Spoof New York Times reports end to Iraq war

(Fake) New York Times reports end to Iraq war


NEW YORK (AFP) — The United States has ended the war in Iraq and indicted President George W. Bush on treason charges, The New York Times reported Tuesday. OK, well not really.

An elaborate spoof hit the streets of New York on Tuesday: a convincing fake of The New York Times announcing not just the withdrawal of troops from Iraq but a raft of other US liberal fantasies.

Bush is indicted, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice apologizes that the fuss about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction was invented, and Americans are finally getting national health insurance.

And that's just on the front page.

The only problem? The free, 14-page "special edition" newspaper -- and its equally realistic looking "New York Times" website -- are phoney.

Website www.gawker.com has identified the pranksters behind the stunt as The Yes men, a liberal group famous for practical jokes.

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http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5g2iXmvWWipHA4VprWUol2bB3ZK7w

David Letterman lists what we do have to be thankful for

David Letterman is right on this but while reminding us what we do have to be happy about, (will come in handy on Thanksgiving when we are trying to list what we are thankful for) he is dismissing the suffering of most of the country. Besides the layoffs, foreclosures, two military campaigns creating more and more wounded and fallen soldiers with families to grieve the loss, homeless people in every city, if we only think about what is bad, we do tend to forget about what is good. It's something that is much needed and very timely considering that there is a new president coming in and a new mood in the nation.


Sent from email.

No matter what your political convictions are this is an eye opener....What a thankless people we are!!!

David Letterman, on President Bush. (Surprising)

David Letterman wrote this; it's the David we don't often see....

'As most of you know I am not a President Bush fan, nor have I ever been, but this is not about Bush, it is about us, as Americans, and it seems to hit the mark.'
'The other day I was reading Newsweek magazine and came across some Poll data I found rather hard to believe. It must be true given the source, right?
The Newsweek poll alleges that 67 percent of Americans are unhappy with the direction the country is headed and 69 percent of the country is unhappy with the performance of the President.. In essence 2/3 of the citizenry just ain't happy and want a change. So being the knuckle dragger I am, I started thinking, 'What are we so unhappy about?'

A. Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 Days a week?

B. Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter?




C. Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job?

D. Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

E. Maybe it is the ability to drive our cars and trucks from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean without having to present identification papers as we move through each state.



F. Or possibly the hundreds of clean and safe motels we would find along the way that can provide temporary shelter?

G. I guess having thousands of restaurants with varying cuisine from around the world is just not good enough either.

H. Or could it be that when we wreck our car, emergency workers show up and provide services to help all and even send a helicopter to take you to the hospital.

I. Perhaps you are one of the 70 percent of Americans who own a home.



J. You may be upset with knowing that in the unfortunate case of a fire, a group of trained firefighters will appear in moments and use top notch equipment to extinguish the flames thus saving you, your family, and your belongings.

K. Or if, while at home watching one of your many flat screen TVs, a burglar or prowler intrudes, an officer equipped with a gun and a bullet-proof vest will come to defend you and your family against attack or loss.

L. This all in the backdrop of a neighborhood free of bombs or militias raping and pillaging the residents. Neighborhoods where 90% of teenagers own cell phones and computers.

M. How about the complete religious, social and political freedoms we enjoy that are the envy of everyone in the world?

Maybe that is what has 67% of you folks unhappy.

Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. , yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have, and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I know, I know. What about the president who took us into war and has no plan to get us out? The president who has a measly 31 percent approval rating? Is this the same president who guided the nation in the dark days after 9/11? The president that cut taxes to bring an economy out of recession? Could this be the same guy who has been called every name in the book for succeeding in keeping all the spoiled ungrateful brats safe from terrorist attacks? The commander in chief of an all-volunteer army that is out there defending you and me?



Did you hear how bad the President is on the news or talk show? Did this news affect you so much, make you so unhappy you couldn't take a look around for yourself and see all the good things and be glad? Think about it......are you upset at the President because he actually caused you personal pain OR is it because the 'Media' told you he was failing to kiss your sorry ungrateful behind every day.



Make no mistake about it. The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have volunteered to serve, and in many cases may have died for your freedom. There is currently no draft in this country. They didn't have to go. They are able to refuse to go and end up with either a ''general'' discharge, an 'other than honorable'' discharge or, worst case scenario, a ''dishonorable' discharge after a few days in
the brig.

So why then the flat-out discontentment in the minds of 69 percent of Americans?

Say what you want, but I blame it on the media. If it bleeds it leads and they specialize in bad news. Everybody will watch a car crash with blood and guts. How many will watch kids selling lemonade at the corner? The media knows this and media outlets are for-profit corporations. They offer what sells, and when criticized, try to defend their actions by 'justifying' them in one way or another. Just ask why they tried to allow a murderer like O.J. Simpson to write a book about how he didn't kill his wife, but if he did he would have done it
this way......Insane!

Turn off the TV, burn Newsweek, and use the New
York Times for the bottom of your bird cage. Then start being grateful for all we have as a country. There is exponentially more good than bad. We are among the most blessed people on Earth and should thank God several times a day, or at least be thankful and appreciative.' 'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, 'Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'



-David Letterman


Please keep this in circulation. There are so many people who need to read this and grasp the truth of it all.

Bronze Star honors sailor’s Iraq service

Bronze Star honors sailor’s Iraq service
By Travis J. Tritten, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, November 14, 2008

A Navy lieutenant was awarded the Bronze Star with Valor device Monday on Okinawa for the very dangerous work of eliminating explosives in the Anbar province of Iraq in 2007.

But for Lt. Jonathan Haase, the deployment had been a "lot of fun," he said. He added he never thought he would earn such a high award when he joined the U.S. Navy.

The sailor said he was most grateful for something else — having his wife at the award ceremony.

"My wife was home for the kids and it was a way to thank her for all the support that she gave me," Haase said. "For me, it was really gratifying that she was there."

Haase was given the award for routinely exposing himself to grave and immediate danger as the officer-in-charge of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit Five Detachment One, which operated in Iraq from June until December 2007.
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Navajo WWII Marine, Code Talker big hit at Yokosuka Naval Base’s elementary school

Kids tune in to ‘code talker’
A piece of living history visited Yokosuka Naval Base’s elementary school Wednesday to give students a first-hand account of his role in World War II. Samuel Smith, a Navajo and former Marine, was a member of the so-called "code talkers," who transmitted secret, tactical messages using their native language over military telephones and radios.
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Annual food drive returns to Killeen with help from troops

Annual food drive returns to Killeen
Floating on cloud nine is how Ann Farris said she will feel after Killeen's Food Care Center receives its donated goods during the Central Texas Food For Families drive Nov. 21.

Farris, the co-director of the Food Care Center, said sorting all those provisions and getting them out to families in need will be an exhausting process, but it is always well worth the positive impact that the simplest of necessities can make on the community.

Through the partnership between KWTX Channel 10 News, H-E-B, the Longhorn Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the U.S. Army, local food pantries and scores of volunteers, the food drive has been going strong in Central Texas for 18 years.

Virgil Teter, the vice president of news at KWTX and an organizer of the drive, said the event is spread over 19 cities and nine counties.
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Husband's coffin kills widow in Brazil

Husband's coffin kills widow
Husband's coffin kills widow
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 2:59 AM


SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Police say a woman has died on the way to a cemetery when a traffic accident hurled her husband's coffin against the back of her neck.

Police say 67-year-old Marciana Silva Barcelos was in the front passenger seat of the hearse during the crash Monday in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Her 76-year-old husband, Josi Silveira Coimbra, died Sunday of a heart attack while dancing at a party.

Second school collapses in Haiti

Second school collapses in Haiti
A second school in Haiti has partially collapsed, injuring nine people. Portions of the Grace Divine School in Canape Vert came crashing down Wednesday while class was in session. -
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Teen faces first-degree murder in Dillard High School slaying

Teen faces first-degree murder in Dillard slaying

Shooting suspect Teah Wimberly, has been charged with first-degree murder and one count of discharging a weapon on school property for Wednesday's slaying at Dillard High School. - Updated 29 minutes ago
BY ADAM H. BEASLEY, HANNAH SAMPSON AND JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA
jmooney@MiamiHerald.com
A 10th-grader was fatally shot as classes were underway at Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale Wednesday afternoon, and another 15-year-old armed with a chrome, semiautomatic handgun was arrested shortly afterward, authorities said.

The victim, identified as Amanda Collette, was rushed to Broward General Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, both police and school district officials confirmed. She was shot in the torso, authorities said.

The shooting suspect, a sophomore named Teah Wimberly, was being questioned -- with her grandfather by her side -- at police headquarters and has been charged with first-degree murder and one count of discharging a weapon on school property.
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Three generations of soldiers mark Veterans Day in Peabody MA

From left, Louis P. Girolimon, Frederick L. Howcroft and Frederick J. Howcroft represent three generations of military service within a single family. Girolimon served in World War II, Frederick L. Howcroft served in the War of Terror, and Frederick J. Howcroft served in Vietnam. Matthew Viglianti/Staff Photographer

A family of heroes: Three generations of soldiers mark Veterans Day in Peabody

By Alan Burke
Staff writer


We all have responsibilities as citizens, but some of us carry more of the weight. And some carry it farther.

Yesterday, three generations of American warriors gathered at Peabody City Hall to mark Veterans Day. Included was Army National Guardsman Frederick L. Howcroft, his father Frederick J. Howcroft and his grandfather Louis Girolimon. Among those remembered was Girolimon's son, Lance Cpl. Louis M. Girolimon, killed in Vietnam on June 10, 1968.

Grandfather Louis, now 83 and a retired Peabody patrolman, began the family's American military tradition in World War II. The son of an Italian immigrant, he went into the Army on graduation from Peabody High School.

"I've been patriotic all my life," he says. "It's something you have to do as a man. ... As long as we uphold our honor, that's the important thing."

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http://www.salemnews.com/punews/local_story_316221359.html

Two schoolgirls blinded in acid attack in Afghanistan

Two schoolgirls blinded in acid attack in Afghanistan
Story Highlights
Men on motorcycle spray girls with acid from squirt guns, military says

No one claims responsibility, but network says Taliban suspected

Girls were prohibited from going to school under Taliban regime

Top U.S. commander calls insurgents "dishonorable"


KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Two men on a motorcycle used water pistols to spray acid on girls walking to school Wednesday in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, blinding at least two of them, military spokesmen said.


An Afghan schoolgirl sits in a hospital Wednesday after being sprayed with acid in Kandahar, Afghanistan.



U.S. Col. Greg Julian said Afghanistan's National Military Command Center told him that four girls were hurt in the incident. Two were blinded and remain hospitalized, and two were treated and released, he said.

The men escaped after the attack, and no one claimed responsibility for it, but Arab-language network Al-Jazeera said Taliban militants were suspected to be responsible.

The incident occurred about 8 a.m. near Mirwais Nika Girls High School in the Meir Weis Mena district.

Kandahar government spokesman Parwaz Ayoubi gave different figures on the number of girls injured, saying six were burned, one of them severely. He called the attackers "enemies of education."

Girls were forbidden to attend school under the Taliban, which ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, when U.S.-led forces removed them from power.

According to Al-Jazeera, the girls were attacked with battery acid. Two teenage sisters, one of whom suffered serious burns, were among the victims.
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/11/12/afghanistan.acid.attack/index.html