Vegas: Where “Most Wanted’s” caught

The capture by a patrol officer of a man sought for preaching about multiple marriages and what legally would be considered Pedophilia for underage marriages condoned by this sect of a US church group extremist group was caught where else but in Las Vegas!

[] …” FBI’s ‘most wanted’ polygamist arrested in US
Independent - By Andrew Buncombe in Washington. The leader of a notorious polygamist cult and one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives was behind bars last night after being pulled over in a routine stop by a patrol officer in Nevada. …” []

Hiding out or passing through in America’s marriage and divorce capital city in Nevada makes sense for a guy who preached having multiple wives- Sin City- after all is one of the few places where people don’t really know much about the people who live near them and it is drifter capital where 34 million people pass through as tourists and it is one of the fastest growing cities in the American west.

It seems strange though that whenever a sex offender or child abductor is caught it often ‘happens in Vegas’ living there a few months back.

it was not rare to find many people sought in other states found in the cities motels and hotels.

Perhaps it is because of the south western city’s semi frontier nature or because it one place where people rarely cares about who the neighbors are in the downtown areas.

But there is large number of people – who are it seems drawn to the place most of whom are sex offenders.

When I covered several cases of stories like this – it often seemed that the place is magnet for those types- mostly because it is something of rare place where it seems, anything goes. 

People come and go and move about with little thought that that city is probably the hardest and worst places to hide. Most of ‘the strip’ and hotels and shopping malls are interlinked into a city wide series of public place camera’s that have the best level of face recognition technology available. 

If a fugitive takes plane into the city airport- before he can even get to a luggage area – his or her face will be on any number of cameras. On top of this there are also a number of rules and laws that require numerous forms of ID. Working in the city itself may seem an easy thing – it is for those seeking employment there are numerous jobs – but in a State with no income tax – except for federal taxes – the fees and permits require any number of forms to filled out – fingerprint checks and documents scanned.

Even just getting a state ID is a difficult process – three or four forms of ID are required. And it is one place where even a US passport is not good enough to get a local ID! So in fairness- Las Vegas may get a bad rep because it is where so many are caught- but- in hindsight- in other cities they might never be found – but in Vegas, where police stops and routine ID checks are common for anyone with out state license plates driving in areas away from the tourist zones. There is as one Police officer told me – a high chance for ‘bad guys’ to be grabbed than in any other American City.  

SMS Text Scam alert: Brunei warns

SMS Text Scam alert: Brunei warns

The Borneo Bulletin put out a warning versus a text and email based scam that has been victimizing residents of the Sultanate in Northern Borneo where a charity sends a message seeking information and bank details to victims.

The person gets a message saying they won in a contest and upon response seeks details or a asks for small fee to be sent to cover bank transfer expenses.

But the key warning here is this charities’ usually ask or seek donations. Most do not engage in contests or give out money. There is an old rule that states no one that something too good to be true usually is just that not true!

[] …” Beware Of New Easy Money Scam
By Kartika Rahman Bandar Seri Begawan – A conman is on the prowl offering people big money for a small fee. The scam artist apparently calls random numbers and informs them that they have won $350,000 from an American Charity Foundation. After convincing the victim, he then asks for their account number, identity card details, and a tax fee of $500.The tax fee is then requested to be sent to the association’s account in the Philippines. The public is reminded to be wary of scams that promise easy money. – Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin  …” []

De Venecia: “Congress only needs 2 more to Cha-Cha?”

De Venecia: “Congress only needs 2 more to Cha-Cha?”

My producer gave me the banner headline I use in this blog item today.

Nona Cueva is my EP on my short daily news audio stream on www.FYITV.net -

The line covers a press release/story on House of Representatives Media Affiars office story on the Batasan Pambnsa Website.

The story is that the house has 192 of the 194 signaturess needed to convene a constituent assembly.

Hence- Congress needs only two more to Cha-Cha! (charter change)
Like always I take no sides and just report- but as with Nona – i could not resist the headline!

Con-As Resolution just 2 signatures shy of Constitutional requirement
28 August 2006 07:04:38 PM

Speaker Jose de Venecia Monday said the House Resolution pushing for a Constituent Assembly as a mode to amend the 1987 Constitution is just two signatures shy of the constitutional requirement of 194 of all the members of Congress. More»

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War reporting: de-sanitizing coverage

This is an exceptional pair of documentaries of what things were like in Iraq froma documentary – for the perspective of one documentary. Needed by more to watch to understand.

There are some who might say the reporters, writers, and producers – seemed to get off one only one viewpoint of many other euroipean networks – of trying to out hate themselves and thier own soicety in order to report the news. With that in mind- watch it- for at least one view of whats happening in Iraq.

I know some people feel that showing many of these images in any instance where death , blood, or gore- is involved – but in my mind- show it -so people will see wht it is like.

To some in the US or EU it may seem un-needed stress for those people not used to seeing these images. And hearing, seeing and feeling what is out there. But where I am – this is common TV fare…

Two views on the war though – here is another from another source:

Global voices: whats up in the world?

I am not exactly overflowing with writing thought today and thought I’d just look around the globe and see what other bloggers were wrting anf thinking about to today and see what was – UP… across the globe of blogs.

Some are highly politcal and deal with issues across the globe to seek out to fight for fredom of speech rights -

[] … ” ——给金燕：我们时代的圣女 Jinyan, the Lady Saint of our Times

(more…)  Kennedy  …” []

 

Other blogs seem more on life and cultural issues that range across the marketplace of the ideas they track all across cyberspace and try and show all the things that range across the whole space of ideas out there really.

Many can be found here on the global voices project which tracks blogpaces many voices and offers a lot of views and topics and writers and authoros and issues and answers.

I cut and pasted just a few of the thousands of topics out there and it is something worth looking at… when that writers block hits its always good to see what else is out there. and hear voices from across the globe.

South Asia  General, India, Arts & Culture

Autorickshaws in the sub-continent not only carry passengers, but social messages and mudflap art. A fascinating flickr set of mudflap art.

South Asia  General, Pakistan, Travel

Shirazi on wonderful Pishin and fruits. “Until the middle of the 18 th century, when Quetta finally passed into the hands of Brahvi rulers, the history of Pishin is identical with the province of Kandahar. The earliest mention of Pishin is found in the ancient writing in which “Pishinorha” is described as a valley in an elevated part of the country and containing a barren level plain.”

Americas Guatemala, Human Rights

Patrick of the Guatemala Solidarity Network gathers local reaction to “heavy handed G uatemalan army activity in Ixcan.
Americas Bolivia, Internet & Telecoms, Technology

According to Choloblog (ES) the Windows operating system will be known as “T’uqu”, pressing “Kichana” will open a window and “Wuiskana” will close it. “KAH-lyah-ree”, meanwhile, is the phonetic pronunciation of the word which replaces “Start” in Windows’ familiar taskbar, says Prairie Weather. According to Global by Design and Eduardo Arcos Bolivian President Evo Morales will make an announcement with Microsoft officials in Sucre today that the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office software have been localized in Quechua, an indigenous language spoken by some 10 million Andean residents. Jimmy Granado, however, takes a much more critical look at the announcement, questioning Evo Morales’ support of Microsoft over free and open source alternatives like Linux (ES): “I thought that Evo wold follow the steps of Hugo Chavez. Since, if you didn’t know, in Venezuela the government uses Free Software, just like Brazil.” Finally, Newley Purnell takes a look at Google Quechua.

Americas , Western Europe Ideas, Jamaica, United Kingdom, Arts & Culture, Literature

Geoffrey Philp extends birthday greetings to Britain-based Jamaican dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson: “He became only the second living poet to be published in the Penguin Classics series. His poetry involves the recitation of his own verse in Jamaican Creole over dub-reggae, usually written in collaboration with renowned British reggae producer/artist Dennis Bovell.

Americas , Western Europe

Guyana, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, St.Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, U.S.A., United Kingdom, Montserrat, Arts & Culture, Diaspora

“. . . it’s interesting how these festivals have echoed, in a small way, the evolution of their original model in Trinidad, as a vehicle of solidarity, an assertion of identity, a gesture of defiance in a hostile environment,” says Jeremy Taylor, writing about the Carnivals “exported” by the Caribbean to the likes of London and New York.

”

A Syracuse, New York, Middle School project talking about EDSA ‘86

This is a amazing story many of us lived thorugh is told from thousands of miles away by a new generation of people who saw people power through old movie clips and news clips and created a ten minute long documentary.
This is from 7th graders in what would be first year high school – yet so well put together and so plainly told with a fervor for story telling I must admit even those who like myself lived through this often seem to forget this proud moment in time.

[] …. This is a documentary project on the 1986 Philippines EDSA Revolution, written, composed and edited by three 7th grade students from …  Syracuse, New York, for the Junior Group Documentary category of National History Day 2006. This documentary took first place at the regional level, second place at the New York state level, and narrowly missed becoming one of the top 12 finalists in the National History Day competition held from June 11-15, 2006 at the University of Maryland. This documentary also commemorates the 20th anniversary of the 1986 EDSA Revolution that restored democracy in the Philippines after 20 years of martial law. This documentary gratefully acknowledges the not-for-profit fair use of copyrighted video and graphical material from various sources listed in the end credits. …” []

Singapore: PM tells public “Make more babies”

Imagine this – a leader of a nation on national television telling people to do a little less work go home and “…” because the nation needs more people.

It happened in Singapore where work and career has led to a underpopulation problem with a shortfall of 14,000 babies this year alone! In the land of no smoking in public places, spitting, and chewing gum perhaps people thought ‘……” might be a crime also?

[]…” Singapore: Make love, not work By Kalinga Seneviratne
SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has warned Singaporeans that they will either have to produce more babies or welcome more migrants if the country is going to sustain economic growth and living standards. Lee, during his recent National Day speech, estimated that at current birth rates Singapore will need an additional 14,000 babies ” …” [] Asia Times

“See what happens when people are too regulated and too many strictl government policies they forget how to “…” ; my local coffee shop mates tell me! “All thery need to do is ask for 1000 men from metro manila to go to singapore- tell us who needsa lessons- if they want this problem solved in (calculating 14,000 in his head- which one I dont know) 2 weeks”

“give us three weeks and they’ll be over quota for a decade!” says another man seemingly ready to head for the nearest airport and do his service to anyone in singapore who needs his ah er -help!

I am sure this is something no Philippine President, Governor, or, Mayor will ever need to tell the nation, a province, or city here. But as the french would say… ‘Viv‘ la diferance!’

Korea Issues travel warning: Philippines & Indonesia

The Government of the single largest group of Asian tourists of late to stream to these islands, Korea has issued a terror warning on travel to both the Philippines and Indonesia citing reports of possible terrorism related activities in the two countries.

Travel Warnings for Indonesia, Philippines Korea Times, South Korea - The National Intelligent Service (NIS) has advised people not to travel to the Philippines and Indonesia till the end of October,

If there is something up and Koreans know about it. One wonders at the wording and group described in the report as per the Korean National Intelligence service as seen as behind this warning:

[] ” … the threat of terrorism is rising after the New People’s Army (NPA) attacked the Philippine military on Aug. 8 and information was uncovered detailing a plot to blow up Manila’s financial area and hotels in mid-August.

Western facilities or foreigners themselves have been terrorist targets and the NIS had previously warned people against visiting those facilities and tourist attractions. Security has been tightened around hotels and tourist spots in the two countries. …” [] Korea Times

The source if not the normal route of things which usually  show actions taken by groups more from the extremists of JI or the Abu Sayyaf. Per Government sources tonight Friday in manila – they are taking precautions- some groups see as economic strong points of government – financial districts BPO centers and Tourism locations.

But, then again when your next door neighbor is the other half a country divided in fifty years of war by ideology- it may see other groups as more threatening than the ASG or JI or others more known for bomb attacks.

One wonders if the Korean tourists will heed the warnings. Either way attack or not it will affect the tourism trade somewhat. Korea is not known to issue advisory’s lightly.
Such a shame though that not more specific information – such as the extent of the threat and risk.

While one can never really blame any country for taking precautions vs. clear and present information of danger – perhaps more direct information would not make an entire country ‘a no-go or go with extreme caution” set of places.

 

Philippine Oil Spill: National level Calamity declared

President Arroyo’s order is more than just a formality that most diasters require for the release of funds to handle natural disasters. It also brings the level of responce up to treaty level and allows more direct international participation in the clean-up.

[]…” Arroyo declares oil spill calamity President Arroyo on Friday declared the oil spill in Guimaras a national calamity as the slick spread rapidly and threatened some of the country’s richest fishing grounds.Mrs. Arroyo, who made the declaration during the 18th National Convention of the National Prosecutors’ Week in Cebu, said the oil disaster in Guimaras demands the cooperation and solidarity of all Filipinos. “I call upon Petron and the ship owner to immediately clean up the mess and the Task Force Guimaras and Coast Guard Admiral Arthur Gosingan to attend to environmental and health issues,” she said. …” [] ABS-CBNNEWSonline

I do not know which PR agency is advising the Petron people what to say when they appear on TV- one man in particular yesterday was talking about -”product recovery” The insensitive nature of the comment and term might lead some to believe there is more concern over product- than people the environment and safety.

But then again had the concern been with true product integrity – delivery of product to destination in the most safe & secure manner to an end user i wouldn’t even be writing this blog and those people sick and in hospital and the man who died and hundred imillion peso partail clean up bill not needed?