RIP Ivan Cameron

Another sad bit of breaking news on this busy Wednesday morning.

Ivan Cameron, aged only 6, has passed away as a result of Ohtahara Syndrome (often confused with cerebral palsy). He was the son of opposition Tory leader, David Cameron.

Here the poor lad is being cradled most lovingly by his dad. My deepest condolences to the Camerons.



Losing a child, any child, is unimaginable. I hope there is no media circus about this, or any child of a notable personality.

BREAKING: No Miracle On The Amstel

Unlike the unbelievable landing on water by an US Airways plane, a Turkish airliner crash landed in Amsterdam's Schiphol* airport a few moments ago -- breaking the plane in three.



1 person is already confirmed dead, possibly 80 passengers are safe according to reports, in a total of 135 passengers. Horrifying.

Let's hope it turns out as best as the situation can.

*If you ever have a spare 2 or 3 hours, try to get a Dutch person to teach you how to pronounce "Schiphol" correctly.

Paging Norman Rockwell

Little Jacob and Mary Czaja are seen offering their homemade muffins to New York State Trooper Mike Ballow, amongst one of dozens of personnel working non-stop to recover the remains of Continental Flight 3407 in upstate New York.

To me, this photo is Americana at its best. It manages to combine two of Norman Rockwell's iconic sketches.

The homespun bounty of "Freedom from Want".



As well as the transparently trusting faces of the children saluting the heroes who made it all possible, one star and stripe at a time.

"I Think I Made The Wrong Decision"

Whatever qualms I may have about President Obama and his political ideology, is as nothing compared to people who genuinely have a stake in the matter, whose lives and sacrifices are more than just misgivings.

Like the mother of James McDaniels, Diane.

Her naval son died in the USS Cole attack. She is directly affected by President Obama's decision to close down the Guantanamo detainee camp, and in fact, now regrets her decision to vote for him.

"My son was blown up along with 16 others. I buried body parts for three years," she told FOX News. "I'm still suffering and now he's withdrawing the charges?

Brutal, absolutely brutal. Poor woman.



(Via Picketlines)

Seventeen U.S. sailors died on Oct. 12, 2000, when Al Qaeda suicide bombers steered an explosives-laden boat into the Cole, a guided-missile destroyer, as it sat in a Yemen port.

The Pentagon last summer charged al-Nashiri, a Saudi Arabian, with "organizing and directing" the bombing and planned to seek the death penalty in the case.

In his Jan. 22 order, Obama promised to shut down the Guantanamo prison within a year. The order also froze all Guantanamo detainee legal cases pending a three-month review as the Obama administration decides where -- and whether -- to prosecute the suspects who have been held there for years, most without charges.

Two military judges granted Obama's request for a delay in other cases.

But a third military judge, Army Col. James Pohl, defied Obama's order by scheduling a Feb. 9 arraignment for al-Nashiri at Guantanamo.

Watch her become a media and progressive aisle darling like Cindy Sheehan in 3...2...1...actually, in "never". Her pain at losing her son is devalued because she dares not to toe their line.

Thank you for your son's service, Mrs. McDaniels. May he rest in peace, since justice may be out of the reach of fate.

Obama Dozed, People Froze

Where is President Obama during the worst natural disaster to strike the US since Hurricane Katrina? Have you heard of any flybys by the new Commander-in-Chief to Kentucky, to pat his Brownie on the back, and tell him he's doing a heckuva job?

I thought disasters making everything go haywire were always judged the President's fault?



And why is there is almost zero coverage about this, not only of the tragedy of having 55 people die so far in the freezing cold as they await power to return to the State -- but of a lack of personal interest on the part of a sitting President, one cocooned all cosy and warm in his 80F Oval Office, throwing Super Bowl parties, one might add.

I know what his defenders will say. It's too early. He's too green yet, and his miscue might be understandable given the other problems plaguing our country. Give him the benefit of the doubt!

At this point, such a lack of doubt is a benefit.

Further Reading

Time's "Kentucky's Ice Storm: Worse Now That It's Over"

Beaches

A "pod" of 50 sperm whales beached themselves in Tasmania's Perkin Islands, and rescue workers are having a very difficult time reaching the poor mammals to help them. 48 of the 50 have already been confirmed as dead. Very sad.



It's not often that Tazzy is in the news, and even then it was usually because of famous son, Errol Flynn and his swordsman ways.

The Hindu Zionists Did It

Mystery solved, people.

Pakistan's News One channel had a Pakistani security expert who blows the lid on who staged the Mumbai 11/26 attacks: Hindu Zionists.



The Times of India are on it. For some reason, though, they don't seem too convinced with the scenario.

NEW DELHI: Mumbai's 26/11 was actually a plan hatched by "Hindu Zionists" and "Western Zionists", including the Mossad, said a self-styled Pakistan security expert on a Pakistan news television show, uploaded on www.hotklix.com.

" Inki shaklein Hinduonwali hain, jis zabaan mein guftagoo kar rahein hain, woh zabaan koi Pakistani istemaal nahin karta hai (They look like Hindus. No Pakistani speaks the language they chatted in)," said Zaid Hamid while referring to the terrorists on the show Mujhe Ikhtilaf Hai (I differ) on Pakistan's News One channel. The sensationalist channel was launched in November last year.

Anyone else tired of the Mossad being blamed for anything Islamic extremists commit? The sad thing is that many people believe what this idiot says as gospel truth. "The Mossad, of course!".

Hamid said that it was a "badly planned" operation that had gone horribly wrong. "9/11 jo Americans ne kiya tha usko bahut khoobsurat camouflage kiya tha. Unhone media mein perception management bahut acchha kiya . Indians ne wahi game repeat karne ki koshish ki, lekin akal to hai nahin . In ahmakon ne complete disaster kiya isko handle karne mein . (The Americans executed the 9/11 attack perfectly. They managed the media very well. The Indians tried to repeat the formula but goofed up. The idiots made a complete mess of it).

One has gotta love the backhanded compliment to the US. Our government executed 9/11 perfectly, so much so, that it fooled people into believing 19 innocent lads from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, who just happened to be travelling together that day in 3 airplanes, and who filmed confessional tapes about what they were doing, were framed.

But the Indians? Pfff. They couldn't kill more than 300 or so people. Pikers.

He said that the attackers wore saffron Hindu Zionist bands, which no Muslim would tie. Hamid also said that within the first 5 minutes of the attack, the three ATS policemen investigating the network of terror within India's security agencies and radical right were killed.

I love the idea of saffron Hindu Zionist bands. Why isn't Anna Wintour on this new fashion trend?!

That ensured that those investigations reach a dead end. Anchor Qudsia Qadri added that with their killings, the investigations into the Samjhauta Express carnage would be halted. The killings also immediately shifted attention from India's domestic terrorists to Pakistan, said Hamid.

Marvi Memon, glamorous Pakistan Muslim League member, on the same programme, was appalled at the Pakistan government's expansion of the "India-appeasement package" by initially agreeing to send ISI chief to India. "I just don't get it," she exclaimed in exasperation.

God forbid anyone helps those nasty Hindu Zionists to investigate a tragedy of their own making. Yeah, I don't get it either, Miss Memon.

She wondered how can you send the ISI chief to a " mulk jiske sath jang chal raha hai ...at a different level...," mentioning Kashmir and accusing India of blocking Pakistan's waters. Memon said, "They (Indians) are quite obsessed with anti-Pakistan speak and that unites them," she said. Memon also spoke about India's separatist movements and believed that India was only reaping the bitter harvest of the poisonous seeds it had sowed.

The Hindu Zionist chickens are coming home to roost!

Blogger daily.pk writes in pakalert.wordpress.com, "India has been relapsing into religious extremism and numerous separatist movement have mushroomed due to official patronage ...I see the Mumbai bombings as the desperate move of separatists who want to blame everything on Muslims."

It is true that political Hinduism has become more proactive, as their leader Raj Thacheray gains more power. But what Pakistanis fail to understand is that their country and other countries are not being infiltrated by "Hindu extremism" for the purpose of blowing people up. That's an extremist Muslim thing which fans outward AND inward. Not realising this development undermines their position, and their advance as a nation-state, just like it does any other country which harbours or makes excuses for their religion having been hijacked by these murderers.

The so-called "Arab Street" has always been notoriously conspiracy-prone.

It is inevitable, perhaps, that people who are the pawns of dictators, and who rarely if ever have truth told to them in those countries, should find alternate truths to explain their conditions. After all, everything is a sham. Why should you believe reality when it stares you in the face?

The tragedy of course is that conspiracy theorists are rife all around the world. We in the US are in the grips of so many prominent celebrities who are outspoken in saying they believe our own government was behind 9/11. These people tell you with a straight face that the Mossad planned it, and even emailed every Jew who worked in the World Trade Centres to stay home that day.

(I guess Cantor Fitzgerald employee and brother of their CEO, Howard Luttnick, alongside scores of Jewish fatalities that day, didn't get the memo)

How do we combat this conspiracy theory disease? Because make no doubt of it. It is a corrosive, invasive, debilitating disease which afflicts the most mentally unstable, most cognitive dissonant of people.

Conspiracy theories are the graveyards of the mind. It's where all logic goes to die.

Hindu Zionists are just the latest additions to the mausoleum.

Shots Ring Out At Dadeland

First, I am all right. I had just swung by Coral Gables very early today, to get my license plate renewed when I decided to take a peak at Dadeland Mall, a mere 10 minutes away.

I left almost immediately. Here is why. ElCubanitoKC will have flashbacks.

MIAMI (AP) — Authorities responding to a shooting at suburban Miami mall say one person has been shot and taken to a hospital.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue spokesman Lt. Eddy Ballester said the agency received a call about a shooting at the Dadeland Mall at 11:17 a.m. Monday. Another person was hurt, but their injury was not immediately clear.

Aerial news footage showed an armored car parked in front of the mall surrounded by police and fire rescue officials.

Jorge Divo was in the food court when he saw a crowd of shoppers running, screaming "that someone had been shot."

A Miami-Dade County police spokeswoman didn't immediately have any other details.

Dadeland Mall is located about 15 miles southwest of downtown Miami. It has more than 185 specialty stores, department stores, shops and boutiques.

Crikey, I was within seconds of being in the midst of this latter-day Cocaine Cowboys shootout!

For those of you who didn't see this documentary, it was at Dadeland Mall in mostly upscale Kendall, a noted suburb of Miami, that the Cocaine Wars which plagued this city, started back in 1979.

There used to be a Crown Liquors located there next to a Cozzoli's Pizzeria (my mother remembers an Italian by the name of Gino who either was the owner, or the ubiquitous employee -- he told her about that fateful day many times, in sombre tones). This is what happened.

Today, Saks Fifth Avenue is more or less the location of that event which happened nearly an unbelievable 30 years ago. How time flies. Dadeland looks almost nothing like the video shown above. I'm sad to see violence return to this suburban mall, at once wonderful, but today, again rent apart with gunshots...

This after I had read with satisfaction that October 2008 recorded ZERO murders in all of Miami -- an unheard of tally a generation ago. Sigh.

Here's hoping all my Miami readers are safe and sound.

ADDED: Wow! Look at the famous Dadeland Mall seahorse statue in the open air! My parents remember it being enclosed so this must date to at least the 70s. EDIT: In fact, the blog says it is "circa 1960s". Dadeland opened in 1962. Good grief. It must've been one of the first malls in the US.



Malls are still strange concepts to Brits (though they are fast taking over the High Streets all over Britain) and Dadeland was one of the first I remember.

Other than Toronto's Eaton Centre, it held and still holds a very special place in my heart. I think it was the first Food Court I recall dining at. 'Das Wunder von Miami', as my maternal grandmother called it. She would've missed the demise of Burdines, the famous local department store with the endless perfume spritzer ladies you could never quite avoid, now taken over by Macy's tentacles. Jane Fonda has no memories of it, as a workout book she was then flogging at book signings in the early 80s, had to be canceled. Burdines was flooded with bomb threats, as locals were none too keen to see Hanoi Jane amongst the high-priced tschokes.

By the way, check out the "Malls of America" blog, from which this photo comes, to see if you can find your own memory lane today.

UPDATE: Sadly, the Dunbar security guard died. He wasn't wearing a bullet-proof vest. His murderers are on the loose, so if you have any tips, please call (305) 407-TIPS.

Turns out that if I hadn't left when I did -- before the cops came -- I would not have been allowed to leave for 6 hours plus. Dadeland was locked down.

We're All Hokies Today

Virginia Tech always give Florida college football teams a HECK of a game, never giving up, fighting with grit and gristle to the end. Sadly, the Hokies community today has been dealt a horrible blow. So today, we leave our rivalries behind, and join them in prayer.

May all who died so needlessly, rest in peace, and may this never happen again, anywhere...