Time is "ripe..to punish Kim Jong-il"

A group of North Korea defectors held a conference this week to make plans for the end of the Kim Jong-il regime.

The conference, entitled “Conference of 20,000 Defectors Rising for the Overthrow of the Culprit in the Yeonpyeong Island Shelling and Sinking of the Cheonan, the Kim Dynasty” [yes, that is really the name; check out their banner] was aimed at renewing efforts to topple the communist monarchy.

A statement released at the event stated, "At the moment, the atmosphere is ripe for the People’s Army and people to unite and punish Kim Jong Il."  By many accounts, the people part of that equation might be there but the Military First policy of the North Korean regime, which insures that the military receives the priority in the distribution of Pyongyang's dwindling resources, means that the military will likely remain part of the problem rather than part of the solution until the very last moment of the regime.

It is worth noting that the current group of North Korean defectors in the south make for relatively poor fifth columnists. While exile groups often include former government officials and members of the intelligentsia who have some influence on the old county, the vast majority of the North Korean defectors in South Korea come from the lowest rungs of North Korean society. As such, although many still maintain contacts inside North Korea, those contacts generally do not reach people with the means of exerting influence on the regime, much less overthrowing it.

However, the conference also covered an area were I think defectors can be effective:

Park Seh Il of Hansun Foundation for Freedom and Prosperity added, “Thus far, South Korea has only focused on maintaining the status quo,” but added, “In this situation, defectors must become the leading group in Korean Peninsula unification and provide good answers to questions of the future shape of North and South Korea and the principles of a decent and fair reunification.”

Letting South Koreans, especially younger generations who have no memory of the Korean War or what life was like under the communists, know about the reality of the lives of over 20 million of their fellow Koreans is vital. A recent report by the Chosun Ilbo reveals that younger South Koreans have little appreciation for how baneful the Kim Jong-il regime really is.

Does Cam Newton Deserve The Heisman?

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Bob Parks

We all know Auburn’s Cam Newton was the best college football player in 2010, will probably win tonight’s awarding of the Heisman Trophy, and will probably be a first round pick in the NFL draft. But does he deserve these rewards…?

I’m sure I’d know if someone in my family was offered $200k to obtain my services, but that’s only me.

Leader of La Familia Drug Cartel Gunned Down and Killed By Mexican Federal Police

Wow. This is pretty big news as La Familia is one of the largest drug cartels in Mexico - this is gonna send some shockwaves across the cartels in Mexico and might just create a chaos in the whole vacuum. A real shame to see this pig end up full of bullet holes, now isn't it?

From the story at Breitbart:

The eccentric leader of the brutal La Familia drug cartel is believed to have been killed in a shootout during two days of fighting between federal police and gunmen that terrified civilians across a western Mexican state, the government said Friday.

The death of Nazario Moreno Gonzalez—nicknamed "The Craziest One"—would be a major blow to a drug cartel that burst into national prominence four years ago by rolling severed heads into a nightclub and declaring that its mission was to protect Michoacan state from rival gangs and petty criminals.

Police have received information that the 40-year-old Gonzalez—also known as "El Chayo" or "The Doctor"—was killed in clash Thursday between cartel gunmen and federal police, said Alejandro Poire, the government spokesman for security issues.

Cartel gunmen have been fleeing with their causalities, and police believe that Moreno was among the dead, Poire said. He said police recovered the bodies of three other suspected La Familia members and detained three others.

Of course we all know what this means...the La Familia people will now go on a murder spree and basically assassinate about a dozen police officials in Mexico in retribution.

And so it is in Mexico. Drugs, poverty, blood. And all of these cartels looking to bring this to America. I have to ask the question - at what point are we going to see the U.S. military in aggressive attack on the cartels inside of American and five miles south of our border?

Former Miss AZ contestant Kumari Fulbright gets prison sentence

Friday, December 10th, 2010 By Victoria Kingston

Kumari Fulbright, former Miss Arizona contestant, gets two years in prison. (Photo: "T"eresa/Flickr/CC-BY)

Kumari Fulbright, the former Miss Arizona pageant contestant, has been sentenced to two years in prison for her role in kidnapping and torturing her ex-boyfriend two years ago. Who would have ever thought Fulbright, also a former UA law school student, would be capable of such brutal deeds?

Kumari Fulbright charged for assault and kidnapping

Former pageant contestant Kumari Fulbright, 28, was sentenced yesterday to two years in prison and six years probation after she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and aggravated assault charges. Joshua Conway, Fulbright’s former boyfriend, was reportedly beaten, cut with a knife and held at gunpoint for hours before he managed to escape.

According to U.K.’s Daily Mail, Fulbright had asked Conway to sell some jewelry she had gotten from her former boyfriend, Rober Ergonis. When Ergonis later came back into her life, she lied to him, claiming Conway stole and sold the jewelry. Fulbright told jurors that the plan was only to talk Conway into telling them where where the jewelry was, but things quickly got out of hand. According to prosecutors, Fulbright lured Conway to her flat, where Ergonis and two other men jumped him.

Ergonis was charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, armed robbery and aggravated robbery. The other two men involved, David Radde and Larry Hammond, struck plea deals with the state after agreeing to testify against Ergonis last month.

Beauty queens with ugly behaviors

Onstage, it’s all smiles. But lives of many of these beauty pageant contestants aren’t always picture-perfect. Tia Shorts, Miss Maryland 2004, pleaded guilty to obstructing a police investigation in a drug case involving cocaine, as reported by CBS. Colombian beauty queen Angie Sanclemente Valencia was accused of enticing other models to smuggle cocaine from Argentina to Europe with promises of first-class travel, according to BBC. So, what is it exactly that moves women like Kumari Fulbright to make such ugly choices?

Sources

Daily Mail U.K.

Elderly Man Dies After Fight With Burger King Worker

» by Danielle Canada December 10, 2010, 14:37pm

An elderly Detroit man is dead this morning after police say he got into a fight with a Burger King worker and died from a punch to the face turned lethal.

Authorities say the 67-year-old, whose name has not been released, was punched by a 20-year-old restaurant worker.

Although an autopsy is still pending, initial reports suggest that the victim choked on his dentures after being hit.

The worker is in police custody and could face criminal charges.

Mark Madoff Found Dead in NYC Apartment; Bernie Madoff Son Dead in NYC

Mark Madoff, the eldest son of Bernie Madoff, was found dead in his New York City apartment Satruday (December 11). “Mark Madoff took his own life today,” Martin Flumenbaum, Mark Madoff’s lawyer, said in a statement on Saturday. “This is a terrible and unnecessary tragedy.”

Today marks the two year anniversary of Mark’s father, Bernie’s arrest for running a gigantic Ponzi scheme that cost investors around the world millions. Madoff’s body was discovered hanging in his bedroom by his father-in-law. Mark’s two year old son was in an adjoining bedroom according to Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Brown. Since Bernard Madoff’s arrest, all the members of his immediate family have been the targets of civil lawsuits filed initially by victims of the Ponzi scheme and later by the bankruptcy court trustee pursuing assets for those victims.

According to the Associated Press, his body was found hanging from a dog leash that had been fashioned into a noose and strung over a pipe in the ceiling of his living room.

Rumors have circulated that both Mark and younger brother Jeff were highly involved in the scheme but has cost them well over $200 Million in the end. According to the family’s attorneys, Bernie’s sons were the ones who turned him in to the authorities.

by Sara

In Tapes, Nixon Rails About Jews and Blacks

By ADAM NAGOURNEY
NYT

YORBA LINDA, Calif. — Richard M. Nixon made disparaging remarks about Jews, blacks, Italian-Americans and Irish-Americans in a series of extended conversations with top aides and his personal secretary, recorded in the Oval Office 16 months before he resigned as president.

The remarks were contained in 265 hours of recordings, captured by the secret taping system Nixon had installed in the White House and released this week by the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum.

While previous recordings have detailed Nixon’s animosity toward Jews, including those who served in his administration like Henry A. Kissinger, his national security adviser, these tapes suggest an added layer of complexity to Nixon’s feeling. He and his aides seem to make a distinction between Israeli Jews, whom Nixon admired, and American Jews.

In a conversation Feb. 13, 1973, with Charles W. Colson, a senior adviser who had just told Nixon that he had always had “a little prejudice,” Nixon said he was not prejudiced but continued: “I’ve just recognized that, you know, all people have certain traits.”

(More here.)