THE ONLY REAL HATE CRIME

When a parent kills an offspring because he or she not approving of the lifestyle their child has chosen to live. In Britain these murders are called "Honour Killings" and there is nothing honorable about them. The following is from an article at Independent.co.uk:

When Abdalla Yones learnt that his 16-year-old child, Heshu, had begun seeing a Christian teenager he stabbed her 11 times. After breaking down the door of the bathroom where she had barricaded herself in, he slit her throat leaving her to bleed to death.

This guy then begs the judge for the death penalty. What a total coward.

He's got the gall to kill his daughter and then beg for the easy way out? Go straight to heaven so he can tell Allah that he murdered his daughter because she wasn't living a life respectful to Allah's ways. Luckily, he was sentenced to life in prison, so he'll have to live with what he did for the rest of his life. A punshment, with any luck, far worse than death.

When a man hates another man and kills him because of that hate, usually in terms of race or sexuality, it's called a hate crime. Hate criminals usually get stiffer penalties. But shouldn't dispassionate killings get harsher penalties than hate crimes? So, someone who has opinions and acts on them by killing another person is more deserving of harsh punishment compared to someone who kills without regard? But when a parent kills an offspring, the parent is killing out of his or her on disappointment in themselves in failing to bring up their child in a way they, themselves, approve of. Essentially, the parent is taking out their frustrations on their child and to do it the way Yones did it is just twisted.

But all parents need to think about this - sure, it's an insanely extreme situation, but this really did happen. How far are you willing to take your dissatisfaction with your child's choices in life? It's a free country, but it should be a free world. Once they're old enough to make up their minds, love them because they're your kids, don't hate them because they have a mind of their own. It sounds like a simple lesson. But, you try teaching it to Abdalla Yones.

Read the rest of this soul-crushing article about the murder of this young girl and other such "Honour Killings" at Independent.co.uk.

Now THIS is a playing card I can get behind!

This is a card a French company has included in it's "Most Dangerous American Officials" deck of playing cards. In English, the card reads: "Owned a baseball team and an oil company with Salem bin Laden (brother of Osama). Designated president of the USA by friend of his father's in the Supreme Court before it could be determined that he had lost the election."

That's a rough transaltion that I pieced together from Babelfish at Alta Vista.

At least the French still understand the concept of freedom of speech... and right and wrong and International Law and... well, you get the point... ;) Then again, Osama bin Laden himself is included in the deck, seeing as he was once funded by the CIA and said to have trained at the School of the Americas, this isn't completely absurd. Why, here are the bin Laden and Rumsfeld cards now!

Believe me, I'm not anti-American - I'm just anti-this-administration. Not to the detriment of my Country, but to the betterment of it. The USMil is now responsible for nearly three times the number of civilian deaths in Iraq as bin Laden himself was responsible for on 911. (This does not include the number of US soldiers killed, either.) If those damn Iraqi resistance fighters would just give in to freedom, I'm SURE the killing would stop! Of course, if The USGov would just stop forcing it's will on Iraq, that might stop the killing, too... just a suggestion!

MPAA *TRIES* TO LEARN FROM RIAA'S MISTAKES

"Tries" is the operative word, here. According to a September 25, 2003 New York Times article, the MPAA has begun a national anti-pirating propaganda campaign as one of the ways the Motion Picture Association of America is attempting to curb the steadily growing number of feature-film downloaders. Also included are security guards in movie theaters equipped with night-vision goggles, electronic watermarks on movie prints and DVD screeners and they are even considering whether to continue putting screeners on DVD. But it's the anti-pirating propaganda campaign that shows the MPAA's true lack of understanding. In fact, based on this campaign, it's quite obvious that the MPAA is just as clueless as their musical counterparts.

Here's the deal with the anti-pirating propaganda campaign, they are releasing public service announcements in movie theaters featuring "every day joe" types who work in the industry telling the viewer that pirating hurts them. But really, it doesn't. Almost every aspect of Hollywood is unionized. Everyone works for a set amount of pay. They can negotiate more, but they are guaranteed a minimum by belonging to their unions. So, how does bootlegging put them in the poorhouse? Answer: It doesn't. It takes money off the top of the profits - the profits really only the studios and distributors ever see anyway. So, essentially, the MPAA is lying in these PSAs.

Of course, the best part is the slogan for this propaganda campaign: "Movies. They're worth it."

Ironic, since mostly, they're not.

As this article is being written, the top five movies in the box office are movies that are heavy on the action, but aren't terribly good movies. Underworld, this past weekend's top grossing movie is perhaps the dumbest vampire movie to cross the screens since Love At First Bite. Second Hand Lions is a sweet, sappy, but utterly predictable piece of family-fare that is better waited for on home video than seen in theaters for the insane price of $10 a ticket. The Fighting Temptations has been reviewed as something akin to a 90 minute music video. Once Upon A Time In Mexico is a sequel to the enjoyable but dumb actioner Desperado, and finally Cold Creek Manor was reviewed by Leonard Maltin as being a thriller without a crucial ingredient: thrills.

So, like the Recording Industry, who is upset when we don't buy crappy music on overpriced CDs, the Motion Picture Industry just doesn't get that their movies SUCK and that bootleggers are protesting the suckiness in the only way they can, by bootlegging. Here's the solution to both the MPAA and the RIAA's problems:

MAKE A BETTER PRODUCT AND DON'T CHARGE SO MUCH, YOU LAZY, GREEDY BASTARDS!

We just need our entertainment to allow us to escape from our bloody boring lives. We shouldn't have to mortgage the house to see Gigli 2: Electric Bugaloo.

There's a lot more to the story, so, read that New York Times article covering the MPAA's attempts to stop movie pirating.

The last of our mice are gone... RIP GOJI!

Last night, while I was at work, little Gojira passed away. He was the toughest of all of the mice we got two years ago. He hung in there while the others died. But last night he joined his brothers.

Bye, Goji! If there's a God, I hope he keeps your cage cleaner than I did! Take care, buddy! We'll miss you! (Oh, and sorry for the fuzzy pic - you always moved too fast for me to catch you on camera!)

CRAZY fun weekend, although I coulda used more oxygen

Well, Saturday was great, but Sunday was a little slow. We went to Wal-Mart, which was one of the whopping 4 things to do in Cedar City (the other three are see a show at the Utah Shakespeare Festival, drink and have sex) and while it was impressive, it was also a bit of a let-down. It was HUGE - it had a COMPLETE supermarket, with pharmacy PLUS a regular Wal-Mart. You would think the shopping potential would be MASSIVE. But, all I ended up walking out with was a couple of jars of vitamins that I got for much cheaper than I would have paid in LA. Sad, really. There is no Toys R Us in Cedar City, Utah, so I figured the toy selection at Wal-Mart would be astounding - but it wasn't. It was a joke.

So, after the disappointment at Wal-Mart, we just headed back to TheFiancee's place and watched some TV, took a nap and then went for a hike at this park not far from her apartment. It was beautiful - there was a creek there and we some some gorgeous mountains. Then on Monday, we went to the Cedar Breaks National Park - it was amazing. We were 10,530 feet above sea level. There was so little oxygen in the air after walking about ten feet up an incline of about 45 degrees, we were out of breath. The view, however, was spectacular. Yes, we took plenty of pictures, I hope to sort them this week... famous last words!

The bad things about the weekend: 1st, it had to end. Being away from TheFiancee for another month sucks the Bonobo's Banana, IF you know what I mean... 2nd, our hotel was pretty lousy, too. The bed was uncomfortable and the pillows were too small. Our second night there, the management turned on the heat in our room and I couldn't figure out how to turn it all the way off. It was so hot and dry I had trouble sleeping. I got a better night's sleep on TheFiancee's couch my last night there. The 3rd thing that sucked about the weekend was that since Cedar City is 6000 feet above sea level, there's not a whole lot of oxygen there. Now, I know, living in LA, I don't get a lot of oxygen in my air in the first place, but the amount in the air in Cedar City was just enough to have me perpetually feel vaguely weird about everything. It all seemed just a hair surreal.

The 4th thing that was bad was the complete LACK of humidity in the same nearly oxygen-free air, there. This resulted in, as TheFiancee so eloquently put it: crusty bloody boogers. Which, coincidentally is the name of my new band, playing this Friday at the Whisky, in Hollywood. (Not really.) I think that's pretty much every sucky thing that happened, which really, all-in-all, wasn't that big of a deal. I mean, sure, I knew I had to leave to come back to LA, but the other stuff was nothing and we both had such a great time that it completely out-weighed the bad stuff.

Still, I coulda used some more oxygen...

SATURDAY: BUSY DAY IN CEDAR CITY

Wow, yesterday was nuts! (OK, how many blogs have started with that statement, I wonder?) We got up, grabbed a quick, short breakie and headed off to TheFiancee's show, Little Shop of Horrors. It was great - everyone did a wonderful job, the sets were very impressive and I was surprised at how many mormons in the audience laughed at the very dark jokes in the show. After that, we went and saw Underworld, which was sadly a disappointment. (Check out my Pocket Review.) After that we saw The Importance of Being Earnest which was a total riot - it was very funny and again, the performances were very good. You'd never think you could laugh that hard at pompous British shenanegans.

Finally we went to the cast party after and hung out. I met some cool people and had Mexican food. A good time was had by all, but boy, were we bushed!! We crashed and slept VERY in.

Today the plan was to go to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, but we decided that the hotel would cost too much so, we're hitting the only other local attraction in Cedar City, aside from the Utah Shakespeare Festival which is WAL-MART!!! After breakie at Denny's, of course. After Wal-Mart, we'll probably go hiking and come back to TheFiancee's place and watch some videos.

All in all, I'm enjoying being with Sierra again (I missed her so much!) but, I can definitely say Utah is not my kind of state. Not much going on and it's just too damn dry here. Might as well call this place Crusty-Booger-City! Sheesh!


Later folks! Back in LA on Monday!

UNDERWORLD (2003)

Entertaining? Sure, but only on the surface.
Technically any good? The effects were mostly good, the acting was mostly fine (the guy who played Kraven should have his SAG card revoked) but the script and story were completely muddled and at times unfollowable.
How did I feel as the credits rolled? Weakly satisified, but only because of the action scenes. The idea of vampires and werewolves with guns makes no sense, anyway - we humans kill with guns all the time, therefore, what's so interesting about vampires and werewolves with guns?
Final Rating? SAM (Fun, but only for watching the action scenes.)

GREETINGS FROM UTAH!

Welp, I'm here in Utah, visiting TheFiancee! And guess what... there's nothing here, really. I mean, Cedar City is a tiny little place that has very little going on. It's got a lot of "small town" character and charm, but there's not a whole lot to do here. Still, I've only been here a few hours and I've already felt myself falling into a more polite, cordial ThePete. It's a strange transformation.

The really tough thing, being the decade-long Angelino that I am, is dealing with the whiteness of it all. Don't get me wrong, everyone is really nice and polite here, but they're just all white. I'm from LA, where even on the shuttle to the airport today we had four different races represented. If aliens had come down to Earth and whisked us away, we'd have done a pretty good job of representing the Earth.

It's also very short here - not the people, the buildings. There are very few things in Cedar City taller than three stories and most of those are mountains, buttes, mesas or other rock formations. It is very beautiful, that's for sure. I'm sure I'll be taking more pics that will take me months to post to this web site.

Anyway, not much else to report. Still tonight we're going to a premiere party where I'll no doubt be used by TheFiancee as her trophy-husband. Ah well! ;)

Oh yeah and check out the web cam for pics of our living room. Watch to see if the cats are caught on cam! Around midnight PST is their witching hour - Ecks and Zaphod (the two b&w cats) do their spaz attacks and James (the tabby) just looks on in bewilderment of the young whippersnappers.

Anyway, more blog entries as my weekend progresses, hopefully!

SO, WHY DID WE ATTACK IRAQ, AGAIN???

In a September 17, 2003 Associated Press article at the Washington Post web site, George W. Bush is quoted as saying that there is no evidence to suggest that Saddam Hussein had anything to do with the 911 attacks.

This despite the insane number of times that the Bush 43 Administration has insisted that Iraq and Saddam Hussein had ties with Al Qaeda, the group said to be behind the 911 attacks. So, here's a question for you, the average person reading this:

If you say Person A killed Person B and Person C hung around Person A a lot and may have helped him get a gun, isn't that like saying Person C helped Person A kill Person B?

This is what the Bush 43 Admin has done. Drawn a concept in the minds of Americans of guilt-by-association between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein to make it more palatable to those American that the USMil has invaded a sovereign country in violation of the UN Charter and International Law. And it's worked, hasn't it?

In a recent Washington Post poll, 70% felt Saddam Hussein had a roll in the 911 attacks. This despite the fact that most of the hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, an American ally and the few that weren't from Saudi Arabia, weren't from Iraq, either.

Let's review here:

1)Bush 43 Admin says Hussein has connections to Al Qaeda
2)Bush 43 Admin says that Hussein has WMD and he might give them to terrorists who could use them against the US.
3)In other words, we'd better kill Hussein before another 911 happens.

This is a quote from that Associated Press article given by Condoleezza Rice when asked if she was surprised that two-thirds of America believes that Hussein was behind 911:

"We have never claimed that Saddam Hussein had either direction or control of 9-11."

HEAVENS!! HOW COULD ANYONE GET THAT IDEA!?!?

Back on September 6, 2003, the Washington Post published the results of that poll in an article that contained the following:

Deborah Tannen, a Georgetown University professor of linguistics who has studied Bush's rhetoric, said it is impossible to know but "plausible" that Bush's words furthered such public impressions. "Clearly, he's using language to imply a connection between Saddam Hussein and September 11th," she said.

"There is a specific manipulation of language here to imply a connection." Bush, she said, seems to imply that in Iraq "we have gone to war with the terrorists who attacked us."

Tannen said even a gentle implication would be enough to reinforce Americans' feelings about Hussein. "If we like the conclusion, we're much less critical of the logic," she said.

'nuff said.

Well, almost. Let's just add two more points to the above list:

4)On the assumptions made in points 1, 2 & 3, Americans tend not to mind so much that USUK forces in Iraq have killed roughly 7000 Iraqi civilians, more than twice the number of people kill on 911.
5)Not only have no WMD been found, but there doesn't appear to be a clear connection between Hussein and Al Qaeda, either. In fact, in another Associated Press article from September 17, 2003, former Chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix is quoted saying that he feels that Hussein destroyed all of his WMD in the early 90s, but essentially kept up appearances in an attempt to deter any threats.

Read the Washington Post article on the September 5, 2003 poll stating that 70% of Americans believe Hussein was behind 911.

Read the September 17, 2003 article covering Bush 43's admission that there is no evidence that Hussein was behind 911.

Read the AP article that contains Blix's comments at LasVegasSun.Com.

DRUDGE SEZ: MANILA PAPER SEZ: PLOT TO KILL BUSH UNCOVERED *UPDATED*

Well, that's what they're saying over at The Drudge Report. There's a little blurb that says:

PAPER: Bush assassination plot in Philippines; President set for October 18 visit...

There's a link behind the headline, but the page won't load in any browser. The link is to an article at the Manila Times web site, but whether you try to load the actual article or the site itself, nothing comes up.

Now, the really funny thing here is that there is no coverage of this story anywhere else, right now (3:45pm PST 9/15/3) and you'd think SOMEone would have seen the headline at Drudge and read the article and covered that at least the article existed in the first place. However, that's not happening. Google News, a site that takes headlines automatically from various sources, has nothing on this story. CNN.com currently has California Recall coverage as their main story, followed by stories of hurricane Isabel, Johnny Cash's funeral, a couple of murders and Ben and J-Lo's possible split.

But nothing about officials in the Philippines uncovering a plot to kill the do in the White House!

WHAT'S GOING ON HERE????

The Washington Post's web site is equally bare. (Although they don't seem to realize the importance of the Ben Affleck/J-Lo story!!)

Even if the article at the Manila Times web site is a fake or just wrong, shouldn't there be a story on that?

Hell, it was government officials in the Philippines who first discovered a plot to crash a plane into a skyscraper. When they tried to contact their counterparts in the USGov, they were shrugged off and ignored.

Let's hope SOMEONE'S learning from history... and let's hope it's not just me!

Try to pull up the Manila Times article yourself.

Try pulling up the Manila Times web site's main page.

UPDATED: Finally got through to the Manila Times web site! Still no sign of coverage on any of the mainstream news sites... now at 11:52pm PST... go figure!

SITE UPDATES, FINALLY!

Check it out - a brand new site over at TheSciFi.Com - yes, I finally got off my ass and pulled together a nice and simple design using a couple of blog scripts and a tag board. Stop by and let me know what you think! There's no content there yet, but hopefully I'll have stuff added in the next week or so. If you have anything scifi-ish you want to contribute, HOLLER!! I need all the help I can get! Oh and there's also TheSciFiBoard that you can post to, as well.

Visit TheSciFi.Com!

Meanwhile, I've (FINALLY!) updated Otis and Ballpoint on the main page. And fully changed over TheNewsBlog to the new format. Also, I've updated TheBeauty and moved TheBeauty Archives to make them easier to find on the site. Oh and there's a new video of the moment and I added a new audio of the moment last week. Check them out, too!

Believe it or not, I accomplished all of the above in the past 24 hours - I think I got about 5 hours of sleep and I'm only slightly tired. Go fig! In the preceding four weeks, I've been flying back east for my brother's wedding, trying to deal with TheFiancee being out of town for two months but most of all, working at my new job, which is what was preventing me from updating the site more often. But hey, copy writing pays pretty well, so I'm happy to do it. Money is good!

Well, really "money" is not "good" or "bad" but relies on humans to endow it with power and a positive or negative connotation. To be honest, when I have some money I think it's good. But when I have too much or too little of it, I tend to think it's pretty evil stuff... but I digress...

CHECK OUT THE SITE!!

More new stuff when I can catch a sec!

PS Oh yeah and be sure to check out my blog post from 9/13 if you missed it - it's pretty cool!

Lataz!

PPS Check out my goofy cam pic of me in my sexy 3-D glasses! I'm looking SUHWEEEET!

MILLENNIUM ACTRESS (2001)

Entertaining? This anime is VERY entertaining - but it's NOT an action movie and it's for anyone who enjoys a good story. (Anime is Japanese Animation.)
Technically any good? Very much so. Good story, reasonably well developed characters and really nice animation helps tell a wonderful story about an actress who has lived through it all. The film marches through Japanese cinema and art history creating a truly fun movie in the process.
How did I feel as the credits rolled? Good, really good. This is just a good movie.
Final Rating? GSN (If you can find it - it's only playing in ONE theater in LA!!)

Can you raed tihs?

I got this from my buddy Alejandro:

Acocdrnig to an elgnsih unviesitry sutdy the oredr of letetrs in a wrod dosen't mttaer, the olny thnig thta's iopmrantt is that the frsit and lsat ltteer of eevry word is in the crcreot ptoision. The rset can be jmbueld and one is stlil able to raed the txet wiohtut dclftfuiiy.

If you can read the text above, your brain is demonstrating the remarkable human ability to force patterns on even jumbled messes.


Us humans, we're kooky!

John Ritter, Rest In Peace

 

I spent most of my childhood laughing my ass off at you. You're gone way too early...

MISSING 727 SPOTTED? MAYBE...

According to information provided by Joseph Padilla, SR, the Boeing 727 that went missing from an airstrip in Angola on May 25, 2003 may be sitting in a hangar in Beirut, Lebanon, right now. The source of this information is the brother of an engineer/pilot who, before it's disappearance, was hired to travel to Angola and refit the 10+ year-old aircraft with extra fuel tanks so it could be used as a tanker, or as some believe, a flying bomb. For those of you not following along, there have been quite a few rumors floating around about this plane. Here's another to add to the list.

Padilla says that he was contacted by a pilot who had spoken with an aircraft mechanic in North Dakota, who said he saw the missing 727 in a hangar in Beirut and had overheard people apparently involved with, or standing around the 727 speak of a plan to fly the plane to Israel to bomb an unamed location there.

Now, this sounds like a classic "my friend, who knows this guy, heard that..." kind of story, but in today's climate, it's obvious SOMEone need to follow this stuff up. To back this story up, Padilla draws attention to an article at AlBawaba.com, a Middle East news web site, that quotes Israel's top general as saying that Al Qaeda has been trying to recruit Saudi pilots for 911-style suicide missions against Israel.

Now, regardless of which side you're on in the whole Israelestine/Palestisrael argument, lives lost is never a good thing. We can and should all agree on that. So, if you know someone in the USGov or any other government which has the power to look in on this, please speak to them! Forward this article to them and follow up on this.

Lives could be at stake.

Read the AlBawaba.com article regarding the top Israeli general's claims that Al Qaeda plans to perform 911-esque attacks against Israel.

Read previous NewsBlog coverage of this story.

BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS (2003)

Entertaining? Not all that much.
Technically any good? Not really. We're supposed to care about this kid because he's so precocious, but he's not - he's just sort of weaselly and lame. None of the characters were interesting enough to care about and the plot is barely there. You'd think with cameras rolling on the set, thanks to this movie being made through Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's Project Greenlight, that someone would have noticed the lack of an actual plot. Oh, well...
B>How did I feel as the credits rolled? Annoyed. They make a whole 90 minute movie and basically, it's just a boring remake of The Graduate. Project Greenlight? Where's a traffic cop when you need one?
Final Rating? DNS (Bland, boring and uninteresting.)

CABIN FEVER (2002)

Entertaining? Yeah, like a good, bad splatter film from the late 80's.
Technically any good? Nudity, confusion about why it's all happening and the Jar-Jar Binksian character dies a horrible death. In other words, YES. Not great, but it certainly acomplishes what it set out to do.
How did I feel as the credits rolled? Entertained. If only all bad movies out of Hollywood were this good. That's not to say this is a good movie, but it is fun.
Final Rating? SAM (Only if you're dying for some good splatter fun. RTV, otherwise.)

FREDDY VS. JASON (2003)

Entertaining? Hell, yeah - more than most movies these days!
Technically any good? Messy and contrived plot, but the scenes were nicely constructed so you do feel tension and excitement. Nice to see nudity in a splatter film again, but there's never enough of it compared to the good ol' days.
How did I feel as the credits rolled? Fine, glad my favorite psycho killer represented us Jersey guys well... you know Camp Crystal Lake is in New Jersey, right? ;)
Final Rating? SAM (Not as clever as the last Jason movie, but still fun.)

JASON X (2001)

Entertaining? Surprisingly, so. Yes, it's still a dumb splatter film...
Technically any good? And while it is a dumb splatter film, it's quite clever for a dumb splatter film. There are nice callbacks, set ups for gory gags but none of it is terribly insulting to the intelligence.
How did I feel as the credits rolled? Surprisingly satisfied. Sure, the first Friday the 13th movie is still the best (and the smartest), but this one was a fun reinvention of the character. Check it out if you want to see some clever killings!
Final Rating? RTV (Obviously, don't see this movie if you don't like violence.)

MISSING 727 STILL MISSING AND SO IS A BROTHER

On May 25, 2003, a Boeing 727 sat on a runway at the airport in the capital city of the African nation of Angola. According to some reports it had been sitting there for the better part of a year. The reason as was reported by many mainstream news sources was because local Angolan officials were charging it's owners some $4 million in fines because it apparently was not licensed properly. Regardless, it had been dormant on that runway for quite sometime. That is until on May 25, 2003, it began to taxi, take off and disappear.

But there is much more to the story than just that. Much of it is confusing and strange.

In connection with this vanished Boeing 727-200 series aircraft, the FBI is seeking information regarding one Benjamin Charles Padilla. Padilla is not charged in any crime, they just want to know where he is and what he was up to during the days before the plane disappeared and, obviously, where he's been since. Why do they want to know this? He disappeared the same day as the Boeing and according to Padilla's brother, who lives in Florida, Padilla was sent there by his boss, Maury Joseph (also the owner of the missing 727) to gut the plane and to install huge fuel tanks so the plane could be used as a tanker. Assumably, the tanker could deliver fuel to remote airstrips.

Padilla was an engineer, a pilot (of smaller aircraft - he was not certified to fly a 727) and according to his brother, was definitely working on that plane in the days and weeks leading to it's disappearance.

So what happened?

In the weeks and months following the disappearance of the 727 and of Padilla, the mainstream media reported on the story citing the obvious dangers of a plane in terrorists hands. It was reported that MI-6 (A branch of British Intelligence), Mossad (Israeli Intelligence) and the CIA were desperately scouring the planet for this plane. The FBI even put up a web site asking for information regarding Padilla.

After months had gone by, the media stopped reporting and we are left to assume that the aircraft was never found.

However, in early July, 2003, Australia's Sydney Morning Herald reported that a Canadian pilot named Bob Strother had spotted the missing 727 in Conakry, Guinea. He said that through a fresh but thin coating of paint, he could make out the missing 727's tail number (N844AA). He reported his observation but the plane in question took off and was again lost. One thing to note here is that Padilla's brother spoke with a Jack Markey at the US State Department who claimed that the plane Strother had spotted was tracked down and was confirmed to not be the missing 727.

Another interesting thing to note is that the plane's owner, Maury Joseph was convicted of fraud in 1997 and banned from ever running a publicly traded company again. Coincidentally, his company has another 727 for sale.

Now, this has all of the earmarks of something we'd all look back on after a horrible disaster occurred and say something like "Well, hindsight is 20/20!"

But here we are in the middle of it and no one cares. There's a 727 that's been outfitted to carry as much diesel fuel as it carried people before it was bought from American Airlines. That 727 is out there some place. It didn't crash, it didn't land at any major airports - it just vanished. And it could be used to kill people.

On top of that, there's a man missing. A guy who has a family and people who care about him. We need to figure this out fast. Padilla's life could be hanging in the balance and so could the lives of thousands more. If you have a web site, please post this story on it. Or link to this story or any of the other stories linked to in this article. Tell anyone and everyone you can about this because the worst can happen.

Here are some pictures of Padilla:

{{popup padilla.jpg padilla 150x200}}	{{popup Charles.jpg Charles 1510x1210}}
	{{popup Charles1.jpg Charles1 1518x1220}}

Click to make them bigger

If you have seen him or the 727 with the tail number N844AA, please contact the FBI, the State Department, but most of all, contact Padilla's brother Joseph. You can reach him by phone at (850) 944-9688 or by contacting him here. By using the form at that link you'll be sending me a direct e-mail that I will then forward immediately to Mr. Padilla.

Please, we really need to get this story in front of more people. We may be waiting for people to die.

Read CBS News' coverage of the vanishing 727 from back in June.

Read the Washington Post's coverage of this story from June.

Read the America Free Press story that goes into detail regarding how the 727 could be used by terrorists.

Check out Australia's Sunday Morning Herald coverage of the apparent reappearance of the missing 727 in Guinea.

Read more about the Boeing 727 at the Boeing web site.

Read the original newsblog entry posted back in June, here at ThePete.Com.

Something seriously important at ThePete.Com

Yesterday, I was doing my standard thing, just trying to stay centered on my new part time gig as a copy writer for a web site traffic firm when I heard my email client telling me I had more email.

"Yippee!" Thought I, "More spam to delete!"

So, I control+tabbed over to Eudora and in my in box was a private email someone had sent me from my web site. Always happy to receive any comments from people who visit my site (I live for them, actually), I quickly clicked on the email and had a read.

It was from a man called Joseph Padilla. I'm guessing that he did a Google search and stumbled across this short blurb I posted to my newsblog months ago about this missing Boeing 727 that disappeared from a runway in Africa. It seems that Mr. Padilla's brother has gone missing along with that very same Boeing 727 that was last seen in late May, 2003, on an airstrip in Luanda, the capital city of Angola. That's in Africa, in case you forgot. It turns out Padilla has been desperately trying to draw attention to the story of his missing brother and 727 since the mainstream media began ignoring him and the story back in late June (or so) of this year.

Yes, it seems there's still a Boeing 727 that is missing and the CIA, MI-6 and other agencies from various governments were darn curious where this plane went, but not so much any more. They simply can't find it. But the plane aside, I feel for Mr. Padilla. He's trying to call attention to this problem that people are generally ignoring. Well, people in positions of power, anyway. This plane could be used to kill people. And then there's his brother! The man deserves to know where his brother is, right?

I think so. That's why I am doing this blog entry as well as a post in my newsblog to help add to the information on the 'net about this situation. Please check out my newsblog story and take the whole thing in. If you have some time, read up on it. Do your own research. Where the hell could a 200,000 pound plane be hiding? SOMEone's got to know. Or maybe you've seen Padilla's brother, Benjamin Charles Padilla? If so, contact the FBI or the US State Department ASAP. But also notify Joseph Padilla - he wants to know what happened to his brother as much as he wants to know where that plane went. You can reach him by calling (850) 944-9688 or by sending a private email to me that I will forward on to him.

This is real stuff, people. Spread the word. Link to this blog entry, my newsblog article or any of the other articles out there about this story. It has all the earmarks of being something we'll call 20/20 hindsight after something horrible happens. It's up to us to raise awareness that this threat is out there. And hopefully we'll help find a guy's brother alive and well in the process.

Please click "more" or scroll down to read what Joseph Padilla sent me. It's the same thing he's been posting around the 'net and emailing to anyone and everyone he can. And if he's trying to get ThePete.Com to pay attention to the story - you know it's bad! So, please, do what you can!

Okay, now click "more"!

RADIOACTIVE BAGHDAD

According to Matt Drudge of the infamous Drudge Report, radiation levels in Baghdad are way, way up. This is thank's to the some two-thousand (or so) tons of shells fired in Baghdad since the Iraq Attack began back in March. Why are the shells fired by tanks and other weaponry in the USUK arsenal causing radiation levels to go up? Two words: Depleted Uranium.

Depleted Uranium is this stuff that is a biproduct of uranium (duh). It's incredibly hard and costs a fortune to get rid of. So bright-eyes over at the Pentagon figured this out and thought, "Hey! Why don't we dispose of our own nuclear waste in enemy territory? Depleted Uranium is tough stuff! It'll make great material to make canon shells out of!"

And somebody else at the Pentagon said "COOL! LET'S DO IT!"

Assumably, no one at the Pentagon thought about the racist/genocidal aspects of such a plan. Those being that the US rarely fires at an enemy on the same financial or ratial footing and beyond that, Depleted Uranium stays radioactive for decades if not centuries after it is fired. This will ruin the health of our enemies years after they stop being our enemies. Of course, since they're not financially or racially on our level, who cares, right?

And like any other thing the USGov does that's bad for more people than it's good for, there is an insane amount of conflicting information out there on Depleted Uranium, or as the activists like to call it, "DU". It's very difficult to know who is telling the truth. The World Health Organization says that the dust left over after a DU shell explodes may be only slightly harmful if either breathed in or swallowed. They claim on their web site that they did a study that told them the radioactive dust doesn't cause any damage and is excreted in your feces. Right - so all that radiation doesn't effect your body at all?? Drudge's sources seem to think otherwise as well.

The point is, back in Gulf War I, 375 tons of DU shells were used. Tens of thousands of American GIs have reported symptoms that many have come to call Gulf War Syndrome. The USGov and USMil refuse to admit any wrongdoing and insist that DU rounds are safe. Strange, since the Marines don't use them any more. Now, we've got roughly five times the amount of DU shells fired in the 2003 Iraq Attack. How long will it be until we start seeing more Gulf War Syndrome victims coming home from Iraq?

Why did we ever think it was an honor to die for our country?

Is it an honor to die for people who let you handle radioactive shells and poison innocent civilians for years to come?

I think that's just sad.

Read the Drudge Report on this story.

Check everything the World Health Organization has to say about DU. (As confusing as it is.)

Then read up on what the rest of the world is saying about DU by doing a Google search for Depleted Uranium

SPAZ-ident of the United States of America

Just another thing George W. is guilty of... ANIMAL CRUELTY!!

Shame on you George W. Bush!!

Dropping a dog... You should feel lucky the people of America don't drop you the same way!