities to a sanctuary,” Vaughan wrote in the plea. “Tradition is no excuse for cruelty.”
Bill Deeley, president of the Club, has called the request “crazy.”
“Phil is probably treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania,” Deeley said. “He’s got air conditioning in the summer, his pen is heated in winter … He has everything but a TV in there. What more do you want?”
“Make the compassionate decision to use an animatronic Phil and retire the live groundhogs who are used for Groundhog Day activities to a sanctuary,” Vaughan wrote in the plea. “Tradition is no excuse for cruelty.”
Bill Deeley, president of the Club, has called the request “crazy.”
“Phil is probably treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania,” Deeley said. “He’s got air conditioning in the summer, his pen is heated in winter … He has everything but a TV in there. What more do you want?”
Here is PETA'S post;With Groundhog Day just a week away, I've got a Bill Murray movie on my mind—but the classic Groundhog Day isn't it. No, I'm thinking of Caddyshack—and the scene-stealing Mr. Gopher—and hoping that the folks in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, take a cue from the humane concept behind that cinematic critter by retiring Phil to a sanctuary and replacing him with an electronic groundhog.
Phil is forced to be on display year round at the local library and is denied the ability to prepare for and enter yearly hibernation (and I have a hard time with "spring forward"). Add to that the displeasure of large, screaming crowds, flashing lights of cameras, and human handling. If Punxsutawney frees Phil, then the bitter winter that's made him into an unwilling media attraction will end, making way for a sunny spring that everyone can enjoy.
Posted by Logan Scherer http://blog.peta.org/archives/2010/01/groundhog_day.php
Phil is forced to be on display year round at the local library and is denied the ability to prepare for and enter yearly hibernation (and I have a hard time with "spring forward"). Add to that the displeasure of large, screaming crowds, flashing lights of cameras, and human handling. If Punxsutawney frees Phil, then the bitter winter that's made him into an unwilling media attraction will end, making way for a sunny spring that everyone can enjoy.
Posted by Logan Scherer http://blog.peta.org/archives/2010/01/groundhog_day.php
Congo, The former "Zaire" 5.4 million killed since 2007-Worse than "The Holocaust"
0 comments at 2:16 PM
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: January 30, 2010 Orphaned, Raped and Ignored
Published: January 30, 2010 Orphaned, Raped and Ignored
Sometimes I wish eastern Congo could suffer an earthquake or a tsunami, so that it might finally get the attention it needs. The barbaric civil war being waged here is the most lethal conflict since World War II and has claimed at least 30 times as many lives as the Haiti earthquake.
Yet no humanitarian crisis generates so little attention per million corpses, or such a pathetic international response.
That’s why I’m here in the lovely, lush and threatening hills west of Lake Kivu, where militias rape, mutilate and kill civilians with a savagery that is almost incomprehensible. I’m talking to a 9-year-old girl, Chance Tombola, an orphan whose eyes are luminous with fear.
For Chance, the war arrived one evening last May when armed soldiers from an extremist Hutu militia — remnants of those who committed the Rwandan genocide — burst into her home. They killed her parents in front of her. Chance ran away, but the soldiers seized her two sisters, ages 6 and 12, and carried them away into the forest, presumably to be turned into “wives” of soldiers. No one has seen Chance’s sisters since.
Chance moved in with her aunt and uncle and their two teenage daughters. Two months later, the same militia invaded the aunt’s house and held everyone at gunpoint. Chance says she recognized some of the soldiers as the same ones who had killed her parents.
This time, no one could escape. The soldiers first shot her uncle, and then, as the terrified family members sobbed, they pulled out a large knife.
“They sliced his belly so that the intestines fell out,” said his widow, Jeanne Birengenyi, 34, Chance’s aunt. “Then they cut his heart out and showed it to me.” The soldiers continued to mutilate the body, while others began to rape Jeanne.
“One takes a leg, one takes the other leg,” Jeanne said dully. “Others grab the arms while one just starts raping. They don’t care if children are watching.”
Chance added softly: “There were six who raped her. One raped me, too.”
The soldiers left Jeanne and Chance, tightly tied up, and marched off into the forest with Jeanne’s two daughters as prisoners. One daughter is 14, the other 16, and they have not been heard from since.
“They kill, they rape, burn houses and take people’s belongings,” Jeanne said. “When they come with their guns, it’s as if they have a project to eliminate the local population.”
A peer-reviewed study found that 5.4 million people had already died in this war as of April 2007, and hundreds of thousands more have died as the situation has deteriorated since then. A catastrophically planned military offensive last year, backed by the governments of Congo and Rwanda as well as the United Nations force here, made some headway against Hutu militias but also led to increased predation on civilians from all sides.
Human Rights Watch estimates that for every Hutu fighter sent back to Rwanda last year, at least seven women were raped and 900 people forced to flee for their lives. “From a human rights perspective, the operation has been catastrophic,” concluded Philip Alston, a senior United Nations investigator.
This is a pointless war — now a dozen years old — driven by warlords, greed for minerals, ethnic tensions and complete impunity. While there is plenty of fault to go around, Rwanda has long played a particularly troubling role in many ways, including support for one of the militias. Rwanda’s government is dazzlingly successful at home, but next door in Congo, it appears complicit in war crimes.
Jeanne and Chance contracted sexually transmitted diseases. Like other survivors in areas that are accessible, they receive help from the International Rescue Committee, but Chance still suffers pain when she urinates.
Counselors say that most raped women are rejected by their husbands, and raped girls like Chance have difficulty marrying. In an area west of Lake Kivu where attacks are continuing, I met Saleh Bulondo, a newly homeless young man who was educated and spoke a little English. I asked him if he would still marry his girlfriend if she were raped.
“Never,” he said. “I will abandon her.”
A girl here normally fetches a bride price (a reverse dowry, paid by the husband’s family) when she marries. A village chief told me that a typical price would be 20 goats — but if the girl has been raped, two goats. At most.
Thus it takes astonishing courage for Jeanne and Chance to tell their stories (including in a video posted with the on-line version of this column). I’ll be reporting more from eastern Congo in the coming days, hoping that the fortitude of survivors like them can inspire world leaders to step forward to stop this slaughter. It’s time to show the same compassion toward Congo that we have toward Haiti.
•
I invite you to visit my blog, On the Ground. Please also join me on Facebook, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter.
Yet no humanitarian crisis generates so little attention per million corpses, or such a pathetic international response.
That’s why I’m here in the lovely, lush and threatening hills west of Lake Kivu, where militias rape, mutilate and kill civilians with a savagery that is almost incomprehensible. I’m talking to a 9-year-old girl, Chance Tombola, an orphan whose eyes are luminous with fear.
For Chance, the war arrived one evening last May when armed soldiers from an extremist Hutu militia — remnants of those who committed the Rwandan genocide — burst into her home. They killed her parents in front of her. Chance ran away, but the soldiers seized her two sisters, ages 6 and 12, and carried them away into the forest, presumably to be turned into “wives” of soldiers. No one has seen Chance’s sisters since.
Chance moved in with her aunt and uncle and their two teenage daughters. Two months later, the same militia invaded the aunt’s house and held everyone at gunpoint. Chance says she recognized some of the soldiers as the same ones who had killed her parents.
This time, no one could escape. The soldiers first shot her uncle, and then, as the terrified family members sobbed, they pulled out a large knife.
“They sliced his belly so that the intestines fell out,” said his widow, Jeanne Birengenyi, 34, Chance’s aunt. “Then they cut his heart out and showed it to me.” The soldiers continued to mutilate the body, while others began to rape Jeanne.
“One takes a leg, one takes the other leg,” Jeanne said dully. “Others grab the arms while one just starts raping. They don’t care if children are watching.”
Chance added softly: “There were six who raped her. One raped me, too.”
The soldiers left Jeanne and Chance, tightly tied up, and marched off into the forest with Jeanne’s two daughters as prisoners. One daughter is 14, the other 16, and they have not been heard from since.
“They kill, they rape, burn houses and take people’s belongings,” Jeanne said. “When they come with their guns, it’s as if they have a project to eliminate the local population.”
A peer-reviewed study found that 5.4 million people had already died in this war as of April 2007, and hundreds of thousands more have died as the situation has deteriorated since then. A catastrophically planned military offensive last year, backed by the governments of Congo and Rwanda as well as the United Nations force here, made some headway against Hutu militias but also led to increased predation on civilians from all sides.
Human Rights Watch estimates that for every Hutu fighter sent back to Rwanda last year, at least seven women were raped and 900 people forced to flee for their lives. “From a human rights perspective, the operation has been catastrophic,” concluded Philip Alston, a senior United Nations investigator.
This is a pointless war — now a dozen years old — driven by warlords, greed for minerals, ethnic tensions and complete impunity. While there is plenty of fault to go around, Rwanda has long played a particularly troubling role in many ways, including support for one of the militias. Rwanda’s government is dazzlingly successful at home, but next door in Congo, it appears complicit in war crimes.
Jeanne and Chance contracted sexually transmitted diseases. Like other survivors in areas that are accessible, they receive help from the International Rescue Committee, but Chance still suffers pain when she urinates.
Counselors say that most raped women are rejected by their husbands, and raped girls like Chance have difficulty marrying. In an area west of Lake Kivu where attacks are continuing, I met Saleh Bulondo, a newly homeless young man who was educated and spoke a little English. I asked him if he would still marry his girlfriend if she were raped.
“Never,” he said. “I will abandon her.”
A girl here normally fetches a bride price (a reverse dowry, paid by the husband’s family) when she marries. A village chief told me that a typical price would be 20 goats — but if the girl has been raped, two goats. At most.
Thus it takes astonishing courage for Jeanne and Chance to tell their stories (including in a video posted with the on-line version of this column). I’ll be reporting more from eastern Congo in the coming days, hoping that the fortitude of survivors like them can inspire world leaders to step forward to stop this slaughter. It’s time to show the same compassion toward Congo that we have toward Haiti.
•
I invite you to visit my blog, On the Ground. Please also join me on Facebook, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter.
Symbol of Unhealed Congo: Male Rape Victims
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
GOMA, Congo — It was around 11 p.m. when armed men burst into Kazungu Ziwa’s hut, put a machete to his throat and yanked down his pants. Mr. Ziwa is a tiny man, about four feet, six inches tall. He tried to fight back, but said he was quickly beaten down.
“Then they raped me,” he said. “It was horrible, physically. I was dizzy. My thoughts just left me.”
For years, the thickly forested hills and clear, deep lakes of eastern Congo have been a reservoir of atrocities. Now, it seems, there is another growing problem: men raping men.
According to Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, United Nations officials and several Congolese aid organizations, the number of men who have been raped has risen sharply in recent months, a consequence of joint Congo-Rwanda military operations against rebels that have uncapped an appalling level of violence against civilians.
Aid workers struggle to explain the sudden spike in male rape cases. The best answer, they say, is that the sexual violence against men is yet another way for armed groups to humiliate and demoralize Congolese communities into submission.
The United Nations already considers eastern Congo the rape capital of the world, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to hear from survivors on her visit to the country next week. Hundreds of thousands of women have been sexually assaulted by the various warring militias haunting these hills, and right now this area is going through one of its bloodiest periods in years.
The joint military operations that began in January between Rwanda and Congo, David and Goliath neighbors who were recently bitter enemies, were supposed to end the murderous rebel problem along the border and usher in a new epoch of cooperation and peace. Hopes soared after the quick capture of a renegade general who had routed government troops and threatened to march across the country.
But aid organizations say that the military maneuvers have provoked horrific revenge attacks, with more than 500,000 people driven from their homes, dozens of villages burned and hundreds of villagers massacred, including toddlers thrown into open fires.
And it is not just the rebels being blamed. According to human rights groups, soldiers from the Congolese Army are executing civilians, raping women and conscripting villagers to lug their food, ammunition and gear into the jungle. It is often a death march through one of Africa’s lushest, most stunning tropical landscapes, which has also been the scene of a devastatingly complicated war for more than a decade.
“From a humanitarian and human rights perspective, the joint operations are disastrous,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, a researcher for Human Rights Watch.
The male rape cases span several hundred miles and possibly include hundreds of victims. The American Bar Association, which runs a sexual violence legal clinic in Goma, said that more than 10 percent of its cases in June were men.
Brandi Walker, an aid worker at Panzi hospital in nearby Bukavu, said, “Everywhere we go, people say men are getting raped, too.”
But nobody knows the exact number. Men here, like anywhere, are reluctant to come forward. Several who did said they instantly became castaways in their villages, lonely, ridiculed figures, derisively referred to as “bush wives.”
Since being raped several weeks ago, Mr. Ziwa, 53, has not shown much interest in practicing animal medicine, his trade for years. He limps around (his left leg was crushed in the attack) in a soiled white lab coat with “veterinaire” printed on it in red pen, carrying a few biscuit-size pills for dogs and sheep.
“Just thinking about what happened to me makes me tired,” he said.
The same is true for Tupapo Mukuli, who said he was pinned down on his stomach and gang-raped in his cassava patch seven months ago. Mr. Mukuli is now the lone man in the rape ward at Panzi hospital, which is filled with hundreds of women recovering from rape-related injuries. Many knit clothes and weave baskets to make a little money while their bodies heal.
But Mr. Mukuli is left out.
“I don’t know how to make baskets,” he said. So he spends his days sitting on a bench, by himself.
The male rape cases are still just a fraction of those against women. But for the men involved, aid workers say, it is even harder to bounce back.
“Men’s identity is so connected to power and control,” Ms. Walker said.
And in a place where homosexuality is so taboo, the rapes carry an extra dose of shame.
“I’m laughed at,” Mr. Mukuli said. “The people in my village say: ‘You’re no longer a man. Those men in the bush made you their wife.’ ”
Aid workers here say the humiliation is often so severe that male rape victims come forward only if they have urgent health problems, like stomach swelling or continuous bleeding. Sometimes even that is not enough. Ms. Van Woudenberg said that two men whose penises were cinched with rope died a few days later because they were too embarrassed to seek help. Castrations also seem to be increasing, with more butchered men showing up at major hospitals.
Last year, Congo’s rape epidemic appeared to be easing a bit, with fewer cases reported and some rapists jailed. But today, it seems like that thin veneer of law and order has been stripped away. The way villagers describe it, it is open season on civilians.
Muhindo Mwamurabagiro, a tall, graceful woman with long, strong arms, explained how she was walking to the market with friends when they were suddenly surrounded by a group of naked men.
“They grabbed us by the throat and threw us down and raped us,” she said.
Worse, she said, one of the rapists was from her village.
“I yelled, ‘Father of Kondo, I know you, how can you do this?’ ”
One mother said a United Nations peacekeeper raped her 12-year-old boy. A United Nations spokesman said that he had not heard that specific case but that there were indeed a number of new sexual abuse allegations against peacekeepers in Congo and that a team was sent in late July to investigate.
Congolese health professionals are becoming exasperated. Many argue for a political solution, not a military one, and say Western powers should put more pressure on Rwanda, which is widely accused of preserving its own stability by keeping the violence on the other side of the border.
“I understand the world feels guilty about what happened in Rwanda in 1994,” said Denis Mukwege, the lead doctor at Panzi Hospital, referring to Rwanda’s genocide. “But shouldn’t the world feel guilty about what’s happening in Congo today?”
GOMA, Congo — It was around 11 p.m. when armed men burst into Kazungu Ziwa’s hut, put a machete to his throat and yanked down his pants. Mr. Ziwa is a tiny man, about four feet, six inches tall. He tried to fight back, but said he was quickly beaten down.
“Then they raped me,” he said. “It was horrible, physically. I was dizzy. My thoughts just left me.”
For years, the thickly forested hills and clear, deep lakes of eastern Congo have been a reservoir of atrocities. Now, it seems, there is another growing problem: men raping men.
According to Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, United Nations officials and several Congolese aid organizations, the number of men who have been raped has risen sharply in recent months, a consequence of joint Congo-Rwanda military operations against rebels that have uncapped an appalling level of violence against civilians.
Aid workers struggle to explain the sudden spike in male rape cases. The best answer, they say, is that the sexual violence against men is yet another way for armed groups to humiliate and demoralize Congolese communities into submission.
The United Nations already considers eastern Congo the rape capital of the world, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is expected to hear from survivors on her visit to the country next week. Hundreds of thousands of women have been sexually assaulted by the various warring militias haunting these hills, and right now this area is going through one of its bloodiest periods in years.
The joint military operations that began in January between Rwanda and Congo, David and Goliath neighbors who were recently bitter enemies, were supposed to end the murderous rebel problem along the border and usher in a new epoch of cooperation and peace. Hopes soared after the quick capture of a renegade general who had routed government troops and threatened to march across the country.
But aid organizations say that the military maneuvers have provoked horrific revenge attacks, with more than 500,000 people driven from their homes, dozens of villages burned and hundreds of villagers massacred, including toddlers thrown into open fires.
And it is not just the rebels being blamed. According to human rights groups, soldiers from the Congolese Army are executing civilians, raping women and conscripting villagers to lug their food, ammunition and gear into the jungle. It is often a death march through one of Africa’s lushest, most stunning tropical landscapes, which has also been the scene of a devastatingly complicated war for more than a decade.
“From a humanitarian and human rights perspective, the joint operations are disastrous,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, a researcher for Human Rights Watch.
The male rape cases span several hundred miles and possibly include hundreds of victims. The American Bar Association, which runs a sexual violence legal clinic in Goma, said that more than 10 percent of its cases in June were men.
Brandi Walker, an aid worker at Panzi hospital in nearby Bukavu, said, “Everywhere we go, people say men are getting raped, too.”
But nobody knows the exact number. Men here, like anywhere, are reluctant to come forward. Several who did said they instantly became castaways in their villages, lonely, ridiculed figures, derisively referred to as “bush wives.”
Since being raped several weeks ago, Mr. Ziwa, 53, has not shown much interest in practicing animal medicine, his trade for years. He limps around (his left leg was crushed in the attack) in a soiled white lab coat with “veterinaire” printed on it in red pen, carrying a few biscuit-size pills for dogs and sheep.
“Just thinking about what happened to me makes me tired,” he said.
The same is true for Tupapo Mukuli, who said he was pinned down on his stomach and gang-raped in his cassava patch seven months ago. Mr. Mukuli is now the lone man in the rape ward at Panzi hospital, which is filled with hundreds of women recovering from rape-related injuries. Many knit clothes and weave baskets to make a little money while their bodies heal.
But Mr. Mukuli is left out.
“I don’t know how to make baskets,” he said. So he spends his days sitting on a bench, by himself.
The male rape cases are still just a fraction of those against women. But for the men involved, aid workers say, it is even harder to bounce back.
“Men’s identity is so connected to power and control,” Ms. Walker said.
And in a place where homosexuality is so taboo, the rapes carry an extra dose of shame.
“I’m laughed at,” Mr. Mukuli said. “The people in my village say: ‘You’re no longer a man. Those men in the bush made you their wife.’ ”
Aid workers here say the humiliation is often so severe that male rape victims come forward only if they have urgent health problems, like stomach swelling or continuous bleeding. Sometimes even that is not enough. Ms. Van Woudenberg said that two men whose penises were cinched with rope died a few days later because they were too embarrassed to seek help. Castrations also seem to be increasing, with more butchered men showing up at major hospitals.
Last year, Congo’s rape epidemic appeared to be easing a bit, with fewer cases reported and some rapists jailed. But today, it seems like that thin veneer of law and order has been stripped away. The way villagers describe it, it is open season on civilians.
Muhindo Mwamurabagiro, a tall, graceful woman with long, strong arms, explained how she was walking to the market with friends when they were suddenly surrounded by a group of naked men.
“They grabbed us by the throat and threw us down and raped us,” she said.
Worse, she said, one of the rapists was from her village.
“I yelled, ‘Father of Kondo, I know you, how can you do this?’ ”
One mother said a United Nations peacekeeper raped her 12-year-old boy. A United Nations spokesman said that he had not heard that specific case but that there were indeed a number of new sexual abuse allegations against peacekeepers in Congo and that a team was sent in late July to investigate.
Congolese health professionals are becoming exasperated. Many argue for a political solution, not a military one, and say Western powers should put more pressure on Rwanda, which is widely accused of preserving its own stability by keeping the violence on the other side of the border.
“I understand the world feels guilty about what happened in Rwanda in 1994,” said Denis Mukwege, the lead doctor at Panzi Hospital, referring to Rwanda’s genocide. “But shouldn’t the world feel guilty about what’s happening in Congo today?”
Another useless third world shithole where people procreate like rats and life is cheap. Still, missionaries and Western governments flood these countries with aid which the leaders appropriate and the people suffer even more.
The conviction of murderer George Tiller, brought an outcry from the anti-abortion religious right! They feel it is okay to murder people who are killing "the unborn". So much for "right to life"!Army of God (AOG) is a terrorist anti-abortion organization that sanctions the use of force to combat abortion in the United States. HBO produced a documentary on the Army Of God entitled Soldiers In The Army Of God.[1] Clayton Waagner's fake anthrax letters have resulted in their being mentioned among terrorist organizations at the FBI.[2]
The earliest documented incidence of the Army of God being involved with anti-abortion activity occurred in 1982. Three men associated with the organization held an abortion doctor and his wife hostage. The hostages were later released unharmed. [3]
AOG supports the Second Defensive Action Statement, as produced by the Defenders of the Defenders of Life, which reads:[4]
We the undersigned, declare the justice of taking all Godly action necessary, including the use of force, to defend innocent human life (born and unborn). We proclaim that whatever force is legitimate to defend the life of a born child is legitimate to defend the life of an unborn child.
We declare and affirm that if in fact Paul Hill did kill or wound abortionist John Britton, and accomplices James Barrett and Mrs. Barrett, his actions are morally justified if they were necessary for the purpose of defending innocent human life. Under these conditions, Paul Hill should be acquitted of all charges against him.
Hill was head of a precursor organization called Defensive Action, which issued signed statements to members of Congress in the early 1990s expressing similar sentiments about "killing the killers". In 2000, The Army of God has promoted an annual White Rose Banquet in Washington D.C. from 1991 through at least 2003, for supporters of the Defensive Action Statement.[5]
The earliest documented incidence of the Army of God being involved with anti-abortion activity occurred in 1982. Three men associated with the organization held an abortion doctor and his wife hostage. The hostages were later released unharmed. [3]
AOG supports the Second Defensive Action Statement, as produced by the Defenders of the Defenders of Life, which reads:[4]
We the undersigned, declare the justice of taking all Godly action necessary, including the use of force, to defend innocent human life (born and unborn). We proclaim that whatever force is legitimate to defend the life of a born child is legitimate to defend the life of an unborn child.
We declare and affirm that if in fact Paul Hill did kill or wound abortionist John Britton, and accomplices James Barrett and Mrs. Barrett, his actions are morally justified if they were necessary for the purpose of defending innocent human life. Under these conditions, Paul Hill should be acquitted of all charges against him.
Hill was head of a precursor organization called Defensive Action, which issued signed statements to members of Congress in the early 1990s expressing similar sentiments about "killing the killers". In 2000, The Army of God has promoted an annual White Rose Banquet in Washington D.C. from 1991 through at least 2003, for supporters of the Defensive Action Statement.[5]
Associated individuals
The Army of God uses "leaderless resistance" as its organizing principle,[6][7] but several individuals have publicly associated themselves with the group:
Rev. Michael Bray, considered the "chaplain of the Army of God".[citation needed] Newsday [8]
Neal Horsley head of the Georgia-based Creator's Rights Party.
Shelley Shannon, non-fatally shot Dr. George Tiller
Rev. Donald Spitz, head of Pro-Life Virginia and keeper of the AOG web site.
Clayton Waagner
Others loosely affiliated with, or in some support of, the "AOG" include:
Jack Cashill, columnist/reporter for WorldNetDaily
Wiley Drake, California Southern Baptist pastor and former 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate of the American Independent Party
Drew Heiss, Streetpreach.com
Dan Holman, Missionaries to the Preborn - Iowa [9]
Stephen Jordi, convicted of plotting clinic attacks.
Dave Leach, publisher of Prayer & Action News magazine
Bob Lokey[10]
Scott Roeder, American anti-abortionist charged with the murder of George Tiller [11]
Eric Robert Rudolph, American anti-abortionist and convicted bomber.
Chuck Spingola of Unashamed & Associates, Newark, Ohio
Matthew Trewhella, Missionaries to the Preborn - Wisconsin
Father David Trosch
Stephen Wetzel (Missionaries to the Unborn)[10]
Bill Whatcott, Canadian anti-abortion crusader
Troy Newman, President Operation Rescue West. [12]
The Army of God uses "leaderless resistance" as its organizing principle,[6][7] but several individuals have publicly associated themselves with the group:
Rev. Michael Bray, considered the "chaplain of the Army of God".[citation needed] Newsday [8]
Neal Horsley head of the Georgia-based Creator's Rights Party.
Shelley Shannon, non-fatally shot Dr. George Tiller
Rev. Donald Spitz, head of Pro-Life Virginia and keeper of the AOG web site.
Clayton Waagner
Others loosely affiliated with, or in some support of, the "AOG" include:
Jack Cashill, columnist/reporter for WorldNetDaily
Wiley Drake, California Southern Baptist pastor and former 2008 Vice-Presidential candidate of the American Independent Party
Drew Heiss, Streetpreach.com
Dan Holman, Missionaries to the Preborn - Iowa [9]
Stephen Jordi, convicted of plotting clinic attacks.
Dave Leach, publisher of Prayer & Action News magazine
Bob Lokey[10]
Scott Roeder, American anti-abortionist charged with the murder of George Tiller [11]
Eric Robert Rudolph, American anti-abortionist and convicted bomber.
Chuck Spingola of Unashamed & Associates, Newark, Ohio
Matthew Trewhella, Missionaries to the Preborn - Wisconsin
Father David Trosch
Stephen Wetzel (Missionaries to the Unborn)[10]
Bill Whatcott, Canadian anti-abortion crusader
Troy Newman, President Operation Rescue West. [12]
See also
http://www.kansas.com/tiller/Anti-abortion violence
Anti-abortion violence in the United States
Abortion in the United States
Domestic terrorism in the United States
Nuremberg Files
Lone wolf (terrorism)
Leaderless resistance
Clandestine cell system
Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act
Anti-abortion violence in the United States
Abortion in the United States
Domestic terrorism in the United States
Nuremberg Files
Lone wolf (terrorism)
Leaderless resistance
Clandestine cell system
Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act
The following links are very intense! Do not view if at all sqeamish or prone to nightmares!
Fun Facts About Count Von Count
Description: Number-loving distant relative of Count Dracula
Birthday: October 9. Rumor has it he is 1,832,652 years old!
Likes: Counting anything and everything
Favorite Activity: Counting!
Favorite Thing: Numbers! All of them!
Source;http://www.sesamestreet.org/muppet/-/journal_content/56_INSTANCE_MUPP/10171/Count%20Von%20Count
The Transylvanian Count von Count is just mad about counting everything that crosses his path. Whether it’s black cats, cobwebs, bats, or belfries, if he sees it, he’ll count it. The stylish fellow with the impressive incisors is possibly a distant relative of Count Dracula, but he’s much more interested in counting people than harming them.
Whether he’s at home in his castle, talking with his friends, or hobnobbing with celebrities, the Count can always find some items that really need to be counted. He also enjoys singing about numbers while sporting his turned-up collar and monocle. An impressive crack of thunder and flash of lightning always accompany the number-friendly vampire’s counting, and then his trademark laugh rings out. This is one clever count. Ah-ah-ah!
Whether he’s at home in his castle, talking with his friends, or hobnobbing with celebrities, the Count can always find some items that really need to be counted. He also enjoys singing about numbers while sporting his turned-up collar and monocle. An impressive crack of thunder and flash of lightning always accompany the number-friendly vampire’s counting, and then his trademark laugh rings out. This is one clever count. Ah-ah-ah!
Count von Count is a mysterious but friendly vampire-like Muppet on Sesame Street who is meant to parody Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Count Dracula. He first appeared on the show in 1972, in episode 0406, the Season 4 premiere with Bert and Ernie.
The Count has a compulsive love of counting (arithmomania); he will count anything and everything, regardless of size, amount, or how much annoyance he causes others around him. In one song he stated that he sometimes even counts himself. When he finishes counting, The Count laughs and announces his total (which sometimes appears on screen). This finale is usually accompanied by a crash of thunder and a flash of lightning. According to the story "Who Stole the Count's Thunder?" written by Tony Geiss, the Count has a personal cloud that hovers over his head and provides the thunder and lightning that lets him "know" when he has finished counting.[1]
When the Count sings, the music that accompanies him resembles Roma music, no matter what the song.
The Count's Sesame Workshop profile does not use the word vampire but does suggests that he may be a distant relative of Count Dracula.[2] However, the book Sesame Street Unpaved describes The Count as a "Numerical Vampire."[3] In contrast, the 2001 Sesame Street Muppets Drawing Guide insists "The Count is not a vampire."[4]
Nevertheless, the Count resembles Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula in voice (speaking in an Eastern European accent and pronouncing his Vs as Ws), appearance, and sometimes mannerisms. For example, in early sketches, the Count waves his hands to exercise hypnotic power over other Muppets and holds his cape over the lower part of his face while moving.[5] In addition, an early skit revealed that the Count shows no reflection in a mirror. Unlike vampires as traditionally depicted in legend and motion pictures, however, the Count often relaxes in the sunlight (as seen in "Counting Vacation" and "Coconut Counting Man," among others). Furthermore, the Count has never demonstrated a fondness for blood or the ability to turn into a bat.
The Count lives in an old, cobweb-infested castle that he shares with many bats. Sometimes he counts them. Some of the pet bats are named, including Grisha, Misha, Sasha, and Tattiana. He also has a cat, Fatatita, and an octopus named Octavia. He also plays a large pipe organ, and in some illustrations he is seen playing the violin. In recent years, the Count has appeared on each episode to announce the Number of the Day, playing notes on his organ to count up to the featured number.
The Count's most recent girlfriend, Countess von Backwards, is known for counting backwards. He had previously been linked to Countess Dahling von Dahling and shared a brief romantic tryst with Lady Two. His brother and mother have made appearances on the show, and he also has an Uncle Uno.
Early days
The character was created by Sesame Street writer Norman Stiles. Performer Jerry Nelson recalled his immediate enthusiasm for the character in a 1999 interview:
Norman told me he was writing this piece with this new character who's called the Count... He's a vampire, but not a real vampire... He just has a jones for numbers. He's obsessed with counting things. So I went, "Oh, cool," and I went to Jim [Henson] and said, "You know, Norman's writing this new character called the Count." Jim said, "Let me hear it." So I went (in my Count voice), "Yes, I vould love to do it!" and Jim said, "Yes, you can do it." [6]
The Count is now a friendly, non-threatening figure on the Street, but his early appearances in 1972 had a more sinister edge. He had hypnotic powers, and was able to stun other Muppets by waving his hands.[5] After counting, he uttered a villainous laugh as lightning flashed in moody colors. He was often accompanied by creepy organ music. As the character matured, the sinister aspect of his personality was toned down, and his laugh became a throaty, Lugosi-style chuckle.
Appearances
He made cameo appearances in The Muppet Movie (in the finale) and The Muppets Take Manhattan (in the wedding), and has also been featured in the Sesame Street movies Follow That Bird and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. He also appeared in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years and A Muppet Family Christmas.
The Count made a special appearance on episode 518 of The Muppet Show, emerging with his Sesame co-stars from the Three Bears' cave when Ali Baba shouts, "Open Sesame!"
On November 14, 1988, Count co-hosted The Today Show with Meryl Sheep.
On December 11 2008, the Count was interviewed on More or Less, a BBC radio show about numbers.
The Count has a compulsive love of counting (arithmomania); he will count anything and everything, regardless of size, amount, or how much annoyance he causes others around him. In one song he stated that he sometimes even counts himself. When he finishes counting, The Count laughs and announces his total (which sometimes appears on screen). This finale is usually accompanied by a crash of thunder and a flash of lightning. According to the story "Who Stole the Count's Thunder?" written by Tony Geiss, the Count has a personal cloud that hovers over his head and provides the thunder and lightning that lets him "know" when he has finished counting.[1]
When the Count sings, the music that accompanies him resembles Roma music, no matter what the song.
The Count's Sesame Workshop profile does not use the word vampire but does suggests that he may be a distant relative of Count Dracula.[2] However, the book Sesame Street Unpaved describes The Count as a "Numerical Vampire."[3] In contrast, the 2001 Sesame Street Muppets Drawing Guide insists "The Count is not a vampire."[4]
Nevertheless, the Count resembles Bela Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula in voice (speaking in an Eastern European accent and pronouncing his Vs as Ws), appearance, and sometimes mannerisms. For example, in early sketches, the Count waves his hands to exercise hypnotic power over other Muppets and holds his cape over the lower part of his face while moving.[5] In addition, an early skit revealed that the Count shows no reflection in a mirror. Unlike vampires as traditionally depicted in legend and motion pictures, however, the Count often relaxes in the sunlight (as seen in "Counting Vacation" and "Coconut Counting Man," among others). Furthermore, the Count has never demonstrated a fondness for blood or the ability to turn into a bat.
The Count lives in an old, cobweb-infested castle that he shares with many bats. Sometimes he counts them. Some of the pet bats are named, including Grisha, Misha, Sasha, and Tattiana. He also has a cat, Fatatita, and an octopus named Octavia. He also plays a large pipe organ, and in some illustrations he is seen playing the violin. In recent years, the Count has appeared on each episode to announce the Number of the Day, playing notes on his organ to count up to the featured number.
The Count's most recent girlfriend, Countess von Backwards, is known for counting backwards. He had previously been linked to Countess Dahling von Dahling and shared a brief romantic tryst with Lady Two. His brother and mother have made appearances on the show, and he also has an Uncle Uno.
Early days
The character was created by Sesame Street writer Norman Stiles. Performer Jerry Nelson recalled his immediate enthusiasm for the character in a 1999 interview:
Norman told me he was writing this piece with this new character who's called the Count... He's a vampire, but not a real vampire... He just has a jones for numbers. He's obsessed with counting things. So I went, "Oh, cool," and I went to Jim [Henson] and said, "You know, Norman's writing this new character called the Count." Jim said, "Let me hear it." So I went (in my Count voice), "Yes, I vould love to do it!" and Jim said, "Yes, you can do it." [6]
The Count is now a friendly, non-threatening figure on the Street, but his early appearances in 1972 had a more sinister edge. He had hypnotic powers, and was able to stun other Muppets by waving his hands.[5] After counting, he uttered a villainous laugh as lightning flashed in moody colors. He was often accompanied by creepy organ music. As the character matured, the sinister aspect of his personality was toned down, and his laugh became a throaty, Lugosi-style chuckle.
Appearances
He made cameo appearances in The Muppet Movie (in the finale) and The Muppets Take Manhattan (in the wedding), and has also been featured in the Sesame Street movies Follow That Bird and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. He also appeared in The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years and A Muppet Family Christmas.
The Count made a special appearance on episode 518 of The Muppet Show, emerging with his Sesame co-stars from the Three Bears' cave when Ali Baba shouts, "Open Sesame!"
On November 14, 1988, Count co-hosted The Today Show with Meryl Sheep.
On December 11 2008, the Count was interviewed on More or Less, a BBC radio show about numbers.
Trivia
Some traditional legends describe vampires as having a similar obsession with counting small objects; this obsession provides a means of distracting Vampires by tossing a handful of seeds or salt on the ground.
The Count's New York license plate number is "12345678910" in the movie Follow That Bird. However, in Count All the Way to Sesame Street, a book based on Follow that Bird, the Count's license plate number is simply "123."
The Count was a DJ for his own radio station on the album The Count's Countdown, and hosted a music video show in Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street.
In a Number of the Day segment for 0, The Count stated: "Oh hello, it is I, The Count. I'm called the Count because I love to count. Err, that, and I inherited my father's royal title." Despite this claim, the title of Count is one of nobility rather than royalty. (SSvideo) Thus, The Count's claim to royalty might rest on his having inherited a lesser title of a royal ancestor.
According to the book Sesame Street Unpaved, after Jon Stone read the first script of a Count skit, he sent it back to the writer, Norman Stiles, with a note scribbled atop: "Good character, bad bit". That skit was never produced.[3]
The Count states that his favorite TV show is 24.
In Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street, The Count says that his favorite song is "Count it Higher". However, the book Sesame Street Unpaved states that his favorite songs are "Born to Add" and "Count on Me."[3]
The Count's car is the Countmobile.
According to the 1998 book Sesame Street Unpaved, the Count is "written to represent an adult with the psychological age of someone who is 1,832,652 years old -- and still counting".[3]
Book appearances
Books starring Count von Count
The Sesame Street 1, 2, 3 Storybook (1973)
The Sesame Street ABC Storybook (1974)
The Sesame Street Book of Fairy Tales (1975)
Big Bird's Busy Book (1975)
See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Smell No Evil (1975)
The Sesame Street Postcard Book (1976)
Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree (1977)
Who's Who on Sesame Street (1977)
The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook (1978)
The Exciting Adventures of Super Grover (1978)
A Day on Sesame Street (1979)
Down on the Farm with Grover (1980)
Early Bird on Sesame Street (1980)
Look What I Found! (1980)
The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)
The Sesame Street Pet Show (1980)
Special Delivery (1980)
What Did You Bring? (1980)
Oscar's Rotten Birthday (1981)
Prairie Dawn's Upside-Down Poem (1981)
The Sesame Street Circus of Opposites (1981)
The Sesame Street Sun (1981)
What Do You Do?(1981)
City (1982)
A Day at School (1982)
A Sesame Street Christmas (1982)
The Little Red Hen (1983)
There's No Place Like Home (1983)
Big Bird's Copycat Day (1984)
Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street (1985)
Big Bird's Book of Rhymes (1985)
Ernie's Finish the Picture (1985)
Count All the Way to Sesame Street (1985)
Follow That Bird Activity Book (1985)
Follow That Bird coloring book (1985)
Grover's Book of Colors (1985)
I Can Count to Ten and Back Again (1985)
Count to Ten (1986)
Find the Shapes (1986)
Through the Year (1986)
Colors (1987)
Ernie's Neighborhood (1987)
A Rainy Day on Sesame Street (1987)
The Day Snuffy Had the Sniffles (1988)
A New Playground on Sesame Street (1988)
Come As You Are (1989)
I Can't Wait Until Christmas (1989)
Grover's Bad Dream (1990)
Museum of Monster Art (1990)
Big Bird Plays the Violin (1991)
Halloween Party (1991)
Sleep Tight! (1991)
What's in Oscar's Trash Can? and Other Good-Night Stories (1991)
Grover's 10 Terrific Ways to Help Our Wonderful World (1992)
We're Different, We're the Same (1992)
Elmo's Mother Goose (1993)
Around the Corner on Sesame Street (1994)
Elmo's Big Lift-and-Look Book (1994)
Sesame Street Stays Up Late (1995)
B is for Books! (1996)
Elmo Loves You (1997)
Pumpkin Patch Party (1997)
Slimey in Space (1998)
Where is Elmo's Blanket? (1999)
Elmo's ABC Book (2001)
Clap Your Hands! (2002)
Elmo Look and Find (2002)
Elmo Pops In! (2003)
Brought to You by... Sesame Street! (2004)
Boo! (2005)
Elmo's Easy As ABC (2005)
Elmo's Delicious Christmas (2005)
Red or Blue, I Like You! (2005)
Know Your Numbers (2006)
Learn About Counting with the Count (2006)
Elmo Visits the Dentist (2007)
Elmo's Favorite Places (2007)
Elmo's World Super Sticker Book (2007)
Friendly, Frosty Monsters (2007)
Let's Match (2007)
Music Player Storybook (2007)
Storybook ABCs (2008)
Count to 10 (2009)
Love, Elmo (2009)
editSources
↑ 1.0 1.1 Geiss, Tony (author); Nadel, Marc (illustrator) "Who Stole the Count's Thunder?", The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook; Random House: New York, NY, 1978, pp. 40–43.
↑ Sesame Workshop profile. Accessed November 19, 2009.
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Borgenicht, David Sesame Street Unpaved; New York, NY: Hyperion, 1998, pp. 56–58.
↑ Stevenson, Nancy W. (illustrator) Sesame Street Muppets Drawing Guide; Sesame Workshop: New York, NY, 2001, p. 9.
↑ 5.0 5.1 See, for example, Sesame Street Episode 0406.
↑ "Still Counting: An Interview with Muppeteer Jerry Nelson" by Kenneth Plume, Muppet Central. March 1, 1999. Accessed November 19, 2009.
editSee also
Count von Count Sketches
International Count von Count
Retrieved from "http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Count_von_Count"
Some traditional legends describe vampires as having a similar obsession with counting small objects; this obsession provides a means of distracting Vampires by tossing a handful of seeds or salt on the ground.
The Count's New York license plate number is "12345678910" in the movie Follow That Bird. However, in Count All the Way to Sesame Street, a book based on Follow that Bird, the Count's license plate number is simply "123."
The Count was a DJ for his own radio station on the album The Count's Countdown, and hosted a music video show in Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street.
In a Number of the Day segment for 0, The Count stated: "Oh hello, it is I, The Count. I'm called the Count because I love to count. Err, that, and I inherited my father's royal title." Despite this claim, the title of Count is one of nobility rather than royalty. (SSvideo) Thus, The Count's claim to royalty might rest on his having inherited a lesser title of a royal ancestor.
According to the book Sesame Street Unpaved, after Jon Stone read the first script of a Count skit, he sent it back to the writer, Norman Stiles, with a note scribbled atop: "Good character, bad bit". That skit was never produced.[3]
The Count states that his favorite TV show is 24.
In Count it Higher: Great Music Videos from Sesame Street, The Count says that his favorite song is "Count it Higher". However, the book Sesame Street Unpaved states that his favorite songs are "Born to Add" and "Count on Me."[3]
The Count's car is the Countmobile.
According to the 1998 book Sesame Street Unpaved, the Count is "written to represent an adult with the psychological age of someone who is 1,832,652 years old -- and still counting".[3]
Book appearances
Books starring Count von Count
The Sesame Street 1, 2, 3 Storybook (1973)
The Sesame Street ABC Storybook (1974)
The Sesame Street Book of Fairy Tales (1975)
Big Bird's Busy Book (1975)
See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Smell No Evil (1975)
The Sesame Street Postcard Book (1976)
Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree (1977)
Who's Who on Sesame Street (1977)
The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook (1978)
The Exciting Adventures of Super Grover (1978)
A Day on Sesame Street (1979)
Down on the Farm with Grover (1980)
Early Bird on Sesame Street (1980)
Look What I Found! (1980)
The Sesame Street Dictionary (1980)
The Sesame Street Pet Show (1980)
Special Delivery (1980)
What Did You Bring? (1980)
Oscar's Rotten Birthday (1981)
Prairie Dawn's Upside-Down Poem (1981)
The Sesame Street Circus of Opposites (1981)
The Sesame Street Sun (1981)
What Do You Do?(1981)
City (1982)
A Day at School (1982)
A Sesame Street Christmas (1982)
The Little Red Hen (1983)
There's No Place Like Home (1983)
Big Bird's Copycat Day (1984)
Big Bird Brings Spring to Sesame Street (1985)
Big Bird's Book of Rhymes (1985)
Ernie's Finish the Picture (1985)
Count All the Way to Sesame Street (1985)
Follow That Bird Activity Book (1985)
Follow That Bird coloring book (1985)
Grover's Book of Colors (1985)
I Can Count to Ten and Back Again (1985)
Count to Ten (1986)
Find the Shapes (1986)
Through the Year (1986)
Colors (1987)
Ernie's Neighborhood (1987)
A Rainy Day on Sesame Street (1987)
The Day Snuffy Had the Sniffles (1988)
A New Playground on Sesame Street (1988)
Come As You Are (1989)
I Can't Wait Until Christmas (1989)
Grover's Bad Dream (1990)
Museum of Monster Art (1990)
Big Bird Plays the Violin (1991)
Halloween Party (1991)
Sleep Tight! (1991)
What's in Oscar's Trash Can? and Other Good-Night Stories (1991)
Grover's 10 Terrific Ways to Help Our Wonderful World (1992)
We're Different, We're the Same (1992)
Elmo's Mother Goose (1993)
Around the Corner on Sesame Street (1994)
Elmo's Big Lift-and-Look Book (1994)
Sesame Street Stays Up Late (1995)
B is for Books! (1996)
Elmo Loves You (1997)
Pumpkin Patch Party (1997)
Slimey in Space (1998)
Where is Elmo's Blanket? (1999)
Elmo's ABC Book (2001)
Clap Your Hands! (2002)
Elmo Look and Find (2002)
Elmo Pops In! (2003)
Brought to You by... Sesame Street! (2004)
Boo! (2005)
Elmo's Easy As ABC (2005)
Elmo's Delicious Christmas (2005)
Red or Blue, I Like You! (2005)
Know Your Numbers (2006)
Learn About Counting with the Count (2006)
Elmo Visits the Dentist (2007)
Elmo's Favorite Places (2007)
Elmo's World Super Sticker Book (2007)
Friendly, Frosty Monsters (2007)
Let's Match (2007)
Music Player Storybook (2007)
Storybook ABCs (2008)
Count to 10 (2009)
Love, Elmo (2009)
editSources
↑ 1.0 1.1 Geiss, Tony (author); Nadel, Marc (illustrator) "Who Stole the Count's Thunder?", The Sesame Street Bedtime Storybook; Random House: New York, NY, 1978, pp. 40–43.
↑ Sesame Workshop profile. Accessed November 19, 2009.
↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Borgenicht, David Sesame Street Unpaved; New York, NY: Hyperion, 1998, pp. 56–58.
↑ Stevenson, Nancy W. (illustrator) Sesame Street Muppets Drawing Guide; Sesame Workshop: New York, NY, 2001, p. 9.
↑ 5.0 5.1 See, for example, Sesame Street Episode 0406.
↑ "Still Counting: An Interview with Muppeteer Jerry Nelson" by Kenneth Plume, Muppet Central. March 1, 1999. Accessed November 19, 2009.
editSee also
Count von Count Sketches
International Count von Count
Retrieved from "http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Count_von_Count"
After a big public announcement of the sort Apple had this week for the iPad CEO Steve Jobs often takes time in the day or two afterwards to have a Town Hall at One Infinite Loop, making himself available for questions from employees bold enough to stand up and take one right between the eyes.
This time, the big topics included Google and Adobe — no surprises there. Google recently unveiled its own Android-powered handset, the Nexus One, whose release Jan. 5 prompted Jobs to perhaps over-react by announcing on the same day that the iTunes store had served up three billion apps and that “… we see no signs of the competition catching up any time soon.” Apple’s billionth iPhone app download was greeted with great fanfare, but the two billionth not so much, so it felt a tad like Jobs was feeling some heat.
This time, the big topics included Google and Adobe — no surprises there. Google recently unveiled its own Android-powered handset, the Nexus One, whose release Jan. 5 prompted Jobs to perhaps over-react by announcing on the same day that the iTunes store had served up three billion apps and that “… we see no signs of the competition catching up any time soon.” Apple’s billionth iPhone app download was greeted with great fanfare, but the two billionth not so much, so it felt a tad like Jobs was feeling some heat.
And the absence of Adobe Flash support on the iPhone for three years and counting, and now on the iPad, is either celebrated by users as a poke in the eye of one of the web’s most dextrous tools, or the most over-rated and overused crutch for decent design.
Jobs, characteristically, did not mince words as he spoke to the assembled, according to a person who was there who could not be named because this person is not authorized by Apple to speak with the press.
On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.” Audience roars.
About Adobe: They are lazy, Jobs says. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy, he says. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.
The world, of course, includes Google, which last week in a somewhat more modest development bypassed Apple’s iPhone app blockade by unveiling an html5 version of Google Voice, which takes full advantage of mobile Safari on the iPhone. Wired.com found it to be an impressive variation of the app Apple has neither approved nor officially rejected.
And it is, of course, in keeping with Google’s stated view (Android app marketplace notwithstanding) that the future is really in web-based applications and not in mobile apps at all. Web-based applications of the sort html5 makes much more viable.
So, great work rallying the troops, Steve — but be careful what you wish for.
(Update, 1/31 2:00 pm ET: In a post on macrumors.com Arnold Kim adds some more details from the Town Hall, including tough talk from Jobs about a blistering pace of iPhone updates, the LaLa acquisition, the next iPhone and (ahem) another candid assessment, of Blu-Ray.)
(Update, 1/31 4:20 pm ET: Another member of the audience, who also requires anonymity because this person is also not authorized to speak to the media, disputes the “bullshit” quote and says Jobs actually said: “Don’t be evil is a load of crap,” as first reported by Daring Fireball. This source also asserts that Jobs had nice things to say about how Adobe, or at least how the company used to be, as John Gruber’s “little birdie” also told him first.)
Jobs, characteristically, did not mince words as he spoke to the assembled, according to a person who was there who could not be named because this person is not authorized by Apple to speak with the press.
On Google: We did not enter the search business, Jobs said. They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them, he says. Someone else asks something on a different topic, but there’s no getting Jobs off this rant. I want to go back to that other question first and say one more thing, he says. This don’t be evil mantra: “It’s bullshit.” Audience roars.
About Adobe: They are lazy, Jobs says. They have all this potential to do interesting things but they just refuse to do it. They don’t do anything with the approaches that Apple is taking, like Carbon. Apple does not support Flash because it is so buggy, he says. Whenever a Mac crashes more often than not it’s because of Flash. No one will be using Flash, he says. The world is moving to HTML5.
The world, of course, includes Google, which last week in a somewhat more modest development bypassed Apple’s iPhone app blockade by unveiling an html5 version of Google Voice, which takes full advantage of mobile Safari on the iPhone. Wired.com found it to be an impressive variation of the app Apple has neither approved nor officially rejected.
And it is, of course, in keeping with Google’s stated view (Android app marketplace notwithstanding) that the future is really in web-based applications and not in mobile apps at all. Web-based applications of the sort html5 makes much more viable.
So, great work rallying the troops, Steve — but be careful what you wish for.
(Update, 1/31 2:00 pm ET: In a post on macrumors.com Arnold Kim adds some more details from the Town Hall, including tough talk from Jobs about a blistering pace of iPhone updates, the LaLa acquisition, the next iPhone and (ahem) another candid assessment, of Blu-Ray.)
(Update, 1/31 4:20 pm ET: Another member of the audience, who also requires anonymity because this person is also not authorized to speak to the media, disputes the “bullshit” quote and says Jobs actually said: “Don’t be evil is a load of crap,” as first reported by Daring Fireball. This source also asserts that Jobs had nice things to say about how Adobe, or at least how the company used to be, as John Gruber’s “little birdie” also told him first.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
