Bin Laden’s deputy insults Obama with racial slur

By Calvin Palmer

The second in command of al-Qaeda greeted President-elect Barack Obama on a militant Web site today with a racial slur.
 
Ayman al-Zawahri’s message aims to show that Obama does not represent a change in U.S. policy and referred to Obama as “the direct opposite of honorable black Americans like Malcolm X.”
 
He also calls the president-elect and secretaries of state Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice “house negroes.”
 
Speaking in Arabic, al-Zawahri uses the term “abeed al-Beit,” which translates as “house slaves” but al-Qaeda supplied English subtitles and the term was translated as “house negroes.”
 
The message also includes footage of speeches by Malcolm X, where the civil rights leader said that black slaves who worked in the house of their white masters were more servile than those who worked in the fields. Malcolm X used the term to criticize black leaders he accused of not standing up to whites.
 
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the latest message was just “more despicable comments from a terrorist.”
 
The 11 min 23 sec video features the audio message by al-Zawahri who states Obama’s election has not changed American policies that are aimed at oppressing Muslims and others.
 
He said: “America has put on a new face but its heart is full of hate, mind drowning in greed and spirit which spreads evil, murder, repression and despotism continues to be the same as always.”
 
Speaking of Obama’s plan to shift more troops to Afghanistan, al-Zawahri says: “Be aware that the dogs of Afghanistan have found the flesh of your soldiers to be delicious, so send thousands after thousands to them.”
 
Although al-Zawahri did not threaten specific attacks, he said that Obama was facing “a Jihadi (Holy war) awakening and renaissance which is shaking the pillars of the entire Islamic world; and this is the fact which you and your government and country refuse to recognize and pretend not to see.”
 
He went on to say that Obama’s election was a realization by the American people that George W. Bush’s policies had failed and it was an admission of “defeat in Iraq.”
 
But Obama’s support for Israel during the election campaign”confirmed to the Ummah (Islamic world) that you have chosen a stance of hostility to Islam and Muslims,” al-Zawahri said.
 
“You were born to a Muslim father but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America,” he said.
 
For such an important message since the election of Obama, al-Qaeda’s first in command, Osama bin Laden, was strangely unavailable and left it to his deputy.
 
This speech by al-Zawahri also poses a dilemma for America’s extreme right.  Does their hatred of a black president outweigh their hatred of Muslims?  That’s kind of a tough call for the good ol’ boys in the Deep South but there were probably loud Dixie hollers in the bayous and backwoods for al-Zawahri’s description of Obama.
 
I would also be interested in the reaction of the Wicked Witch of Wasilla to this speech, if she could spare the time in between ferrying her campaign wardrobe to charitable organizations.  It is funny how that has received so little coverage in the American media.  Maybe Sarah Palin will begin to grasp what a real terrorist is, along with what constitutes a “real American.”
 
[Based on reports by the Associated Press and BBC News.]

Indicted high school cheerleaders could face jail if convicted of hazing

By Calvin Palmer

Seven Morton Ranch High School cheerleaders, from Katy, Texas, have been indicted by a Harris County grand jury on charges accusing them of illegally hazing other cheerleaders.

The misdemeanor indictments were issued today, accusing the cheerleaders of restraining several junior varsity cheerleaders, blindfolding them, binding their hands and pushing them into a swimming pool on July 25.

One 15-year-old recalled: “I could hear some of the other members yelling, ‘I can’t swim. Stop. Please don’t push me in.'”

Katy school district officials launched an investigation during which cheerleading activities were suspended. After the investigation was concluded, cheerleading at Morton Ranch High School was suspended for the school year.

If the girls thought that was an end to the matter, they were clearly mistaken. It now appears they will go before a court.

Seven members of the varsity squad, ages 17 and 18, were charged as adults with hazing, a Class B misdemeanor that could bring a maximum six-month jail sentence and a $2,000 fine upon conviction.

Five more cheerleaders, all minors, may still face prosecution in juvenile court, said Tucker Graves, an attorney representing one of the girls.

Named in the indictments were Kelly Buffa, Haley Davis, Kirsten Davis and Madison Tanner, all 17; and 18-year-olds Hannah Cochran, Adelynn Garner and Meigan Goff.

The defendants, all of whom still attend class, are expected to surrender to authorities as their cases move through the criminal justice system.

“This is what we’ve been waiting for,” said Diane De La Cruz, mother of Laura De La Cruz, 15, one of the junior varsity cheerleaders. “We are thankful that the grand jury came up with an indictment because we have known all along that the (varsity) girls were guilty of hazing.”

Some parents of JV cheerleaders said their daughters have been harassed at school during the hazing investigation.

“The victims in this case are being treated like guilty parties,” said David Cruz, whose daughter, Danielle, was listed as a victim in the case.

Kim Armstrong, the mother of another JV cheerleader, said she voiced concerns about harassment to school officials.

“They haven’t given us any assurance that our kids will be safe,” Armstrong said.

School officials did not respond Wednesday to inquiries about the parents’ concerns.

“Frankly,” said Casie Gotro, an attorney representing defendant Kirsten Davis, “I don’t think anybody should have been indicted. It’s been blown way out of proportion.”

Gotro said her client got lost and wasn’t present when the younger girls allegedly were pushed into the pool.

“Nobody got hurt,” said Allen Isbell, attorney for Kelly Buffa. Isbell said his client didn’t push anyone into the pool.

Robert Fickman, attorney for Adelynn Garner, said his client is “contrite.”

National experts on hazing say the activity, which can leave its victims scarred for life, has grown more severe in recent decades.

“There has been a natural negative evolution,” said Cincinnati lawyer Gary Powell, who for two decades edited a newsletter for schools and fraternities. “It’s more creative, and, unfortunately, more violent.”

Chicago psychologist Jean Alberti termed hazing “child abuse by children.”

“If it happened to an adult,” she said, “it would be called assault, battery, robbery — all life-threatening stuff. Until we call it ‘child abuse,’ we won’t generate the outrage to change it. (Youths) think it’s funny, parents think it’s funny. They think it’s normal adolescent development, but this is an aberration. It didn’t happen 30 or 40 years ago. Now we have video on YouTube showing girls kicking other girls in the head.”

[Based on reports by the Houston Chronicle and Sante Fe New Mexican.]

Man decapitated himself with chainsaw in ‘carefully thought through suicide’

By Calvin Palmer

A man committed suicide by rigging up a chainsaw to sever his head because he was “irrationally opposed” to leaving his repossessed home, an inquest heard today.
 
David Phyall, 50, tied the Black & Decker power tool to a leg of a snooker table in his living room with string, taped up the on button and plugged it into a timer, Winchester Coroner’s Court heard.
 
Phyall, who had consumed a small quantity of alcohol but no drugs, then lay down under the snooker table face up and placed the chainsaw against his neck, with a piece of the tool’s cardboard box cushioning the blade from his neck.
 
The timer, usually used to turn lights off and on, was set to start up the chainsaw for 15 minutes.
 
Once activated, it sliced three-quarters through his neck and across into his right shoulder only stopping from completely severing his head when his T-shirt was dragged into the teeth of the saw.
 
The alarm was raised by his parents John and Jean Phyall when they could not contact their son at his ground floor housing association flat in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, on July 5 this year.
 
Police broke into the flat and asked the parents to stay outside.
 
Sgt. Mark Carter of Hampshire police said he found Phyall in the living room with blood splattering the walls, floor and a cabinet.
 
“The electric chainsaw was embedded in his neck,” he told the hearing.  “The blade was approximately three-quarters through his neck.”
 
The block in Bodmin Road, where Phyall had his flat, was due to be demolished.  Despite efforts from the housing association, he had refused 11 offers of alternative accommodation.  Eventually, the housing association went to court to repossess the property.
 
At the time of his death, Phyall was only the tenant in the 1960s block.  The rest of the properties had been vacated and were boarded up.
 
Phyall had a history of mental illness and had tried to commit suicide once before.
 
Recording a verdict of suicide, Central Hampshire deputy coroner Simon Burge said that First Wessex Housing Group had done all it could but Phyall was “irrationally opposed to moving.”
 
“In the 15 years I have been sitting as a deputy coroner, this is the most bizarre case I can recall,” Burge said.

“He thought through how he was going to commit suicide very carefully.  He went to a great deal of trouble.  I think he did it to draw attention to the injustice of his situation.”
 
[Based on reports by The Independent and BBC News.]