- Where the Israeli army sees misconduct, it should see
opportunity. The army has its yamakas in a bunch because photographs
of a group of scantily clad female Israeli soldiers holding their rifles showed
up this week on Facebook. The women appear in the photo wearing only a combat
vest and helmets on their heads in one photograph. Needless to say, military
leaders are not happy. "The picture in question represents behavior
unbecoming IDF [Israeli Defense Force] soldiers. The commanding officers disciplined
the soldiers as they saw fitting,” the army said in a statement. An IDF
spokesperson added that "educational lectures took place on the base in
order to prevent similar recurrences” after the pictures were discovered. The
opportunity the army is missing here is gargantuous. Rather than disciplining
these soliders, they should embrace the chance life has given them and spin
this into a “Ladies of the Israeli Army” calender. Judging by the Facebook
photos, the Jewish hotties have the necessary sex appeal to fill the pages of a
calendar in any language. Sure, the army could view this as the latest in a
series of incidents in which Israeli soldiers have posted potentially
embarrassing images on the Internet, but that is such a pessimistic and
smal-minded point of view to take of the situation. Besides, these photos are
nowhere near as embarrassing as the results of a simply YouTube search for
“Israeli soldiers dancing.” Such a search produces thousands of results,
including a platoon of soldiers dancing in Hebron in the Palestinian West Bank
to Ke$ha's “Tik Tok” single. There is no way a few attractive ladies posting
suggestive (and weapon-enhanced) photois on Facebook is even close to being as
embarrassing as dancing to a Ke$ha song for the entire world to watch over and
over and over again……..
- Dallas Cowboys
defensive tackle Josh Brent seems to be consistently missing the point. That’s
a fair observation to make if a person is awaiting trial in a car crash that
killed a teammate (and in which he is accused of driving with a blood-alcohol
content more than twice the legal limit) and he is then found to have alcohol
in his system while out on bond, then tests positive for marijuana. Brent is
accused of all of the above and that’s why prosecutors on Thursday asked a
judge to revoke the player's $100,000 bond and issue a warrant for his arrest.
According to a motion filed by prosecutors, Brent failed a urine test taken
after a May 24 court hearing in which they had sought for his bond to be
revoked due to problems with his alcohol monitoring. At the time, the judge
declined to revoke bond, but did order Brent to provide a urine sample. Keep in
mind that Brown is still moving toward a trial for being drunk behind the wheel
during a Dec. 8 car crash that killed Jerry Brown, a Cowboys practice squad
player. Both Brent's attorney, George Milner, and a spokeswoman for the Dallas
County district attorney declined to comment on the positive drug test, but
Brent is required to wear an alcohol ankle monitor and appear for regular
meetings with a county officer. Hearing that he tested positive for ganja in
his system probably won't sit well with Judge Robert Burns, who last month
ordered a second form of monitoring to take breath samples, and for Brent to
provide the sample after the hearing. Prosecutors claim that the test results
indicate Brent took marijuana within 30 days of the test date and the results
suggest that the exposure to marijuana was second-hand. Even if that’s true,
hanging out with stoners probably isn’t the wisest choice for a man in Brent’s
position. Oh, and at the time he (allegedly) killed Brown while driving drunk,
he was driving with a suspended driver's license from Illinois, where he
pleaded guilty four years ago to a misdemeanor driving under the influence
charge. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of intoxication
manslaughter, but getting this menace off the streets and out from behind the
wheel might be the best news society could get……..
- Cincinnati
mayoral candidate Jim Berns is a brilliant man – even if his sense of timing is
a bit off. Brent, hoping to squash the status quo and win the city’s highest
office, hatched a scheme this week to appeal to his city’s potheads. He handed
out what he billed as free “marijuana” plants at the corner of Martin Luther
King Jr. Drive and Clifton Avenue, near the University of Cincinnati campus,
although the plants turned out to be mere tomato plants. Even though it
was clear he didn’t have the real deal, dozens of people lined up to get their
hands on one. If Berns wanted to make his point more emphatically, he
would have passed the plants out a month ago, when UC’s spring semester was
still going on and the campus was fuller. What was the point of his deceptive
gesture? To make it clear that the city could save a lot of money if it stopped
cracking down on stoners. "The city of Cincinnati can save a lot of money
if they don't have police chasing after some minor offenders in marijuana, and
focus on real crime. Not harassing people who want to smoke a little
marijuana," Berns said. "How many people want to grow marijuana on
their back porch?” Those who assembled with him waved “Free marijuana plants”
signs at cars and passing pedestrians in an effort to rally support for
legalization of the drug. "The state can make millions, if not billions,
of dollars making this into a legal industry, and that we don't have to have
all these police chasing petty criminals around," Berns added. When Berns
was asked by a local television station whether he would have had a problem
with breaking the law by passing out real marijuana plants if he had them, he
indicated he would not have objected. In fact, he boldly challenged those who
oppose him to grow a pair and address the issue in a practical way. "If
you're going to be an American these days, you better have a little balls, and
do what you think is right, and I think what I'm doing today, bringing
attention to this is worth a little risk,” he fumed. “If I were arrested, it's
probably nothing better they can do for my campaign than arrest me." To put
a measure to legalize pot on the ballot next year, Ohio stoners would need to
collect 385,000 valid signatures. A potential bill would establish a commission
to regulate the use of medical marijuana and permit Ohioans to grow hemp for
other uses………
- Many countries around the world are having a difficult
time providing ample clean drinking water for their people. The United States
could never be one of them…..right? According to the enviro-alarmists at the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that may not be true. EPA officials claim
in a new report that the nation's drinking water systems are deteriorating and
$384 billion needs to be spent in the next 17 years to maintain a safe supply
for millions of Americans. The biggest chunk of change, $247.5 billion, the EPA
believes should go to replacing the aging pipes, many of which are between 50
to 100 years old. California, Texas and New York need the most work, which
makes sense because they are among America’s most populous states. "States
with larger populations have larger needs of money to maintain and update the
pipes," said Peter Grevatt, director of EPA's Office of Ground Water and
Drinking Water. Grevatt blamed increased population growth coupled with the
effects of climate change for leading to heavier reliance on water systems and
thus, those systems breaking down. The survey also posited that $72.5 billion is needed to
prevent contamination of 73,400 water systems across the country, as well as
water systems in American Indian, Alaska Native Village and other U.S.
territories. This year’s survey shows a surge in the funds needed to upgrade
the systems from the previous version, completed four years ago. The EPA is
required to submit its results to Congress under the Safe Drinking Water Act……..
- The end is imminent for Showtime’s period drama “The
Borgias.” The network has announced that the season finale for the series’
third season will also be its series finale. The June 16 episode will conclude the
drama, which stars Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI. Announcing its end was surprising
because the show was scheduled to run four seasons to parallel the lifespan of
its Showtime predecessor, “The Tudors.” Series creator Neil Jordan issued a
statement about the termination and didn’t give many specifics about why the
third season was the final one. "I never thought I would make a cable
series and have enjoyed every minute of it," Jordan said in the statement.
"For a variety of reasons we won't be doing a fourth season, but, 'The Prince'
[the final episode], when I wrote it and shot it, did seem like the end of a
journey for the family. Whatever bonded them as a family dies in this episode,
and the center of the drama for me was always the family. I want to thank
Showtime and [entertainment president] David Nevins for their unstinting
support over the last three years, and look forward to working with them in the
future." Losing “The Borgias” is the latest in a series of show endings
for Showtime over the past year and many of those saying adios to the airwaves
have been the network’s most-popular shows: “Weeds,” “The Big C” and “Dexter,”
which premieres its final season in June. “The Borgias” is actually doing well
despite its impending demise, having hit a series high in ratings with its
latest episode. Its current season is averaging 2.4 million viewers per
episode, but the show is a holdover from previous Showtime chief Robert
Greenblatt and Nevins seem intent on remaking Showtime in his own image now
that he’s in charge……..
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