Melissa's Musings(My opinionated view of life)

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by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Follow Israel news on and . Italians are furious over an image of a pink-clad Adolf Hitler on billboards promoting a fashion campaign in Sicily, Italy, where World War II partisans fought fascism. One giant picture of Hitler shows the architect of the plan to exterminate Jews with a heart on the same place on his arm where a swastika band was worn. The slogan on the billboard states, "Change Your Style. Don't Follow Your Leader."   The promotion campaign also will soon place Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong on billboards. The advertising agency behind the campaign said the message was misunderstood and that the idea was to ridicule the Nazi dictator and not to make his war crimes seem unimportant. The intention was to "incite young people to follow their own style and not to be conditioned by leaders,” ad agency director Daniele Manno told Italian media Ottavio Terranova, the leader of the local Partisans Association, sta...

Fresh Express Recall Contact: Barbar Hines, 972.724.3049 Ed Loyd, 513.784.8935 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- May 24, 2010 – Salinas, California – Fresh Express, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chiquita Brands International, is voluntarily recalling a specific selection of Fresh Express Romaine-based ready-to-eat salads with the expired Use-by Dates of May 13th through May 16th and an "S" in the Product Code because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. The recall extends only to products with these Use-by Dates and Product Codes and sold in the following states: Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Louisiana, Nebraska, Montana, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nevada, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota. No other Fresh Express salads are included in the recall. The recall notification is being issued out of an abundance of caution bas...

If you want to keep looking, just search "free mp3 sampler" on Amazon and see what turns up. It's not illegal if they're giving it away. Still, be sure to buy some albums from the artists you listen to if you like what you hear. Otherwise, you're just standing in a virtual supermarket, filling up on the free samples. The excellent independent radio station WFMU has also opened the Free Music Archive for your perusal and use. The selection is still growing, but it gives you the chance to dig through some obscure and not-so-obscure music. It also brings together several different radio stations and other sources, so you get a diverse selection. Go, download, and enjoy. http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/legitimate-sites-to-download-music-for-free1.html?cid=dn_article

The family of missing IDF soldier Majdi Halabi marked five years since his disappearance on Monday.  Halabi, of Dalyat el-Carmel in the Carmel mountains, a member of the Druze community, went missing in 2005 while making his way back to base. He was 19 years old at the time. "For five years already, we've been praying that one day the door will open and Majdi will walk in,” Majdi's father Nazmi told Maariv . A police commander visits the family home once a month to update them on the case, he said, but they still have no clue as to Majdi's whereabouts. Nazmi thanked supporters for helping in the search for Majdi. The family has conducted its own searches, in addition to the searches conducted by the IDF and police. Posters with his picture can be seen on the roads leading to the Druze town. In 2007, the Born to Freedom Foundation offered a $10 million reward for information on Majdi's location. In 2008 a prisoner claimed Majdi had been taken captiv...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/37725.html Until this week, the Obama administration had largely managed to deflect responsibility for the Deepwater Horizon disaster onto others — vowing to keep a “boot on the throat” of BP, while slamming lax oversight on the part of federal regulators during the Bush administration. But now, with crude lapping into the bayou, even Obama’s defenders have turned critical. A White House that prides itself on operational competence and message discipline has been frustrated by an environmental catastrophe it can’t predict, can’t control and can’t out-message — and the strain is showing.

This is how you payback the unbelievers. Some Muslims, furious at the “Everybody Draw Muhammed Day”, are retaliating with an “Everybody Draw the Holocaust Day”. Of course, what the author of this Facebook page really means is an Everybody Deny the Holocaust Day, which will teach the infidels not to draw Muhammed in a bear suit. His semi-coherent manifesto seems to be that if people have the right to draw the Prophet Muhammed, then they have the right to question the existence of the Holocaust. He is correct. We can’t defend the right to satire a religious figure and yet bar the right to deny the Holocaust , as some European states do (frequently the ones who directly or indirectly supported the genocide). However, what is fascinating here is the moral equivalence. Outraged at the “insult” to his religion, this fundamentalist won’t strike back by drawing a cartoon of Jesus or mocking atheists. He’s going to do it by denying the Holocaust. Since in his mind, Jews control ...

LAS VEGAS, May 23 (UPI) -- Nevada residents voting in the state's upcoming primary election have been told wearing chicken suits to the polling places will not be allowed, officials said. State election officials added the suits to a list of banned items after Republican Senate candidate Sue Lowden made a campaign comment suggesting bartering with doctors for medical care like when "our grandparents would bring a chicken to the doctor," The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Saturday. Officials say wearing a chicken costume to a polling place would be like wearing a campaign button or T-shirt for a candidate, which is prohibited, the newspaper reported. If someone does show up in a chicken costume and it's all they have on, officials said, they would be allowed to vote but would then have to leave the polling place and stay at least 100 feet away. No chicken suits at polls No worries-mine's still at the cleaners... :-)

Commentary by Amity Shlaes Genital Mutilation Isn't a Tradition to Preserve May 25 (Bloomberg) -- The immigrant lives in Glendale, Arizona, and drives a Jeep Grand Cherokee. His 20-year-old daughter works at an Applebee’s. When she leaves a marriage arranged by her father and moves in with her boyfriend, her father gets angry. He hops in his Jeep, tracks her down in a parking lot and runs her over. Then he hightails it for Nogales, Mexico, yapping on his cell phone all the while. His daughter later dies of her wounds in a Phoenix hospital. These allegations -- the father pleaded not guilty to charges of murder -- weren’t lodged against an illegal immigrant from Mexico. This case involves Faleh Hassan Almaleki, an Iraqi, and his daughter, Noor. It reminds us that even as the much-publicized debate over illegal versus legal Mexican immigrants moves forward, there are other immigration questions the country also has to deal with. One is how authorities -- of...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/7756221/Toxic-chemicals-from-supermarket-labels-seep-through-packaging-and-contaminate-food.html

Patrick says Obama critics are 'almost at the level of sedition' - Local News Updates - MetroDesk - The Boston Globe

Obama endorses 'don't ask, don't tell' compromise in Congress

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Save on summer reading with free e-books - Kim’s Columns – Reviews and Advice on All Things Digital - The Kim Komando Radio Show

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/05/20000-reward-to-find-cabbie-who-dragged-and-killed-man.html $20,000 reward to find cabbie who dragged and killed man May 24, 2010 5:32 PM | 7 Comments | UPDATED STORY Friends of a graduate student who died after being dragged by a cab are offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the taxi driver. Witnesses say Daniel Firkins was leaning in a window of the taxi and arguing with the driver when the cab took off on May 14, dragging him for a block before running over his legs near his home in the 1600 block of North Honore Street in the Bucktow...

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/05/court-says-black-firefighter-lawsuit-can-proceed.html WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court dealt a potentially costly defeat to the city of Chicago today, reinstating a discrimination ruling in favor of 6,000 black applicants for firefighting jobs in the 1990s. In a 9-0 decision, the justices said Chicago had used an entry-level test for the Chicago Fire Department that had a "disparate impact" based on race. And therefore, they said, the city was liable for paying damages to those applicants who had "qualified" scores on the test, but were excluded in favor of those who scored higher. Earlier this year, a lawyer for black applicants estimated the total damages in the case could reach $100 million. Monday's ruling is the latest twist in a long-running set of lawsuits over the use of civil ...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-ap-us-obama-student-loans,0,7930166.story DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) — Nine people charged with illegally accessing President Barack Obama's student loan records while employed for a Department of Education contractor in Iowa pleaded not guilty Monday in federal court. The former employees of Vangent Inc. are accused of gaining access to a computer at the contractor's office in Coralville between July 2007 and March 2009 and getting into Obama's records while he was either a candidate for president, president-elect or president. They appeared in U.S. District Court in Davenport, where they were read the charges against them and one by one entered their pleas. U.S District Court Judge Celeste F. Bremer scheduled a trial for July 6 and released the defendants on promises to appear. Bremer told them not to leave the state and to stay employed or seek jobs. They can't have guns or possess other weapons, and they're...

http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/05/obama-and-family-will-spend-memorial-day-in-chicago.html WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama and his family are heading home to Chicago for the Memorial Day weekend, an administration official said today. The first family will arrive Thursday and stay until Monday, the official said. The president will participate in a Memorial Day ceremony at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood , the official said. The cemetery is about 50 miles south of Chicago . Last year Obama marked Memorial Day at Arlington National Cemetery. This year, Vice President Joseph Biden will participate in a wreath-laying ceremony there, the official said. Obama has visited the Windy City three prior times as president. His first trip in February 2009 was for three nights; trips last June and July were in-and-out visits for part of the day. He said after winning the presidency that the South Side of Ch...