Biker15k FF Member's blog: "~ things you should know about ~"

Can't believe she would drive with that baby between her and the wheel it is bad enough as you can see without the wheel in front of you

Why do Americans love the bigger cars? Well watch below and tell me which would you rather get hit at 40 mph in :) This one ;) or this one :( or maybe this one? :( doesn't make a difference if the air bag deploys if the dashboard come back to you head, or this one crunches all the way to the b post (between driver and rear seat :(

BRAMPTON, Ontario - A Canadian cab driver charged with strangling his 16-year-old daughter after friends said she refused to wear a Muslim head scarf and follow conservative religious values was denied bail on Wednesday. Aqsa Parvez, whose family is of Pakistani origin, was rushed to the hospital in critical condition Monday after her father made an emergency call in which he claimed to have killed her, police said. She later died. Police spokesman Wayne Patterson said authorities were working at determining the motive and refused to confirm it was over the hijab, the traditional Muslim head scarf. A lawyer for father said there was "more to the story than just cultural issues." But friends said Aqsa Parvez was planning to leave home in Mississauga, Ontario because of tensions with her family over her decision to stop wearing her head scarf at high school. They said she often had bruises on her arms and that she predicted days before her death that her father would "kill her." "Her dad would want her to be about Muslim this, Muslim that, but she was more about living her life to the fullest. She just wanted to show her parents that you could be religious, but also be who you wanted to be," said Alex Prasad, a friend and fellow student at Parvez's suburban Toronto school, Applewood Heights Secondary. The killing has ignited a debate in Canada about Islam and the conflict between first- and second-generation immigrants who struggle to maintain traditional religious values and their children's desire to fit into Western culture. Canada has about 750,000 Muslims. Muhammed Parvez, a frail 57-year-old cab driver, was denied bail Wednesday after he was charged with murder. Dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, Parvez appeared unemotional during his brief appearance at a Brampton court. He was ordered not to communicate with his son Waqas, 26, who was charged with obstructing police in connection with the girl's death. According to her friends, Aqsa Parvez wore the hijab when she started school at Applewood Heights last year. But after getting teased about the head scarf, she stopped wearing it a few months ago. Friends said she led a double life, wearing track pants to school and then changing into trendier, close-fitting jeans while at school. "Her parents would follow her to school or her sisters would and then go home and tell her parents what she was wearing," said Joel Brown, 17. "They'd come to the backdoors, just to spy up on her. Aqsa was always afraid of them, especially her brother who she'd sometimes see walking towards her, and she'd have to scramble to put her hijab back on." Brown said he was getting worried because Parvez would show up at school with bruises on her arms, possible signs of abuse at home that other friends had noticed as well. The tension with her family had become too much for Parvez, who left home on several occasions. In the days before her death, she had been staying with a friend, Krista Garbutt. She was returning home last weekend to collect some belongings to move out for good, said Brown. Brown said Parvez told him she was afraid of going home Friday because her father would "kill her." He said he thought she was speaking figuratively. "She was scared," Brown said. "But students often talk like that so I thought I'd see her the next day. I didn't expect her never to return to school." An autopsy revealed that the cause of death was "neck compression," or strangulation, police said Wednesday. A publication ban was imposed on the court proceedings Wednesday. Outside the courtroom, the father's other son, Sean Muhammed Parvez, told reporters he was not sure what exactly led to his sister's death. "We don't know so far, we are upset," he said, adding that his mother was "sick" because of what happened. Muhammed Parvez's lawyer, Joseph Ciraco, said the family is distraught. "It's clearly a tragedy," he said. "You've got a sister that's gone and a father and brother in jail." "We've heard what's being said in the newspapers and her friends about the cultural problems at home. From my brief discussions with the family, there's more to this story than just the cultural issues, which could play a part," Ciraco said. Selma Djukic, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations, called it a case of domestic abuse. "This is a tragedy. This another woman that has succumbed to domestic violence and we need to look at what kind of services are available to families who are immigrants and who are trying to make it in the Canadian framework," Djukic said. Shahina Siddiqui, president of the Islamic Social Services Association, also called it a domestic violence issue. "To say it was about her not wearing the hijab, I think that's an oversimplification. All we've heard is from her peers saying that," Siddiqui said. "Many of us who have teenagers or had teenagers know this is a very difficult time. Their hormones and emotions are raging and they are trying to assert their independence." http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071212/ap_on_re_ca/canada_head_scarf_killing

Dam this kinda stuff just pisses me off :( Hershey Plans to Cut Work Force by 1,500 By PETER JACKSON The Associated Press Friday, February 16, 2007; 12:38 AM HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Hershey Co., whose name has been synonymous with U.S. candymaking for more than a century, is moving a bigger chunk of its production to Mexico. A day after Valentine sweethearts across the country enjoyed bags of Hershey Kisses, the company on Thursday announced a restructuring plan that will scale back its work force by 1,500 jobs and force some plants to close. In a file photo Hershey's Chocolate Kisses come off a simulated production line, in this March 10, 2006, file photo in the newly renovated Great American Chocolate Tour Ride at Hershey's Chocolate World, in Hershey, Pa. Hershey Co. plans to reduce its work force by a net 1,500 jobs and build a new factory in Mexico as part of three-year plan to scale back production lines, the candy maker announced Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007. Hershey said the three-year blueprint would reduce the number of production lines by more than one-third while saving the company as much as $190 million a year. The maker of Hershey's Kisses, Reese's peanut butter cups and Mounds bars currently employs about 13,000 people at 20 plants in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Brazil. The planned cuts amount to 11.5 percent of that work force. The proportion of Hershey's manufacturing done in the U.S. and Canada will shrink, from 90 percent currently to 80 percent, and the impact will vary from one plant to another. "Some will be expanded, some will be downsized and some will close," said Hershey spokesman Kirk Saville. He declined to elaborate. "We recognize this will involve considerable change over the next three years, and intend to make this transformation of our supply chain as smooth as possible for our employees and customers," said Richard H. Lenny, Hershey's president, chairman and CEO. A union leader suggested that the planned new plant in Monterrey, Mexico, would make the job cuts in the United States and Canada particularly acute. Dennis Bomberger, business manager for Chocolate Workers Local 464, which represents 2,500 workers at Hershey plants in Hershey and Reading, speculated that the actual job cuts could have to be deeper to achieve a net work force reduction of 1,500. "They're going to gain some jobs in Mexico ... so there's going to be a higher number lost" in the U.S. and Canada, Bomberger said. "Whenever they move something out the country, that's not good news for any company from the workers' standpoint." Saville declined to discuss any details about the job cuts or the Mexico plant. Hershey managers began holding meetings with employees Thursday to discuss the changes ahead. "We will communicate with our employees and (their) union representatives," he said. Hershey's stock rose 1.6 percent Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, to close at $52.10, up 80 cents. Hershey, the nation's largest candy maker, reported a 10 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings last month on lackluster sales. Results lagged due to weak merchandising, the company said, as well as a recall of products made at a plant in Canada last year after salmonella bacteria was discovered. Reaction to Thursday's announcement among financial analysts was mixed. "Bottom-line, this plan should provide (Hershey) with far more marketing firepower, behind which to invest in its core brands ... as well as new platforms," such as premium chocolate and dark chocolate, "while still delivering margin improvement," wrote Andrew Lazar of Lehman Brothers. Wachovia Securities analyst Jonathan P. Feeney said the plan leaves fundamental problems unaddressed. "We are skeptical that pulling capacity out of the system while allocating capital away from the core business accomplishes the critical mission, which is to reinvigorate consumer response to its core chocolate products," Feeney wrote. The company said it will outsource production of low value-added items and that the new Mexico plant would help meet growing demand for its products in that country. "The long-term benefits will include a significant, sustainable increase in investment behind Hershey's iconic brands and new product innovation, as well as targeted, profitable international expansion," said Chief Operating Officer David J. West. Hershey reaffirmed its long-term target for sales growth of 3 percent to 4 percent. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/15/AR2007021500788.html

The man can do what ever the hell he wants but if you are going to be my President then these are 2 things you have to do. You can not disrespect America like that. If you are that ashamed of our Flag or out Anthem and tradition them you need to drop your ass out of our Government. During rendition of the national anthem when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. Men not in uniform should remove their headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. -- United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, Sec. 171 Turns out that not wearing a flag lapel pin isn't the only way Barack Obama chooses to show he's a different kind of Democrat. Have a look at the photo from the October 1, 2007 edition of "Time." It shows Obama, Hillary and Bill Richardson at the Steak Fry of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on September 17 in Indianola, IA during [according to the photo caption] the National Anthem. Richardson and Clinton have their hands on their heart. But not Obama. Does he perhaps believe that, like wearing the flag pin, the hand on the heart isn't "true patriotism"? http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/anthem.asp An eagle-eyed reporter for the ABC affiliate in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, noticed something missing from Democratic presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama's, D-Ill., lapels. "You don't have the American flag pin on. Is that a fashion statement?" the reporter asked, at the end of a brief interview with Obama on Wednesday. "Those have been on politicians since Sept. 12, 2001." Video Obama Refuses to Wear U.S. FlagCatch David Wright's report tonight on "World News with Charles Gibson." The standard political reply to that question might well have been, "My patriotism speaks for itself." But Obama didn't say that. Instead the Illinois senator answered the question at length, explaining that he no longer wears such a pin, at least in part, because of the Iraq War. "You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin," Obama said. "Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq War, that became a substitute for I think true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest. "Instead," he said, "I'm going to try to tell the American people what I believe will make this country great, and hopefully that will be a testimony to my patriotism." In Iowa, some Obama supporters applauded the candidate's fashion statement. Said Carrie Haurum of Waterloo: "He doesn't need to wear that flag on his lapel. He wears it in his heart." http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=3690000&page=1