I heard this on a thread about hostess pies:
Something about Hostess pies turns me off. Maybe it's the words "beef fat" in the ingredients. I know animal fat traditionally was used in pies, but in this day and age, it seems like a very unhealthy and unnecessary relic.
Actually, my wife tells me Oreo cookies used to contain animal fat, too. But now they don't. So if Nabisco can take it out, why can't Hostess?
If I want a pie, I'll take a real, homemade one over the packaged variety any time.
Two others followed on in a sentiment close to mine:
What's this "was"? To this day, suet and lard are both commonly used ingredients in pie crust. There's also this stuff called "butter" which you might have heard of, and I don't want to burst your bubble or anything, but I hear tell that comes from an animal too!
And as for "unhealthy"...well, unlike the trans-fats in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, lard and butter haven't been suggested as a possible cancer-causing agent. Give me a lard and butter crust any day.
and...
You know, that's one of the things wrong with the modern world - not enough animal fat! It was flat out riduculous for Nabisco and the other large biscuit companies to go away from lard and beef tallow, as it was for fast food restaurants to switch to vegetable shortening for fries. At the base of this is a lot of government propaganda (I have learned that WHATEVER the federal government says is bad is probably good, and vice versa). And too, they replaced animal fat with hydrogenated oil, which is even worse than animal fat! I went back to lard for biscuits and pastries years ago, and have recently started frying in lard. I don't know where to get beef fat, or I would use that also.
You see beef fat, suet and lards are better tasting and more natural and less preprocessed than the hydrogenated poison used in cooking.
All this new crap, with this anti-trans fat kick, we are getting hydrogenated oils, waste oil now called canola and all sorts of "better" oils that may be less in terms of calories or have less saturated fat, but are toxic.
Did you know most vegetable oils at or near medium and higher cooking temps become toxic and create carcinogenic and mutagenic garbage, where animal fats do not even to very high temperatures?
Also note all the haute cuisine , French, new American, or any other high class cooking always uses lard and bone marrow wherever possible over lesser substitutes.
Your notion of health cant simply be calories. Check out the people who have lost a lot of weight on "fatkins" Atkins - and then go to the doctor and get lower triglycerides and LDL cholesterol readings.
Processed food in general is bad. The bleached flour in a Hostess pie is far more of an issue than the beef lard.
And if you drink coke, note that when in Great Britain/UK , they use sugar. REAL Coke classic tastes great! But here in the USA, we now use High Fructose Corn Syrup. Tastes like crap, and is very unhealthy processed crap. They hid the recipe change by making "New Coke", and when they switched back to "CocaCola Classic" they put in HFCS instead of sugar.
There is absolutely NOTHING (at least not CHEAPER) that tastes better than real animal lards in cooking. PERIOD. Food is tasting like crap and actually goes rancid a LOT faster than it used to due to all the stupid mettling around with age old recipes, and everyone is getting fatter all the time despite the innumerable "healthy" substitutions going on.
Blueberry Hostess Pies taste the best. And most of the things that are "healthier" are propaganda to allow manufacturers to use cheaper garbage in our food, and to slowly force the population into eating vegetable matter and "edible" waste products because having everyone in an overpopulated earth eating meat doesnt scale as easily. So your standard of living will drop as the Government complex feeds us stuff that is worse than a WWII ration or a modern MRE.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Laphroaig - The best single malt.
I hear all these Costco-single malt drinkers. These retards that get minis in first class on an airplane, buy these fake get ups from Sam's club, those who think they know scotch. The throngs of consumers who think they know what a real scotch should taste like. They want something to make drinking easy. Good scotch isn't work per se, but the flavors and complexity must come before making drinking spirits easy to drink.
Laphroaig. Laphroaig 10, Laphroaig 10/Cask Strength, Laphroaig 15 and the super-Laphroaigs, which are aged more than 15 years.
The other day I had a glass out by the computer. My wife came in an said, the computer smells like its screwed up, like that "blue smoke" smell. I leaned over expecting the acrid burn of of the "blue smoke" on to find Laphroaig fumes wafting up from the glass.
Laphroaig tastes like everything. For a guy who has had his share of the tipple, from beeradvocate/ratebeer top 100's mostly covered, lots of Oregon, Colorado and California fresh taps covered, a ton of vintage wine covered, I like spirits - and if they came without alcohol I'd still like them. Laphroaig to me is burning tires and gasoline. Laphroaig is peat smoke and caramelized flavor. Laphroaig is intense. Laphroaig's only problem is that at its weakest its 40%ABV and I could spend a whole evening drinking a whole bottle if it werent for the self-limiting intoxication mulling over the complexity and flavors present in Laphroaig.
If you think you like scotch - get some Laphroaig and try it. If you dont like it, ok, get some Balvenie Double Wood, if you don't like that, please switch to Bartles and James wine coolers and stop bothering the adults.
Laphroaig. Laphroaig 10, Laphroaig 10/Cask Strength, Laphroaig 15 and the super-Laphroaigs, which are aged more than 15 years.
The other day I had a glass out by the computer. My wife came in an said, the computer smells like its screwed up, like that "blue smoke" smell. I leaned over expecting the acrid burn of of the "blue smoke" on to find Laphroaig fumes wafting up from the glass.
Laphroaig tastes like everything. For a guy who has had his share of the tipple, from beeradvocate/ratebeer top 100's mostly covered, lots of Oregon, Colorado and California fresh taps covered, a ton of vintage wine covered, I like spirits - and if they came without alcohol I'd still like them. Laphroaig to me is burning tires and gasoline. Laphroaig is peat smoke and caramelized flavor. Laphroaig is intense. Laphroaig's only problem is that at its weakest its 40%ABV and I could spend a whole evening drinking a whole bottle if it werent for the self-limiting intoxication mulling over the complexity and flavors present in Laphroaig.
If you think you like scotch - get some Laphroaig and try it. If you dont like it, ok, get some Balvenie Double Wood, if you don't like that, please switch to Bartles and James wine coolers and stop bothering the adults.
Friday, May 09, 2008
U.S.: Russia must ‘de-escalate’ Georgian threat
U.S.: Russia must ‘de-escalate’ Georgian threat
Moscow's decision to send troops to breakaway region sparks dispute
Hey Putin. How about you tell the USA to go fuck ourselves in the goat ass and shove it where the Sun dont shine.I love to watch a broke assed country like the USA with a fake currency and a deeply stressed military barking orders at a country that isnt being run by a cabal of bloodsucking asshole idiots.
Seems Russia is +500 billion or so, and the USA is -9,000,000,000,000 , plus another 30-60T in debt obligations.
Hey, US federal government, no one give s flying fuck what your broke ass says anymore. Morons.
Myanmar junta accept aid, not aid workers
Fuck Myanmar. Also, how can a country that is bankrupt (The USA) give money to these people ? It seems we are far more interested in Myanmar and the hurricane there than New Orleans.
This government is a piece of shit. How can they take taxes from us and give it away when we are suffer a drastic drop in the standard of OUR living?
This government is a piece of shit. How can they take taxes from us and give it away when we are suffer a drastic drop in the standard of OUR living?
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Phil O'Shaughnessy
Phil O'Shaughnessy : He is a pigfucking bastard motherfucker at Creative Labs - the makers of soundblaster products.
What happened is Creative pushed EAX. They were ruthless and used lawyers to bankrupt Aureal, the inventors of better technology, and after the litigation, they picked up the superior technology on the cheap.
After this ruthless act, they went along selling sound cards until Vista: Then they had to fuck the world one more time. They would only make EAX work for a fee. They crippled the fucking drivers for all the hardware accelerated cards to force people to pay up for the drivers.
I hope everyone who is responsible for shitty drivers at Creative gets cancer and fucking dies, and I hope everyone at Microsoft who decided to break DirectSound and other old APIs in Vista fucking gets cancer.
You motherfuckers are destroying the business you thrive on by fucking up old games and shit, you fucking morons. Watch Apple/Linux and others fuck your dumb asses out of business.
Anyways, Phil O'Shaughnessy, he is the main guy - the face - behind this fucking asshole unacceptable piece of fuck-shit act. He was trying to get this guy, Daniel_K, Daniel Kawakami, to stop helping people fix the fucking sound in Vista by threating to sue him for providing drivers HE FIXED - alone. Creative fuck labs.
And engineers at creative: grow a set of fucking balls and quit. You ought to be fucking ashamed of working there you fucking assholes. What a pathetic piece of shit you create. If you are in IEEE, you should be kicked the fuck out you fucking assholes.
What happened is Creative pushed EAX. They were ruthless and used lawyers to bankrupt Aureal, the inventors of better technology, and after the litigation, they picked up the superior technology on the cheap.
After this ruthless act, they went along selling sound cards until Vista: Then they had to fuck the world one more time. They would only make EAX work for a fee. They crippled the fucking drivers for all the hardware accelerated cards to force people to pay up for the drivers.
I hope everyone who is responsible for shitty drivers at Creative gets cancer and fucking dies, and I hope everyone at Microsoft who decided to break DirectSound and other old APIs in Vista fucking gets cancer.
You motherfuckers are destroying the business you thrive on by fucking up old games and shit, you fucking morons. Watch Apple/Linux and others fuck your dumb asses out of business.
Anyways, Phil O'Shaughnessy, he is the main guy - the face - behind this fucking asshole unacceptable piece of fuck-shit act. He was trying to get this guy, Daniel_K, Daniel Kawakami, to stop helping people fix the fucking sound in Vista by threating to sue him for providing drivers HE FIXED - alone. Creative fuck labs.
And engineers at creative: grow a set of fucking balls and quit. You ought to be fucking ashamed of working there you fucking assholes. What a pathetic piece of shit you create. If you are in IEEE, you should be kicked the fuck out you fucking assholes.
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Washington DC - The Whore Killers - First Chandra Levy and slime-Condit, next Brandy Britton and now DC madam (Deborah Jeane Palfrey)
Washington DC - The Whore Killers - First Chandra Levy and slime-Condit, next Brandy Britton and now DC madam (Deborah Jeane Palfrey).
Interesting. Time Magazine said Palfrey said she would kill herself. But this was not the case, she said she would be "suicided," in a fashion similar to Brandy Britton. See here:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1736687,00.html
Glad to know Time is in the pocket of the military industrial complex fraud-media. Ms. Palfrey is on record as saying she would not commit suicide and, if she was found dead, it would be murder. Link. If you want to hear the words come from Ms. Palfrey's own mouth, here is a link to her last interview.
Hear it here: http://www.infowars.com/media/230707palfrey.mp3
Oh yeah, and statistically speaking, women very rarely hang themselves. They prefer guns and pills. I wonder why both these women, Britton and Palfrey, hung themselves. Probably the same rope. Collateral Damage in the D.C. Madam Case Like most of us, I chuckled and grinned when the case of the DC madam (Deborah Jeane Palfrey) first broke. A high class call girl service operating in Washington DC? Yeah, I was scandalized ... while waiting for the names to start trickling out. Ms. Palfrey gave her client list to ABC News fully intending to take down the high profile johns with her. Randall L. Tobias, the former CEO of Ely Lilly and top State Department lieutenant to Condi Rice, was the first big fish to be outed. In his capacity as Director of Foreign Assistance, Tobias encouraged sexual abstinence, and discounted the use of condoms, in preventing HIV/AIDS. Wikipedia profile. Later news interest shifted from the johns to the hookers as word leaked that Ms. Palfrey recruited highly educated women of class. Brandy Britton, 43, a former assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (see pic on far right), became an escort for financial reasons (single parent raising two kids) according to Palfrey. Arrested on prostitution charges in 2006, Ms. Britton "hung herself" in February 2007 before she was scheduled to go to trial. Link. It is rumored that a US Naval Academy instructor and legal secretary at a large DC law firm were also escorts for Ms. Palfrey. If the girls are going to suffer, I say publish the names of every guy caught up in this thing. If this prosecution is so serious that a mother of two has to die, then let's destroy the lives of all the dudes too. 05/05/2007.
Deborah Jeane Palfrey found dead of supposed suicide at her mother's home in Florida. Brandy Britton was also found dead of a suicide hanging. Strange that both women decided to hang themselves? Ms. Palfrey is on record as saying she would not commit suicide and, if she was found dead, it would be murder. Link. If you want to hear the words come from Ms. Palfrey's own mouth, here is a link to her last interview. 05/01/2008.
DC Madam Predicted She Would Be Suicided
"Rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me," Palfrey wrote - Time Magazine curiously quick to re-affirm suicide story Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Deborah Jeane Palfrey predicted she would be "suicided" on several occasions both recently and as far back as 17 years ago - comments that now appear ominous in light of the announcement that the former head of a Washington escort service allegedly killed herself today.';
Click here to listen to Palfrey clearly state that she would not commit suicide. DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey predicted she would be "suicided" on several occasions both recently and as far back as 17 years ago - comments that now appear ominous in light of the announcement that the former head of a Washington escort service allegedly killed herself today. "If taken into custody, my physical safety and most probably my very life would be jeopardized," she wrote in August 1991 following an attempt to bring her to trial, "Rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me," said Palfrey in a handwritten letter to the judge accusing the San Diego police vice squad of having a vendetta against her.
During several recent appearances on The Alex Jones Show, Palfrey also said that she was at risk of being killed and that authorities would make it look like suicide. She made it clear that she was not suicidal and if she was found dead it would be murder. Palfrey had threatened to release the names of well-known clients of her upscale call girl ring in the nation's capitol, and had indicated that Dick Cheney may be one of them. "We now know it goes at least as high as a United States Senator," Palfrey told The Alex Jones Show, "I'm hearing rumors now from other people that there are other possibilities in that stratosphere so to speak, on that level." "No I'm not planning to commit suicide," Palfrey told The Alex Jones Show on her last appearance in March, "I'm planning on going into court and defending myself vigorously and exposing the government," she said. "Blanche Palfrey had no sign that her daughter was suicidal, and there was no immediate indication that alcohol or drugs were involved, police Capt. Jeffrey Young said," according to an AP report. Click here to listen to Palfrey clearly state that she would not commit suicide. Click here to listen to the entirety of a July 2007 interview with Palfrey. UPDATE: In an almost uncanny development, as soon as this article started to go viral on the Internet, Time Magazine released a story claiming that Palfrey told author Dan Moldea that she would rather commit suicide than go to jail. What a funny coincidence!
No one ever said that the DC power structure was smart but we see time and again just how dag nasty they really are:
'D.C. Madam' dead in Florida Palfrey had been convicted of running $2 million prostitution ring The Associated Press updated 1:46 p.m. PT, Thurs., May. 1, 2008
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - The woman convicted of running a high-end Washington prostitution ring that snagged a senator killed herself Thursday, police said, weeks after she was convicted on charges she vowed not to go to prison for. The body of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 52, was found in a shed near her mother's manufactured home about 20 miles northwest of Tampa. Police said she left at least two suicide notes and other writings to her family in a notebook, but they did not disclose their contents. The mother found Palfrey, who had apparently hanged herself with nylon rope from the shed's ceiling. A man who answered a phone listed for Palfrey's mother declined to comment. But defense attorney Preston Burton, who represented Palfrey in her criminal trial that ended last month, said: "This is a tragic news and my heart goes out to her mother." Palfrey's 76-year-old mother immediately called 911. "Obviously the mother's very distraught, discovering your child in that state," said Capt. Jeffrey Young of the Tarpon Springs Police Department. Young added that Blanche Palfrey had no indication her daughter was depressed to the point of being suicidal. There's no early indication that alcohol or drugs were involved in the death, he said. Authorities said Blanche last spoke to her daughter earlier that morning, telling Deborah Palfrey she planned to take a quick nap. Young said the FBI was notified about the death, "due to the ongoing cases we knew Ms. Palfrey had in the Washington area," but they are not investigating. 'This is a real bad tragedy'
Erwin Matthews, 73, who lives five houses down from Palfrey's mother in a community of mostly retirees, said he and his girlfriend heard Blanche Palfrey screaming around 10:30 a.m. "She said: 'My daughter's hanging there by herself,'" Matthews recalled. "That's when everybody went running over there. This is a real bad tragedy." Palfrey was convicted April 15 by a federal jury of running a prostitution service that catered to members of Washington's political elite, including Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican. She had denied her escort service engaged in prostitution, saying that if any of the women engaged in sex acts for money, they did so without her knowledge. She was convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering. But the trial concluded without revealing many new details about the service or its clients. Vitter was among possible witnesses, but he did not take the stand. Channing Phillips, the spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in the District of Columbia, said that under sentencing guidelines, Palfrey faced 57 to 71 months in prison. She was free pending her sentencing July 24. "I am sure as heck am not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone, you know, four to eight years here, because I'm shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever," Palfrey told ABC last year when she released phone records that revealed some of her clients. "Not for a second. I'll bring every last one of them in if necessary." Prosecutors said Palfrey operated the prostitution service for 13 years. Vitter: 'Very serious sin'
Vitter, a first-term senator who is married and has four children, has acknowledged being involved with Palfrey's escort service and has apologized for what he called a "very serious sin." But he avoided commenting further. Besides Vitter, the trial also concluded without the testimony of military strategist Harlan Ullman or Randall Tobias, a former senior State Department official. Both men had been named among possible witnesses. One of the escort service employees was former University of Maryland, Baltimore County, professor Brandy Britton, who was arrested on prostitution charges in 2006. She committed suicide in January before she was scheduled to go to trial. Last year, Palfrey said she, too, was humiliated by her prostitution charges, but said: "I guess I'm made of something that Brandy Britton wasn't made of."
Former Asst. Professor Charged With Prostitution In Her Home Britton Has Doctorate In Sociology
POSTED: 9:30 am EST January 19, 2006 UPDATED: 8:05 pm EST January 19, 2006 ELLICOTT CITY, Md. -- A woman charged with running a prostitution ring has an unusual resume, including a doctorate in sociology and an academic interest in women's studies. Brandy Britton, 41, earned her doctorate from the University of California at San Francisco and founded the Institute for Women and Girls Health Research in the Ellicott City home where she allegedly ran the prostitution service. Britton, a former sociology and anthropology professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, was charged this week with four counts related to prostitution, The (Baltimore) Sun reported. Police say she charged hourly rates of $300 and up.
On the Web site that police allege she used to solicit business, Britton says she receives money for modeling and companionship -- not for prostitution. On the Web site, she went by the name Alexis Angel. Britton was released on her own recognizance Tuesday, according to a Howard County court commissioner. She could not be reached for comment Thursday. The Web site police took notice of advertises her home as a "discreet, upscale location in Howard County" offering evening and full-day appointments for up to $2,500. Britton was arrested Tuesday after an undercover Howard County police officer scheduled an appointment with her. Court documents say she led the lieutenant to an upstairs bedroom, told him to undress and leave $400 on the table by the door. He then left the room and let in vice and narcotics officers. Police confiscated numerous business records in Britton's name. Police refused to give details of those records, including whether they listed clients' names. "She was brazen, but you would have to be looking for her site," said Pfc. Brandon Justice, a spokesman for Howard County police. "When a person uses mass communication, it increases the likelihood that police are going to be tipped off." Police said they charged her with "engaging in prostitution, maintaining a building for the purpose of prostitution, allowing a building to be used for prostitution, and allowing a person into a building for the purpose of prostitution." Neighbors said they remember men visiting the house at all hours. They also complained about Britton's two potbellied pigs. "You come out your front yard and have pigs in your front yard," said Ed Gordon, one of Britton's neighbors. "It wasn't exactly what we expected in this neighborhood. Of course, there's other things we didn't expect in this neighborhood, either." In 1999, Britton lost her job at UMBC and filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the university. In dismissing the suit, which is on appeal, a federal judge in Baltimore cited complaints about Britton from UMBC students and colleagues, and an accusation by the National Institutes of Health that Britton falsified data on a federally funded research project. Britton had taught sociology at the school beginning in 1994. After losing her job, Britton directed the Institute for Women and Girls Health Research Inc. Britton also participated in meetings of a committee of the Maryland Drug Treatment Task Force, chaired by then-Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Howard County police began investigating Britton in March 2005 after receiving "numerous" complaints and then finding "her services and rates" posted online, according to charging documents. The Web site, however, states: "Money exchanged in legal adult personal services for modeling is simply for my time and companionship. Anything else that may occur is a matter of personal choice between consenting adults of legal age and is not contracted for, nor is it requested to be contracted for in any manner. This is not an offer of prostitution." Stay with News4 and nbc4.com for more information.
Interesting. Time Magazine said Palfrey said she would kill herself. But this was not the case, she said she would be "suicided," in a fashion similar to Brandy Britton. See here:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1736687,00.html
Glad to know Time is in the pocket of the military industrial complex fraud-media. Ms. Palfrey is on record as saying she would not commit suicide and, if she was found dead, it would be murder. Link. If you want to hear the words come from Ms. Palfrey's own mouth, here is a link to her last interview.
Hear it here: http://www.infowars.com/media/230707palfrey.mp3
Oh yeah, and statistically speaking, women very rarely hang themselves. They prefer guns and pills. I wonder why both these women, Britton and Palfrey, hung themselves. Probably the same rope. Collateral Damage in the D.C. Madam Case Like most of us, I chuckled and grinned when the case of the DC madam (Deborah Jeane Palfrey) first broke. A high class call girl service operating in Washington DC? Yeah, I was scandalized ... while waiting for the names to start trickling out. Ms. Palfrey gave her client list to ABC News fully intending to take down the high profile johns with her. Randall L. Tobias, the former CEO of Ely Lilly and top State Department lieutenant to Condi Rice, was the first big fish to be outed. In his capacity as Director of Foreign Assistance, Tobias encouraged sexual abstinence, and discounted the use of condoms, in preventing HIV/AIDS. Wikipedia profile. Later news interest shifted from the johns to the hookers as word leaked that Ms. Palfrey recruited highly educated women of class. Brandy Britton, 43, a former assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (see pic on far right), became an escort for financial reasons (single parent raising two kids) according to Palfrey. Arrested on prostitution charges in 2006, Ms. Britton "hung herself" in February 2007 before she was scheduled to go to trial. Link. It is rumored that a US Naval Academy instructor and legal secretary at a large DC law firm were also escorts for Ms. Palfrey. If the girls are going to suffer, I say publish the names of every guy caught up in this thing. If this prosecution is so serious that a mother of two has to die, then let's destroy the lives of all the dudes too. 05/05/2007.
Deborah Jeane Palfrey found dead of supposed suicide at her mother's home in Florida. Brandy Britton was also found dead of a suicide hanging. Strange that both women decided to hang themselves? Ms. Palfrey is on record as saying she would not commit suicide and, if she was found dead, it would be murder. Link. If you want to hear the words come from Ms. Palfrey's own mouth, here is a link to her last interview. 05/01/2008.
DC Madam Predicted She Would Be Suicided
"Rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me," Palfrey wrote - Time Magazine curiously quick to re-affirm suicide story Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Deborah Jeane Palfrey predicted she would be "suicided" on several occasions both recently and as far back as 17 years ago - comments that now appear ominous in light of the announcement that the former head of a Washington escort service allegedly killed herself today.';
Click here to listen to Palfrey clearly state that she would not commit suicide. DC Madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey predicted she would be "suicided" on several occasions both recently and as far back as 17 years ago - comments that now appear ominous in light of the announcement that the former head of a Washington escort service allegedly killed herself today. "If taken into custody, my physical safety and most probably my very life would be jeopardized," she wrote in August 1991 following an attempt to bring her to trial, "Rape, beating, maiming, disfigurement and more than likely murder disguised in the form of just another jailhouse accident or suicide would await me," said Palfrey in a handwritten letter to the judge accusing the San Diego police vice squad of having a vendetta against her.
During several recent appearances on The Alex Jones Show, Palfrey also said that she was at risk of being killed and that authorities would make it look like suicide. She made it clear that she was not suicidal and if she was found dead it would be murder. Palfrey had threatened to release the names of well-known clients of her upscale call girl ring in the nation's capitol, and had indicated that Dick Cheney may be one of them. "We now know it goes at least as high as a United States Senator," Palfrey told The Alex Jones Show, "I'm hearing rumors now from other people that there are other possibilities in that stratosphere so to speak, on that level." "No I'm not planning to commit suicide," Palfrey told The Alex Jones Show on her last appearance in March, "I'm planning on going into court and defending myself vigorously and exposing the government," she said. "Blanche Palfrey had no sign that her daughter was suicidal, and there was no immediate indication that alcohol or drugs were involved, police Capt. Jeffrey Young said," according to an AP report. Click here to listen to Palfrey clearly state that she would not commit suicide. Click here to listen to the entirety of a July 2007 interview with Palfrey. UPDATE: In an almost uncanny development, as soon as this article started to go viral on the Internet, Time Magazine released a story claiming that Palfrey told author Dan Moldea that she would rather commit suicide than go to jail. What a funny coincidence!
No one ever said that the DC power structure was smart but we see time and again just how dag nasty they really are:
'D.C. Madam' dead in Florida Palfrey had been convicted of running $2 million prostitution ring The Associated Press updated 1:46 p.m. PT, Thurs., May. 1, 2008
TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. - The woman convicted of running a high-end Washington prostitution ring that snagged a senator killed herself Thursday, police said, weeks after she was convicted on charges she vowed not to go to prison for. The body of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, 52, was found in a shed near her mother's manufactured home about 20 miles northwest of Tampa. Police said she left at least two suicide notes and other writings to her family in a notebook, but they did not disclose their contents. The mother found Palfrey, who had apparently hanged herself with nylon rope from the shed's ceiling. A man who answered a phone listed for Palfrey's mother declined to comment. But defense attorney Preston Burton, who represented Palfrey in her criminal trial that ended last month, said: "This is a tragic news and my heart goes out to her mother." Palfrey's 76-year-old mother immediately called 911. "Obviously the mother's very distraught, discovering your child in that state," said Capt. Jeffrey Young of the Tarpon Springs Police Department. Young added that Blanche Palfrey had no indication her daughter was depressed to the point of being suicidal. There's no early indication that alcohol or drugs were involved in the death, he said. Authorities said Blanche last spoke to her daughter earlier that morning, telling Deborah Palfrey she planned to take a quick nap. Young said the FBI was notified about the death, "due to the ongoing cases we knew Ms. Palfrey had in the Washington area," but they are not investigating. 'This is a real bad tragedy'
Erwin Matthews, 73, who lives five houses down from Palfrey's mother in a community of mostly retirees, said he and his girlfriend heard Blanche Palfrey screaming around 10:30 a.m. "She said: 'My daughter's hanging there by herself,'" Matthews recalled. "That's when everybody went running over there. This is a real bad tragedy." Palfrey was convicted April 15 by a federal jury of running a prostitution service that catered to members of Washington's political elite, including Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican. She had denied her escort service engaged in prostitution, saying that if any of the women engaged in sex acts for money, they did so without her knowledge. She was convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering. But the trial concluded without revealing many new details about the service or its clients. Vitter was among possible witnesses, but he did not take the stand. Channing Phillips, the spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in the District of Columbia, said that under sentencing guidelines, Palfrey faced 57 to 71 months in prison. She was free pending her sentencing July 24. "I am sure as heck am not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone, you know, four to eight years here, because I'm shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever," Palfrey told ABC last year when she released phone records that revealed some of her clients. "Not for a second. I'll bring every last one of them in if necessary." Prosecutors said Palfrey operated the prostitution service for 13 years. Vitter: 'Very serious sin'
Vitter, a first-term senator who is married and has four children, has acknowledged being involved with Palfrey's escort service and has apologized for what he called a "very serious sin." But he avoided commenting further. Besides Vitter, the trial also concluded without the testimony of military strategist Harlan Ullman or Randall Tobias, a former senior State Department official. Both men had been named among possible witnesses. One of the escort service employees was former University of Maryland, Baltimore County, professor Brandy Britton, who was arrested on prostitution charges in 2006. She committed suicide in January before she was scheduled to go to trial. Last year, Palfrey said she, too, was humiliated by her prostitution charges, but said: "I guess I'm made of something that Brandy Britton wasn't made of."
Former Asst. Professor Charged With Prostitution In Her Home Britton Has Doctorate In Sociology
POSTED: 9:30 am EST January 19, 2006 UPDATED: 8:05 pm EST January 19, 2006 ELLICOTT CITY, Md. -- A woman charged with running a prostitution ring has an unusual resume, including a doctorate in sociology and an academic interest in women's studies. Brandy Britton, 41, earned her doctorate from the University of California at San Francisco and founded the Institute for Women and Girls Health Research in the Ellicott City home where she allegedly ran the prostitution service. Britton, a former sociology and anthropology professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, was charged this week with four counts related to prostitution, The (Baltimore) Sun reported. Police say she charged hourly rates of $300 and up.
On the Web site that police allege she used to solicit business, Britton says she receives money for modeling and companionship -- not for prostitution. On the Web site, she went by the name Alexis Angel. Britton was released on her own recognizance Tuesday, according to a Howard County court commissioner. She could not be reached for comment Thursday. The Web site police took notice of advertises her home as a "discreet, upscale location in Howard County" offering evening and full-day appointments for up to $2,500. Britton was arrested Tuesday after an undercover Howard County police officer scheduled an appointment with her. Court documents say she led the lieutenant to an upstairs bedroom, told him to undress and leave $400 on the table by the door. He then left the room and let in vice and narcotics officers. Police confiscated numerous business records in Britton's name. Police refused to give details of those records, including whether they listed clients' names. "She was brazen, but you would have to be looking for her site," said Pfc. Brandon Justice, a spokesman for Howard County police. "When a person uses mass communication, it increases the likelihood that police are going to be tipped off." Police said they charged her with "engaging in prostitution, maintaining a building for the purpose of prostitution, allowing a building to be used for prostitution, and allowing a person into a building for the purpose of prostitution." Neighbors said they remember men visiting the house at all hours. They also complained about Britton's two potbellied pigs. "You come out your front yard and have pigs in your front yard," said Ed Gordon, one of Britton's neighbors. "It wasn't exactly what we expected in this neighborhood. Of course, there's other things we didn't expect in this neighborhood, either." In 1999, Britton lost her job at UMBC and filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the university. In dismissing the suit, which is on appeal, a federal judge in Baltimore cited complaints about Britton from UMBC students and colleagues, and an accusation by the National Institutes of Health that Britton falsified data on a federally funded research project. Britton had taught sociology at the school beginning in 1994. After losing her job, Britton directed the Institute for Women and Girls Health Research Inc. Britton also participated in meetings of a committee of the Maryland Drug Treatment Task Force, chaired by then-Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. Howard County police began investigating Britton in March 2005 after receiving "numerous" complaints and then finding "her services and rates" posted online, according to charging documents. The Web site, however, states: "Money exchanged in legal adult personal services for modeling is simply for my time and companionship. Anything else that may occur is a matter of personal choice between consenting adults of legal age and is not contracted for, nor is it requested to be contracted for in any manner. This is not an offer of prostitution." Stay with News4 and nbc4.com for more information.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Gulf States May End Dollar Pegs, Kuwait Minister Says
Gulf States May End Dollar Pegs, Kuwait Minister Says
May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Gulf states are considering dropping their pegs to the dollar after the U.S. currency's decline stoked inflation across the region, Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa al- Shimali said.
``Yes, there are some'' Gulf Cooperation Council states considering dropping their pegs to the dollar, which has fallen 13 percent against the euro in the last 12 months, al-Shimali said in an interview in Kuwait late yesterday without naming the countries. ``Some countries will do what we are doing.''
Al-Shimali's comments may restoke speculation of a change in Middle East currency systems that eased after the United Arab Emirates and Qatar last month ruled out any revaluation or dropping the dollar peg in the short term. The issue will remain a key issue as long as inflation remains high.
``Inflation is rising in the Gulf to a great extent because of loose monetary policy,'' said Marios Maratheftis, head of research for Standard Chartered Plc in the Middle East in a telephone interview from Dubai. ``Tightening monetary policy can only happen if they drop their currency pegs or strengthen the currency, preferably both.''
The U.A.E., Bahrain and Qatar lowered their benchmark interest rates today by a quarter point, matching a cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve a day earlier. The move is needed to maintain the dollar pegs. Saudi Arabia is on its weekend while Oman moves its interest rates in line with the London Inter Bank Offered Rate.
Gulf Inflation
Inflation is running close to 10 percent in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., while Qatar's consumer prices rose 14 percent in the fourth quarter.
The Kuwaiti dinar has appreciated 7.9 percent against the dollar since the nation in May became the only Gulf Arab state to drop its peg to the U.S. currency. Contracts to buy U.A.E. dirhams in 12 months time are trading at a 2 percent premium and Saudi riyal forwards are trading at a 1.3 percent premium to the spot price, suggesting that some traders are betting that those countries will follow Kuwait in revaluing. The link to the dollar meant that imports in euros and other currencies that have strengthened against the dollar became more expensive.
The idea of dropping the peg ``has been started by other Gulf countries and they are partially going this way because the dollar has been going down for some time,'' al-Shimali said yesterday.
Forum meeting
``This news has already been in newspapers,'' al-Shimali told reporters at a meeting of the Fourth World Economic Forum in Kuwait today.
Reuters reported today that al-Shimali said he was citing newspaper reports and not expressing his own opinion when commenting to Bloomberg on the future of the Gulf dollar pegs.
When asked at the forum about Gulf states considering dropping their pegs, al-Shimali told reporters that he would not comment on behalf of Gulf states.
Officials at the Qatari, Omani and U.A.E. central banks were not immediately available. The Bahraini and Saudi central banks were closed today.
Revaluation speculation peaked in November after U.A.E. central bank Governor Sultan Bin Nasser al-Suwaidi said he was considering dropping the dirham's peg to the dollar, and a Saudi Arabia central bank official said that Gulf states may revalue their currencies together.
All the GCC states, apart from Oman, are planning to form a single Gulf currency by 2010. The group's central bank governors will meet in June in an attempt to get the project back on schedule.
``The case for currency reform is strong,'' Simon Williams, chief Middle East economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, said in a telephone interview from Dubai. ``The inflationary pressures the Gulf faces not only demand a stronger currency, they also require an independent monetary policy. The issue is not going to go away, but I don't believe that change is close.''
May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Gulf states are considering dropping their pegs to the dollar after the U.S. currency's decline stoked inflation across the region, Kuwaiti Finance Minister Mustafa al- Shimali said.
``Yes, there are some'' Gulf Cooperation Council states considering dropping their pegs to the dollar, which has fallen 13 percent against the euro in the last 12 months, al-Shimali said in an interview in Kuwait late yesterday without naming the countries. ``Some countries will do what we are doing.''
Al-Shimali's comments may restoke speculation of a change in Middle East currency systems that eased after the United Arab Emirates and Qatar last month ruled out any revaluation or dropping the dollar peg in the short term. The issue will remain a key issue as long as inflation remains high.
``Inflation is rising in the Gulf to a great extent because of loose monetary policy,'' said Marios Maratheftis, head of research for Standard Chartered Plc in the Middle East in a telephone interview from Dubai. ``Tightening monetary policy can only happen if they drop their currency pegs or strengthen the currency, preferably both.''
The U.A.E., Bahrain and Qatar lowered their benchmark interest rates today by a quarter point, matching a cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve a day earlier. The move is needed to maintain the dollar pegs. Saudi Arabia is on its weekend while Oman moves its interest rates in line with the London Inter Bank Offered Rate.
Gulf Inflation
Inflation is running close to 10 percent in Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., while Qatar's consumer prices rose 14 percent in the fourth quarter.
The Kuwaiti dinar has appreciated 7.9 percent against the dollar since the nation in May became the only Gulf Arab state to drop its peg to the U.S. currency. Contracts to buy U.A.E. dirhams in 12 months time are trading at a 2 percent premium and Saudi riyal forwards are trading at a 1.3 percent premium to the spot price, suggesting that some traders are betting that those countries will follow Kuwait in revaluing. The link to the dollar meant that imports in euros and other currencies that have strengthened against the dollar became more expensive.
The idea of dropping the peg ``has been started by other Gulf countries and they are partially going this way because the dollar has been going down for some time,'' al-Shimali said yesterday.
Forum meeting
``This news has already been in newspapers,'' al-Shimali told reporters at a meeting of the Fourth World Economic Forum in Kuwait today.
Reuters reported today that al-Shimali said he was citing newspaper reports and not expressing his own opinion when commenting to Bloomberg on the future of the Gulf dollar pegs.
When asked at the forum about Gulf states considering dropping their pegs, al-Shimali told reporters that he would not comment on behalf of Gulf states.
Officials at the Qatari, Omani and U.A.E. central banks were not immediately available. The Bahraini and Saudi central banks were closed today.
Revaluation speculation peaked in November after U.A.E. central bank Governor Sultan Bin Nasser al-Suwaidi said he was considering dropping the dirham's peg to the dollar, and a Saudi Arabia central bank official said that Gulf states may revalue their currencies together.
All the GCC states, apart from Oman, are planning to form a single Gulf currency by 2010. The group's central bank governors will meet in June in an attempt to get the project back on schedule.
``The case for currency reform is strong,'' Simon Williams, chief Middle East economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, said in a telephone interview from Dubai. ``The inflationary pressures the Gulf faces not only demand a stronger currency, they also require an independent monetary policy. The issue is not going to go away, but I don't believe that change is close.''
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