- So, this is one way to clear some space in a country’s
prison system. Gambia, which maybe 2 percent of Americans can successfully
locate on a map, doesn’t exactly have a massive death row population, as one
might expect to be the case in a nation of less than 2 million people. Still,
government officials in the West African nation have a plan in the works to execute every
prisoner on death row next month, wiping the slate clean and offing 47 people awaiting death sentences. Of
that number, 11 are political prisoners and eight are suspected of having
severe mental health problems. The longest-tenured death row inmate has been
awaiting execution for more than 25 years and for some reason, this mass
execution plan is upsetting to the African Union and civil rights groups. “CSAG
is strongly convinced that most of those who were convicted to death for
treason went through unfair trials and considers their convictions politically
related,” said the Civil Society Associations Gambia in a written statement. “Given
that the Gambia Government uses the death penalty and other harsh sentences as
a tool to silence political dissent and opposition, CSAG believes that any
execution is a further indicator of the brutality with which President [Yahya]
Jammeh’s regime is bent on crushing political dissent.” Wait….just because the
government haphazardly hands out the death penalty for something as simple as
not agreeing with the government and speaking out about their views, that means
executing people condemned to die is wrong? Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi,
chairman of the African Union, shares that point of view and urged Jammeh, who
seized power in a 1994 coup, not to go ahead with the executions. Jammeh has so
far remained steadfast on the issue and insisted the executions would be
carried out within the next few weeks. "By the middle of next month, all
the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter; there is no way
my government will allow 99 percent of the population to be held to ransom by
criminals," he said. While the idea of prisoners somehow holding the
country ransom seems like a huge stretch, Jammeh does not appear to give a damn
about fairness, logic or reality on this matter. Among the potential executees
are eight top military officials, including the ex-deputy head of the police
force, who were given death sentences for treason last year. It has been five
long years since Gambia’s last execution, so there is a certain blood thirst to
satiate as well. If the executions are carried out as planned, the event will
have a definite international flair as 39 Gambians, three Senegalese, two
Malians, two Nigerians and one Guinea Bissauan will be put to death……….
- The massive wave of hype sweeping through the lives of
tech junkies and Apple fanboys over the impending release of the iPhone 5 has
reached comically absurd heights. There will be massive corporate launch
events, losers camping outside Apple stores for days and all to mark the
release of a phone more expensive than just about any other smartphone on the
market that isn’t diamond-encrusted and made of solid gold. The upcoming iPhone event, which is rumored
to be scheduled for Sept. 12 with a release on Sept. 21, is the next big target
on the corporate calendar for the company recently certified as the largest
ever in terms of its worth, but it may not be the only one of importance before
the end of the year. Although the next incarnation of the iPhone is certainly
worth talking about, there is also growing buzz for the possible revelation of
a smaller version of Apple’s popular iPad tablet. Various rumors and reports
have pegged the mini-iPad announcement for some time this fall or winter, with
some overly geeked-up Apple dorks claiming the new iPad would be announced at
the same event as the new iPhone. The smaller iPad has been dubbed the iPad
Mini by some and is rumored to have a screen size of approximately seven
inches. That would make it comparable in size to tablets such as Amazon's
Kindle Fire, but speculation has put the new iPad with the aspect ratio of the
current-generation iPad, meaning it should be slightly wider than competing
7-inch tablets. By having two separate launch events for its two new items,
Apple is clearly looking to maximize its time in the spotlight and knock the
Kindle, Droid and every other tablet or smartphone even further off the radar
in order to ensure that it builds upon its newfound status as the most valuable
company ever……….
- The Miami Dolphins and New York Jets are desperate. Neither
has a realistic chance of beating out the New England Patriots and winning the
AFC East this season and judging by the Jets’ incompetent offensive performance
so far this preseason, they are more likely to be battling the Dolphins to stay
out of last place in the division than they are to win it. Yet as desperate as
both teams are for help at wide receiver to improve their anemic passing games,
neither are interesting in picking up the recently discarded Terrell Owens. The
six-time Pro Bowler was recently cut by the Seattle Seahawks because at age 38
and after a year out of the NFL, he showed up in Seahawks camp with the same
set of unreliable hands he has always possessed. Mix in his baggage as a
disruptive force in the locker room and Owens couldn’t even beat out
butter-fingered Braylon Edwards for the third receiver spot in Seattle. Given
that Owens didn’t even make it to the final round of roster cuts in Seattle,
the logical question for a player once a surefire hall-of-famer in the making
was whether this would be the death knell for Owens’ football career. Maybe,
just maybe, the Jets, Dolphins or other receiver-starved team would give him a
chance…..or not. Less than a day after Owens his the waiver wire, both teams
made it clear they have no interest in him. The Dolphins have already released
one aging, baggage-saddled, formerly great receiver this preseason in Chad
Johnson, so their lack of interest in Owens makes sense. On the other hand, the
Jets are already a football circus with the nonstop media fawning over Tim
Tebow, the bombastic coaching of Rex Ryan, the drama around embattled
quarterback Mark Sanchez and the general buzz that surrounds any New York
sports franchise (except for the city’s Major League Soccer team because
America doesn’t give a damn about soccer). Adding Owens to the mix, a guy who
has a history in the reality television world, could only make the Jets more
entertaining, even if he wouldn’t actually make them a better football team……….
- That didn’t take long. After the revelation that Avril
Lavigne and Bickelnack frontman Chad Kroeger are engaged, the odds of a worse
musical combination ever joining forces seemed less than zero. Of course,
anyone who believed that overlooked the possibility that Black Eyed Peas
frontman will.i.am would follow through on his threat, er, promise to release
an album in October. How anyone distinguishes who the frontman or woman is for
the Hack Eyed Peas is unclear, but will.i.am has released the track list for
his October album release, “#willpower,” and has clearly enlisted as many big-name artists as he can even if
they have no musical talent whatsoever. He has Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Ne-Yo,
Rihanna, Chris Brown, David Guetta, Eva Simons, Redfoo and Nicole Scherzinger
of the Pussycat Skanks, er, Dolls. But wait, those musical misfits are the ones
who populate the standard version of the album. Those who want to torture
themselves with the “deluxe” version (which is like the deluxe model of a 1970
Ford Pinto) will get appearances from Jennifer Lopez on "T.H.E (The
Hardest Ever)" and "It" with Cheryl Cole. Literally, it’s as if
will.i.am sat down, thought about who the biggest pop hacks in the world are
right now and tried to book them all. Asked about working with the Biebs for
the first time, will.i.am said, "You'll have to hear it. I like him because
he's going to be around for a long time.” Hopefully not and considering that
will.i.am clearly knows nothing of good music, probably not. As for the album
as a whole, will.i.am was curiously positive considering he abysmally sucks. "There's
classical sh--, like just me and a guitar and an orchestra or me with just an
orchestra and a kid's choir," he said. . "There's some ghetto, ugly,
dirty stuff. And then there's dance stuff, global world stuff and, like,
avant-garde, left-of-center, for-art's-sake music that has nothing to do with
getting played on the radio. I'm just art-ing out. It's pretty diverse."
Whatever you say, W………..
- Score one for a giant cock in Indiana – literally. A
ginormous rooster stationed outside the
Liberty Bell restaurant in Liberty, Ind. will be allowed to stay after the
town’s zoning board voted Monday night to allow the 28-foot-tall wood-and-metal
sign to stay in its spot near the side of the road. Liberty Bell owner Andy
Pitcher put the sign up earlier this year after local artists created it to help
draw attention to the business during a street construction project. As so
often happens with seemingly innocuous displays of all types that eventually
become cult favorites, the massive rooster wasn’t intended to be anything iconic
but quickly became a novelty people wanted to see. “We wanted to put something
out here so when customers say to us, 'How do we get to your place?' We tell
them to look for the big chicken," Pitcher explained. A few complainers
proved once more than a small number of idiots can ruin it for everyone when
they lodged complaints with County Planning Director Jeff Mathews and after
hearing a dozen complaints, Mathews took the issue before the zoning board. He
explained that the 16-foot-wide sign is closer to the street than allowed under
the zoning rules even though it doesn't obstruct drivers' views and also voiced
concerns that the rooster may tip over in high winds, leaving its fate in the
hands of the Union County Board of Zoning Appeals. The board voted Monday to
allow the sign to stay and the decision was met with an enthusiastic response
from restaurant patrons and the artists who built the giant rooster. "About three months ago he asked
us to build a chicken for the restaurant. We started out with a drawing about
8-by-10 and we ended up with a 16-foot chicken," artist Teresa Lucas said.
Another classic case of effective government in action…….
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