Positive News from the USA

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 11 Feb 2014 16:38

On how to cat walk during the fashion week. But seriously, good advice.

member_26011 · Post by **member_26011** » 12 Feb 2014 07:38

Following the Oh See Aye jamboree in the us thread;
An interesting experience (dated):
American gubmand loves its foreign espoza.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 12 Feb 2014 08:25

The daily diet: The revelry and lovefest sections are new in every post, courtesy of google uncle, in case you haven't noticed.
Revelry:
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10.

Lovefest:
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Revelations: What is rape vs. what is sexual assault ? What is an atomic weapon or atom bomb and what is a nukular weapon? What is an indian and what is a south asian ? When are these terms used?
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A story:
chapter 0. The initiation.
chapter 1. The dictionary.
chapter 2. The White house takes lead in promoting the United States leadership in robotics.
chapter 3. The United States takes lead in high-technology -- haptics, robotics, and healthcare.
chapter 4. An editorial: the value of satire.
chapter 5. The Freedoms: Thou shalt not take the lord's name in vain.
chapter 6. The Law: In whom shall we place blind faith.
chapter 7. The Zeal: Where humans aim to imitate and excel upon sheep.
chapter 8. Hiatus to observe pastafarian sabbath.

and, an anecdote for the young'uns, and a FAQ and why it is important to you.

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With no particular dates in mind, to come:
chapter 09. The essence of verification in journalism, publication, and everything; and the myth of peer-review.
chapter 10. The lure of money.
chapter 11. On the dangers of speaking out.
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chapter 12. And in conclusion.
chapter 13. Acknowledgements.
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Special Report (12 Feb 2014; U-NSN, sports intern fired, never acknowledged): Over there on the strat-e-jic thread, an unlimited over, unlimited days, new format cricket match is in progress. Already so old that starters are long gone and substitutes have established themselves. Team Yindia is currently batting, with Team YooEssay throwing unlimited no-balls in each over. Remember, due to unlimited duration, substitutes are allowed to bat, bowl, and field. Here are your teams (in development, normal cricket terminology suspended due to copyright protection):

Match: Current State of Affairs (unlimited overs, balls, unlimited bouncers and no-balls, no holds barred):

Team Yindia ("The custodials") : General (Amber G), members (notwithstanding rank) - LokeshC, Gus, vishvak, MurthyB,saip, …

Team YooEssay ("The grouses"): General (TSJ, long departed, ~~RIP~~), members (notwithstanding rank) - KLP Dubey (tenured), matrimc (successful), ~~negi~~, KJoishy, …

Umpires: ramana, JEM.

Sage: shiv (lacking a grouse, guest appearances only).

Nutcase spectators (waving flag or otherwise): HHPsY Sulaiman (also known as Hobo Under The Bridge With An ~~iPad~~* - HUTBWAi), UlanBatory (yak butter specialist, certified insane, talks in tongues, streaks frequently).

Retired hurt: TSJ (reliable report from hospital, 2/12), negi (2/12).

Rule changes : in the spirit-e-demokracy-bin-Yindia, team defections are now permitted between overs (Const-e-tution rule 19 section 14 para 7; NaMo for khalifa!, hereafter the clause para 7 or the 7 paraclaus). Chewbacca defense has been outlawed; causing TSJ the slightest twinge in his dreams.

Many a shower have been taken, and substitutes have no form book on players already in the game. The teams will be completed in due time as this post progresses. Scoreboard is currently down for repair. Please stay tuned.

Update: Unseen by the umpires Team YooEssay has sneeked in their famed chewbacca defense bouncer: Peecha chaka no wookie bonowa tweepi solo?ho ho ho. hohohoho.

* Outside the affordability of most HUTBWAi.
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Disclaimer:Please re-read the FAQ, before making any judgements and inferences. The intent is not to have the reader conceive, but to perceive what is in plain sight. Inferences are your own and please resist the temptation of 140 character conclusions. You may not have yet perceived much more that is relevant. All the yak butter will not give you the essence of what is above. I dont know, and I wrote it. The thread is established and this adds only little additional value now. It is only there at the admin's discretion. This was all that was handy at the time. And pasta willing, more of your preconceptions will be proven false, in less than 140chars.

Hussain HankPsnky
U-NSN
Silicone Valley Wilds

negi · Post by **negi** » 12 Feb 2014 14:56

^ Arrey dada while I enjoy good humor and even more so at my own expense , why am I in the team USA (phuck I live in India) ? I would rather be called a troll than team USA. It ij highly mij phortunate that my 'apparent' lack of sensitivity to the level expected by the jirga has been mijtaken for batting for YooEss . Anyways last thing I need is to judge folks based on postings here so long as it ij in good humor eberyone and eberything ij fair game

Just a humple brotest nothing more nothing less.

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 12 Feb 2014 15:30

negi wrote:^ Arrey dada while I enjoy good humor and even more so at my own expense , why am I in the team USA (phuck I live in India) ? I would rather be called a troll than team USA. It ij highly mij phortunate that my 'apparent' lack of sensitivity to the level expected by the jirga has been mijtaken for batting for YooEss . Anyways last thing I need is to judge folks based on postings here so long as it ij in good humor eberyone and eberything ij fair game

Just a humple brotest nothing more nothing less.

you live in India?

I thought you were a red blooded American! Did you move from America to India?

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 12 Feb 2014 15:33

negi wrote:^ Arrey dada while I enjoy good humor and even more so at my own expense , why am I in the team USA (phuck I live in India) ? I would rather be called a troll than team USA. It ij highly mij phortunate that my 'apparent' lack of sensitivity to the level expected by the jirga has been mijtaken for batting for YooEss . Anyways last thing I need is to judge folks based on postings here so long as it ij in good humor eberyone and eberything ij fair game

Just a humple brotest nothing more nothing less.

And that is how AyeeRan and AyeeRaQ are created. Humor and satire are extremely fragile things. If you are married, then you will understand why in the Indian context satire does not apply to cheer haran , nor does any standard procedure . Since you have asked, there is not one, but three games going on the forum right now. To increase the viewership to the ancient unparalleled one, the admin-e-stration has seen it fit to arrange:

a new format cricket match,
a treasure hunt, and in consolation for the fragile really young ones (here's looking at you KLP Dubey)
a scavenger hunt

Just because they are not announced does not mean they don't exist. The hunt is for humor and satire. The match is for serious discussion. Stand for principle, or against in the match. Laugh at anything you like, in the hunt . And if the knowledge netra opens, you might even win a prize that will serve you and yours for rest of time. The sages will not be around forever. If you recall, the one thing about sages is that they never stay in one place for a long time. Once gone, you build a temple, and stick rupee notes in their bronze ears. The knowledge they imparted is long lost once the dera has departed. And back to the scheduled programming.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 12 Feb 2014 19:58

Child education - pubic and privates

Education and freedom of information achieve new highs in the US - especially for girls

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 12 Feb 2014 21:24

I found this on CNN news. This is for your viewing pleasure Shiv.

http://www.vocativ.com/01-2014/masters- ... e=outbrain

Before everybody gets outraged and everything, I have a confession to make. I hire a maid service to clean my house. They come every other week. It takes them less than hour for which they charge me a $100.00 per visit. I'm not at the house when they come so they have a key. The maids are from el salvador or guatamala and can't be much over 5 feet tall. They don't speak a lot of english but they are cheerful little workers as they bustle around and vacuum the floors and change my bed sheets, etc. I love how they fold the end of my toliet paper like the major hotels do. I was home sick once when they came to clean so that is how I know about them. They chatter back and forth in Spanish while working and I can't understand a word they are saying. They are very shy and when I was home sick laying on the couch they manuvered very carefully around me so as not to disturb me very much. Just wanted to be transparent about this.

member_22733 · Post by **member_22733** » 12 Feb 2014 21:37

^^TSJ

In my extremely limited ability to comprehend English, my understanding is that this thread is about 'Positive news about USA'. Positive news is all around the US, everywhere.

For some reason the US media and the Indian media dont publish the positive news in the US for general consumption. This thread is an effort to bring the Positive news to the people who read this forum (0.0000001% of the Indian population, so dont stress too much about it).

What you have posted is positive news about saaauth-asia (please note that Bakistan is a middle eastern country and should be grouped along with the country that is the US' brother by a different mother : Saudi Barbaria).

Positive news about India and Saaauth-Assia is how many people in the west make a living, many of our own people have caught up to it. Shaming the savage is huge industry in the west, and they have made sure that Positive news about India is everywhere. They must make sure their livelihood is not threatened.

I know you are trying to reduce your burden (of the white man kind), but there are other threads for it. I suggest you please take this burden and try to get it reduced in those threads.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 12 Feb 2014 21:59

TSJones wrote:I found this on CNN news. This is for your viewing pleasure Shiv.

http://www.vocativ.com/01-2014/masters- ... e=outbrain

Before everybody gets outraged and everything, I have a confession to make. I hire a maid service to clean my house. They come every other week. It takes them less than hour for which they charge me a $100.00 per visit. I'm not at the house when they come so they have a key. The maids are from el salvador or guatamala and can't be much over 5 feet tall. They don't speak a lot of english but they are cheerful little workers as they bustle around and vacuum the floors and change my bed sheets, etc. I love how they fold the end of my toliet paper like the major hotels do. I was home sick once when they came to clean so that is how I know about them. They chatter back and forth in Spanish while working and I can't understand a word they are saying. They are very shy and when I was home sick laying on the couch they manuvered very carefully around me so as not to disturb me very much. Just wanted to be transparent about this.

Hmm - man with two foreign female "paid employees" at home feigning sickness eh?

The interesting thing here is discomfort you presumably feel that makes you fail to ignore this thread and post something well known and well documented about India on a thread reserved for good news about the USA.

Media articles such as these are a dime a dozen. These issues are well known to Indians, masters and "servants" and are a favorite topic among people in "advanced" "free" western nations when they need to pat themselves on the back and say tut tut about India. You choose to post that article on this thread simply because you hope it will cause me the discomfort you are feeling, with the comment that it is "for my viewing pleasure". The pleasure it gives me is derived from your validation of the fact that this thread is doing what it is supposed to do - which is to hold a mirror to people who have been taught to think that they do not suffer from the warts they detect on others.

TSJ you are only the local victim who hangs about here to get kicked. You cannot correct all the things that this thread exposes about the US any more than I can correct all that is written about India, servants and slavery. But there is something that both you and I could correct. I am going to correct the impression that all is well in the US. It is up to you to find out if all is as bad in India as the media like to portray. What you do with that information is your call. Either way let everyone know the truth, impartially.

Meanwhile back to regular programming. It just makes it so much easier for me that the media fill up space with so much negative information about India that it hardly raises any eyebrows. it is "bositive" news about the US that seems to get knickers in a twist. Says something about why burqas don't really cover the truth.

johneeG · Post by **johneeG** » 12 Feb 2014 22:04

Child sexual abuse occurs frequently in Western society.[165] The rate of prevalence can be difficult to determine.[166][167][168]

In the UK, a 2010 study estimated prevalence at about 5% for boys and 18% for girls[169] (not dissimilar to a 1985 study that estimated about 8% for boys and 12% for girls[170]). More than 23,000 incidents were recorded by the UK police between 2009 and 2010. Girls were six times more likely to be assaulted than boys with 86% of attacks taking place against them.[171][172] The estimates for the United States vary widely. A literature review of 23 studies found rates of 3% to 37% for males and 8% to 71% for females, which produced an average of 17% for boys and 28% for girls,[173] while a statistical analysis based on 16 cross-sectional studies estimated the rate to be 7.2% for males and 14.5% for females.[16] The US Department of Health and Human Services reported 83,600 substantiated reports of sexually abused children in 2005.[174][175] Including incidents which were not reported would make the total number even larger.[176] According to Emily M. Douglas and David Finkelhor, "Several national studies have found that black and white children experienced near-equal levels of sexual abuse. Other studies, however, have found that both blacks and Latinos have an increased risk for sexual victimization".[177][178]

Surveys have shown that one fifth to one third of all women reported some sort of childhood sexual experience with a male adult.[179] A 1992 survey studying father-daughter incest in Finland reported that of the 9,000 15-year old high school girls who filled out the questionnaires, of the girls living with their biological fathers, 0.2% reported father-daughter incest experiences; of the girls living with a stepfather, 3.7% reported sexual experiences with him. The reported counts included only father-daughter incest and did not include prevalence of other forms of child sexual abuse. The survey summary stated, "the feelings of the girls about their incestual experiences are overwhelmingly negative."[180] Others argue that prevalence rates are much higher, and that many cases of child abuse are never reported. One study found that professionals failed to report approximately 40% of the child sexual abuse cases they encountered.[181] A study by Lawson & Chaffin indicated that many children who were sexually abused were "identified solely by a physical complaint that was later diagnosed as a venereal disease...Only 43% of the children who were diagnosed with venereal disease made a verbal disclosure of sexual abuse during the initial interview."[182] It has been found in the epidemiological literature on CSA that there is no identifiable demographic or family characteristic of a child that can be used to bar the prospect that a child has been sexually abused.[166]
In schools

In US schools, according to the United States Department of Education,[183] "nearly 9.6% of students are targets of educator sexual misconduct sometime during their school career." In studies of student sex abuse by male and female educators, male students were reported as targets in ranges from 23% to 44%.[183] In U.S. school settings same-sex (female and male) sexual misconduct against students by educators "ranges from 18–28% of reported cases, depending on the study"[184]

A 1998 meta-analysis by Bruce Rind et al. generated controversy by suggesting that child sexual abuse does not always cause pervasive harm, that some college students reported such encounters as positive experiences and that the extent of psychological damage depends on whether or not the child described the encounter as "consensual."[68] The study was criticized for flawed methodology and conclusions.[69][70] The US Congress condemned the study for its conclusions and for providing material used by pedophile organizations to justify their activities.[71]

Wiki Link

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 12 Feb 2014 23:05

TSJ, Shiv et al: Under nearly almost all possible circumstances, this becomes no business of mine. Life is complicated enough, lord knows. One can only complain about so many things at a time. So here is the *only thing* that got my goat and got me typing again:

The only people who ever tried to pretend they were perfect, then promptly went on to experiment with (you guessed it) -- eugenics .

It is true we imported a few specimen after WW2 to make some rockets and all, and many more just floated this way in the 50s marrying the odd farmer here and there to escape poverty in West Germany (Gasp!). But who elected them the representatives (well technically, we did -- with Arnold, but he is reformed and retired now). This is a polite country. It is not a perfect country. We wear our #!@#$ing flaws on our sleeves and take pride in fixing them. Heck we used to take pride in fixing everyone else's too, in the not too distant past. And rightly so, that was what attracted people here.

I don't recall any vote on painting the Canadians nice and taking on the role of the devil forever. So if someone screwed up somewhere, I don't expect to see folks defending them simply for the sake of the defending them. Screw that, the law applies to them. If you thought you were the queen, take your tea somewhere else.

Yet, all I see is made-up nonsense about how it was right. It wasn't. I won't ever be. You can't make it. A spade is a spade is a spade is a spade. And we will be the ones to suffer. In a thousand ways. Not the idiots who overstepped their brief and stripped someone to get a hard-on. They make pills for that. You don't have to abuse human beings.

Not one single sane voice here saying -- I am sorry this happened. It won't happen again; not on my watch, it won't. A test match of 300 pages and more, and all I see is chewbacca defense over and over again. People who make mistakes of this kind don't make them once, they make them again and again. What about next time? Who will we blame then? You think this sort of thing happens in a vacuum?

What is wrong with you people? And why aren't we on the horn apologizing instead of tracking Justin Bieber's escapades? You can pretend to be perfect, but the schidt is hitting the fan from so many other directions that only the finest of Colorado produce will let you enjoy that fantasy. I don't partake. I won't partake.

I am sorry. And if there was anything else I could do to prevent it from happening again, then I did it yesterday. And if I can think of something else within my powers then that too shall happen. I know saying this a hundred times doesn't change a thing, but it doesn't make me look any more or less silly either. And if a thousand others said this, we would have one less problem to deal with.

There is a bigger game afoot. Let it not make pawns of us all. Again!

member_22733 · Post by **member_22733** » 13 Feb 2014 00:26

Back to regular programming:

Every year millions of Mexican immigrants cross the US border into the Mexico that was (Texas, California, Arizona etc). Some get caught and are treated with such violence that would make cavity search looks like kindergarten kids play. The less said about minute men the better, they are running 'slave patrols' at the border making sure they shoot as many 'illegals' as they can.

Why do they cross the border, sometimes without documents? It is to cater to people like TSJ, who get their house cleaned for 100$ for a full day clean (8 hours x 2 people) instead of the 500$ they would have to pay for Americans to do it.

Indirectly TSJ is increasing demands for Latino/Mexican workers and thereby indirectly encouraging Mexicans in Mexico to move to the US 'for a better life'.

They might get better pay here, no doubt about it. The dollar goes a long way unlike a measly peso. To get to the dollar they experience conditions worse the slavery by being servants having no legal protection. TSJ maynot harm them, he may have altruistic interests in mind when he hires them, but TSJ maybe paying most of that 100$ to the middlemen who contract from TSJ. At the end of the day the maids might be getting 20bucks for the 8 hours of hard labor they put in.

If you dont believe me, please read this:
http://www.cleanlink.com/sm/article/Ill ... Mart--1036

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 13 Feb 2014 02:07

So not evefything in the US news is bad about India. So there, take that.

http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/ ... ?hpt=hp_c4

however, I must admit, I am some what mystified about the purposes of the photos. Maybe some of you art appreciation guys want to explain?

MurthyB · Post by **MurthyB** » 13 Feb 2014 03:20

TSJones wrote:So not evefything in the US news is bad about India. So there, take that.

http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/ ... ?hpt=hp_c4

however, I must admit, I am some what mystified about the purposes of the photos. Maybe some of you art appreciation guys want to explain?

As a total non-sequitur, this post above is very artistic indeed. As far as the purpose of the photos, it is to confuse Merkins by putting dots AND feathers side by side. Talk about a total mindfcuk!

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 13 Feb 2014 04:29

> Team YooEssay ("The grouses"): General (TSJ, long departed, RIP), members (notwithstanding rank) - KLP Dubey (tenured), matrimc > (successful), negi, KJoishy, …

Actually when TSK heard that a Cricket tournament is being held between Injun Joes and Amir Khans 8'O clock sharp he showed up with his fine set of wooden darts at the doors of that fine grad pub at the corner of a colored street and numbered street. Nobody showed up as it was a Cricket match between high IQ, MENSA IIT north quad Indian grad students and the average IQ, but good at Ingileesh South Quad humanities folks, he showed up with gold speckled black bowling balls the next morning at the fields next to the Japan House. The Grouses (The Grise? well anyway) had to bowl wides and no-balls so as not to hurt sensiteebe parts of The Custodials.

MurthyB · Post by **MurthyB** » 13 Feb 2014 07:04

Shreeman wrote:
Team Yindia ("The custodials") : General (Amber G), members (notwithstanding rank) - LokeshC, Gus, vishvak, MurthyB,saip, …

Honored to be on this list, but rank is just the chap from the bleachers holding up a crude homemade sign "east is east, west is west, tendulkar is the best".

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 13 Feb 2014 07:28

As the lowlyest, most wretched, most despised member of Team USA, I would like to make a few essential comments if I may.

The positive news of the US is always in the news or Team India wouldn't know about it. The US news is filled with murder and mayhem. US citizens hacking, shooting, stabbing, raping, abusing is constant. This place is freaking crazy. There is just not enough love, man.

However, things bubble up to the top when it is politically correct to do so, such as servant abuse, human trafficing, gender mutilation, etc.
It's a big deal man. Illegal migrants however don't count so much because they really shouldn't be here anyway, right? However, both liberals and conservatives want them here because of the cheap labor and future potential votes usually for the democrats.

But this postive us news being posted here is really only being done to assuage the jingo's hurt. Nothing more than that. It's not going to stop waves of Indians lining up for their visas.

Just a nod to other Team USA members which they probably don't want, don't need, and wish I would shut up.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 13 Feb 2014 08:01

TSJones wrote:
But this postive us news being posted here is really only being done to assuage the jingo's hurt. Nothing more than that. It's not going to stop waves of Indians lining up for their visas.

Whatever you need to say to comfort and pacify yourself is fine by me. Keep watching this thread if you need to feel comforted.

johneeG · Post by **johneeG** » 13 Feb 2014 08:39

Female Soldiers Were Goaded Into Prostitution on Texas Army Base

Several "young, cash-strapped female privates" from Ft. Hood testified this week that they were pressured to prostitute themselves to superiors—and that the senior soldier who pressed them was his unit's sexual assault prevention officer.

The revelations came in the military trial of Master Sgt. Brad Grimes, who was found guilty late Tuesday on two charges after meeting with one of the women at a La Quinta Inn for paid sex. The 17-year Army veteran, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was demoted and given a letter of reprimanded. He will be permitted to remain in the service.

Amazingly, no charges have been filed against the alleged mastermind of the ring, Sgt. First Class Gregory McQueen, who continues to serve on active duty but was recently stripped of his responsibilities as a battalion sex-assault prevention officer on the Texas base.

The female soldiers, who were relatively new to the service and have not been charged with any crimes, testified that they were recruited into prostitution by McQueen. One private alleged that McQueen made "abusive sexual contact" with her during an "interview" to be in the ring, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

One reason McQueen hasn't been arrested is because Grimes wouldn't testify against him—what the New Republic called "the buddy-buddy refusal to report on a predatory peer," part of "the military's corrosive gender culture."

For his part, Grimes attempted to evade by punishment by testifying that he never had sex with the soldier he'd gone to see at the La Quinta. "He was tempted, and it's not a crime to be tempted," Grimes' civilian lawyer said. He added: "At the end of the day, Master Sgt. Grimes chose to do the right thing and not have sex with that young lady."

The young lady, however, disagreed: She said Grimes indeed had sex with her, and paid her $100.

Link

Military Prostitution Ring Run By Sexual Assault Prevention Officer

by Judy Molland
December 10, 2013
6:00 am

Several young female privates from Fort Hood military base in Killeen, Texas, testified in court last week that they were pressured to prostitute themselves to superiors.

That’s bad enough, but even worse is the shocking discovery that the senior soldier who pressed them was the officer whose job it was to prevent sexual assaults in his unit.

These revelations came out in the military trial of Master Sgt. Brad Grimes, who on December 3 was found guilty by a Fort Hood jury of conspiring to patronize a prostitute and solicit adultery.

According to Grimes’ attorney Daniel Conway, Grimes met a young private at a La Quinta Inn for a “hook up,” but ultimately decided not to have sex with her.

The young private disagreed with this story and testified that she did have sex with Grimes and that he paid her $100.

Well, surprise, surprise, the jury chose to believe Grimes and not the young woman. The 17-year Army veteran, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was acquitted of adultery and patronizing a prostitute, but was ordered reprimanded and reduced in rank just one pay grade, from E-8 to E-7.

In other words, he received barely any punishment at all. His sentence could have been much harsher: a year of confinement, reduction to private and a bad conduct discharge, but somehow he got out of all that.

No Charges Filed Against the Soldier Running the Prostitution Ring

Even more egregious, absolutely no charges have been filed against the alleged leader of the ring, Sgt. First Class Gregory McQueen, who continues to serve on active duty, although he has been stripped of his responsibilities as a sex-assault prevention officer on the Texas base.

Apparently there will be no other punishment, in spite of the fact that a second private has accused McQueen of abusive sexual contact during an “interview” to be part of the ring, according to investigative documents obtained by the Austin American-Statesman.

And guess what? One reason McQueen hasn’t been arrested is because Grimes wouldn’t testify against him — what the New Republic called “the buddy-buddy refusal to report on a predatory peer,” part of “the military’s corrosive gender culture.”

Congress Must Pass the Military Justice Improvement Act

This is exactly why Congress must pass the Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA).

Rape in the military is at a horrific level, and while the military has been arguing that it can clean up its act, the fact is that in 2012 alone, there were an outrageous 26,000 sexual assaults in the U.S. armed forces, crimes ranging from sexual harassment to rape. Yet only about 3,500 of these crimes were reported.

When asked why, fifty percent of survivors of sexual assault who did not report said that they didn’t believe that anything would be done with their case.

The military needs to do better than that. It’s clear that the prosecution of cases like this need to be removed from the purview of military commanders.

MJIA would do just that, moving the decision of whether to prosecute sexual assault cases out of the chain-of-command and giving it to independent, objective, trained military prosecutors.

Senate Republicans Block MJIA Vote

MJIA would work by amending the National Defense Appropriations Act (NDAA). However, Senate Republicans blocked the bill from coming to a vote on the floor on November 22, before heading out for a two-week recess.

As Paul Rieckhoff, writing in The Huffington Post, explains:

Two things may happen now to this bill. Senate leaders can come back from their Thanksgiving break and come to an agreement to allow the NDAA to move forward. This could include a vote on the Military Justice Improvement Act. If the NDAA continues to stall or Senators don’t allow a vote on the MJIA, bill sponsor Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will ask for a separate vote on MJIA. We’ll have to stay tuned until after Senators return from an extensive Thanksgiving break to find out what will happen on the Senate floor.

For the sake of those young women in Texas, and all the thousands of victims of sexual assault in the military, the Senate must pass Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s Military Justice Improvement Act.

Link

The Bad, the Worse and the Horrible on Rape in the Military

by Jeff Fecke
June 5, 2013
4:00 pm

The Senate Armed Services Committee held hearings on Tuesday into the epidemic of rape in the armed forces. Rape in the military is at a horrific level, and while the military has been arguing that it can clean up its act, the numbers belie that argument. In 2012 alone, there were 26,000 sexual assaults in the US armed forces, numbers that are an outrage to pretty much any thinking person.

Fortunately for senior military officials, the hearing was not just attended by thinking people. Senate Republicans showed up as well. And their responses to the spate of sexual assaults ranged from clueless to downright despicable.

The Bad

In defense of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., he does seem to understand that the sexual assault crisis in the military is a serious problem that needs attention.

“At its core, this is an issue about defending basic human rights but it’s also a long-term threat to the strength of our military. We have to ask ourselves: if left uncorrected, what impact will this problem have on recruitment and retention of qualified men and women?” McCain asked during the hearing. “I cannot overstate my disgust and disappointment over continued reports of sexual misconduct in our military. We’ve been talking about this issue for years and talk is insufficient.”

Very true, and while it’s sad to say McCain deserves credit for finding rape despicable, given his peers in the GOP, he really does. Unfortunately, McCain’s short-term fix is just flat wrong.

“Just last night, a woman came to me and said her daughter wanted to join the military and could I give my unqualified support for her doing so. I could not,” McCain said.

Look, I get it: if my daughter was older and wanted to serve in the military, I would absolutely be concerned about sexual assault. But when we say that women should stay out of the military because of rape, we’re really giving the rapists what they want. Rape is more about power than sex, and rape in the military is all about demonstrating to women, in the most graphic and terrible way, that they are not welcome.

It’s the same impulse that leads us to tell women they shouldn’t walk alone at night. Okay, maybe it’s good advice, but when we focus on that, we lose sight of the fact that victims of rape do not bear responsibility for being raped — their assailants do.

Now, if McCain’s had been the worst statement of the day, it would hardly merit comment. However, McCain’s ineptitude looks angelic compared to two of his fellow senators.

The Worse

According to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., maybe the problem isn’t that men in the military are raping women. Maybe the real problem is *****.

“Mr. Chairman, I’d just add a letter, a document here that was given to me from Morality in the Media,” said Sessions during the debate. “Pat Truman used to be in the Department of Justice. I knew him when he was there. He points out that, a picture here of a newsstand and an Air Force base exchange with, you know, sexually explicit magazines being sold. So, we live in a culture that’s awash in sexual activity. If it’s not sold on base, it’s right off base. There are videos and so forth that can be obtained, and it creates some problems, I think.”

Now, it goes without saying, but the vast majority of people who watch or read ***** in some form do not go out and rape people. Indeed, there’s some evidence that the wide availability of ***** online has helped to reduce the rate of sexual assault, though obviously, there’s a question of whether it’s causation or correlation at work.

Additionally, sexual assault in the military has been a problem long before ***** was widely available. The newly-released book What Soldiers Do documents a wave of rape and sexual assault by American soldiers in France during World War II. Those soldiers weren’t induced to rape by a Playboy at the PX; Playboy didn’t exist then.

Sessions is conflating sex with rape. A soldier who buys a smutty video isn’t then turned into a wild, uncontrollable rape fiend. They’re much more likely to watch it and go to bed by himself. Or herself.

Still, at least there might be a tiny sliver of something useful in this. It’s conceivable that ***** could be used as part of sexual harassment, as part of a pattern to make the military unwelcome to women. It’s kind of not the point of the hearing, but I can at least see it. Nobody managed to top the worst statement of the day, the week, and possibly the year.

The Horrible

“The young folks who are coming into each of your services are anywhere from 17 to 22 or 23,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga. “Gee whiz, the hormone level created by nature sets in place the possibility for these types of things to occur. So we’ve got to be very careful how we address it on our side.”

In three short sentences, Chambliss manages to declare rape an intractable problem that is a natural consequence of being 20 years old, and nothing we want to rush to correct in any way, shape or form.

This is news, I think, to most people who are older than 17. For most of us, either those of us living through those hormonally-crazed years or those on the other side of them, we can acknowledge that there was a point in time where we were perhaps more driven by sex than we are now. But for the vast majority of us, we can look back on that period in our lives as a time when we didn’t rape anyone. Indeed, as a time when we weren’t even remotely tempted to rape anyone.

Chambliss’ argument boils down to “boys will be boys.” Guys have hormones, these hormones make us rape women, what are you gonna do? Well, for one thing, not rape people. Guys and gals with hormones manage to make that difficult choice every day.

But maybe rapists are different. Maybe their hormones are ridiculously high, right? Wrong. There’s no significant correlation between testosterone level and propensity to rape. Indeed, a 1976 study indicated that non-rapists actually had slightly higher levels of testosterone than rapists did.

Now, are two 20-year-olds more likely to hook up randomly than two 40-year-olds? Probably. But that’s just it — they’re more likely to have sex. And rape is not about sex.

If you doubt that, consider this: nearly half of the victims of sexual assault in the military in 2011 were victims of male-on-male sexual assault. And no, before you leap to that conclusion, this was not caused by gay men raping straight men. Those numbers showed no significant change before or after repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

No, rape is about asserting dominance — and rapists are more than willing to assault men in violent, degrading ways, as long as they think they can get away with it. It’s about shaming and belittling other people, teaching them “their place.”

That’s why Chambliss’ statement is so abhorrent. It’s not just that he says that men can’t help but rape — a lie that is far more anti-male than anything feminists could ever come up with — but that he uses this to justify doing nothing. In short, Chambliss looked at men abusing men and women alike, and he’s siding with the abusers. Even on a day with bad statements from his fellow Republicans, this is an entirely different level of awful.

Link

US military scandal: A culture of rape?
We ask how widespread sexual misconduct and abuse can be tackled in the US armed forces.

Two US air force trainers have been sentenced in connection with a widening sexual abuse scandal at one of the busiest military training centers in the nation.

Investigators say at least 38 female trainees were victimised at the Lackland Air Force Base in the US state of Texas. Fifteen instructors have been implicated.

"The boys club mentality is not as overt as it was 30 years ago .... This only becomes a crisis when it gets out in public .... The whole process of victims feeling like they are victimised again by the system discourages reporting and keeps a lot of this under wrap."

- Morris Davis, a retired US air force colonel who led the investigation into the sexual abuse scandal at the US Air Force Academy in 2003

Last year, nearly 3,200 rapes and sexual assaults were officially reported, but the Pentagon admits that represents just 15 per cent of all incidents.

A military survey revealed that one in five women in the US forces has been sexually assaulted, but most do not report it. Nearly half said that they "did not want to cause trouble in their unit".

A former army nurse told a member of the US Congress that during her tours in Iraq and Afghanistan she was more afraid of being attacked by her fellow soldiers than she was of the enemy.

But many of those attacked are men. In 2010 nearly 50,000 male veterans screened positive for “military sexual trauma” at the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

In April, Leon Panetta, the US defense secretary, announced new steps to deter assaults and make it easier to prosecute offenders. But some argue a military culture that makes it difficult for crimes to be reported is standing in the way of meaningful change.

Paula Coughlin-Puopolo, a former Lieutenant in the US Navy, was groped by at least 200 men at a convention of navy and marine corps aviators in 1991. She went public and what was known as the Tailhook scandal ensued. But no one was punished.

She says: "The situation in the military regarding sexual harassment and sexual assault has changed for the worse .... We've got a problem where victims are coming forward but their complaints aren't actually being handled .... and no one is actually convicted. The actions of most of military leadership now towards a person that comes forward as a victim is to remove them from their job and ultimately punish them, while the perpetrators continue to march on smartly with their successful career .... Maybe it's a squeamish conversation that real leadership doesn't want to hear about the rape and the victimisation of their troops, but you can't solve the problem until you turn the lights on."

So what can be done to tackle widespread sexual abuse in the military? And why has the Pentagon failed to curb sexual misconduct and abuse in the armed forces?

Joining Inside Story Americas to discuss this are guests: Morris Davis, a retired US air force colonel who led the investigation into the sexual abuse scandal at the US Air Force Academy in 2003; Ariana Klay, a former US Marine Officer, who is one of eight current and former military members who have filed a lawsuit alleging they were raped, assaulted, or harassed during their service; and Aaron Belkin, a professor of political science at San Francisco State University and the author of Bring Me Men: Military Masculinity and the Benign Façade of American Empire.

"This is not just a problem of a culture of underreporting and a system that punishes victims for reporting. This is really a rape culture in the military. Even if victims were more able to report the crimes, there is the bigger question of what's producing the rapes in the first place?

You have a rape culture and you have an organisation that is very masculinist and that places a lot of value on dominance and power and subordination. You also have a system that's trying to train people to overcome inhibitions against violence. So, to produce a warrior we have to train people how to become violent. In the training scenario you create a master-slave dynamic where commanders have almost unlimited authority over people they are in charge of. When you put these three factors together, you have a recipe for rape."

Aaron Belkin, a professor of political science at San Francisco State University

This year, the US military announced changes in how it handles sexual assault allegations:

Victims can now seek an immediate transfer if the person accused is in the same unit
Evidence from rape cases will be kept for 50 years, so that victims have more time to file charges
Local unit commanders must report allegations to a special court-martial convening authority
No one below the rank of colonel or navy captain can dismiss assault allegations

Link

1 in 3 women are RAPED in US military during service

October 21:

New York, October 21: As many as one in three women in the US military are raped during their service, studies suggest. "My experience reporting military sexual assault was worse than the actual assault," says Jessica (a pseudonym for her protection), a former marine officer and Iraq veteran who left the military because of her command's poor handling of her assault charges. "The command has so much power over a victim of sexual assault. They are your judge, jury, executioner and mayor: they own the law. As I saw in my case, they are able to crush you for reporting an assault."

Jessica is joining a civil lawsuit bringing claims against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, charging that under their watch the military failed to adequately and effectively investigate rapes and sexual assaults within the ranks.

The litigation, which was filed in Virginia district court in February of this year by the law office of Susan Burke, is set to go to trial in the coming months. The initial suit named 16 plaintiffs, all former or current military service members - but in recent months that number has swelled to more than 30, as more and more veterans come forward as survivors of sexual assault.

These plaintiffs join the growing crescendo of veterans, military service members, spouses and their advocates speaking out against the problem of widespread sexual assault and rape in the US military.

As the war in Afghanistan passes its ten-year mark, sexual assault runs rampant within the ranks, with an estimated one in three female service members raped during their service, according to at least one peer-reviewed study. This is in a military where women comprise more 11 per cent of active duty service members deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and more than 15 per cent of the total military, with at least 200,000 active duty women currently serving. This epidemic also affects men: 60 per cent of women serving in the National Guard and Reserve, along with 27 per cent of men, are estimated to have experienced Military Sexual Trauma (MST). Perpetrators rely on a chain of command that appears to offer virtual impunity for sexual assaults committed against lower-ranking service members.

'Re-traumatising' redress

Military reports and Congress-appointed task forces acknowledge that sexual assault within the military is widespread. While the Department of Defense (DoD) has repeatedly said it is attempting to curb the problem, the most recent evidence shows that it has failed to adequately address the spread of this outbreak.

The most significant change made by the military in the past decade was the creation of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) in 2005. This office, which encompasses the entire DoD, is responsible for oversight of sexual assault policies and the implementation of prevention and response programs. However, SAPRO is rife with problems. The primary role of the office is to track rapes and sexual assaults and release annual reports. According to the US Government Accountability Office's (GAO) own evaluation, SAPRO has failed to work with the disciplinary arm of the DoD, giving its reports and findings little muscle. Furthermore, the Report of the Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military December 2009, which was ordered by congress, found that funding of SAPRO had been "sporadic and inconsistent".

SAPRO introduced a system of restricted reporting, allowing survivors of sexual assault to make confidential reports, to avoid outing themselves in a hostile environment.

"We are finding that it is the victim who is punished when they report."

- Greg Jacob

While this step has increased the number of reports and created avenues for survivors to seek personal care, it does not launch an investigation into the assault. "Restricted reporting allows the military to ignore criminal aspects of sexual assault and to just take care of it," says Greg Jacob, a former Marine and the current policy director for the Service Women's Action Network (SWAN), an organisation dedicated to advocacy and providing a healing community for military service women.

Military officials claim that improvements have been made since the Defense Task Force's 2009 report. "DoD has a zero tolerance policy on sexual assault," says Cynthia Smith, SAPRO press spokesperson. "Over the past two years, DoD has affirmed its commitment to preventing and effectively responding to sexual assault. The department's focus has been on reducing the stigma associated with reporting, providing sufficient training for commanders, and ensuring adequate training and resources for prosecutors and investigators."

Yet, the prosecution rates of sexual assault in the military remains at eight per cent, a dismal percentage in light of the staggering number of assaults that are believed to go unreported. This compares to a 40 per cent prosecution rate for sexual assault charges in civilian courts, which itself is considered low. For cases that do make it to trial, sexual assault conviction rates are astoundingly low. According to SAPRO's most recent annual report, in 2010, of 3,158 reports of military sexual assaults, only 529 alleged perpetrators were convicted, while 41 per cent were acquitted or had charges dismissed. Some six per cent were discharged or resigned in lieu of courts-martial, which means that they were allowed to leave their jobs in order to avoid sexual assault charges.

Some survivors of sexual assault claim that SAPRO's "zero tolerance" policy has only succeeded in creating an environment where the command has incentive to deny and cover up sexual assault. "They have all of these generic catch phrases that sound great," says Jessica. "But in reality, 'zero tolerance policy' means that when you make a complaint, it is hidden. Assault reflects badly on the command. What results is cover ups."

Furthermore, critics charge that SAPRO's educational materials are ineffective and often serve to reinforce the mentality that victims are to blame for their own assault. According to the Defense Task Force's 2009 report, "the Task Force's interactions with Service Members suggest training is only marginally effective".

A sexual assault prevention poster released by SAPRO reportedly urges soldiers to "wait until she's sober" before propositioning a woman for sex. "The military believes falsely that if you eliminate alcohol you can eliminate sexual assault," says Jacob. "There is perception that it is the result of bad decision making on the part of the victim."

Critics charge that SAPRO fails to address the rape culture that permeates all aspects of military life. "Rape culture separates service members from a group of people that they can consider others, victims, weaker beings," insists Maggie Martin, Army veteran and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), an anti-war group comprising active duty service members and veterans who have served since September 11, 2001. "The rape culture in the military is another way that some service members reduce real life trauma to a joke that they can pretend is not real. It is a way for some to try to prove they are 'hardcore' to the point of inhumanity."

Many insist that the military, which is largely allowed to investigate itself, is still not telling the full story. A 2010 lawsuit filed by SWAN and the ACLU against the DoD and Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) was filed after the military refused requests for government records concerning rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment in the military.

"When I heard about women who had accused someone of rape or sexual assault it was always framed as some personal vendetta the women were taking out on those they accused," says Martin.

Selena Coppa, a former Army Sergeant of eight years and a current member of IVAW tells of an Army Specialist who was molested by another Army Specialist while drunk and passed out. "The woman who was assaulted found out the next morning what had happened. She wanted to do something or say something. Everyone was like, what are you talking about? That is not sexual assault, only sex counts as sexual assault."

According to Army policy, sexual assault includes sexual contact when the victim "does not or cannot consent." Yet, rules in the books are seemingly meaningless in an environment where sexual assault appears to go unreported and unacknowledged.

Impunity of high-ranking males

"She tried making official charges, and they were never prosecuted. They refused to prosecute them."

- Sergeant Coppa

For those who do seek redress for sexual assault and rape through the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), the legal code governing military service members, many face an uphill battle in which they are pressured to drop their charges at every step along the way.

When Jessica was raped by a senior officer and his friend, she reported the assault to her command. However, she says that the ensuing investigation was nothing more than a retaliatory measure inflicted by a command that was more interested in covering up assaults and protecting their own reputations. "My command, and the [military lawyer] ordered to do it, produced not a thorough, but a voluminous - as cover ups often are - investigation that proved that I was routinely called disgusting denunciatory names by junior and senior Marines alike, but that because I wore make up and running shorts in the summer, that I therefore welcomed the harassment and subsequent assault and did not deserve protection," she says.

Jessica says she requested a deployment to Afghanistan to get away from the harassment and isolation she faced after filing her report, but when this was denied, she decided to leave the Marines, which she was able to do because of her status as an officer. Jessica joined the lawsuit against Rumsfeld and Gates because, she says: "No one right now is holding commanders accountable." Meanwhile, Jessica says that she is still pursuing charges against her alleged perpetrator through the UCMJ.

Lower enlisted service members who are raped or sexually assaulted, however, often do not have the option of leaving, with many forced to continue serving alongside their perpetrators, including in war zones. "They are putting people in a situation where they are totally dependent on their peers, and when their battle buddies rape them, their superiors are not doing anything about it, explains Johanna (Hans) Buwalda, a mental health provider who has worked with survivors of war for more than twenty years. "There is no safe place for them to go. They can't even leave the military. They have to fulfill their contract." Some researchers say that military sexual trauma compounds deployment-related traumas by excluding women from military camaraderie and fraternity.

These military sexual assaults are in addition to the countless rapes and sexual assaults that have been carried out against civilians at the 800 US military bases around the world, including within occupied populations in Iraq and Afghanistan. While there have been several high-profile scandals exposing US military rapes and slayings of Iraqi and Afghan civilians, as well as sexual assault and humiliation as a tool of torture, there is little information about overall rates of military sexual assault of civilian populations overseas. If sexual assault rates within the military are any indicator, sexual violence would seem to be endemic to the US' global military presence.

Last April, Jennifer (a pseudonym for protection), who is a civilian, reported sexual assault by her then-boyfriend after he returned from a tour in Afghanistan with the Marine Corps. Her alleged assaulter's sergeant major told her that she sounded like a "crazy ex-girlfriend" and that her sexual assault charges were not viable. Jennifer spent the next year and a half contacting everyone she could think of in hope that the military would take her charges seriously. She watched as her assault charges were ignored and dismissed by SAPRO, the NCIS, and even the Pentagon. After navigating countless meetings and phone calls with caseworkers, sexual assault survivor advocates, and even several congressional representatives, Jennifer feels that she has made little progress in her effort to get a fair process through military channels, and, to date, there is no indication that her charges will bear any consequences for her alleged assaulter. Within two months of her report, her alleged assaulter was promoted, and she says that he may be deployed any day, if he is not already.

Jennifer says that the process of attempting to press charges has been deeply traumatising. "When you have been assaulted, talking about it is hard enough," she says. "And having to wait to hear back from someone for help makes you want to give up."
In Depth

"I do not trust the US military at all. Their rules and regulations are nothing more than words on paper," she says. "I am a woman and a civilian, and I have been treated like nothing more than a dog."

The 1996 Federal Lautenberg Amendment, which makes it illegal for people convicted of domestic violence to carry a weapon, extends to the armed forces. With many forms of sexual assault falling under the rubric of domestic violence, assault convictions could preclude a service member from carrying a weapon.

Yet, if these assaults go unreported and untried, little stands in the way of perpetrators serving in combat, sometimes alongside those they have assaulted.

Furthermore, the military often blatantly ignores this federal law and sends convicted sex offenders and domestic abusers into war in a climate where the military is overextended, from fighting two ongoing wars. Since September 11, 2001, the DoD has been granting an increasing amount of "moral waivers" which permit soldiers convicted of domestic violence and sexual assault to serve in combat.

High rates of sexual assault take a profound toll on the mental health of service members. Sexual assault is the number one predictor for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder for women serving in the military, according to a study in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development. Yet the difficulty and stigma against reporting sexual assaults creates significant obstacles for survivors seeking care and disability benefits through the VA. A study by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America shows that approximately 40 per cent of homeless female veterans report having been sexually assaulted in the military.

Members of IVAW are drawing attention to the problem of sexual assault and rape that plagues the military. "IVAW's campaign Operation Recovery is focused on raising awareness about sexual assault and gender-based violence," explains Martin. "We are building a healing community where veterans and service members can challenge military leadership and stand up for the right to heal and the right to access the care survivors of trauma need."

"As an organiser I believe that the best way for us to combat military sexual trauma is to tell the truth about it," insists Martin. "We need to tell the truth that all types of people are sexually assaulted and that no one deserves it. We need to start looking to the perpetrators of sexual assault and the military environment for answers, not look to victims to see how they can be blamed for their own assault."

Courtesy: Al Jazeera

Link

It should not matter to non-amirkhans if the amirkhani soldiers are raped by their fellow soldiers. Its none of their concern. But, it raises a question: if a soldier does not mind raping his fellow soldier, will that same soldier not be inclined to rape those whom he considers his enemies or neutrals? So, if amirkhan soldiers are frequently raped by their fellow amirkhan soldiers, then it boggles my mind to consider the possibility of how many non-amirkhans may have been raped by these TFTA soldiers during their tenure, after all a rapist is a rapist!

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 13 Feb 2014 12:03

TSJones wrote:So not evefything in the US news is bad about India. So there, take that.

http://cnnphotos.blogs.cnn.com/2014/02/ ... ?hpt=hp_c4

however, I must admit, I am some what mystified about the purposes of the photos. Maybe some of you art appreciation guys want to explain?

Nice pictures, at any rate

.

Shreeman: What do I do to sign up for Team USA?

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 13 Feb 2014 13:50

ArmenT wrote:....
Shreeman: What do I do to sign up for Team USA?

Must play to get team jersey.

They cost you know, we can't be giving them out to people just wandering in and out. Can't tell you when. Since you asked about the choice; speaking in your terminology, it is like Harry Potter. If you have been playing, the jersey will automatically give you a team or spectator color. Or if you are a girl, grow either way too much hair (and tendency to howl) or sharp teeth. Who would have thunk -- the two things developed country girls like are bad teeth or way too much body hair! We only report when we see the transformation.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 13 Feb 2014 13:57

The daily diet: The revelry and lovefest sections are new in every post, courtesy of google uncle, in case you haven't noticed.
Revelry:
-------------
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10.

Lovefest:
--------------
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10.

Revelations: What is rape vs. what is sexual assault ? What is an atomic weapon or atom bomb and what is a nukular weapon? What is an indian and what is a south asian ? When are these terms used?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A story:
chapter 0. The initiation.
chapter 1. The dictionary.
chapter 2. The White house takes lead in promoting the United States leadership in robotics.
chapter 3. The United States takes lead in high-technology -- haptics, robotics, and healthcare.
chapter 4. An editorial: the value of satire.
chapter 5. The Freedoms: Thou shalt not take the lord's name in vain.
chapter 6. The Law: In whom shall we place blind faith.
chapter 7. The Zeal: Where humans aim to imitate and excel upon sheep.
chapter 8. Hiatus to observe pastafarian sabbath.

and, an anecdote for the young'uns, and a FAQ and why it is important to you.

------
With no particular dates in mind, to come:
chapter 09. The essence of verification in journalism, publication, and everything; and the myth of peer-review.
chapter 10. The lure of money.
chapter 11. On the dangers of speaking out.
-----
chapter 12. And in conclusion.
chapter 13. Acknowdlegements.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer:Please re-read the FAQ, before making any judgements and inferences. The intent is not to have the reader conceive, but to perceive what is in plain sight. Inferences are your own and please resist the temptation of 140 character conclusions. You may not have yet perceived much more that is relevant. All the yak butter will not give you the essence of what is above. I dont know, and I wrote it. The thread is established and this adds only little additional value now. It is only there at the admin's discretion. This was all that was handy at the time. And pasta willing, more of your preconceptions will be proven false, in less than 140chars.

Hussain HankPsnky
U-NSN
Silicone Valley Wilds

TSJones · Post by **TSJones** » 13 Feb 2014 14:11

Must play to get team jersey.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 13 Feb 2014 17:42

Thanks for the glowing compliments, Shreemanji. May your cows be as smart and pretty as Al-Obama fashion models and as slim as Seattle Seahawks linebackers.

shiv · Post by **shiv** » 13 Feb 2014 18:10

True life tales from the USA.

Link will not be provided. Names hidden. Aunt Kokila knows all.

In Wisconsin, patient xxx xxxx went to see his physician, Dr. yyy yyyy, for treatment of restless leg syndrome. Dr. yyyy, a Department of Veterans Affairs clinic physician, prescribed increasing dosages of pramipexole. Pramipexole is known to have a side effect of causing compulsive gambling in some patients.

xxxx claims to be one of those unlucky patients to be afflicted by the gambling side effect. Due to gambling, xxxx lost his home and filed for bankruptcy. xxxx claims Dr. yyyy failed to warn him of the side effects of the medication. xxxx also alleges that the United States is liable for $3 million in damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act.

Vrikodara · Post by **Vrikodara** » 13 Feb 2014 19:56

LokeshC wrote: Why do they cross the border, sometimes without documents? It is to cater to people like TSJ, who get their house cleaned for 100$ for a full day clean (8 hours x 2 people) instead of the 500$ they would have to pay for Americans to do it.

The going rate for hiring a maid service in Houston, Tx is $75 per cleaning session. Each cleaning session takes more than a couple of hours and there's always more than 2 people cleaning (depends on the house, but theres usually 4 cleaners and 1 supervisor who checks in once in a while)

vishvak · Post by **vishvak** » 13 Feb 2014 21:25

New Jersey is hosting super bowl tournament.
“the largest human-trafficking event on the planet.”

MurthyB · Post by **MurthyB** » 14 Feb 2014 03:43

TSJones, this is for you.

....

You hand in your ticket
And you go watch the geek
Who immediately walks up to you
When he hears you speak
And says, "How does it feel
To be such a freak ?"
And you say, "Impossible"
As he hands you a bone.

And something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones ?

You have many contacts
Among the lumberjacks
To get you facts
When someone attacks your imagination
But nobody has any respect
Anyway they already expect you
To all give a check
To tax-deductible charity organizations.
You've been with the professors
And they've all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks
You've been through all of
F. Scott Fitzgerald's books
You're very well read
It's well known.

But something is happening here
And you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones ?

.....

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 14 Feb 2014 08:36

The daily diet: The revelry and lovefest sections are new in every post, courtesy of google uncle, in case you haven't noticed.
Revelry:
-------------
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10.

Lovefest:
--------------
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10.

Revelations: What is rape vs. what is sexual assault ? What is an atomic weapon or atom bomb and what is a nukular weapon? What is an indian and what is a south asian ? When are these terms used?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A story:
chapter 0. The initiation.
chapter 1. The dictionary.
chapter 2. The White house takes lead in promoting the United States leadership in robotics.
chapter 3. The United States takes lead in high-technology -- haptics, robotics, and healthcare.
chapter 4. An editorial: the value of satire.
chapter 5. The Freedoms: Thou shalt not take the lord's name in vain.
chapter 6. The Law: In whom shall we place blind faith.
chapter 7. The Zeal: Where humans aim to imitate and excel upon sheep.
chapter 8. Hiatus to observe pastafarian sabbath.

and, an anecdote for the young'uns, and a FAQ and why it is important to you.

------
With no particular dates in mind, to come:
chapter 09. The essence of verification in journalism, publication, and everything; and the myth of peer-review.
chapter 10. The lure of money.
chapter 11. On the dangers of speaking out.
-----
chapter 12. And in conclusion.
chapter 13. Acknowledgements.

The match has rest days, weather has been unkind (stay safe yak hearders, and others as well), and we await new balls being stitched. Player enthusiasm has waxed and waned, substitutes are still waiting in wings for their chance to shine, medication has worked wonders even for some of the retired hurt. But new balls may be scratch-proof, so itching powder preparations are popular instead. Uniforms (even used) are becoming collector's items.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer:Please re-read the FAQ, before making any judgements and inferences. The intent is not to have the reader conceive, but to perceive what is in plain sight. Inferences are your own and please resist the temptation of 140 character conclusions. You may not have yet perceived much more that is relevant. All the yak butter will not give you the essence of what is above. I dont know, and I wrote it. The thread is established and this adds only little additional value now. It is only there at the admin's discretion. This was all that was handy at the time. And pasta willing, more of your preconceptions will be proven false, in less than 140chars.

Hussain HankPsnky
U-NSN
Silicone Valley Wilds

member_26011 · Post by **member_26011** » 14 Feb 2014 08:37

FYI H. HankPnsky, Vijay, Daniela, Rod and Greg have many stories to tell...dial back to 1996

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 14 Feb 2014 08:44

chand.bhardwaj wrote:FYI H. HankPnsky, Vijay, Daniela, Rod and Greg have many stories to tell...dial back to 1996

I am a bit dim about 1996, but as shrek once famously said, "better out than in, I always say." Let it all out, man.

ps -- some stories are only just stories, people telling them have kept quiet for too long. And you can either dial back to 1995, or 1997 and onward. 1996 does not appear to be very eventful.
edit 2: Chand, it doesn't help. And I do want to egg you on. Nothing explains 2006, or 2012, or the trauma pod, or 20070021738 or 6363574. And there is much much more. The stories are not about selected individuals. You are still reading it wrong. You can put whatever spin you want on it, it will not fix anything.
edit 3: Chand, examples are just that. Examples --half a dozen in edit 2. You can find new or different ones if you like. They will still only hide the systemic rot.
edit 4: my burka is purely respecting the system like UB. No point in burka communication extrapolation. real world communicatiion is openly accessible.

member_26011 · Post by **member_26011** » 14 Feb 2014 09:46

I need to learn to write like you first;
Yeah, just a story. Right, that's better. Greg may have had the weak perspective 'borrowed' for visual servo post kismet and a Hanover affair. Ieee, again, pretty sure in 1996, could've happened in 95. May be I can write a story in the robotics story too, please don't egg me on. Gimme a week or a month.../ot for now.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 14 Feb 2014 12:24

Gentl-e-men,

Being partial to Season 1 of the Monty Python, we give you, the authoritative dead parrot sketch.

Now some of you may argue that the parrot is central to the story, but we think the moral of the story is somewhere else.

Yet, as has been the case in the cricket match; the argument often starts and rests on the poor departed soul. It is just a parrot, it is dead, nailed to its perch. It was a beautiful Norwegian blue, at one time. But the above sketch might as well has included a dead horse. Or as Sharad joshi once noted for Aladad; a dead donkey.

Beating it makes just as little sense now, as it ever did. In the end, it all only results in a situational comedy at best. So we must not think fate has shown us everything. More is always around the corner.

U-NSN, Unscheduled Announcement Department.

KLNMurthy · Post by **KLNMurthy** » 14 Feb 2014 14:16

TSJones wrote:As the lowlyest, most wretched, most despised member of Team USA, I would like to make a few essential comments if I may.

The positive news of the US is always in the news or Team India wouldn't know about it. The US news is filled with murder and mayhem. US citizens hacking, shooting, stabbing, raping, abusing is constant. This place is freaking crazy. There is just not enough love, man.

However, things bubble up to the top when it is politically correct to do so, such as servant abuse, human trafficing, gender mutilation, etc.
It's a big deal man. Illegal migrants however don't count so much because they really shouldn't be here anyway, right? However, both liberals and conservatives want them here because of the cheap labor and future potential votes usually for the democrats.

But this postive us news being posted here is really only being done to assuage the jingo's hurt. Nothing more than that. It's not going to stop waves of Indians lining up for their visas.

Just a nod to other Team USA members which they probably don't want, don't need, and wish I would shut up.

No bleddy gratitude, these Injuns. They line up at our embassy for visas and then turn around and throw all this bojitiv news around. Not at all like the nice 5 foot-tall Salvadoran maids who tiptoe around me. Bleddy high-caste slaveowners.

And the nerve of them, stealing my pet goat.

UlanBatori · Post by **UlanBatori** » 14 Feb 2014 22:45

New Innovative System for $emocracy

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 14 Feb 2014 22:51

At least Indian Americans would have the numbers to elect those in furthering indoUS relations.

Shreeman · Post by **Shreeman** » 15 Feb 2014 10:02

The daily diet: The revelry and lovefest sections are new in every post, courtesy of google uncle, in case you haven't noticed.
Revelry:
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1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10.

Lovefest:
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1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10.

Revelations: What is rape vs. what is sexual assault ? What is an atomic weapon or atom bomb and what is a nukular weapon? What is an indian and what is a south asian ? When are these terms used?
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A story:
chapter 0. The initiation.
chapter 1. The dictionary.
chapter 2. The White house takes lead in promoting the United States leadership in robotics.
chapter 3. The United States takes lead in high-technology -- haptics, robotics, and healthcare.
chapter 4. An editorial: the value of satire.
chapter 5. The Freedoms: Thou shalt not take the lord's name in vain.
chapter 6. The Law: In whom shall we place blind faith.
chapter 7. The Zeal: Where humans aim to imitate and excel upon sheep.
chapter 8. Hiatus to observe pastafarian sabbath.

and, an anecdote for the young'uns, and a FAQ and why it is important to you. And there is no distinction between donkeys and horses here. All stories are welcome and encouraged.

------
With no particular dates in mind, to come:
chapter 09. The essence of verification in journalism, publication, and everything; and the myth of peer-review.
chapter 10. The lure of money.
chapter 11. On the dangers of speaking out.
-----
chapter 12. And in conclusion.
chapter 13. Acknowledgements.

The match has rest days, weather has been unkind (stay safe!), and we await new balls being stitched. Player enthusiasm has waxed and waned, substitutes are still waiting in wings for their chance to shine, medication has worked wonders even for some of the retired hurt. But new balls may be scratch-proof, so itching powder preparations are popular instead. Uniforms (even used) are becoming collector's items.
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Disclaimer:Please re-read the FAQ, before making any judgements and inferences. The intent is not to have the reader conceive, but to perceive what is in plain sight. Inferences are your own and please resist the temptation of 140 character conclusions. You may not have yet perceived much more that is relevant. All the yak butter will not give you the essence of what is above. I dont know, and I wrote it. The thread is established and this adds only little additional value now. It is only there at the admin's discretion. This was all that was handy at the time. And pasta willing, more of your preconceptions will be proven false, in less than 140chars.

Hussain HankPsnky
U-NSN
Silicone Valley Wilds

Sonugn · Post by **Sonugn** » 15 Feb 2014 13:45

US launches new policies to help disabled people, Male dominated upper caste Indians should take note

http://rt.com/usa/california-police-taser-deaf-man-097/

Karan Dixit · Post by **Karan Dixit** » 15 Feb 2014 22:19

What a fine example of In Loco Parentis