I mostly picked this story because of the name of the newspaper.

The Barre Montpelier Times Argus [!!!]: Notorious Boston jail makes transformation into luxury hotel

The elegant iron-railing balconies were once catwalks where guards stood watch over the inmates to make sure they didn't try to break out. If you look closely, you can still see the outline of the holes from the iron bars on the windows.

At the newly opened Liberty Hotel, it's hard to escape what this building once was: a decrepit jail where Boston locked up its most notorious prisoners.

But that's just the point.

After a five-year, $150 million renovation, the old Charles Street jail is now a luxury hotel for guests who can afford to pay anywhere from $319 a night for the lowest-priced room to $5,500 for the presidential suite. The hotel, at the foot of Boston's stately Beacon Hill neighborhood, opened in September.

Architects took pains to preserve many features of the 156-year-old stone building and its history.

The old sally port, where guards once brought prisoners from paddy wagons to their cells, is being converted into the entrance to a new restaurant, Scampo, which is Italian for "escape."

Clever.

In another restaurant, named Clink, diners can look through original bars from cell doors and windows as they order smoked lobster bisque or citrus poached prawns from waiters and waitresses wearing shirts with prison numbers. The hotel bar, Alibi, is built in the jail's former drunk tank.

Instead of con men, counterfeiters and cat burglars, the guests now include Mick Jagger, Annette Bening, Meg Ryan and Eva Mendes.

The old clientele included Boston Mayor James Michael Curley, who served time for fraud in 1904 after he took a civil service exam for a friend; Frank Abagnale Jr., a 1960s con artist played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie "Catch Me If You Can;" a group of thieves who pulled off the Great Brinks Robbery in Boston in 1950; and a German U-boat captain who was captured in 1945 and killed himself with shards from his sunglasses.

Boston also has a luxury hotel called Jurys in the former Boston police headquarters building in fashionable Back Bay. The hotel bar is called Cuffs.

The transformation of the Charles Street Jail is stunning to some of those who spent time in the notorious lockup.

"It's a magnificent place," said Bill Baird, an activist locked up for 37 days in 1967 for breaking a Massachusetts law prohibiting the distribution of contraceptives to unmarried people. His arrest led to a landmark 1972 Supreme Court decision legalizing birth control for unmarried people.

May God have mercy on his soul.

"How you could take something that was so horrible and turn it into something of tremendous beauty, I don't know," said Baird, who visited the new hotel in October, on the 40th anniversary of his conviction.

How quaint. Does anyone remember when the law of the land actually agreed with The Natural Law?

Nope, me neither.

When the jail opened in 1851, it was hailed as an international model for prison architecture. Built in the shape of a cross, the granite jail had a 90-foot-high central rotunda and four wings of cells. Large arched windows provided lots of natural light and good ventilation. Each of the 220 cells housed just one inmate.

But over the years, the jail fell into disrepair and became filthy, overcrowded and prone to riots.

Joseph Salvati, who spent 10 months in the jail in 1967 and 1968 after he was charged in a gangland slaying, said everything was covered with pigeon droppings.

"They had a crew every morning that would come down with hot water hoses and brushes to scrape it off the floor and seats," he said. "You had to rush down for breakfast to get a seat that was clean."

Salvati, who was exonerated after spending 30 years in various prisons, said he gets a kick out of seeing the jail turned into a luxury hotel. It is now "very classy-looking," he said.

In the 1970s, the inmates sued over the squalid conditions. After spending a night at the jail to see things for himself, a federal judge in 1973 ordered the place closed. But it took until 1990 for a new jail to be built and the last inmates to be moved.

The property was bought by Massachusetts General Hospital, next door, which invited proposals for preserving the building's historical character.

Cambridge developer Richard Friedman said the architects tried to retain some original elements while not reminding people too much of its dark past.

"How do you transform that into a joyous place where people have fun and a good time?" Friedman said. "We tried to use a sense of humor."

Charlene Swauger of Albuquerque, N.M., who stayed at the hotel in October, said the designers preserved elements of the old jail without crossing the line into bad taste.

"I thought it was very clever. I didn't discover any ghosts or anything," she said.

Eighteen of the hotel's 298 rooms are built in the original jail. Those rooms feature the original brick walls of the jail but also have high-definition TVs. The remaining rooms are in a new 16-story tower.

Max Stern, the chief lawyer for the inmates whose lawsuit led to the jail's closing, said some aspects of the project — such as calling the restaurant Clink — are too lighthearted.

"I thought they could have been a little more objective about what it really was like," he said.

He has a point, kiddies, albeit a small one.

Sport is dying.

TennisX: Germans Say Tommy Haas Was Poisoned During Davis Cup Against Russians

The German Davis Cup team is alleging that Tommy Haas was poisoned prior to their Davis Cup semifinal match against Russia.

The International Tennis Federation is investigating the allegation, as Haas was forced to sit out the final day of play with what he thought was a stomach virus. On that day Russia won the final two singles matches to advance to the final against the U.S.

"We take this very seriously," ITF spokeswoman Barbara Travers told the AP. "The investigation starts today."

German Davis Cup teammate Alexander Waske said he was told by a Russian who manages numerous athletes that it was poisoning.

"He said as an aside, that it was bitter that Tommy Haas was poisoned," said Waske, who told the unnamed man it was just a virus. "Thereupon he said, no, they poisoned him."

Haas will reportedly have additional blood tests run to detect a poisoning.

"I'm shocked that something like that appears possible," Haas said. "When I think of how bad I felt, I can imagine it. I've been feeling weak for weeks...I was the only one ever to order dessert or a Latte macchiato after dinner [during the Davis Cup weekend]. If all this is true, since no one else got sick, that must have been when it happened."

It is more bad news for Russia, with Nikolay Davydenko under investigation for match-fixing, and the Russian mafia reportedly deep into internet tennis betting and match fixing.

Happy 40th Birthday to Courtney Thorne-Smith!

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

I know you boys will not understand this now, but trust me...she is better than two twenty year olds.

The Slave China regime continues its relentless war against the free world through other means.

Guardian Unlimited: Illegal drug GHB found in China-made children's toy

Did this kind of thing ever happen with stuff imported from Japan?

Toys made in China were being seized and tested in Hong Kong today after scientists in Australia found that similar toys contained a chemical that converts into an illegal drug when ingested, officials said.

At least five children in the United States and Australia have been hospitalised after swallowing the toy beads, which are used for arts and crafts projects. They can be arranged into designs and fused when sprayed with water.

Australian scientists say a chemical coating on the beads, when ingested, metabolises into gamma hydroxy butyrate, better known as GHB, or liquid ecstasy, which has become notorious in its use as a date rape drug and is also popular on the dance club scene.

When eaten, the compound - made from common and easily available ingredients - can induce euphoria, hallucinations and drowsiness in low doses, and in higher doses can cause seizures, unconsciousness, coma and death.

The toys were sent to a laboratory in Hong Kong for tests, a customs official said, requesting anonymity in line with policy.

If the tests come back positive for the drug, suppliers of the toy in Hong Kong could face jail terms of one year and fines of HK$100,000 (£6,100), she said.

The toys are designed and distributed by Moose Enterprise and are called Bindeez in Australia, where they were named toy of the year at an industry function earlier this year, while in the United States they are known as Aqua Dots.

Retailer Toys "R" Us said in a statement it has pulled the toy beads from its stores in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, after officials in Australia ordered them off the shelves on Tuesday.

An employee at Moose Enterprise's Hong Kong office said the production of the toy was outsourced to a mainland Chinese factory, but she was unaware of its name or where exactly it was located.

"Our Hong Kong office is only responsible for operations such as logistics and shipping arrangements, we don't have any firsthand information," the employee told Associated Press, requesting anonymity because she is not authorised to speak to the media.

Moose Enterprise earlier said Bindeez and Aqua Dots were made at the same factory in Shenzhen, in China's southern Guangdong province. The company said the product is distributed to 40 countries.

The Michael and Cathryn Borden Memorial Book of the Day.*

The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944
by Rick Atkinson


View an interactive map
Read an excerpt
Read reviews
View historical photos from the book
View original historical documents
View a video of Rick discussing the book
Listen to Rick discussing the book
Listen to Rick read from the audiobook


In the second volume of his epic trilogy about the liberation of Europe in World War II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the harrowing story of the campaigns in Sicily and Italy
In An Army at Dawn -- winner of the Pulitzer Prize -- Rick Atkinson provided a dramatic and authoritative history of the Allied triumph in North Africa. Now, in The Day of Battle, he follows the strengthening American and British armies as they invade Sicily in July 1943 and then, mile by bloody mile, fight their way north toward Rome.

The Italian campaign's outcome was never certain; in fact, Roosevelt, Churchill, and their military advisers engaged in heated debate about whether an invasion of the so-called soft underbelly of Europe was even a good idea. But once under way, the commitment to liberate Italy from the Nazis never wavered, despite the agonizingly high price. The battles at Salerno, Anzio, and Monte Cassino were particularly difficult and lethal, yet as the months passed, the Allied forces continued to drive the Germans up the Italian peninsula. Led by Lieutenant General Mark Clark, one of the war's most complex and controversial commanders, American officers and soldiers became increasingly determined and proficient. And with the liberation of Rome in June 1944, ultimate victory at last began to seem inevitable.

Drawing on a wide array of primary source material, written with great drama and flair, this is narrative history of the first rank. With The Day of Battle, Atkinson has once again given us the definitive account of one of history's most compelling military campaigns.

Read reviews

*Huh? Look here.

And their parents are paying good money for it.

WorldNetDaily: University vetoes extra credit for flag-burning

The University of Maine is backtracking on a classroom teacher's suggestion that students would get extra credit for burning a flag, or a copy of the U.S. Constitution.

I, for one, am no longer shocked by this nonsense.

University spokesman Joe Carr has told the Bangor Daily News the comments that prompted complaints from several students – including one who decided to drop the class because of the suggestion – were not intended to be taken literally.

Carr confirmed to the newspaper no extra credit would be granted for carrying out the suggestions from Paul Grosswiler, an associate professor students reported made the offer to his History of Mass Communications class.

Rebekah McDade is a sophomore who was in Grosswiler's class, but decided to drop the course and take it later from another professor, because of the suggestion, which she believed was offered seriously.

"I was offended," McDade told the newspaper. "I come from a family of military men and women, and the flag and Constitution are really important symbols to me because of my family background."

Grosswiler explained that the student misunderstood the discussion.

"I don't intend for students to burn either the Constitution or the flag, and over the years hundreds of students have understood that," he wrote in an e-mail to the newspaper.

The issue originally was publicized in a news release from The Leadership Institute.

"Associated Professor Paul Grosswiler was addressing his first class on the 'History of Mass Communication' at the University's School of Journalism when a student asked how he could earn extra credit in the course," the statement said. "Grosswiler paused for a moment, then announced that he would award extra credit to students who burned the U. S. flag or the Constitution, or got themselves arrested for exhibiting free speech."

"There was the loudest silence ever for a second," said McDade. A classmate asked Grosswiler if he was serious, and he replied, "Absolutely," according to the Institute.

McDade said Grosswiler already had alleged free speech didn't exist in America because "the Republican administration has made it all but illegal."

She reported that she was concerned over what she described as Grosswiler's bias, and when his outbursts continued in the next class, she asked her adviser if she could take the class another semester with an objective professor.

McDade said she used the learning experience to start a Students for Academic Freedom group, with help from the Leadership Institute's Campus Leadership Program.

Carr also told the newspaper there would be no disciplinary action for the professor. He said Grosswiler has been at the school since 1991 and is a "well-respected member of the faculty."

Another student confirmed to the newspaper that the offer appeared to be serious.

In a forum page on the newspaper's website, Patrick, of Orono, Maine, said he took the same class in 2006 "and I was personally appalled by the comments made by this professor."

And Don, from Knoxville, Tenn., said the comments might have been fine if they had been balanced.

"If this prof's motives were really pure he would have given students the options of also burning a copy of the Communist Manifeseto by Karl Marx or reciting Reagan's speech in support of the nomination of Barry Goldwater or burning a picture of Hillary Clinton in the middle of campus. Now THAT would be fair and balanced."

A commentary at RightWingNews' website said liberalism in academia is not new, and this is just another example.

"Leftists seek sanctuary in the ivory tower of higher education where they can feel free to impose their liberal moonbattery on hapless college students. The less control they have over the country, the tighter their grip over academia becomes. And nothing runs more rampant on college campuses than anti-Americanism."

"Perhaps the most telling quote from Professor Grosswiler was this one: 'If they don't tolerate thought that they hate, they don't believe in the First Amendment,'" the editorial said.

"So not tolerating a professor asking students to burn the United States flag is equal to not believing in free speech? Your tax dollars at work, folks."

Saint of the Day and daily Mass readings.

Today is the Feast of Saint Pope Deusdedit. Pope from 615-618, also called Adeodatus I. He was the son of a subdeacon, Stephen, born in Rome. Consecrated pope on October 19, 615, he became known for his care of the poor. An earthquake hit Rome in August 618, and he worked tirelessly during the disaster. He was the first pope to use bullae on documents. It is possible that he was originally a Benedictine. Pray for us, all you angels and saints.


Today's reading is Romans 14:7-12.
Today's Responsorial Psalm is Psalms 26:1, 4, 13-14.
Today's Gospel reading is Luke 15:1-10.


Everyday links:

The Blessed Virgin Mary
The Rosary
Our Mother of Perpetual Help
Prayers from EWTN
National Coalition of Clergy and Laity (dedicated to action for a genuine Catholic Restoration)
The Catholic Calendar Page for Today
ZENIT - The World Seen From Rome


Just in case you are wondering what exactly Catholics believe, here is

The Apostles Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.


Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that any one who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession,was left unaided.Inspired with this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy clemency hear and answer me. Amen.


St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse, pray for us.


Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body of Christ, save me; Blood of Christ, inebriate me; Water from Christ's side, wash me; Passion of Christ, strengthen me; O good Jesus, hear me; Within Thy wounds hide me; Suffer me not to be separated from Thee; From the malicious enemy defend me; In the hour of my death call me; And bid me come unto Thee; That I may praise Thee with Thy saints and with Thy angels Forever and ever. Amen.


Prayer to St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire

Dear St. Anthony, you became a Franciscan with the hope of shedding your blood for Christ. In God's plan for you, your thirst for martyrdom was never to be satisfied. St. Anthony, Martyr of Desire, pray that I may become less afraid to stand up and be counted as a follower of the Lord Jesus. Intercede also for my other intentions. (Name them.)


Prayer To Saint Michael The Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the divine power, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.


Prayer to End Abortion

Lord God, I thank You today for the gift of my life, and for the lives of all my brothers and sisters. I know there is nothing that destroys more life than abortion, yet I rejoice that you have conquered death by the resurrection of Your Son. I am ready to do my part to end abortion. Today I commit myself never to be silent, never to be passive, and never to be forgetful of the unborn. I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement, and never stop defending life until all my brothers and sisters are protected and our nation once again becomes a nation with liberty and justice, not just for some, but for all. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.


Prayer For Vocations

Send forth your Spirit, Lord, into the hearts of your faithful people, that we may be conscious of our vocation to holiness and sevice to others. Grant that many of us may dedicate ourselves to You through the priesthood and the religious life.We pray especially for the needs of our own parish and diocese. Grant that we may always have sufficient good and holy priests, and dedicated Sisters to serve our commumities.We pray, too, for religious orders; that generous men may join them to become zealous missionaries in preaching the Gospel in word and action, especially to the poor and abandoned.We make this prayer through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Redeemer. Amen.


Prayer Before The Crucifix

Behold, O kind and gentle Jesus, I kneel before Thee and pray that Thou would impress upon my heart the virtues of faith, hope, and charity, with true repentance for my sins and a firm purpose of amendment. At the same time, with sorrow I meditate on Thy five precious wounds, having in mind the words which David spoke in prophecy: "They have pierced my hands and my feet. I can count all my bones."


Divine Praises

Blessed be God.
Blessed be His Holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be His most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be His most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.
Blessed be God in His angels and in His saints.
May the Heart of Jesus in the most Blessed Sacrament
Be praised, adored and loved
With grateful affection at every moment
In all the tabernacles of the world
Even to the end of time. Amen.


Prayer to Saint Benedict

Sanctissime Confessor Domini, monachorum Pater et dux,
Benedicte, intercede pro nostra omniumque salute.

V. Domine Deus virtutum converte nos.

R. Et ostende faciem tuam et salvi erimus.


Oremus.


Excita, Domine, in Ecclesia tua Spiritum cui beatus Pater noster Benedictus Abbas servivit: ut eodem nos repleti, studeamus amare quod amavit, et opere exercere quod docuit.

Da nobis, quaesumus, Domine, perseverantem in tua voluntate famulatum: ut in
Diebus nostris et merito et numero populus tibi serviens augeatur. Per Christum Dominum Nostrum. Amen.


For those whose Latin is a bit rusty:

O most holy Confessor of the Lord, Benedict, father and guide of monks, intercede for our salvation and that of everyone.

V. Lord, God of armies, convert us.

R. Show us Thy Face and we shall be saved.


Let us pray.

Awaken, O Lord, in Thy Church the Spirit that our blessed Father Saint Benedict
obeyed, so that, filled with the same Spirit we may strive to love what he loved and practice what he taught.

Grant us the grace to persevere in the service of Thy will, so that our days may
see the people of Thy servants grow in merit and number. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Sport is dying.

I'll make a deal with the Grand Poobahs of the game that has been dead decades: You kill the DH and I'll back replay.

AP: Baseball GMs recommend instant replay

Baseball could soon have a new position: replay judge. General managers recommended for the first time Tuesday that instant replay be used to help umpires on boundary calls — whether potential home runs are fair or foul, whether balls go over fences or hit the tops and bounce back, and whether fans interfere with possible homers.

Steelers Update.

From ESPN:

Football Today
The Steelers rolled over the Ravens Monday night. How does Pittsburgh stack up in Jeremy Green's power rankings?

Schlereth: Steelers can compete with anyone


From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Steelers' Harrison shows his capabilities
To say linebacker James Harrison was a little disruptive in the Steelers' recent win over the Ravens is to say that it was a little damp before kickoff.

Big Ben says he's OK after hip contusion in Sunday's game

Steelers point/counterpoint: Performance this season

Steelers' Big Ben could have mammoth season

Steelers Q&A: Scott Brown answers your questions

Starkey: Reeling Ravens left bitter

Tomlin's Take: Quotes from the press conference

Steelers' Aaron Smith may return

Steelers may not be up to Pats' level, but they're surging

Mayor McTerror Update.

...or, the crackup of the protestant 'conservatives' continues apace.

McClatchy Election 2008 Blog: Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani
by William Douglas

Citizen Robertson believes a veritable passel of wrong things about God and man, kiddies. Is it any wonder a twice-divorced, baby-killing, gun-grabbing, marriage-destroying, CINO* Repansycan looks like a winner to him?

Influential Christian conservative Pat Robertson endorsed Rudy Giuliani for president Wednesday, boosting the former New York mayor's campaign and further spreading the support of social and religious conservatives among the top-tier Republican candidates.

Robertson announced his selection at a news conference at the National Press Club Wednesday morning.

If, like Pat, you think a leftist CINO Repansycan is the "man" to stop Hitlery and her brownshirted criminals, think again.

"Rudy Giuliani took a city that was in decline and considered ungovernable and reduced violent crime, revitalized its core, dramatically lowered taxes, cut through a welter of bureaucratic regulations, and did so in the spirit of bipartisanship which is so urgently needed in Washington today," Robertson said.

Blah, blah, blah.

Robertson has spoken positively of Giuliani in the past. He praised the ex-mayor when he spoke earlier this year at Regent University, a Virginia college founded by Robertson. In 2005, he called Giuliani "a very dedicated Catholic and he's a great guy."

*Robertson has no idea what a real Catholic is. [I am being unusually charitable here, kiddies.]

Robertson made the assessment despite Giuliani's support for legalized abortion and a personal lifestyle that's resulted in three marriages and two divorces. Giuliani's social policies and personal life have turned off some social and religious conservative leaders and voters. But others, like Robertson, view social concerns as secondary issues in a post-Sept. 11, 2001, world and say Giuliani is their choice for the Republican nomination because he'll be tough on terrorism.

"To me, the overriding issue before the American people is the defense of our population from the bloodlust of Islamic terrorists," Robertson said in announcing his endorsement. "Our world faces deadly peril: nuclear armed North Korea and the forboding of nuclear arms in Iran, deadly violence from Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel, the possible overthrow of Pakistan's government, and drawn-out wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Holy crap, Pat. Buy a gun and defend yourself, you pussy. I don't see why babies have to be killed just because you are a coward.

Besides, what makes anyone think The Rude One can fight a war, anyway?

But Robertson's endorsement symbolizes how divided Christian and social conservative leaders and voters are in Campaign 2008. Conservative leaders Paul Weyrich and Bob Jones III recently endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president. Sen Sam Brownback, R-Kan., a former presidential candidate, threw his support to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. And some social/religious conservatives have talked about coming up with a third-party candidate.

Robertson has been [Has been is what he is. - F.G.] a formidable force in religion and politics. He founded the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Christian Coalition. He ran for president in 1988 and finished second in the Iowa cacuses.

But Robertson has also been a lightning rod for controversy, particularly over comments he's made about homosexuality.

The Michael and Cathryn Borden Memorial Books of the Day.*

Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
by Ben Macintyre

From the Jacket:

Eddie Chapman was a charming criminal, a con man, and a philanderer. He was also one of the most remarkable double agents Britain has ever produced. Inside the traitor was a man of loyalty; inside the villain was a hero. The problem for Chapman, his spymasters, and his lovers was to know where one persona ended and the other began.

In 1941, after training as a German spy in occupied France, Chapman was parachuted into Britain with a revolver, a wireless, and a cyanide pill, with orders from the Abwehr to blow up an airplane factory. Instead, he contacted MI5, the British Secret Service. For the next four years, Chapman worked as a double agent, a lone British spy at the heart of the German Secret Service who at one time volunteered to assassinate Hitler for his countrymen. Crisscrossing Europe under different names, all the while weaving plans, spreading disinformation, and, miraculously, keeping his stories straight under intense interrogation, he even managed to gain some profit and seduce beautiful women along the way.

The Nazis feted Chapman as a hero and awarded him the Iron Cross. In Britain, he was pardoned for his crimes, becoming the only wartime agent to be thus rewarded. Both countries provided for the mother of his child and his mistress. Sixty years after the end of the war, and ten years after Chapman’s death, MI5 has now declassified all of Chapman’s files, releasing more than 1,800 pages of top secret material and allowing the full story of Agent Zigzag to be told for the first time.


ZigZag - The Incredible Wartime Exploits of Double Agent Eddie Chapman
by Nicholas Booth

Evening Standard:
“A compelling and well-researched biography.”

Christopher Hudson, Daily Mail:
“Now a new book with exclusive family interviews reveals Agent ZigZag’s most extraordinary claim to fame . . . to blow up Hitler.”

David Stafford, author of Churchill and Secret Service:
“Engossing . . . A gripping page turner . . . An excellent portrait of this slippery real-life agent and con man.”

Publishers Weekly:
A lively and sympathetic account of celebrated double agent Eddie Chapman . . . Intriguing reading.

Kirkus Reviews:
This cinematic tale of World War II espionage is a one-man spy versus spy thriller. . . . A fascinating chronicle of a largely unappreciated detail of the war . . . A first-rate text with Hitchcockian contortions.

Booklist:
A very personal, intimate story.

Pasadena Star News:
The author writes as John le Carré. . . . An extraordinary read.

Commercial Dispatch:
Here is a complex picture of a strange man . . . An entertaining biography . . . It’s one of those stories that if it were brought out as a novel, it would be dismissed as lacking any grounds for credibility.


*Who? Look here.

Animal Flesh Recipe of the Day.

Speaking of dead deer...


Roast of Venison with Remoulade and Fried Onion Rings
Recipe courtesy Ulrika Bengtsson and Food Network



Venison:

3 pounds venison top round
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, as needed


Remoulade:

1 cup mixed pickled vegetables: carrot, cauliflower, cornichon, onion, and celery root
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon curry powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper


Fried Onion Rings:

2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
All-purpose flour, as needed
Oil, for deep frying
Salt
Thinly sliced whole wheat bread (about 3 by 3-inches wide), as needed


To make the Venison:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Rub the venison with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in an oven-proof large skillet over high heat. Sear the venison on all sides until golden brown. Transfer the venison to the oven and roast for 30 to 40 minutes, until the internal temperature of 125 to 130 degrees F. Remove from the oven and let rest, about 10 to 15 minutes. Cut the venison into thin slices.


To make the Remoulade:

Finely chop the pickled vegetables and transfer to a bowl. Add the mayonnaise and curry powder and mix. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.


To make Fried Onion Rings:

Pour the oil for frying into large pot to depth of 2 inches and heat to 375 degrees F. In a bowl, toss the onion rings with the flour. Working in batches, fry the onion rings until crispy. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the onion rings to paper towel-lined plate and season generously with salt.

To serve, spread the bread slices with the remoulade and top with the venison and onion rings.

Everyone knows deer are no good at knife fighting.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Man with knife holds off aggressive deer

Greg Vincent thought he was kidding when he told his 13-year-old son and a nephew that he could use his hunting knife to handle a snorting buck that was about to charge them.

In the woods in Fulton County for last weekend's youth hunt, the group was tracking a different deer that Vincent's son Kyle had shot when a six-point buck appeared in their path.

"I told everyone to just be still and see what he was going to do," Vincent said.

The buck was about 15 yards away, staring at them.

"We had left our guns at the camp, and all I had was a hunting knife," he said.

Most deer will run off when they see a person. Not this one.

Uh-oh.

"I took out my knife and jokingly told the boys I would take care of the deer if it attacked," he said. Then the animal lowered its head, shook its antlers, snorted, pawed the ground and advanced on them.

It got close to Kyle, and that's when Vincent rushed the animal. He grabbed the antlers, jerked the deer's head around and stabbed it in the ribs. Vincent said he hoped that would make the animal run away, but the animal kept struggling.

Vincent hung onto the deer's neck as they tumbled into a creek and he dropped the knife. He yelled for the boys to find the knife, and nephew Dillon Vincent placed the knife in his uncle's hand.

"When I stabbed the neck, I pulled the knife as hard as I could," Greg Vincent said, ripping a large gash that probably would have been fatal. The deer continued to struggle but was growing weaker. Vincent, who was a competitive weightlifter in high school, was tiring, too. Within moments, his father, Harvey Vincent, finished off the animal with a shot from Kyle's rifle.

The Vincents learned later from a game warden that the deer was aggressive probably because it was in rut.

Wow. SEX IS DEATH for deer, too.

And you wonder why I call it an invasion.

Some addlepate from Miami does his best to scare whitey into leaving the illegal invaders alone.

Miami Herald: Angry migrant underclass might erupt in U.S.

The rapid escalation of the U.S. anti-immigration hysteria -- fueled by ratings-hungry cable-television hotheads and leading Republican presidential hopefuls -- is a dangerous trend: It may lead to a Hispanic intifada that may rock this nation in the not-so-distant future.

Bring it on boyo. The commies have not taken all our guns...

Remember the Palestinian intifada of the early 1990s, when thousands of frustrated young Palestinians took to the streets and threw stones at Israeli troops? Remember the French intifada of the summer of 2005, in which disenfranchised Muslim youths burned cars and stores in the suburbs of Paris?

If we are not careful, we may see something similar coming from the estimated 13 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, most of them Hispanic, who are increasingly vilified in the media, forced further into the underground by spineless politicians and not given any chance to legalize their status by a pusillanimous U.S. Congress.

I thought they were all peaceful janitors and fruit pickers here because the fat and lazy white middle class refuse to work for a living any more. Now you tell me they are a smoldering powderkeg of ethnic, political, and religious resentment ready to start blowing themselves up at my local Starbucks.

We are creating an underclass of people who won't leave this country and, realistically, can't be deported. [Of course they can be deported. One rioter at a time. - F.G.] They and their children are living with no prospect of earning a legal status, no matter how hard they work for it. Many of them will become increasingly frustrated, angry, and some of them eventually may turn violent.

That is precisely the point, you churl. One does not get to be a citizen by working hard.

If a foreigner has no respect for our law, why should we respect him as if he were one of us?

It is simple: Time to be tossed over the fence.

HA-HA! Just kidding, kiddies. We don't have no stinkin' fence!

I was thinking about all of this when I read about last week's U.S. Senate refusal to pass the Dream Act, a bill that would offer a path to legalization to children of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States at a very young age, and who get a college degree or serve in the military.

The bill would have regularized the status of youths like Juan and Alex Gomez, the two Colombian-born Miami brothers who were brought by their parents to this country as toddlers, graduated near the top of their high school classes, and now face deportation to a country they don't even remember.

Too damn bad. Alex and Juan have my sympathy. I am sure there are muchos US Consulates in Columbia with the proper forms for them to complete.

There are an estimated 1.8 million children in the United States who are growing up like other American kids, often speak no language other than English, but don't have legal documents, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. They are denied in-state college tuition fees or scholarships that are available to legal U.S. residents, and are eventually thrown into a labor market where they are barred from being employed.

Why? Because they are here illegally. What part of the word "illegal" are you choosing to ignore?


Further, the Bush administration-backed escalation of raids against undocumented workers [Instant translation: Law enforcement. - F.G.] in factories, the increase of city ordinances prohibiting people from leasing apartments to undocumented immigrants, and the overt xenophobia spilling daily from Hispanic-phobic radio and cable-television shows will leave their mark on these and other children in immigrant communities.

Eek!

A study released last week by the Urban Institute and the National Council of La Raza says there are about five million U.S. children with at least one undocumented parent.

WATERBOARD 'EM! WATERBOARD 'EM! [Sorry, but if it is fine with The Real Junior Senatrix From New York, it is fine with me.]

''The recent intensification of immigration enforcement activities by the federal government has increasingly put these children at risk of family separation, economic hardship, and psychological trauma,'' the report says.

Eek!

The study looked at the impact of recent U.S. immigration raids in Colorado, Nebraska and Massachusetts, where about 900 undocumented workers were arrested at their work sites, and their children -- most often infants -- were suddenly deprived of their fathers or mothers.

''The combination of fear, isolation, and economic hardship induced mental health problems such as depression, separation anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide thoughts,'' it said.

Just wait until Hitlery and her Nazi thugs take over, then those sad little babies can be given safe and humane retroactive abortions.

My opinion: We have to stop this xenophobic hysteria. And please, dear anti-immigration readers, don't tell me I'm being dishonest for failing to point out that you are not against legal immigration, but only against ``illegals.''

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! Quotation marks!

You are making a deceptive argument. Leaving aside the fact that nearly half of the undocumented immigrants came to this country legally, and overstayed their visas, [That makes them illegal now, dumbass. - F.G.] their non-compliance with immigration rules should not stigmatize them with the label of ``illegals.''

Calling a spade a spade [sorry] is now forbidden?

Illegal is as illegal does.

You may have violated a rule, [A law, knucklehead, passed by the peoples' representatives. - F.G.] but that should not make you an ''illegal'' person. [It makes you a criminal, you fool. - F.G.]You may have gotten a ticket for speeding, but that doesn't make you an ''illegal'' human being, [Ditto. - F.G.] even if the potential harm of your reckless driving is much greater than anything done by most of the hard-working undocumented immigrants in this country.

Ha!

Carrying out enforcement-only policies, labeling undocumented workers as ''illegals'' and depriving them of hope for upward mobility -- rather than working toward greater economic cooperation with Latin America to reduce migration pressures -- is not only wrong, but dangerous. The millions of undocumented among us will not leave. They will only get angrier.

It may be time to commence with the Sad & Angry Illegals Updates, kiddies.

A little Sophie Howard goes a long way.

From the pages of The King Abdullah Gazette:

BIG BABYKILLING missed one. Oops, make that two.

If you can read this and still advocate the murder of children, you are more monster than man...

Catholic.org: Commentary: Twin Survives Abortion to teach Solidarity

I have two longstanding friends with whom I have stood in the pro-life trenches for over three decades, Paul and Rob Schenck. These brothers, besides being heroes to many who have been involved in the greatest human and civil rights struggle of our generation, are also “identical” twins. I can easily tell them apart, because I know them so well.

However, every time people see these men for the first time, they face the inevitable questions about how they can keep from being confused. They use it as an opportunity to speak truth, recounting that the extraordinary bond that exists between them is one of life’s greatest blessings. They speak of the nine months that they roomed together in the womb. They refer to themselves as having been “womb-mates.”

A report out of Birmingham England this past weekend concerning two other twin brothers, Gabriel and Ieuan Jones, brought my friends to mind. It is both heart touching and eye opening. Doctors told the mother of these two twins that they were worried about the health of one of their boys because of his small stature and what appeared to be an enlarged heart.


Mom, Gabe & Ieuan

They went further; they persuaded this mother to make the choice for what is euphemistically referred to in our abortion on demand culture as “selective termination” of the weaker brother. They told her that not only was it likely that the weaker child would die but that his continuing to occupy the womb with his brother could have jeopardized his health as well.

Mrs. Jones told reporters: "They told us that if he died, it could be life threatening for his brother. We had to decide whether to end his life and let his brother live, or risk them both. They said it would be impossible to keep him alive afterwards as he was so poorly nourished. It would be kinder to let him die in the womb with his brother by his side than to die alone after being born. That made my mind up for me. I wanted the best thing for him."

Unfortunately, many mothers are given these kinds of assessments and this kind of advice too easily. In an age when corrective surgery can be routinely done in the womb, such “selective terminations”, are not decreasing. In this procedure, a specific child (or children) is selected to be killed. Usually, this is done because of genetic difficulties. This says that children with potential handicaps are deemed less worthy. It is routinely advised that they be selectively aborted.

This is increasingly done after fertility treatments which result in multiple pre-born children. It is a new form of eugenics carried out in what was once the safest place on earth, the first home of the whole human race, the womb. Often, it is done through the injection of lethal chemicals into the child selected to be killed. Sometimes it is done through a surgical strike.

In their effort to take the life of the child now known as Gabriel, the Doctors first tried to sever his umbilical chord and cut off all his nourishing blood supply. The chord was too tough, so they then cut the placenta in half in another effort to “terminate” him but prevent the death of his brother. "I put my hands on my stomach thinking of Gabriel. It was devastating. I had said my goodbyes", said the boys mother. The little boy, whom the Doctors later named “Rocky” because he was such a fighter, continued to live for another five weeks until his mother delivered by a caesarean section.

Ol' Gabe is gonna be a rugby player.

Upon awakening the morning after the “reduction” surgery, the mother felt kicking. A scan showed a beating heart in the child whom they had tried to “terminate.” The mother recalled, "No one could quite believe it." Gabriel grew in size and the apparently enlarged heart began to decrease in size. Both brothers were born without incident and are now healthy, thriving twins.

The astonished mother now refers to the birth of her sons Gabriel and Ieuan as a miracle, telling reporters in England,” It was unbelievable. When I felt him kicking madly the morning after the operation, I suddenly knew that he was going to hang on. The doctors couldn't believe it when they could still hear his heartbeat the next morning." The father was equally elated, telling the press “It really is a miracle. Doctors carried out an operation to let Gabriel die - yet he hung on.”

The Doctors delivered the twins at 31 weeks. Ieuan’s birthweight was 3lb 8oz and the one who almost died, Gabriel, weighed in at 1lb 15oz. Now, at seven months, Ieuan weighs 15lb and Gabriel 12lb 6oz. Their mother recently stated to the newspaper, "The boys are so healthy, they have huge appetites too. Ieuan is the noisy one, while Gabriel is always laughing, it's like he's just so happy to be here. There is such a strong bond between them. They are always holding hands and, if one cries, the other reaches out to comfort him. Doctors tried to break their bond in the womb, but they just proved it couldn't be broken."

These two brothers in England, like my friends Paul and Rob Schenck, were “Womb-Mates.” They can teach us all a lesson, the meaning of solidarity. Solidarity means that we all belong to one another; and that we really are “our brothers keeper”.

Once again, a little child leads the way to truth.

Chicks dig the Black and Gold.

AP: Pittsburgh leads nation in female NFL fans

The Pittsburgh Steelers have known for years their fan base included countless women -- that was evidenced by all the pink official team jerseys they sell and the hundreds who attend their female training camp each summer.

Yes, more than 300 women spend money each year to go through a simulated day of Steelers training camp, replete with blocking and running drills and a trip to the training table. The club also sponsors a Football Knowledge for Women classroom-type course.

Now the Steelers have proof that, when it comes to building a female fan base, Pittsburgh does it better than any other NFL market.

According to a Scarborough Sports Marketing survey of 220,354 residents in 75 United States markets conducted last year, Pittsburgh has, by far, the largest base of NFL fans who are women.

Pittsburgh is the runaway leader, with 34 percent of the women living in the Steelers' market identifying themselves as fans. Green Bay was second with 29.4 percent, but no other market surveyed had even one-quarter of its women identify themselves as fans.

Buffalo was third with 23.7 percent, followed by Cincinnati (22.8 percent), Kansas City (22.4 percent), Jacksonville (21.7 percent), Baltimore and Boston (21.5 percent) and Denver, Tampa-St. Petersburg and Washington, D.C. (20.9 percent).

Nationally, the average was 16 percent, which means that Pittsburgh has more than twice the number of female pro football fans than the average market, based on the survey's results.
Obviously, all those Terrible Towels inside Heinz Field aren't being twirled only by men.

Among men, Pittsburgh was second only to Green Bay in the percentage of fans -- 38 percent of the men in Green Bay identified themselves as fans, compared to 35.1 percent in Pittsburgh.
Also in the top 10 were Jacksonville (34.9 percent), Boston and Denver (33.3); Buffalo, Indianapolis, Kansas City and Philadelphia (32.1) and Cincinnati (31.5).

Pittsburgh also placed in the Top 10 in percentage of fans who are college graduates (No. 4, 17.5 percent), percentage of fans with at least one child in the family (No. 6, 23.8 percent) and percentage of fans who are between the ages of 18 and 24 (No. 7, 7.2 percent).

The results were not surprising, at least given the long-standing loyalty of Steelers fans -- the team has sold out every non-strike home game since 1972.

According to a survey also taken by Scarborough Sports Marketing before the February 2006 Super Bowl in which the Steelers beat Seattle 21-10, Pittsburgh was the top market for fan loyalty in the NFL, with 64 percent of all consumers saying they were "very or somewhat interested" in the NFL.

Vajayjay, Nigger and Poopy-Head Triple Update.

Why, you ask? Because words mean things and are important.

Oh, yeah...they can also be used to control thought.

Blogcritics.org: A Vagina by Any Other Name is Not So Sweet
Written by Carla Thompson

Finally! A leftist fool who makes sense. [I am assuming Carla's only a few bullets short of Stalinism because she would have been lynched with a big noose fashioned out of hemp by a redneck midget by now if she were to the right of George Soros.]

I have had it. Enough is enough. What is this world coming to? We are beginning to sound like a bunch of three-year-olds. I am a grown ass woman, damn it! I've earned my right to speak as such.

This is the world left-fascism hath wrought, baby. In a word, blame your comrades.

What has prompted this most recent rant? An article from the New York Times style section, sent to me by an equally disgruntled friend. Written by Stephanie Rosenbloom, "What Did You Call It?" waxes endlessly and unnecessarily about the use of the nouveau word "vajayjay" as a euphemism for vagina. "Vajayjay" was introduced on an episode of the ABC show, Grey's Anatomy. Then Oprah got a hold of it, and now you have every middle-aged woman talking about her vajayjay.

I am not a conspiracy theorist, but this vajayjay seems like another attempt to sanitize, with the result infantilizing, the American lexicon.

Ma and Pa Thompson kept it real, sometimes too real. Alongside my parents, I watched violent R-rated movies. No cinema was too bloody or graphic for their little boos, I mean children. The exposure did not lead me to kill, maim, or destroy - just on occasion yell, scream, or curse a few people out. But I digress. In the spirit of keeping it real, we, the family Thompson, called genitalia by their proper names:penis and vagina - not George and Nancy.

In stark contrast, I had a female friend with three small children who created the names "heehee" and "whowho" for said body parts. All I have to say is whywhy? Imagine the confusion when they have their first sexual experience.

"Baby, I want to (blank) your heehee."

Oops. I guess ol' Carla draws the line at the word "fuck".

"Heehee? What they hell are you laughing at?"

I was listening to a Kat Williams comedy special this weekend on Comedy Central. It was damn near refreshing to hear an adult speak so freely and use harsh language, including the N-word, to express thoughtful ideas. By the way Al, Jesse, et. al, banning the N-word hasn't stopped teens, especially black teens, from using the word excessively. (For the record, hearing the N-word bandied about by not always so literate youngsters drives me out of my damn, not darn, mind.)

In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, comedian D.L. Hughley said, “"I think it's dumb. Richard Pryor and Martin Luther King existed around the same time but Martin Luther King never called Richard Pryor and said, 'Could you stop using the N-word? It's making our struggle that much harder.' And that's because Martin Luther King was trying to affect real change, significant change for the benefit of a people. Not esoteric change that really wouldn't change anything...More black people die from not exercising and eating fried food than ever died from the N-word. You don't go to the doctor and he says, 'Your cholesterol is down. Have you been using the N-word lately?'"

Racist!

There is the f-word, and thanks to former Grey's Anatomy's star Isaiah Washington's rant against gay cast member T. R. Knight (What's up with that show?), there is another f-word not to be uttered publicly regardless of the context. Before you know it, there will be yet another f-word we won't be able to utter: fat. Are we going to start calling fat people, "calorically challenged"? Or are we going to create another euphemism like "fataytay." Oh Bertha is not as big as a house; she's just fatatay.

Hee-hee.

Hang in there. I am almost done.

Most mainstream media avoid racially charged topics like they are...the word..."vagina," but when they do attempt to address them, it's often awkward and painful to watch, especially when the anchors/pundits/talking heads make an attempt to use the least offensive words to describe an ethnic or racial group.

My least favorite of these monikers is "people of color" - the use of which chaps my black ass.
I've heard Joe Scarborough of MSNBC's Morning Joe use this term with relative frequency. I'd like to ask him one simple question: Who the hell are you talking about? Blacks? Latinos? Asians? Biracials? Martians? The statement belies the assumption that whites are not included among those "of color" and makes the rest of us sounds like some mushy mess.

Homeboy, last time I checked, white people come in various hues — dare I say colors — such as pink, various shades of olive, and light brown in the summer. If you see a "white" person coming towards you, run like a mofo because that s.o.b. is probably an escapee from a local cemetery.

Amen to all that, Sister!

Oh, I know what some of you pitiful PC folks are thinking. "Personally, I don't see color." Quit your lying. I dare you to say that to the police officer when he pulls you over for running a red light. I could go on forever, but I won't. You've got things to do and so do I. (If you are waiting for a cheap vajayjay joke, it ain't coming - yet.)

Now, the Tyra Banks Show is having its own version of the Vagina Dialogues. (No, I didn't make a mistake, this is how it is billed. With Tyra, it has to be a two-way conversation.). Called, “What's Up Down There?” (original broadcast: Monday, November 5), the show promises to provide women with the answers "to all the questions they were afraid to ask."

I am sure that after this show, the vagina will need some throat spray and a sabbatical.

Vajayjay* Update.

Louisville Courier-Journal: Tyra goes 'down there'

Tune in to "The Tyra Banks Show" today for a full-on discussion about the — dare I say it? — vagina. "I hope after this show women will not be ashamed about what's up down there," said Banks, 33.

*I am merely following the lead of America's Dictatrix of Kultur.

Get your kids out of the government indoctrination centers!

Q: What do you get when you cross a Zero-Tolerancer with a Hug Nazi?

A: A thirteen year old girl in detention.

The Arizona Republic: Illinois middle schooler is given detention for hugging 2 friends at school

Two hugs equals two days of detention for 13-year-old Megan Coulter.

The eighth-grader was punished for violating a school policy banning public displays of affection when she hugged two friends Friday.

"I feel it is crazy," said Megan, who was to serve her second detention Tuesday after classes at Mascoutah Middle School.

"I was just giving them a hug goodbye for the weekend," she said.

WATERBOARD HER! WATERBOARD HER!

Megan's mother, Melissa Coulter, said the embraces weren't even real hugs - just an arm around the shoulder and slight squeeze.

"It's hilarious to the point of ridicule," Coulter said. "I'm still dumbfounded that she's having to do this."

Two words: Private school.

District Superintendent Sam McGowen said that he thinks the penalty is fair and that administrators in the school east of St. Louis were following policy in the student handbook.

Moron.

It states: "Displays of affection should not occur on the school campus at any time. It is in poor taste, reflects poor judgment, and brings discredit to the school and to the persons involved."

Luckily for the arch-pinhead McGowen, nobody in his district knows how to read, write, or think.

That is one heck of a coincidence, Sam.

Coulter said she and her husband told their daughter to go ahead and serve her detentions because the only other option was a day of suspension for each skipped detention.

"We don't agree with it, but I certainly don't want her to get in more trouble," Coulter said.

FIGHT THE POWER!

The couple plan to attend the next school board meeting to ask board members to consider rewording the policy or be more specific in what is considered a display of affection.

Oh, you are going to try reasoning with the power first?

Good luck with that.

"I'm just hoping the school board will open their eyes and just realize that maybe they shouldn't be punishing us for hugs," Megan said.