Target Centermass

Month: September 2004

  • Amarillo Sues Prostitute to Get HIV Treatment

    I’ll put this story in the “What the hell is in the water in west Texas?!!” file.

    In an attempt to get an HIV-positive prostitute to seek treatment and stop spreading the infection, Amarillo officials have filed a lawsuit.

    “The Public Health Department assists many people with AIDS, and this single case is the very rare exception where a person who is HIV contagious is noncompliant with the health authority,” Amarillo City Attorney Marcus Norris, whose office filed the civil action in Potter County on Wednesday, told the Amarillo Globe-News for its Saturday online editions.

    “We believe that by her conduct, she poses a health threat to the community, and so we’re going to have to try to get the court to intervene and help.”

    The woman, identified in court papers only by the initials T.T., has infected at least one person with HIV by engaging in prostitution and has refused efforts by local health officials to get her to act responsibly and seek treatment, according to court documents.

    “This is a very last-ditch effort,” said Dr. J. Rush Pierce, public health authority for the Bi-City-County Health Department. “We would not be doing this if we had been able to get this woman to behave responsibly with regard to sexual activity any other way.”

    According to documents included in the suit, the woman was diagnosed with HIV in January 2000 and was counseled at the Department of Health on ways to prevent spread of the virus. But in 2001 a case of HIV was traced back to T.T., and the patient informed officials that T.T. had not disclosed her HIV status prior to sexual contact.

    In early 2003, Health Department officials discovered that T.T. was engaged in prostitution to support a cocaine habit, so the department issued a warning letter ordering her to enroll in treatment, according to documents in the lawsuit.

    But after attending counseling for several months, she dropped out in 2004 and reverted to prostitution again, the documents say.

    Okay, let me get this straight. T.T. is a lethal, cocaine-addled whore, so we slap a lawsuit on her ass? I’m wagering she isn’t the brightest porchlight on the block; it should be pretty easy to catch her in any number of illegal activities and lock her $5 dollar (estimated) ass away from the society she is choosing to endanger.

  • U.S. Navy to Deploy Ships Near N. Korea

    The AP is reporting that the first pieces of the U.S.’s planned defenses against a ballistic missile threat are readying to sail into place.

    In the first step toward erecting a multi-billion-dollar shield to protect the United States from foreign missiles, the U.S. Navy will begin deploying state-of-the-art destroyers to patrol the waters off North Korea as early as next week.

    The mission, to be conducted in the Sea of Japan by ships assigned to the Navy’s 7th fleet, will help lay the foundation for a system to detect and intercept ballistic missiles launched by “rogue nations.”

    Washington hopes to complete the network over the next several years.

    “We are on track,” Vice Admiral Jonathan Greenert, commander of the 7th Fleet, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday aboard the USS Coronado, which is based just south of Tokyo. “We will be ready to conduct the mission when assigned.”

    The deployment will be the first in a controversial program that is high on President Bush’s defense agenda. Bush cleared the way to build the system two years ago by withdrawing from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which banned ship-based missile defenses.

    He said protecting America from ballistic missiles was “my highest priority as commander in chief, and the highest priority of my administration.”

    Cry not for the demise of the ABM Treaty, a piece of trash that only the good guys felt obliged to follow. The article goes on to detail criticism of the defense system on these vessels.

    The project — likened to hitting a bullet with a bullet, only at three times the speed — is exceedingly complex, prompting many critics to argue that it will never be reliable or effective. It is also expensive, with an estimated price tag of US$51 billion over the next five years.

    I see no validity in attacking the cost, especially if ones holds $51 billion to the cost of a successful missile strike on a major U.S. city. Also, I think “hit a bullet with a bullet” comparison is akin to saying there’s no point in attempting something difficult. I disagree with this and would rather put my faith in the growing might of our technology.

    Quite simply, a missile defense can be made to work. It won’t be easy, it won’t be fast, but it won’t be a waste to protect our homeland.

  • I’m Number One

    Apparently, Target Centermass is currently the top result when Googling “islamist bastards.” Mildly interesting. I would like to thank all the Islamist bastards who caused this achievement to happen.

  • Israel’s Bunker Bomb Buy Irks Iran

    Iran is rattling its scimitars at an announced sale of bunker-buster munitions from the U.S. to Israel.

    Iran has said it will react “most severely” to any Israeli action against its nuclear facilities, issuing the warning after Israel said the United States was selling it 500 bunker buster bombs.

    Israeli military officials said Tuesday that the Jewish state will receive nearly 5,000 smart bombs, including the 500 one-ton bombs that can destroy two-yard-thick (two-meter-thick) concrete walls.

    In 1981, Israel bombed Iraq’s nuclear reactor before it could begin operating.

    On Wednesday Israel said that Iran would never abandon plans to develop nuclear weapons and called for quick action by the U.N. Security Council “to put an end to this nightmare.”

    Iran’s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, asked Wednesday about the sale of the monster bombs, told reporters: “Israel has always been a threat, not only against Iran, but all countries.”

    Look, the idea that Israel is a threat to “all countries” is absolutely ridiculous. Have they had a militaristic history? Of course. The Israelis have, since the birth of their nation, always faced game seven, lose-one-and-done. However, they have never seriously threatened to push any of their hostile neighbors into the sea.

    Iran’s position in this matter is equally dire. The oppressive Islamic government is not popular and, by focusing on Israel and the U.S., is keeping up the long-held Arab state tradition of trying to use misdirection in pointing outwards at the cause of internal problems. As is always the case, we’re talking about the Great and Little Satan, the U.S. and Israel. The future of Iran’s current ruling class is also further jeopardized by the threat of a possible democratic neighbor in Iraq.

    Simply put, without nukes, Iran and the rest of the Arab muslim world is no longer a serious, viable military threat to the existence of Israel. Israel knows this and is willing to make this purchase (and any strike thus enabled) to keep the balance as it is. Iran’s rulers need to proceed, at least with their support of the terrorists in Iraq, because time is not on their side.

    U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, responding to a question about an Israeli attack on Iranian facilities similar to the Iraqi strike, said: “We’re talking about diplomacy and political efforts to stop this movement on the part of the Iranians toward a nuclear weapon.”

    “We’re not talking about strikes. But every option always, of course, remains on the table.”

    This is the correct U.S. position — take nothing off the table.

    Israel’s announcement of the purchase came after the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible military sale to Israel worth as much as $319 million.

    The agency said in a June 1 press release that the sale “will contribute to the foreign policy and national security of the United States by helping to improve the security of a friendly country that has been, and continues to be, an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East.”

    The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday that funding for the sale will come from U.S. military aid to Israel.

    Sweet. Happy freakin’ early Channukah, amigos. Hopefully, you won’t need to do the world’s dirty work again, although, if so, we know how it feels.

  • Google News Dipping Its Toes into the Blogosphere?

    Maybe it’s happened before, but this is the first time I’ve seen it. Currently, the lead story about the confirmation of Porter Goss as CIA chief on Google News’ U.S. page is this.

    Okay, I’m not a fan of the Daily Kos. Sure, it’s the top liberal blog in terms of traffic, but I have not been impressed during my handful of visits. He’s well written, but strikes me as trapped in his Berkeley mindset and his commenters make the site Kool-Aid Central. Definitely behind the curve, actually way late in hitting the road while chilling in Denialville, on the Rathergate story.

    Despite this, I wonder how long until including established blogs side-by-side with MSM outlets becomes a regular practice at Google News. The times, they are a-changing.

  • Good Luck, Greyhawk

    Happy dragon hunting, and best wishes to those you’re leaving.

  • General Announcement on Execution Videos

    Target Centermass will not host any beheading videos or pics.

    Simple as that.

  • NATO to Expand Iraq Training Mission

    After much wrangling, NATO has checked in on the idea of contributing to the now-free nation of Iraq.

    The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has agreed to create a military training academy in Iraq, expanding the alliance’s small presence in the country after two years of feuding over the US-led war.

    Ambassadors at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels reached the accord after resolving questions raised last week by France and Belgium over the mission’s financing and its relationship to the US-led multinational force.

    “Today NATO ambassadors agreed on the political directions to the military to enhance NATO assistance to the Government of Iraq in the training of its security forces,” NATO spokesman James Appathurai told reporters.

    ….

    France and others that opposed the war fear it could be tantamount to inserting NATO into the Iraqi battlefield through a back door.

    The alliance currently has a 40-strong operation performing training services in Iraq and the new accord is seen as expanding its presence to some 300.

    France, Germany and other opponents of the US-led war have said they will not have a presence in the country themselves.

    Yeah, NATO in da house.

    Except France, Germany, Belgium and Spain. Those four bastard countries are too scared to even involve themselves in freakin’ training a country to support itself.

    I’m tired of the worthlessness that is the UN. I’m quickly growing tired of the anachronism that is NATO (as it is currently structured). Perhaps it’s time we move forward and negotiate a new alliance. I’ll have to give thought to membership and acronym, but it would certainly exclude countries with no sack at all, specifically France. Hell, the cowards militarily withdrew from NATO decades ago, hoping we’d hold back the Red horde while they swept the streets of Paris for Russians on parade.

  • South Korea Moves into Third Place in Iraq

    For at least a few months.

    The much-delayed deployment of South Korea’s brigade to Iraq has gone ahead, the Defense Ministry announced Wednesday in a move that is expected to improve ties with the United States. The unit needs its mandate renewed by the National Assembly, however, to stay beyond December.

    South Korea has deployed 2,800 troops and will add 800 once the brigade has expanded its base in Erbil, in northern Iraq, the ministry said. Battalion-sized South Korean forces previously deployed in southern Iraq were absorbed into the brigade. The unit is the third-largest foreign force in the country, after the contingents from the United States and Britain.

    Look, we stood firm with South Korea for a little while, roughly over half a century and counting. They had better give us a little more of a time commitment. It’s not like we’re asking their troops to wear orange and patrol barefoot in the Sunni Triangle.

  • Website Claims Italian Women Executed in Iraq

    An Islamist website has posted a claim that the two female Italian aid workers kidnapped on Sept. 7 have been executed.

    A group calling itself the Jihad Organization says it has executed two Italian female hostages in Iraq.

    The organisation has reportedly issued a statement on an Islamist website, but the authenticity of the claim can not be confirmed.

    Referring to aid workers Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, without naming them, it says the pair were executed after the Italian government failed to pull out of Iraq.

    I posted my thoughts on how dangerous this particular kidnapping was to all involved parties. My newest prediction: do not expect videos of this terroristic barbarism to be posted anytime soon, if ever. There is absolutely no benefit to the Islamist bastards in doing so. If a video does surface, it will only confirm that we are not fighting sick, twisted wackos, but rather sick, twisted wacko morons.

    If the story of these murders is true, it will be interesting to watch Italy’s reaction, as well as that of the muslim world.