Better he shot himself then his daughter…….. and he’s a TOP cop. Top of what? Stupid?

A top cop mistakenly shot himself in the thigh after giving his daughter a lesson in gun safety, police said.

Middletown police Chief Greg Schwarber, 54, was preparing to clean his Glock .45-caliber pistol on Friday and didn’t realize the gun was still loaded, according to a police report.

Written by officers from neighboring Monroe, the report said the bullet entered Schwarber’s leg just above the knee.

Rocket attack in the green zone……

Two foreign contractors working for the UN have been killed and 15 wounded in a rocket attack on Baghdad’s high-security Green Zone, the UN says.

The Green Zone houses government offices and many foreign embassies.

It is not known who carried out the attack, which comes just days after the Iraqi parliament approved a new security pact with the United States.

The victims worked for a catering company contracted by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq, officials say.

The Rolling Stones and Solomon Burke
“Everybody Needs Somebody”

People are crazy. I thought maybe there wouldn’t be any Walmart fighting this year, but maybe it’s worse because people are even more desperate to get those “deals.” At any rate, Walmart should be sued….. it’s up to them to keep things orderly and have enough security and employees to see that this kind of tragedy doesn’t occur. Crazy people place more value on getting a good deal than on a human life. Makes ya sick…….. Merry Fucking Christmas.

A worker died after being trampled by a throng of unruly shoppers when a suburban Wal-Mart opened for the holiday sales rush Friday, authorities said.

At least three other people were injured.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., in Bentonville, Ark., would not confirm the reports of a stampede but said a “medical emergency” had caused the company to close the store, which is in Valley Stream on Long Island.

Video: Barbara Walters Interview with Barack Obama

9 DIE IN ATTACK IN SHIITE MOSQUE

PIRATES HIJACK CHEMICAL TANKER OFF SOMALI

CHAOS CONTINUES IN MUMBAI

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IRAQ APPROVES U.S. STATUS OF FORCES AGREEMENT

PAUL KRUGMAN: LEST WE FORGET

MELTDOWN FAR FROM OVER, NEW MORTGAGE CRISIS LOOMS

YOU CANNOT PARDON A CRIME YOU AUTHORIZED

The Obamas work a food bank on Thanksgiving morning. And it isn’t a photo op……it’s what they do.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! In these difficult times, we still have much to be thankful for at our house. We have a roof over our heads, a car in the driveway, food on the table, we are healthy (kinda), G still has his job, it’s an absolutely beautiful day, the kids are healthy and happy, one more Thanksgiving with my Mom, the grass is green, the sky is blue, there’s limes on my key lime tree, the ocean is full of fish for us to catch, and we are rich with love. Life is good.

A suspected suicide bomber has struck close to the entrance to the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, witnesses and police say.

At least one person, reportedly a civilian, was killed, although one police official said more had died.

Reports said the bomber detonated explosives about 200m from the heavily guarded entrance to the US compound.

Security in Afghanistan has become a key concern as the country faces an increasingly strong Taleban insurgency.

Kabul’s police chief, Mohammad Ayoub Salangi, said one person had been killed and six injured.

However, the city’s head of criminal investigations told reporters that four had died in the bombing.

More at BBC

Coordinated terrorist attacks struck the heart of Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, on Wednesday night, killing dozens in machine-gun and grenade assaults on at least two five-star hotels, the city’s largest train station, a movie theater and a hospital.

Even by the standards of terrorism in India, which has suffered a rising number of attacks this year, the assaults were particularly brazen in scale and execution. The attackers used boats to reach the urban peninsula where they hit, and their targets were sites popular with tourists.

The Mumbai police said Thursday that the attacks killed at least 101 people and wounded at least 250. Guests who had escaped the hotels told television stations that the attackers were taking hostages, singling out Americans and Britons.

More at the New York Times

Andy Griffith vs the Patriot Act. H/T Scottie. This is a good one!

Same ole same ole………

Uniformed police officers have flooded New York City’s Penn Station, home to the Long Island Rail Road, following a warning from the FBI of a “plausible but unsubstantiated” threat of a terrorist bomb attack against the system during the holidays.

Law enforcement officials tell ABCNews.com, the plot involved a “Madrid-like attack,” a reference to the synchronized bombing of the commuter rail system in Spain in March 2004 that killed 191 people.

Following the public release of the warning by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, officials in Washington made efforts to dampen public concern.

“There is nothing concrete to suggest this plot ever went beyond the aspirational or talking stage,” said a U.S. official familiar with the intelligence that led to the warning.

Rachel Maddow’s lame duck watch 11/25/08 with Jonathan Turley They discuss the report that Bush has no intention of pardoning people involved in torture, therefore calling the Democrats bluff.

Turley: “And so what’s really happening here is a rather clever move at this intersection of law and politics. That what the administration is doing, is they know that the people that want him to pardon our torture program is primarily the Democrats, not the Republicans. The Democratic leadership would love to have a pardon so they could go to their supporters and say, “Look, there’s really nothing we could do. We’re just going to have this truth commission, and we’ll get the truth out, but there really can’t be any indictments now.”

Obama press conference and question and answer 11/26/08

Couldn’t ya just hurt somebody when you read shit like this?

Marine Cpl. James Dixon was wounded twice in Iraq — by a roadside bomb and a land mine. He suffered a traumatic brain injury, a concussion, a dislocated hip and hearing loss. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Army Sgt. Lori Meshell shattered a hip and crushed her back and knees while diving for cover during a mortar attack in Iraq. She has undergone a hip replacement and knee reconstruction and needs at least three more surgeries.

In each case, the Pentagon ruled that their disabilities were not combat-related.

In a little-noticed regulation change in March, the military’s definition of combat-related disabilities was narrowed, costing some injured veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits — and triggering outrage from veterans‘ advocacy groups.

The Pentagon said the change was consistent with Congress’ intent when it passed a “wounded warrior” law in January. Narrowing the combat-related definition was necessary to preserve the “special distinction for those who incur disabilities while participating in the risk of combat, in contrast with those injured otherwise,” William J. Carr, deputy undersecretary of Defense, wrote in a letter to the 1.3-million-member Disabled American Veterans.

The group, which has called the policy revision a “shocking level of disrespect for those who stood in harm’s way,” is lobbying to have the change rescinded.

Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the Pentagon’s “more conservative definition” limited benefits for some veterans. “That was not our intent,” Levin said in a statement.

More at the LA Times

H/T Bat!