Red Dragon Sanctuary » Just plain Stupid

Kids’ lemonade stand shuttered by police chief – Boing Boing

RedDragon — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 01:34:13 +0000

It is a sad state of affairs when the local police have nothing better to do that shut down a kid’s lemonade stand. Correct me if I am wrong here but isn’t the “lemonade Stand” part of your and everyone’s childhood?

How far are we going to let the government get involved in our everyday lives? How many freedoms are we going to give up?

What the hell is wrong with all of you bloody sheeple that you actually let this shit happen. It is truly getting to the point where I am ashamed to be an American.

Peace Out

Dragon

Kids’ lemonade stand shuttered by police chief

Cory Doctorow at 5:05 PM Monday, Jul 18, 2011

The police chief of Midway, Georgia, has shut down a kids’ lemonade stand because the girls (10 and 14) who were operating it didn’t have $180 worth of permits. The proprietors were saving up for a visit to a water-park.

By a city ordinance, the girls must have a business license, peddler’s permit, and food permit to set up shop, even on residential property. The permits cost $50 a day and a total of $180 per year. City officials said it’s their job to keep everyone safe and healthy, and there can be no exceptions to the rules.

“We were not aware of how the lemonade was made, who made the lemonade, of what the lemonade was made with, so we acted accordingly by city ordinance,” Chief Morningstar said.

Midway Police Shut Down Girls’ Lemonade Stand for not having a Business License (via Consumerist)

via Kids’ lemonade stand shuttered by police chief – Boing Boing.

Georgia Police Bust Girls’ Lemonade Stand In Midway (huffingtonpost.com)

The 100 Most Iconic Internet Vodeos

oldreddragon — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:28:52 +0000

Gathered by www.urlesque.com here are some great laughs here. Check it out if you have time.
Peace Out
Dragon

Join Urlesque as we count down our picks for the top 100 viral videos that made the Internet such a wonderful place.

These are the clips that make us laugh the most, inspired future videos, or even changed the web as we know it.

See the full list below and click on the video titles to get a deeper look into each selection.

Or, start from the beginning and peruse the entire list.

Just wanna know what #1 is? You can do that, too.

Keith Olbermann on GW Bush

oldreddragon — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:07:30 +0000

I could not have said it any better myself. Although I dont think I could have been as respectful of the Commander in chief as Mr. Olbermann. But you have to listen to this if you havent already. It is absolutely Great.

It is a link to Mr. Olbermanns spot on MSNBC. It is 12 minutes long. But Oh SO Worth listening to:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Peace Out
Dragon

Losing track of guns, losing track of Iraq?

oldreddragon — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 19:41:49 +0000

Losing track of guns, losing track of Iraq?

As the Pentagon is accused by US auditors of losing track of 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to the Iraqi security forces, the BBC’s Nick Childs considers what this means for US strategy.

This report is particularly embarrassing for the Pentagon, in part because the plan to train and equip new Iraqi security forces has been so central to its strategy in the country.

And, while it has been alleged before that weapons bound for the Iraqis have gone missing, the numbers in this report are striking.

The report comes from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which is an independent US government agency that is essentially the watchdog and investigative arm for the US Congress.

The GAO says that, of some 185,000 assault rifles and 170,000 pistols that the Pentagon says it supplied to the Iraqi security forces, it can account for less than half: there is a discrepancy of 110,000 in the case of AK-47s, and 80,000 pistols.

The gaps in the figures for body armor and helmets are even bigger – only 80,000 out of a total of 215,000 sets of body armor accounted for, and only 25,000 out of 140,000 helmets.

The report does not say it knows what has happened to the weapons – only that there are gaping holes in the records.

Wrong hands?

The focus of the report is on perceived Pentagon failures but, by implication, it also raises questions about the capabilities and reliability of the Iraqi security forces. There is the fear, again long suspected, that many of the missing weapons have found their way into the hands of insurgents.

PENTAGON’S MISSING HARDWARE

AK-47 rifles: 110,000
Pistols: 80,000
Body armour pieces: 135,000
Helmets: 115,000

There remain question marks over the reliability of elements of the Iraqi security forces, especially the police.

Of course, the Pentagon was under huge pressure from early on to try to achieve quick results in its program to train and equip the Iraqi forces.

These faltered on more than one occasion and tracking what happened to the weaponry may not have been the top priority for limited resources.

In barely more than a month now, the top US military commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, and the US ambassador, Ryan Crocker, are meant to give their assessment of how the latest US strategy for the country is working.

This latest report may well provide more ammunition for the skeptics.

Gen Petraeus arrived in Iraq earlier this year with a huge reputation, not least because he was credited with turning round the training programme on his previous assignment to the country.

But he was also in charge of it for much of the time covered by this investigation – and that could damage his credibility.

Money request

Whether the Iraqi security forces are up to the job, and whether they have enough of the right equipment, remain keys issues for the way ahead in Iraq.

And the Pentagon has, according to the GAO report, asked for another $2bn for new equipment for those forces.

The Pentagon says it accepts key recommendations in the report on improving records and accountability, and that steps have been taken.

But the report says that, as of last month, the Pentagon had not specified what the accounting procedures were.

Story from BBC NEWS:

Pentagon loses track of 190,000 AK-47 rifles and pistols

oldreddragon — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 18:39:34 +0000

Feed the Bonzo another banana for this blunder. Is it any wonder why the conflict in Iraq is going as bad as it is. Now it seems we are not only supplying our boys with weapons. It looks like we are supplying the bad guys as well. Not that is surprises me. Now do we have to ask why the Pentagon needs the highest budget?? I think not. I really think we need to take the entire Bush administration along with the Pentagon staff, outfit them with the basic crap we give out fighting boys and dump them in the middle of Baghdad and let them sort this out. Lets just see how long they last.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The Pentagon cannot account for 190,000 AK-47 rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, or about half the weapons earmarked for soldiers and police, according to a government report.

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress, said in a July 31 report to lawmakers that the Defense Department also cannot account for 135,000 items of body armor and 115,000 helmets reported to be issued to Iraqi forces as of September 22, 2005.

The GAO said the Pentagon concurred with its findings and has begun a review to ensure full accountability for the program to train and equip Iraqi forces.

“However, our review of the 2007 property books found continuing problems with missing and incomplete records,” the GAO report said.

The report raised concerns that weapons provided by the United States could be falling into the hands of Iraqi insurgents, just as lawmakers and policymakers in Washington await a September report on the success of President Bush’s so-called “surge” strategy for stabilizing Baghdad.

One senior Pentagon official told The Washington Post some weapons probably were being used against U.S. troops. He said an Iraqi brigade created in Falluja disintegrated in 2004 and began fighting American soldiers.

Since 2003, the United States has provided about $19.2 billion to develop Iraqi security forces, the GAO said. The Defense Department has recently asked for another $2 billion to continue the train-and-equip program.

Congress funded the program for Iraqi security forces outside traditional security assistance programs, providing the Pentagon with a large degree of flexibility in managing the effort, the GAO said.

“Officials stated that since the funding did not go through traditional security assistance programs, the DOD accountability requirements normally applicable to these programs did not apply,” the GAO report said.

Military officials in Iraq reported issuing 355,000 weapons to Iraqi security forces from June 2004 through September 2005, including 185,000 rifles and 170,000 pistols, the GAO said.

But the Defense Department could not account for 110,000 rifles and 80,000 pistols, the GAO said. Those sums amount to about 54 percent of the total weapons distributed to the Iraqi forces.

The GAO quoted officials as saying the agency responsible for handling weapons distribution was too short-staffed to record information on individual items given to Iraqi forces.

Read the full story here: CNN Reports