August 13, 2012

Sex, Games and Olympic Village life

By Ben Wyatt and Tancredi Palmeri
CNN
August 12, 2012

Olympic Park, London (CNN) - The face of the Olympics is well known the world over: athletes winning, losing, straining every sinew of their bodies in the pursuit of podium glory. But behind the scenes there is another story of the athletes' lives and the use of their bodies, one that centers on their time staying at the Olympic Village.

"Anyone who wants to be naive and say they don't know what's going on in the Village are lying to themselves," one former gold medalist and veteran of two Olympics told CNN of his previous experiences at the Games. "They know, the officials know, even the media. It's not a secret, everyone knows!

A potent mix of fit, body beautiful, young people -- many of whom have abstained from sexual intercourse as part of a disciplined training regime -- being in the same place, at the same time; cocooned from the outside world by tight security and often reveling in the glory of success and attention of devoted crowds and the world's press.

It is maybe only human nature that people, when placed together, procreate to some extent, but that libidinous cocktail means London 2012 officials were right if the experiences of Sydney and Atlanta were anything to make 150,000 condoms -- a record for the modern Games -- available to the Village's frisky inhabitants, according to CNN's source.

More: http://us.cnn.com/2012/08/08/sport/olympics-village-sex-party-athletes/index.html

August 13, 2012

Arizona Dust Storm: Amazing Time-Lapse of Phoenix Haboob

August 13, 2012

Romney paints Ryan as reluctant Washingtonian —though Ryan spent career in nation’s capital

By Rachel Streitfeld
CNN
August 12, 2012

Mooresville, North Carolina (CNN) - On Sunday Mitt Romney painted his new running mate, a seven-term congressman elected at age 28, as a reluctant Washingtonian who put aside his personal ambitions to serve his country.

“His career ambition was not to go to Washington. That is not what he wanted to do,” Romney said of Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee. “But he became concerned about what was happening in the country and wanted to get America back on track, and so he put aside the plans he had for his career and said ‘I’m going to go and serve.’”

Ryan’s career trajectory points to a slightly different version of the candidate’s life than Romney offered. After graduating from Miami University of Ohio in 1992, Ryan went to work in Washington as an aide to Sen. Robert Kasten of Wisconsin, whose office he interned in during college.

Ryan also served as a speechwriter for Rep. Jack Kemp early in his career, and worked as a staff member for Empower America, a conservative political group that merged with FreedomWorks in 2004. Ryan was Sen. Sam Brownback’s legislative director from 1995-1997. He was elected to Congress in 1998.

More: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/12/romney-paints-ryan-as-reluctant-washingtonian-though-ryan-spent-career-in-nations-capital/

August 13, 2012

Liberia: Rep. Denies Marrying Dead Fiancé

BY Winnston W. Parley
The New Dawn
9 AUGUST 2012

Rivercess County Senior Senator J. Jonathan Barney, currently in court for refusal to dowry his dead fiancée, says there is no records that he had married dead bodies ever in his entire life.

"I'm a very rational person; educated and not one of those fools to talk rubbish", he said in direct response to reporters' enquiry as to why he did not want to dowry his late fiancée Cecelia Boe as being demanded by family of the deceased in fulfillment traditional practice.

Representative Baron Brown, a member of the Boe Family, maintained the family has evidence that Barney paid dowry for their first daughter, who lived with the Senator up to his death.

Speaking to reporters outside court after his testimony Wednesday, Barney said the court shall decide today whether or not the dead body will be turned over to the Boe Family.

More: http://allafrica.com/stories/201208090560.html

August 13, 2012

Gunmen kill Egyptian tribal leader and son in Sinai

Source: Reuters



August 12, 2012

AL-ARISH, Egypt (Reuters) - A group of armed men shot dead a tribal leader and his son on Monday in Egypt's Sinai peninsula on the border with Israel, a security source said, as violence escalated on the sixth day of a military crackdown on militants in the area.

"Tribal leader Khalaf Al-Menahy and his son were shot dead by militants on their way back from a conference organized by tribal leaders to denounce militancy," said the security source in Sinai.

The attack occurred during a security sweep that began on Wednesday after the killing of 16 Egyptian border guards on August 5, which Egypt blamed on militants.

Lawlessness has been growing in Sinai, a region awash with guns and bristling with resentment against Cairo, since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak in an uprising last year. Parts of northern Sinai have been controlled by Bedouin tribes since police deserted the area during the uprising.

Read more: http://m.yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/news/gunmen-kill-egyptian-tribal-leader-son-sinai-015434458.html?.b=index&.ts=1344835512&.intl=US&.lang=en

August 13, 2012

No more DUzy Awards?

August 12, 2012

US and Turkey plan for 'worst Syria scenario'

Source: Al Jazeera


Clinton says must prepare for potential use of chemical weapons, as fighting continues in Damascus and Aleppo

August 11, 2012

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said her country is setting up a working group with Turkey to plan for worst-case scenarios in Syria, including a possible chemical weapons attack on the government's opponents.

In a joint news conference in Istanbul with Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkey's foreign minister, Clinton said that the group will co-ordinate military, intelligence and political responses to any potential fallout in Syria.

The US and Turkey agreed on the need to plan for "the horrible event that chemical weapons [are] used," Clinton said on Saturday.

"What would that mean in terms of response, humanitarian and medical emergency assistance and, of course, what needs to be done to secure those stocks from ever being used or falling into the wrong hands?"

Read more: http://m.aljazeera.com/story/201281112523717494

August 12, 2012

Rebels carve out large enclave in north Syria

AP
August 11, 2012

AZAZ, Syria (AP) — Residents of this north Syrian border town like to snap photos of their children atop the tank parked downtown, one of more than a dozen captured or destroyed by rebels in the battles last month that "liberated" the area from President Bashar Assad's army.

Across the street in air-conditioned offices once occupied by Assad's Baath party, a new political order is emerging. Local rebels have formed committees to fix power lines, fire up bakeries and staff the nearby border crossing with Turkey. They also run security patrols and a prison with some 60 captives. Two men were executed by firing squad recently after a judge and Islamic clerics found them guilty of murder.

"We run a state system here," said Samir Hajj Omar, the silver-haired former teacher who heads the rebel political office for Azaz, a town of 35,000. "We're enforcing the law."

In recent months, Syria's rebels have extended control over a large swath of territory in the northeastern corner of the country after forcing the army from town after town in a string of bloody street battles.

More: http://m.yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/news/rebels-carve-large-enclave-north-syria-200959664.html?.b=index&.ts=1344737104&.intl=US&.lang=en

August 11, 2012

Town hall attendees boo and scream at Paul Ryan

August 11, 2012

Do you believe in magic?