Heroic Lorry Driver Stories

TheBadge | July 4, 2009 12:47 am | Guest Authors | Comments (0)

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Perhaps it’s because of their no-nonsense attitude, or maybe it is just because there are so many of them on the road, but when they aren’t busy working on various haulage jobs many lorry drivers seem to moonlight as have-a-go heroes. Whenever a member of the public is hailed as a hero for rescuing those in danger, more often than not it turns out to be a lorry driver, or so it seems, and in the best stories, the lorry plays as big a part as the driver in the rescue.
The Dog Whisperer
Les Petch, a lorry driver who lives in Darlington, saved the life of a ten year old boy who was being savaged by a bull mastiff in May 2008. The boy was playing on a patch of grass on the Darlington Red Hall Estate when the dog began to bite and maul him. Les heard the commotion, rushed out, subdued the dog and then sat on it until help arrived. Les was bitten in the stomach, and the boy required a number of skin grafts after the serious attack. “I managed to coax the dog off the kid by shouting at it,” Les said. “When it started to run at me I just thought, ‘what am I doing?’ But it was either me or the dog – and it wasn’t going to be me.”
“Delivery at any time, any place, and in any weather…”
Lee Hall, a lorry driver in West Yorkshire, earned a special commendation from firefighters after he helped rescue sixteen people during the floods in January 2008. With fire crews stretched thin and struggling to rescue people trapped in their homes, Lee reversed his lorry past a row of flooded houses, allowing fire fighters to lift trapped residents on to his trailer. Modest in the response to praise from fire crews, Lee commented “It’s not like I rescued anyone from a burning building. I’d do it again.”
Fight fire with lorry
Now for someone who DID save people from a burning building! Quick thinking from a lorry driver (and an unconventional use of his lorry trailer) helped to save two people from a burning restaurant in September 2004.
After a deep fat fryer caused a blaze at a KFC in Horsham, two people were left trapped in the flat above the restaurant and were preparing to jump into the street. The lorry driver, parked across the road and in the middle of a haulage job, quickly reversed beneath the window, giving them a soft landing on the canvas roof of his trailer.
Red hot delivery
Another fire related story to finish up with! Whilst waiting at a set of traffic lights in March 2007, a lorry driver hauling crushed cars and scrap metal was informed by a member of the public that his trailer seemed to be on fire, with smoke billowing out of the back of his lorry. The lorry driver calmly drove to a nearby fire station, but the fire was burning deep in a pile of scrap metal and firefighters were unable to extinguish it. Unruffled, the lorry driver, with the help of a police escort, drove his lorry to its original destination, the Norton scrapyard in Liverpool, where cranes pulled apart the trailer and fire crews finally managed to put out the blaze.

The View of the Changing World – Increasing Crime

TheBadge | 12:42 am | Guest Authors | Comments (0)

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Life has lost its true meaning. The moral values and the ethical values to help a person in need all have lost its meaning. Now days, the common strategy of life seems to be just conquering and just to have whatever one wants even if it costs a life. After seeing the rising crime rate; it is true to say that kindness and humanity have been exchanged with brutality and cruelness. The society no longer has remained a safe place to alive. It is full of fear and violence where no human values are to be found easily.
Crime is in the increasing side. Daily, we come to know about the criminal activities happening close to us. Just pick up any newspaper or switch on any news channel on television, the only thing that you would come across is the rising crime rates. It has no longer remained an amazing thing to know about a robbery or even the murders that used to be counted among the dreadful happening have become common thing theses days.
The need of the hour is to get someone to guide you correctly. Someone that is truly reliable. It is really difficult for a person to remain updated with the criminal activities or criminal records. Correct and updated criminal records can be taken from a reliable source or a company or website that maintains a record of the criminal activities going around in the society.
With the coming of the internet and keeping in view the increasing crime rate, a few sites have come up for the assistance of the common man to keep oneself and ones near and dear ones at a safer side. Sites of this sort enable a user to get hold updated and accurate information about the criminal activities. It is the criminal sites that enable a user to get accurate criminal records. There are useful categories like criminal search, criminal background search, public criminal records, employment background search, pre employee screening, employee screening, criminal checks etc.
Criminal data is a fantastic website that ensures full reliability. You can get hold of efficient and up to date Credit reports, sex offenders etc. The site caters to various services like extending state wise criminal records, DOC Criminals, Criminal database search, Educational verification, MVR driving records etc all the services extended on to the users are extremely useful and surely would let you keep you and your dear ones on safer side.

The Most Incredible Insurance Story Ever!

TheBadge | July 3, 2009 12:48 pm | Guest Authors | Comments (0)

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A lawyer in Charlotte, NC purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars and insured them against fire among other things.

Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these high quality cigars and without even paying the first months premium on the policy the lawyer filed a claim with the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost “in a series of small fires.” The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had smoked the cigars!!

Incredibly, the lawyer sued the insurance company….and won!

In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be “unacceptable fire,” and was obligated to pay the claim.

Although the insurance company were amazed by this ruling they accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars in the “fires.”

The reason they decided to settle at this stage was to minimize their legal costs which was likely to cost much more than the $15,000 settlement.

However this incredible story doesn’t end there. Obviously still reeling from the court judgement the insurance company decided to play the lawyer at his own game and reported the situation to the police who arrested him on 24 counts of ARSON!

Using the paperwork from his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000.00 fine!

About the Author:

This article was written by Anthony Woods who is a director of Keystone Insurance, Irelands leading supplier of Public Liability Insurance & Construction Insurance.

Keystone do not insure cigars but do have a sense of humour and felt this story was too good not to share!

Dealing With Crime: Campus Violence

TheBadge | 12:42 pm | Guest Authors | Comments (0)

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Crime is a serious problem of modern society. People need safely surrounding for happy living and it’s the duty of the state provide their safety. A lot of attempt is made in order to find new ways of dealing with the growing crime rate. Using differentiated approach when dealing with different types of crime can bring good results as it takes into account all peculiarities of each separate crime category. Victimless crime is usually defined as a behavior that is illegal but does not violate or threaten the rights of anyone, and may be associated with the implication that the behavior should therefore not be illegal. Gambling, prostitution, abortion, child pornography, drug and alcohol abuse and obscenity are among the most widespread victimless crimes. Nowadays, victimless crime is also known under the name of public order crime of consensual crime. Despite this definition it’s not true that victimless crime causes no harm to the society. It can bring much more damage than crimes with victims. Victimless crimes create no direct threat to any privacy and there are no other participants in this kind of crimes except the person who commits crime. Legal prosecution of these crimes is complicated as the term of crime usually assumes the victim. It’s difficult to uncover these types of crimes since there are no witnesses. So, the first step in reducing this type of crime should be the developing of different means of monitoring of this type of crimes. This type of crime assumes the lack of evidence and the system of collecting of evidence should be developed in order to deal with this problem. Monitoring, wiretapping and surveillance of suspects and public can be used in order to take victimless criminals to responsibility.

Campus violence is defined as any act or threat of physical aggression or the destruction or abuse of property by any individual in the territory of the University or other Higher education institution. Treats can include conditional or direct threats in oral or written forms, harassment, harm or endangerment of person or property, intimidation and other disruptive behavior performed at the territory of the University. All kind of violent behavior is also regarded as campus violence. The accidents of campus violence have attracted attention of wide publicity during the recent time due to their increasing number. There are two ways of approaching the problem of campus violence. First of all there are common laws and regulations, which regulate the behavior in all educational institutions in general. Such norms and laws are common for all Universities of the country. Another way of dealing with campus abuse is the set of rules and regulations, used by the University authorities and initiative groups in order to deal with the problem of campus abuse. These preventive and punitive measures can differ in different Universities. It’s the ultimate goal of the state and University authorities to provide the safe atmosphere for students and University employees and working together they can achieve the best result. The Universities usually use the State and Federal laws as a basis for dealing with the problem campus violence. The policy of campus violence prevention includes investigation of all calls about real or possible threats and appropriate reaction to them, cooperation with police officers that work on the territories of the Universities and post-accident assistance to the victims of campus abuse. In the most of the Universities special organizations and departments are created in order to deal with the campus violence.

Celebrities Help Prevent Bullying by Sharing Their Stories

TheBadge | 12:48 am | Guest Authors | Comments (0)

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Bullying is a hot topic these days, and stories of celebrities who have been bullied are even hotter. Olympic champ Michael Phelps talked about his experiences being bullied his story generated international interest.

Victoria Beckham(aka Posh Spice, one-fifth of hit pop music group The Spice Girls) has talked openly about being bullied in school. Recently she said, “People would push me around, say they were going to beat me up after school, chase me. It was miserable, my whole schooling, miserable. I tried to be friends with people, but I didn’t fit in. So I kept myself to myself.” There is value to these conversations because it shows that even a beautiful, famous and talented celebrity was tormented in school.  If she can be bullied, anyone can.

And even Presidential candidate Barak Obama talked about bullying in his presidential nominee acceptance speech, elevating bullying education to a national platform.

 Why are people fascinated with discovering that celebrities were victims of school bullying?  Is it comforting for bullying victims to know that someone else (and a celebrity, no less!) shared their fate, i.e., misery loves company? Or maybe it’s nice to know that someone successful had been beaten down and yet rose beyond the experience. In other words, maybe bullying victims really can have the last laugh.

Actress Rosario Dawson said that one of her worst memories was getting all dressed up for a school activity and having the girls “pick on me because I was flat chested.”  Her admission about her experiences with school teasing brings more awareness to the issues of how to stop bullying and social aggression.

Discussions about formerly unmentioned topics can result in major cultural changes.  For instance, weeks after Betty Fordbecame First Lady, she underwent a mastectomy for breast cancer – and discussed it publicly. Later, she talked about her alcoholism and drug addictions. In the 1970s and 80s, sharing these issues with the public was considered very risky. Her openness about previously taboo topics made headlines, and the public decided that she was incredibly brave and heroic. As the First Lady, she demonstrated that she was as vulnerable as the rest of us.  Because of her openness, it became acceptable for “average people” to discuss these issues and get help.

Years later, Oprah Winfrey talked openly about being sexually abused as a child. She even discussed being impregnated by an abuser when she was fourteen (the child died shortly after birth). People admired her for bringing these once-shameful admissions out in the open to help others avoid the same fate. Child abuse, sexual and otherwise, is now discussed openly and honestly, and victims of abuse now know where to seek the support they need.A few years ago, baseball great Joe Torre talked to reporters about his experience with domestic violence. His father, a respected NYC police detective, was a physically abusive husband and an emotionally abusive father. Fans and non-fans were fascinated with this aspect of this athlete’s life. Joe wasn’t the first athlete to experience such abuse but it was Joe who used his status and resources to create the Safe At Home Foundation whose mission is to end the cycle of domestic violence.  The public was interested in this sports legend’s experience with bullying (domestic violence is a type of bullying), and Joe was instrumental in publicizing the issue and working to end it.So when we hear about Chester Bennington of the rock group Linkin Park say he was, “knocked around like a rag doll at school for being skinny and looking different,” we know that his message will resonate with many kids, who may be bullying or being bullied themselves. It’s another reminder that bullying hurts and it’s not cool.

 Supermodel Tyra Banks has publicly addressed the issue of bullying and reminds young people that gossiping, deceiving, taunting and manipulating are very unfashionable. She tells people that “If you’re pretty but you’re ugly inside, you’re ugly outside too.”Schools and parents need to impart many bully prevention strategies to stop kids from abusing others, including looking to today’s celebrities to help deliver key messages about bullying.   Pop culture heroes have incredible influence over young people, so when these celebrities talk about the effects of bullying, it’s an opportunity for adults to reiterate the importance of respect and tolerance for all.

Crime in South Africa

TheBadge | 12:42 am | Guest Authors | Comments (0)

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It was this morning on SABC 2 that a visitor to South Africa, on a short visit to watch the soccer, wrote in to share his tale of woe. Apparently followed from the O.R. Thambo airport, the thugs it seems cleaned him out of everything except his passport, as I write he is busy making tracks to return home, defeated by our Governments inability to keep crime under control, seemingly unable to protect visitors and residents alike. It is unlikely we will see him, his friends, family or their money ever again. He will forever remain a walking advertisement for everything we as South Africans should be afraid of.

The press is wall to wall with coverage of the current soccer competition, our readiness to host and welcome those planning to visit our shores and travel around during the 2010 FIFA soccer world cup, seeking beds, beers, accommodation. At the same time however, what space is still available includes coverage on our inability to process DNA samples; the disbanding of the Scorpions; the theft from the Egyptian soccer team from their Hotel; the triple rape we are all so shocked or stunned about that we are speechless; our own Mayor; The school administrator who stole thousands and many other stories. Stop, let’s take a view from a different angle.

Tourism in and around South Africa is already a major industry, a large employer offering jobs to thousands of South Africans, traditional tourism, internet sites such as www.staysa.co.za and others, there is a correlation here, the less the crime levels, the more beds will be booked by local and international travellers, the more the industry will prosper and the more jobs will be created. Anyone who has ever travelled internationally can only agree that we are sitting on the new gold. South Africa simply has to be the best kept tourism secret in the world, at a local level this also applies to the Eastern Cape, a region that even the local South Africa tourists have still to discover. I won’t go an about how great this country is, we all know that, we live here, what we, or our leaders, simply do not appreciate is that if we can fix this crime situation, bring it down to at the very least to a level comparable to international norms, we will bear witness to the growth of a relatively undiscovered income stream, if benefit to each and every one of us irrespective of our personal profession or career.

Here’s the rub, talk is cheap, a whole industry exists, indirectly created by Government consisting of car guards, honest and dishonest guards and guarding services; privately employed installation and monitoring businesses, security companies; armed response units; security and bank escort services; camera monitoring systems and many others. At airports we have guards guarding the guards who guard the employees from stealing from their customers, amazing but true, and yes, each and every one of us pay dearly for this, in our bank charges, airport taxes, flight tickets, property rentals and insurance premiums. Oh, I hear you say, in a similar fashion as those who justify littering, many thousands now have jobs who didn’t before. What nonsense, if organised business did not have to incur all these unnatural security costs, they would have more funds to develop and expand their businesses and to employ more people in their sphere if expertise rather than to waste it on non-core or non-essential expenses.

A pipe dream one would call it, crime will never disappear. Let us face this reality, but it would certainly be lowered if we had a police force that was well equipped, well trained and sufficient in numbers and resources to respond and operate within the above mentioned norms. It was just two weeks ago that a friend was robbed in Bunkers Hill, the police response was almost non-existent, when the forensic unit arrived to check the fingerprints and match these against an identified suspect, he was told that due to the three day delay, the prints outside were unusable. The many stories similar to this show a clear pattern, that of our leaders inability or unwillingness to make a meaningful contribution to the reduction of crime and their inability to accept that economic growth, for the benefit of all needs a sound foundation to spring from. 2010 offers us all an incredible opportunity, second to none that we have ever experienced or even imagined, to our civic and political leaders at all levels, we gave you the mandate to build such a foundation.

YOUR INPUT IS CRITICAL…….. Please send any travel tip or travel idea to info@staysa.co.za  help fellow travellers to enjoy safe and happy travelling. We will gladly assist with travel information or visit the site at www.staysa.co.za where you will find comprehensive travel and accommodation information

 Alan Hawkins – CEO

Short Story-classmate

TheBadge | July 2, 2009 12:46 pm | Guest Authors | Comments (0)

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Classmate

After shifting from Rawalpindi, we settled at Lahore. I was in the first year in college. One Mohamdan student known by the name of Deena was our classmate. This boy was elder to us.

I had been informed that he had been in matric for at least three years and after doing matriculation he had joined the college. He was very mischievous by nature and at times was not naughty, but was functioning like criminals. He was caught molesting a girls and therefore, he was rusticated from college for three years. But I never saw him back in the college for the remaining part of my study in that college.

I did my graduation in 1946 and was a student of postgraduate wing in the University. In 1947 disturbances broke out. We were informed that Hindustan had been divided into two countries India and Pakistan and Lahore had been earmarked for its inclusion in Pakistan. Therefore, All Hindus and Sikhs were trying to migrate to this side of Hindustan which was to be called India and all Muslims were trying to migrate to that part which shall be Pakistan. When disturbances broke out in Lahore, my father had gone to Rawalpindi because one family had called him to look at their son who could be a suitable match for me. I along with my mother was in the house when disturbances broke out in the city.

The Sikhs and Hindus who were still in the city and were collecting in Gurdwara and the loudspeaker was calling us all. My mother collected some valuables and cash with her and put all in an attaché. She covered herself with a large sheet of white cloth and also give such a chaadar to me too. She asked to cover myself and we both locked the house and started towards Gurdwara Sahib.

When we were finishing our lane and were turning towards another lane which was leading to Gurdawara sahib, some Mohamadan youths approached us. They were having lathis, Barchhas and even kirpans. Immediately one of them snatched away attaché from my mother and the other attacked her with a Birchha and she fell dead. One of them had a look at my hands and before I could speak he took hold of my arm and started towards his house saying, “I shall keep this girl with me and shall marry her. You are married people. I have been left unmarried. My father has died without bringing a wife for me.” And actually he was carrying me towards one direction crying loudly–I have a girl. I shall marry her I am unmarried. I could get an opportunity- I would not lose this opportunity….” And he was throwing whatever he had got from other places.

I was crying. My mother had been killed in my presence. Her body was still lying there. My father was away. No one was coming for my help and ultimately the boy took me to his house. An old lady was there. She could be his mother. He took me to a room. Threw me inside the room and bolted the room. He was saying to his mother, “I have brought this girl. I shall marry her. After these disturbances come to a stand still, I shall call kazi and he shall conduct this marriage ceremony. My father has left me unmarried. Now this is the most appropriate time when I could get a wife and I have got a girl. I shall convert this girl as a Mohammedan. Please give her some milk to drink. She is weeping. Her mother has been killed in her presence. People have snatched away all their belongings. They have distributed all their belongings. I did not take my share. I have taken this girl as my share. Had I not saved her for myself, they would have killed her too.” He left the house once again.

I was hearing all slogans, “ Pakistan———-Zinda Bad Zinda Bad……….Muslim league——– Zinda Bad Zinda Bad………..” And at times I was listening to gun shots too. The old lady was in a fear. She was not happy with the acts of her son. She was uttering some words against her son. Police shall come and shall arrest him. Police shall arrest him. It is a crime and a sin to keep others in the house. She was speaking all this and at the same time she was offering a glass of milk to me. I was not taking the milk glass from her hands. She was still speaking,” I shall ask my son to release you. Our religion does not allow us to keep women of other families and marry them by utilizing force. Atleast I would not allow him to commit this sin. We are to Go to God and He shall be taking all accounts of our actions on this earth. ‘In spite of all her words I did not take the glass of milk from her hand.

I remained hungry for two days. The son of the old lady had been going out and had been coming back with articles of his loot. He was placing all such articles in a separate room. Often he was asking his mother as to whether I had taken something or not. When she told him that I had not taken anything, he was not happy and often said.’ You should accept your fate. Now you shall remain with me as my wife and therefore, you should accept this fact of life. I shall keep you like a queen. I could not get married because my father could not bring a girl for me. I was told that I had got bad reputation. Because of this bad reputation no one agreed to give his daughter to me. God had given this opportunity to me and I shall avail of this opportunity. I am sorry that your mother has been killed. I wanted to save her. But before I could manage they had killed her. I am sorry that your mother has been killed in my presence.”

Since none from outside was coming to their house, I could not get help from others. So I actually started accepting my fate.

On the fourth day the boy actually said to his mother, “Maa I am going to Kazi Kareem Khan. He shall convert this girl as a Mohammedan and then he shall conduct Nikkah. She shall be my wife and I shall be her husband. once this marriage ceremony is complete no one shall be able to snatch away this girl from me.”

When the boy was going out, I loudly said, “Deenian Ruk Ja.” He stopped. He came back. He opened the door of the room where I had been kept. He took away the Chaddar from my body and had a look at me. He started crying,” She is the daughter of Bhapa Pritam Singh Ji. She had been my class mate. We had been together in one class for a year. She had been very nice to me. She had been helping me. I was always grateful to her because in spite of my misbehavior with her, she never made a complaint against me. She had been guiding me and had been suggesting me that I should mend my ways. I did not listen to her at that time and ultimately I was rusticated from the college. Had I been there, I could have been a man on the right path. And now I have committed a great sin. God would not forgive me. Her mother had been killed in my presence. It was my duty to save her.”

And he sat by my side and had been weeping for about one hour. Then stood up and said, “Amma, I shall take her to the refugees camp which has been set up here by the Government. All Hindus and Sikhs have been collected there and they shall be deported to India. She shall also leave this place and shall be in India. I think her father might have reached this refugee camp and might be searching for his wife and daughter. I my self shall hand over this girl to him and shall beg pardon from the side of my mates who had killed her mother.”

And actually he took me to the camp and actually he could find my father and handed over me to him. My father actually blessed Deena and wished him good luck.

This is 1990. Forty three years ago this event happened. But still I want to visit Pakistan and trace out Deena and convey my thanks to him.

_____________

A Raging Bull Market in Organized Crime

TheBadge | 12:42 pm | Guest Authors | Comments (0)

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“The Mafia isn’t part of the past, it’s part of the future.”

– Roberto Scarpinato, Sicilian prosecutor

Just how heavy is a million dollars cash?

If you’re trying to smuggle that kind of dough in old-school $100 bills, you’ll be lugging a little over 22 pounds. But if you’re rolling with banded, manicured bundles of the highest denomination euro notes (a cool €500), then the same amount only weighs you down by 3.5 pounds – and takes up a lot less space.

This is the kind of thing it’s good to know when you’re in the most profitable business in the world.

Ask a Wall Streeter to name a line of business that produces endless gushers of cash, and big oil probably comes to mind. The oil majors have certainly been known for record-busting profits these past few years. But the mafia’s profits are far bigger.

The mighty Exxon Mobil, for example, booked a profit of a little over $45 billion last year. That’s a whopping $10 billion per quarter or more. And yet, in comparison, the top three organized crime outfits in Italy – just the top three, mind you – more than doubled Exxon’s profit for the same calendar year.

And of course, where Exxon has to pay taxes, the mafia mostly avoids such hassles. So when you take the tax-free aspect into account, the mafia leaves big oil in the dust. And of course, the “big three” in Italy are just the tip of the iceberg. The powerful tentacles of organized crime extend all over the world…

Meet the Octopus

During my time at Oxford University in the mid-1990s, one of the best things about the experience was the speakers who came and talked to us. The Oxford Student Union (which has nothing to do with unions as Americans know them) would regularly bring in fascinating people to come and speak.

One of the speakers who made a real impression on me was a man named Brian Freemantle. An organized crime expert who has worked in more than 30 countries, Freemantle is the author of a book called The Octopus: Europe in the Grip of Organized Crime.

The book is nearly 15 years old now, and so many of the statistics are way out of date. But the basic outlines of the organized crime “octopus” Freemantle describes still hold true. And if Freemantle were to update his book with numbers for the new millennium, they would no doubt be mind-boggling.

As Freemantle writes in the opening pages of The Octopus,

Crime pays. It always has done. Not, of course, for the street people or the amateurs. They are swept up, like the disposable dross they are, as much victims as those upon whom they prey. The people for whom crime pays are the professionals, the men and women who operate it as a business, conducted through structures closely resembling legitimate multi-national corporations and conglomerates, their boardroom-like hierarchies serviced by accountants and financial advisors.

Freemantle then goes on to describe the eight tentacles (i.e. money-making activities) of the octopus: “the illegal arms trade, the illegal drugs trade, money-laundering, computer crime, prostitution and pornography, illegal immigration, terrorism, and fine art.”

One might think the octopus, too, has been hit hard by the global financial crisis (just like everyone else). One would be wrong though… instead, the crash of 2008 may turn out to be the biggest coup in decades for organized crime.

Cash in Hand

So why is the mafia set to wax, even as the whole world wanes? In a word, cash. We have all heard many times by now, in various guises and forms, that when times get hard, cash is king. And nobody keeps more cash on hand than the kings of crime…

Banks everywhere are afraid to lend their precious reserves. Fears of a fresh downturn, combined with the heightened credit risk of battered borrowers and toxic assets still weighing down bank balance sheets, have all but turned off the credit taps.

Many businesses, including well-run, profitable businesses that simply need access to capital in the normal course of operations, are suffering. At the same time, the most sophisticated players in the criminal underworld are sitting on tens of billions – no, make that hundreds of billions – and have a pressing need to launder those funds.

One of the most important tasks for any self-respecting crime boss is white washing the ill-gotten gains… turning “dirty” money into “clean.” This money laundering process is often handled by channeling funds through legitimate businesses. (I experienced this firsthand during my time in Olomouc, a charming little town in the Czech Republic, where the puzzling proliferation of clubs, restaurants and jewelry stores served mostly as mafia fronts.)

So now, with banks more or less out of the lending picture and businesses facing a dire need, the mafia has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to go “legit” on a bigger scale than ever.

As Giorgio Napolitano, the president of Italy – not to be confused with flashy Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi – observed in May: “There’s a risk that Mafia organizations can profit from the current crisis by buying control of struggling businesses, infiltrating all regions of the country.”

A “risk?” More like a guarantee…

“The Mafia is ramping up its investing,” prosecutor Antonino Di Matteo tells Bloomberg. “The Mafia’s financial managers are trying to invest now, while the time is right, so that they can launder their fortunes once and for all.”

The Tony Soprano Full Employment Act

It isn’t just Europe where crime pays. In the United States, scores of less than savory characters are salivating at the new opportunities created by Washington.

We already know that the alphabet soup of acronyms dreamed up by Turbo Timmy Geithner and Helicopter Ben Bernanke are borderline criminal – TARP, TALF, PPIP and so on – but I’m talking straight-up Goodfellas type stuff here. For instance…

Two weeks or so ago, I sat next to a paving contractor in a local poker tournament. (Just as in Las Vegas, in Reno/Tahoe you can find a tourney on any given weekend.)

“Business is very good,” my fellow poker player reported. “Amazingly good actually. That stimulus cash is really starting to flow.” Apparently he was doing some heavy construction work on a nearby Indian reservation. Big road upgrades, courtesy of a check from Uncle Sam – and the backlog of work was piling up.

Now, I imagine this paving contractor’s business is probably 100% aboveboard and legit (even though he wears enough heavy gold to fall somewhere between Liberace and Mr. T). But if he wanted to cut a few corners, how hard could it be?

Or, heck, maybe he’s the victim in all this. Plenty of aboveboard businessmen in the construction trade wind up greasing a palm or two on their way to a finished project… sometimes it’s just what you gotta do…

The scale of opportunity, er, corruption, is bigger than one might think.

According to fraud consultant David Williams of the Deloitte Financial Services advisory, a whopping $50 billion worth of stimulus cash could be siphoned off the top for fraud (above and beyond the legally fraudulent activities of a venal and corrupt Congress).

“The rule of thumb typically,” Williams reports, “is that of the about $500 billion worth of money that’s going to run through the procurement process, somewhere between 5% and 10% of that usually finds it way into potential problems.”

The FBI is aware of the danger. As FBI Director Robert Mueller recently warned, “These [economic stimulus] funds are inherently vulnerable to bribery, fraud, conflicts of interest, and collusion. There is an old adage, that where there is money to be made, fraud is not far behind, like bees to honey.”

Of course, being aware of the danger and being able to do something about it are two different things…

Call it the Tony Soprano full employment act. With the government anxious to throw bales of taxpayer cash at “shovel ready” projects, the organized crime element will be standing by with a “shovel” too… “ready” to haul away veritable garbage trucks of loot.

Eyes Wide Open

So what can you and I do about this? Realistically, not very much. (Okay, let’s be honest… not a damn thing.)

But at the same time, I would rather go about my business with eyes wide open than eyes wide shut. The strong and growing presence of organized crime is something that ordinary citizens don’t have much day to day contact with (most of us anyway). But it is a reality we all pay for… like an extra form of goods and sales tax, paid to a de facto shadow government operating behind (and sometimes in direct cahoots with) the official one.

Think about the difference between undertaking a new business or investment venture in a low-corruption Western country, like the United States, versus a high-corruption “frontier market” country, where the rule of law is still only vaguely formed.

In the more advanced Western country, you can rest in peace knowing that the laws will be upheld and everything is completely above board. Right?

Not quite. That bit about the United States being “low-corruption” was a touch of sarcasm. As the global financial crisis continues to unfold, one of the side effects could be the gradual disappearance of the brightly drawn dividing line between high-corruption and low-corruption nation states.

This reality will make following conventional, business as usual, “eyes wide shut” investment advice all the more dangerous in the years ahead… just as it would be dangerous to open an import-export business in some far-flung outpost without having a clear handle on the risks present.

http://www.taipanpublishinggroup.com/taipan-daily-062209.html

The Story of of Air Tasers

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Is recent legalization of gay marriage responsible for rise in anti-gay hate crimes?

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Hans Klasson, June 20, 2009

Even though hate crimes are rarely debated, the hate speech theory is controversial, as criminalizing communication can be seen as impugning freedom of speech. Hate crimes are calculated to cause fear among an entire group of people. Hate crimes send a message that an individual and “their kind” will not be tolerated. Many times leaving the victim and others in their group feeling secluded, vulnerable and exposed.

Hate crimes are exceptional because they have a unique emotional and physical impact that extends past the actual victim. They intimidate others in the victim’s community, causing them to feel isolated, defenseless, and unprotected by the law. These crimes are committed against individuals, or a few individuals. They are intended to incite fear and self-loathing amid a broader group of people. The targeted groups of people can include LGBT people, people of different races, religious backgrounds, or abilities.

Most anti-gay hate crimes are committed by otherwise law-abiding people who see nothing wrong with their actions, and who sometimes believe that they have societal consent to engage in such violence.

Notable anti-gay hate crime headlines in the media:

Lawrence King, a self-identified gay male, 15-years old, was shot twice in the head by a bully while in English class after enduring countless acts of homophobia.

Eric Mohat, 17-years old, went home and shot himself in the head after a bully suggested, ‘Why don’t you go home and shoot yourself’ His two assailants were not charged with a hate crime, since the state had no hate crime law. They were, however convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

The sadistic torture and murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard in Wyoming in October 1998. Two petty criminals kidnapped Shepard, beat him ferociously,tied him to a fence in frigid temperatures, and left him there for 18 hours before he was discovered. The case sparked a national debate about the need for hate crime legislation.

Alabama, computer programmer Billy Jack Gaither, 39, was brutally beaten with an axe handle. His throat was cut, and his body was set on fire. One of his convicted killers, Steven Mullins, testified he killed Gaither because he was “queer”

Brandon Teena, whose birth name was Teena Brandon, from Lincoln, Nebraska moved to Humboldt in 1993, after beginning to live as a man in preparation for sex-change surgery. Brandon passed as a man, but was discovered to be biologically and legally female by local police during an arrest on a misdemeanor charge. Brandon lived in a small Midwestern town, where his sexual identity crisis was not tolerated, inciting two presumed friends to brutally murder him and two other innocents. This true story, which was the basis for the feature film ‘Boys Don’t Cry’

Recent developments such as Proposition 8 in California and a small number of U.S. States legalizing same sex marriage, has lead to a reported rise in gay bashing and hate crimes against Gay’s and Lesbians.

Why do some people hold disapproving feelings toward homosexual persons and what causes  someone  to commit anti-gay crimes?

There is no easy answer to that question. In order to carry out any kind of barbaric act, one has to have a predisposition toward violence, probably engendered in childhood or early adult socialization. There are so many different reasons one can get caught up in anti-gay crimes. Peer dynamic is one main factor.

There is the opinion that homosexuals are a socially acceptable target. The belief that it is not so cool to attack ethnic minorities, women, or Jews. Nevertheless assaulting gays is, something amusing to a lot of immature people. It is in all probability the only remaining socially gratifying group to assault. Part of it is related to the reality that intolerance against gays is still legally recognized and encoded. That sends a message to young people “if gays do not have equal rights in employment, housing, child custody, the military, or marriage” there’s something inappropriate with them, and nobody is going to care if they engage in some fun at the Gay’s or Lesbians expense.

Scores of individuals have formed their opinions and attitudes without the advantage of direct contact with a Gay or Lesbian individual. As a result, stereotypical values about gay men and lesbians are common. Most wide spread stereotypes are related to cross-sex characteristics. In addition, significant numbers of individuals portray male homosexuals as mentally ill, promiscuous, isolated, lacking confidence, and likely to be child molesters. While lesbians have been described as belligerent and antagonistic toward men. Positive characteristics are also part of the homosexual label including such qualities as sensitivity, intelligence, honesty, imagination, and tidiness.

Heterosexuals who articulate unsympathetic attitudes toward homosexual people also tend to sanction traditional ideologies of family, sexuality and sex roles, and often are biased against other minorities as well. People with symbolic attitudes, specific reference groups appear to be particularly dominant. As already mentioned, people who are involved in church groups (as indicated by frequent attendance at church services) reflect the historical religious prejudice against Gay’s and Lesbians, and this is notably so for Christians. Individuals who grew up in areas where higher open-mindedness exists for diversity also embrace more positive attitudes toward lesbians and gay men; these include city-dwellers and people from the northeastern and Pacific coastal regions of the United States. Finally, people are more tolerant of lesbians and gay men if their parents also displayed tolerance.

Hate-crime statutes were first approved by legislatures in the late 1980s and early 1990s in response to studies that indicated an increase in crimes provoked by prejudice. Approximately 30 states and the federal government have some form of hate-crime statute.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We did not pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. Religion and government must work together to create an America in which diverse people are safe as well as free.