Jimmy McCulloch:The Unsung Guitar Hero

There's Jimmy Page,Eric Clapton,Jimi Hendrix,Mick Taylor,Keith Richards,George Harrison to name a few.These guitarists were known to be masters of their own craft,If not certified virtuosos,each has garnered fame on their own right with the bands they were known for as members.

But I do think that another guitarist from the seventies has somehow been forgotten and really deserves credit,and that is none other than Jimmy McCulloch-the baby face guitarist on Paul McCartney's rock band in the 1970s -Wings.

Wings was formed in 1971 after Paul McCartney released two solo albums when the Beatles disbanded in 1970.Paul later revealed that he got the name "Wings" for his new band after praying extensively for Linda's difficult birth with their daughter Stella on that same year.

Some people say that with Paul forming a rock group on the reason of being in a band and being on the road again was oddly ridiculous to the point that Paul was in total control and domination of the band,well a lot of groups were into that kind of scenario like the Jimi Hendrix Experience for instance.Paul at that point had nothing more to prove considering his tremendous work with the Beatles plus two successful solo albums to his credit but he slagged it off anyway and formed Wings in 1971,c'mon guys,the man wanted to have fun and he really did enjoyed the seventies with Wings as one of the biggest stadium rock juggernaut of that decade,selling concert tickets and albums by millions.

Wings had eight configurations from 1971 to its demise in 1980,with original members apart from Paul and Linda and Denny Laine,the original 1971 lineup was with Denny Seiwell on drums and Henry McCullough on lead guitar,the latter two would last until 1973,after a brief argument over money,and Paul Linda and Denny went on to record the colossal Band On The Run without the two of them.

Jimmy McCulloch got into the band in 1974,after playing extensively with other bands in the late sixties namely Thunderclap Newman which was produced by his mentor Pete Townshend of the Who.Jimmy was also an excellent session musician,having played on John Entwistle's solo album Whistle Rhymes.Jimmy was also a friend  of the Who and his former band in 1967 called One In A Million supported the band when the Who toured Scotland in 1967.A Scottish native,Jimmy was born in Glasgow and his early works as a guitarist in his native Scotland and as a session musician proved to be a perfect resume for his place as a lead guitarist for Wings.

Jimmy was also known to have feuded with a fellow Wing,drummer Geoff Britton resulting the latter's departure from the band.Britton was replaced by American drummer Joe English,and Wings went ahead.

The Wings world tour of 1975 and 1976 was said to have been McCulloch's finest hour,playing non stop tours with the band.A guitar solo with "Maybe Im Amazed" which was re-released and amazingly went to the top 10 of the Billboard singles chart gave McCulloch the respect other guitarists have when he performed a beautiful guitar lick on the song which was taken from a live performance on one of Wings' gigs on the American leg of their tour,thus,the live album Wings over America was conceived.The album went to number one in America and with Paul's re-working of the song "Maybe I'm Amazed" by slowing it down and adding an ending to the song in which the original version was to have a fading instrumental break,one would say,it was one of the most beautiful love songs ever written.And not bad for a song which by then was seven years old to make it to the top 10.

Another excellent guitar solo by McCulloch was with 1974's "Junior's Farm" which was said to have been his first hit with Wings.The albums he made with Wings were Wings At The Speed Of Sound which went to number one on the US charts in 1976 and the latter half of what would be Wings' 1977 album London Town.

McCulloch left the band in September 1977 to join the newly reformed Small Faces.Playing with his new band's tour of England and releasing one album '78 In The Shade.

Tragedy struck two years later,when Jimmy McCulloch had  a heroin overdose and died on Sept 27,1979.He was only 26 years old.

A lot of great guitarists had come and gone and became legends in their own right,becoming"saints" of the rock industry.Jimmy McCulloch was one of the martyrs of rock n'roll.In the same vein as Kurt Cobain,Jimi Hendrix and Brian Jones-his excellence in guitar playing deserves a place in rock music history.

Jimmy McCulloch-guitar virtuoso,gone but not forgotten....

My Journey: Why No Prophetess?

If the word "Prophetess" seems odd to both the secular and religious, it does for good reason: the overwhelming majority of the representatives of Gods in human history are male; as such, they are called "Prophets" or "Heroes" (in Greek, Roman and Norse faiths). In a house beaming with feminist pride from my three sisters, I find it difficult to believe that no one has critically analyzed this aspect of religion and I want to delve deeper into the subject in this post. I find the gender discussions that concentrate on the meaning of holy texts to be extremely relative to one's beliefs, whereby, the Atheist always sees an oppressive sexist God while a progressive theist always sees a gender-neutral and gender-loving divine being. Instead, I want to look at the statistics of the prophecy which are quite revealing.

Let us first look at the numbers. Judaism and Islam both clarify that they believe that Yahweh/Allah has sent thousands if not hundreds of thousands of prophets across the world to preach the word of God. Of those many, most of the messages were meant to be restricted to their time and/or circumstances. Those noted in different holy texts were the ones with the most important messages for all humanity. This notion of thousands of prophets isn't so different from Buddhist, Hindu, Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian belief in thousands of Heroes, Deities, and those things in between. I may be wrong, however, I can't tell if Christianity also holds a similar belief, but as you will see, that's irrelevant. Given that thousands of prophets have gone undocumented, it wouldn't be worth wondering (if even possible) what their teachings much have been like. Therefore, we are stuck looking at the prophets that were of notable mention in different holy texts when looking at gender balances (or rather imbalances). 

By my own count, it is easy to see the overwhelming gender inequality in the prophecy. Out of Judaism's 55 mentioned prophets, 7 were female; in percentages, that means that 87% of the time, Yahweh chose a man over a woman to preach to the crowd and commit glorious acts. 

In Islam, out of 24 prophets mentioned in the Quran 0 are female. That means, Allah chose a man over a woman to spread word of his existence 100% of the time. Even when considering 7 "other prophets" recognized by Islamic scholars but not explicitly mentioned by the Quran, the number remains unchanged. It should be noted that Islam does recognize "holy women" but none, not even the "holiest woman" Miriam (Mother of Jesus) is considered a prophet despite talking to angels. 

In Christianity, out of the 75 explicitly recognized prophets in both the Old and New Testament, 9 are female. One wouldn't be surprised to find the difference to be so stark: 88% of all recognized prophets were men. Even when considering those who had "prophetic" experiences (14 others and the genderless "seventy elders of Israel") only two more women are added and the percentage declines to an unimpressive 87.6%. To get an even more complete picture, we can also include "False prophets" or those recognized as having misused their gifts from Jehovah. Out of the ten, 1 is female and the percentage changes to 87.8% male prophets.

I won't discuss the gender inequalities in the Christian Sainthood and Islamic Umah (among others) lest I start to bore you.

With such stark contrasts in gender balances, one wonders why feminists haven't analyzed why God avoided women when spreading word of his existence. What is more interesting is that, if this inequality existed in any other institution, we would all be outraged (and have been).

Let's remember when women were (in the U.S.) and still are (in Saudi Arabia) specifically not allowed to attend colleges. Let's remember when women were specifically barred from voting (still exists in many countries). Let us remember when institutions barred women from leadership positions because of their gender. By resisting the inevitable push toward greater gender equality, the men of their time actively and consciously chose male candidates for jobs in the private and public sectors (even after the institutional sexism was long gone). In all these cases, women (and some men) became outraged that personal sexism became institutionalized sexism. If the Abrahamic God shows the sexism of a university in the 1800s in U.S. history, why do we avoid calling it like it is? We have at all other instances, yet in this case, we blind ourselves to the striking statistics.

It seems plainly obvious to me, from my studies and family religious teachings, that God makes conscious decisions and in fact, his existence as the omnipresent omnipotent creator of all things demands it. Therefore, such a divine being actively made decision after decision to choose men over women.

After researching it and asking around (everyone from my father, brother in law and friends pitched in), I've received unsatisfactory excuses for God's sexist selection of prophets. Some have suggested that women can't be prophets because they have periods (also used as an excuse many decades ago against females in leadership roles). During their periods, women can't think straight and can't possibly preach the word of God. Such an argument is constantly proven wrong by millions of women today in leadership positions unaffected by their menstruation cycle.

Another honestly made argument is that the words of God prove that men and women are equal. Although all my atheist friends will take up the challenge to debate such a statement, it doesn't really matter. Like many institutions, the declaration of the equality of sexes has been given many times, yet when words don't match the statistics, it is plainly obvious that sexism exists, no matter what the institution or person says. Take a law school that says it views female and male applications as equal, yet has a population of 90% male. More likely than not there are sexist practices barring women from joining. Words are different than numbers.

After sifting through some other bad reasons, another one stuck out: Women weren't respected and couldn't have been taken seriously by the people of their time. This excuse is especially troubling. The nature of prophet-hood includes doubt by members of any community. Almost all prophets have had to prove that they were truly the messengers of God, take Moses' staff transformation into a snake; Jesus resurrecting the dead; Mohammad ascending to Heaven; Lot's protection of the angel (the list goes on). I can't see how with a female, it would be very different. Yes, there will be doubt, and strong doubt because of her gender, but a few staff transformations or angel visits and God could have easily given the women the validation they needed. If you reject that proposal, then it seems to me that God is a push-over to human biases. The idea that God would bend to what humans want is complete lunacy as shown by the story of Lot, by destroying entire cities because of sin, and Moses, by sending wave after wave against the Pharaoh of Egypt. The Abrahamic God is not a push-over, and makes his decisions on who he wants to represent him; we can clearly see who he's chosen. 

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president of the Commanchero motor cycle club, Mahmoud (Mick) Hawi admitted today that he had punched and kicked brawl victim Anthony Zervas

president of the Commanchero motor cycle club, Mahmoud (Mick) Hawi admitted today that he had punched and kicked brawl victim Anthony Zervas at Sydney Airport in March 2009 but denied hitting him with a bollard.

Mr Hawi, 31, and five other club members are standing trial in the NSW Supreme Court for the murder of Mr Zervas, 29, the brother of Hells Angels bikie Peter Zervas.

Mr Hawi, giving evidence in the Supreme Court at Paramatta, said in answer to his counsel Philip Dunn, QC, that he had punched and kicked Anthony Zervas in self-defence.

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"He was coming at me with weapons," he said.

He denied hitting Anthony Zervas with a bollard or asking anyone else to do so.

Appearing before Justice Robert Hulme, Mr Hawi denied that, when he was scuffling with Anthony Zervas, he had asked any member of the Commanchero to assist him.

Mr Hawi said that he had had no intention of attacking Anthony Zervas but Peter Zervas had started to "carry on yelling and screaming" when they encountered each other at the check-in area at Sydney Airport on March 22.

Peter Zervas had said: "Did you think you are f---, do you think you can just walk away?"

Mr Hawi said he had not wanted to fight and had tried to get away but that Peter Zervas had put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a knuckleduster.

Someone had called out: "He's got a gun, he is going to shoot."

Mr Hawi said that Anthony Zervas had attacked him with a weapon.

Someone had pulled Anthony Zervas off but Peter Zervas had picked up a bollard and bashed him on the back with it.

Anthony Zervas had come back with a weapon of some sort and had hit him on the tricep and shoulder, causing bruising.

As Mr Hawi got out of the terminal building, he had looked back and Peter Zervas had called: "Come back and fight you wusses."

Mr Hawi had not accepted the invitation and got into a taxi and took off.

The court has heard that Anthony Zervas died as the result of being hit by a bollard.

Anthony Zervas was supporting members of the Hells Angels Motorcycle club who confronted the Commanchero that day.

Mr Hawi is on trial with Commanchero members Farres Abounader, Ishmail Eken, Zoran Kisacanin, Christian Menzies and Usama Potrus. They have pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Zervas.

Also on trial is Hells Angel David Padovan, who has denied a riot charge.

The court has heard that Mr Hawi and other Commanchero members were on a plane from Melbourne on March 22, 2009, as was Derek Wainohu, a prominent member of the Hells Angels.

The court has heard that Mr Wainohu, who was alone, sent a message for Hells Angels to assist him when they arrived at the airport.

Mr Hawi said this morning that he had seen Mr Wainohu on the plane and he had told other Commanchero members that he was there.

He agreed that he had looked at Mr Wainohu. He said he spoke to Mr Wainohu but Mr Wainohu had not replied.

When they had come out of the passenger chute at Sydney Airport, he had gone up to speak to Mr Wainohu.

Gang members had congregated and Mr Wainohu had come towards him.

"He came straight at me," he said.

Mr Wainohu had said words to the effect: "I will show you something," or "I will get something."

There had been a scuffle of five to 10 seconds and, soon after, there had been a scuffle in the passenger concourse when people had screamed to call police.

He had wanted to get out of the airport as quickly as possible because he did not want to be arrested.

Libya is Free

As I write this post, tens of thousands of people are celebrating in Benghazi as hundreds of rebel fighters win neighborhood after neighborhood in the capital of Libya, Tripoli. In the last two days, the opposition began a new push to the capital to try to end the 6 month old conflict after civilians, inspired by regional democratic protests, marched on their streets demanding that the longest ruling dictator in the region finally step down.

For more on the background of the conflict, Mother Jones explains it well. My regular readers know that I've always stood by international military support for the rebels in Libya; typing in "Libya" in the search bar on the home page will show you a list of my articles on the subject. 

The international media is already declaring the end of the conflict. here and here and for good reason. Reports have come in that Qaddafi's sons have been captured and the presidential guard has officially surrendered. Unless he flees, it won't be long before the tyrant himself, Mohammad Qaddafi will be captured. 

With the end of the conflict, let's reflect on the players. Fearing accusations of turning a blind eye, France helped lead the way for Euro support for intervention in Libya. Although slower to react, Obama did do his part to support and build the international consensus to intervene. Even more impressive, he had to stave off anger back in the U.S. about another U.S. war.

As with other uprisings, the Libyans' rebel government will have to organize better to help lead a nation. A new constitution, new election and new kind of leader will have to emerge from the smoke to give Libyans a voice in their government. This is never easy and there will be great fluctuations, but as long as the Libyans remember why they fought, they can always realign themselves to the long term goal of the most democratic state. 

The Libyan victory is also likely to re-inspire the protesters in Yemen, Syria and perhaps even Bahrain to take to the streets with even stronger conviction that overthrowing a leader is possible. Who can survive if not the longest ruling tyrant named Qaddafi?

As celebrations fill the capital, it is also important to remember a key fear of non-intervention: not intervening would allow Qaddafi to send the message that all a tyrant must do is kill his people and he can support himself easily. There is little doubt that the rebels had any chance without UN and NATO support; their gains hinged on international support. Their victory is a message to the protesters of the region, that in the second wave of the Arab Spring, although more violent and drawn out, can be successful in uprooting longtime dictators. To the tyrants, it sends a clear message that the international community can be effective at supporting local uprisings, and that cracking down on dissidents from the ground, air and water won't end the will of protesters. 

Syrians, Yemenis, Bahrainis, Algerians, and Morrocans must all take note. Now, it's about time international support concentrate on guiding Libya to an easier transfer of power but more importantly, on ending the massacre of civilians by Bashar Al-Assad in Syria. Indeed, moral standing always lies with the protesters. 

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PAUL IS DEAD HOAX

There's nothing funnier and sillier in the same vein as the Apollo moon hoax,and that is none other than the rumour that had spread around 1969 and 1970 that Paul literally died and was replaced by an impostor unknown to many Beatles fans.

It started around September 1969 through a college  paper in Drake University in Iowa,the article talks about the rumours asking the same question,"Is Paul McCartney dead?" The rumour spread across the United States through disc jockeys discussing clues on how Paul died on several Beatles albums.

The hoax is perhaps the greatest rock n'roll swindle ever to reach the tables of  the rock music press even though the said "clues" were silly and ridiculous enough for one's own dismissal.Well,it got several journalists a little richer by cashing in through the whole story.

The rumour goes that Paul McCartney died in a motor accident in London in 1966 and was secretly replaced by a look alike.One would argue that how come his mysterious successor has a dead ringer of a voice? And how come the bass lines and the music the Beatles were recording in the studio around 1967 until 1970 started to change,could this be it that Paul has died indeed and the Paul we knew who sang Hey Jude was a bogus one? There may have been thousands of clues,from albums to backmasking and one of the most famous myths I guess was that the band themselves had a Paul McCartney look-alike contest somewhere at the end of 1966 wherein the winner was,they say, mysteriously unannounced.We all know Paul already answered on how he changed the style of his bass playing in the late sixties  so theres no more doubt left in that matter.The Beatles were already proficient in their craft by the time their debut album Please Please Me was released and they got even better as they release more albums with a remarkable six month gap between each albums and  by changing their musical style while experimenting and recording their finest work in the studio.Michael Jackson had two great albums in ten years,Thriller and Bad in the eighties,but the Beatles never ran dry and there were an average of two albums released every year[not counting the singles] during their heyday between 1963 and 1970.

One remarkable clue on the said hoax is on the cover of the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band,where it was pointed out that the band had put on some clues to their album sleeves to tell their fans that Paul was already dead.One such clue is the gravesite in front of the band where the word Beatles were spelled by flowers and a left hand bass was also shown.The OPD badge Paul had on the cover however,could this mean Officially Pronounced Dead? Maybe,but then Paul had been given a police badge by the Ontario Police Department in the same year the album was about to be released,so there you go...

 OTHER ALBUMS AND BACKMASKED MESSAGES:

Magical Mystery Tour

 This album as they say,the band left a lot of "clues" to send a message to their fans that their beloved Paul had died.One is the walrus costume at the bottom they say Eastern mysticism view the walrus as a symbol of death and the raised hand above Paul's head is a symbol of death as well.

One such eerie recording from the album they say the band was putting out some clues is on the outro verse of Strawberry Fields Forever where John Lennon was eventually heard  saying the words "I buried Paul",other skeptics would argue that John was saying "Im very hoarse" or "Cranberry Sauce".But on the Anthology 2 version of the song John can be heard saying the latter clearly.The album sleeve however,Paul is dressed in a walrus and the song that carries that name,"I am The Walrus" was in fact,for scandal and rumour inventors was a sign of death citing reference to the walrus in the novel written by Lewis Carroll Alice In Wonderland wherein the walrus killed a few oysters.


And then there was a raised hand above Paul's head as they say a Hindu death sign.Sounds morbid?  Wait till you see what comes next...

 Yellow Submarine

 Talk about the hindu death sign,clue finders' claims doesn't end there,in fact on this cover of the Yellow Submarine album soundtrack we can clearly see another hand raised above Paul's head.Were the Beatles really giving a clue to their fans that Paul has already died? 

That Paul look alike contest they made in 1966 I mentioned earlier here, where as they said, no winner was announced-was the band searching in a guise of a contest,a replacement for their dead bass player? 

The story goes that a young Scotsman named William Campbell has secretly replaced Paul and has been playing with the band in their recordings from 1966. It  was noted also in the rumours circulating at the time that John,Paul and George secretly went off to Scotland to find a Paul look alike who can play terrific bass.Well lets say that Paul died in 1966,well how come his mysterious successor had  a dead ringer of a voice?

Going back to the song Yellow Submarine-it was first heard in the Beatles' 1966 album Revolver before it was made a soundtrack album of  the movie of the same title.At the song it was said that John was heard saying "Paul's  a queer".Doubting on Paul's existence perhaps?

 The White Album

The Beatles which was swiftly dubbed as the White Album was released in 1968 and for clue finders,has the most messages-well backward ones stating that Paul had died...

One song in particular was the experimental sound collage the Beatles made called "Revolution 9" where theres no singing but only a mixture of noises and dialogues.The phrase where Paul was saying "number nine number nine" was said to have been played backwards and the hidden messages said "Turn Me on Dead man" which clue finders say a message from the Beatles that Paul had died and was no longer with them.

Another song was the John Lennon composition "Im So Tired" where John's misheard blubbering at the end of the song was,when played backwards were saying the words "Paul is dead miss him miss him miss him".Well a lot of religious groups were often associating backmasking to satanism and the Beatles was not alone in that category,other rock bands who were the Beatles' contemporaries like Led Zeppelin for instance,became a subject of rumours and religious outrage accusing the band that they had secret messages on their songs when played backwards,and apart from that,had been secretly promoting devil worship through their back masked messages-well that was the story anyway.One representative for Led Zeppelin dismissed the accusations saying that their records played only in one direction--forward that is.

 I tried to listen to these backward messages myself, particularly on the White Album I think there must've been an explanation here somewhere--is it our mind saying that we're hearing things,messages perhaps? Or is it just the nature of the tape when played backward there seem to be words created by it.Whatever it is,I dont know.

 Abbey Road

 Perhaps the most wide ranged subject of rumours is the Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road where clue finders pinpoints the Beatles on a mock funeral procession,one could imagine John all dressed in white and scandal finders would obviously dub him as the preacher,Ringo dressed in black was the mourner,George in the back dressed in casual clothes was the grave digger and Paul they say,was the corpse,not only he looked half dead but he's not wearing any shoes as well and we know that most countries bury their dead barefoot.

Other so-called "clues" on the album was the beetle volkswagen parked not far from the band,the license plate on the car's back they say if you look closely was 281F which the clue finders interpret as Paul's age 28 IF he had lived. Paul was born in 1942,and on the album's release he was 27 years old at the time,and we all know that the Beatles was into eastern mysticism where these religions believed that a man is born a year old--makes sense.

Another "clue" on the album is Paul holding a cigarette on his right hand,we all know that Paul is left handed,could it be an impostor crossing with the other three Beatles?   

CASE DISMISSED AND AFTERMATH JOKES 

In 1970,after the Beatles officially disbanded two journalists from Life magazine finally got a hold of Paul when they finally located his farm in Scotland,where as they say in the "middle of nowhere".Paul,Linda and their daughters Heather and Mary went up to their farm when the Beatles' scene got heavy.It is where as Linda have said their family found sanctuary from all of the madness that was going on and all the business problems the Beatles were having during that time.

The so-called rumours was dismissed by the man himself,telling the two reporters from Life that he is very much alive and well. "I am dead am I?  Why does nobody ever told me anything?" "Can you spread around that Im just an ordinary person who wanted to live in peace? We have to go now,we have two children at home".

And yes LIFE confirmed and dismissed all the rumours that Paul had died,in fact he is alive and well with his family. Fast forward forty years later,the rumour was still a subject of jokes when Paul appeared at the Late Show With David Letterman,where Paul was even joking about his existence when Dave literally asked him If he is alive or dead."Well this is him" referring to himself as the rumoured William Campbell.

Perhaps the most striking and damning remark was that of John Lennon's when he took reference to Paul in his song "How Do You Sleep".The lyrics were disturbing and vicious towards his former songwriting partner, where John screamed and sang the words "Those freaks was right when they said that you was dead" .

Syria, Libya and Morality

In late March, I wrote a piece about the international community's intervention in Libya as Qaddafi, a dictator for almost 40 years, ordered his troops to advance to the protester's stronghold of Benghazi. Hoping to stop nothing less than a massacre with the possibility of genocide, the U.S. and many European nations pushed for action. 

The decision outraged some who denounced it as another Western advancement into an oil rich country. Others, like myself defended the resolution for many reasons however, one stood out above the rest: it was our moral obligation to intervene. 

Through a Security Council Resolution  a coalition of nations intervened, stopped, and helped push back the Libyan army from the protesters' capital in the east of the country. The no-fly zone was included in the resolution after many reports that the Libyan Airforce was being used to crush protesters. As a result, the protesters and fighters celebrated and today constantly make pleas that they need international support to establish a democratic state. 

In the case of this conflict, it is difficult to get solid death toll numbers of civilians because of the fighting as well as government/coalition propoganda, however, I wouldn't doubt that they are in the hundreds. The rising death toll is commonly cited by anti-interventionists as proof that the use of force backfired; rather than Qaddafi killing Libyans, we are. For supporters like myself, it is difficult to guestimate the number of possible deaths had we not intervened. Benghazi has tens of thousands of people living in it with the overwhelming majority of them standing against their dictator. An invasion of the city could easily have killed several thousand in the first few weeks. 

That being said, we now have a real world example of what happens if we don't intervene: Syria (and Bahrain for the record). Granted that Syria's regional dynamics are far more complex than that of Libya, protesters there are being killed as the death toll rises over 2400. Interestingly enough, the fact that Bashar Al-Assad's father killed 10 thousand people the last time they rose up against him, seems to have completely gone over the heads of most. 

With such deaths, the international community is only beginning to come together and work out a resolution on Syria. It is unlikely to have military involvement since the political capital isn't there, and Bashar is still popular in some areas of the country. For non-military international resolutions to work, a country must be greatly ingrained in the global economic environment; Syria isn't. We will have to wait and see the details of such a resolution, however, it is unlikely to be very effective. 

How exactly does morality tie into this? Easy. Sitting aside and watching thousands of people being killed, while not taking action, is inherently immoral. Hence the intervention in Libya can be judged as moral. Staying quiet on the crackdown in Bahrain is disgusting, while spewing meaningless words and press releases on Syria by governments is not right.

We can debate how to fund such interventions, however, morality should never be undermined because of our unwillingness to pay the proper price. I've already addressed many of the arguments months ago in a previous post and many still apply today. 

Syria gives us a relatively good preview of would have happened in Libya, except we should maximize it ten fold since Benghazi has more people in it than some of the rebelling Syrian cities and there is more widespread discontent with Qaddafi's rule. Juxtaposing it next to the 10 thousand killed several decades before in Syria would give us a more accurate, and dreadful understanding of what our intervention avoided. Today, the same anti-interventionists of Libya are outraged at the fatal quiet nature of the international community. Their shouting is only dwindled by the hypocrisy that is shouting along with them.   The fighting continues in Libya and protests are growing in Syria. Preventative measures are always the best choice when it comes to the lives of our fellow man. Let's not fail to prevent another thousand from dying. 

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Three people with connections to the Rock Machine biker gang face weapons charges

Three people with connections to the Rock Machine biker gang face weapons charges after a police chase in East Kildonan early Tuesday.

Winnipeg police say the arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into a feud between rival outlaw motorcycle clubs.

Police said that around 12:30 a.m. the organized crime unit, dog unit and tactical support team tried to pull over a Dodge Avenger at Antrim Road and Rockspur Street. Police say that car tried to make a getaway using quick evasive manoeuvres and that in the melee, three police cars were damaged and three officers were injured.

One of the officers was treated in hospital for head and neck injuries and a possible concussion.

Two men, aged 19 and 20, along with a woman, 23 — from Lorette, Man., — are facing weapons and other charges after a loaded handgun was found in the car. One of the suspects also was wearing a bullet-proof vest.

Realities of Freedom

Almost a week ago I posted the gruesome picture you see here on my Facebook wall. I knew that I would get some interesting responses since you don't usually have this kind of content in your news feed but the discussion that ensued was far deeper than I thought. 

Underneath the picture, I wrote this note:

"NOT for the squeamish. I literally yelled after seeing this. Unfortunately I feel like today's wars and fighting in the world is sugarcoated. All we get is statistics, numbers that keep on running. Force yourself to look at the picture to get a better sense of what war really is like."

If you couldn't handle looking at the picture for long, you aren't alone. Unfortunately, we don't see these kinds of images about conflicts around the world because they display a reality that we don't want to see. This is the picture of a protester in Syria who was, reportedly, shot by Syrian military forces in the lower jaw. As you can see, there isn't much jaw left as his tongue hangs next to his blood stained and flapping inner cheek. 

This sugarcoating of struggles and wars isn't more evident than in the United States. Although other issues now transfix the media's attention, 5 -6 years into the war in Iraq almost all major news networks had running stats on the number of dead soldiers.

The numbers are historically low when juxtaposed near other wars that the U.S. is involved in. In the past 30 years, Americans have never been so protected from the effects of war than in any other time in history. All wars up to the Vietnam war, were all ones that directly affected people beyond just the military families; think  all wars including and before the World Wars and Vietnam. Today, it is easier than ever to ignore what is going on.

With hundreds of channels on TV overwhelmingly comprised of movie, gossip, and show content, multiple media platforms from your laptops, slates, smart/feature phones, and advanced music players, and social networking that builds small filter bubbles of our own worlds that actively keep everything else out, it is easier than ever to chose not to watch what's going on in any of our wars. The future of the internet seems to be location based social networking and apps will also help to make things worse.

The time of 6 o'clock news is truly over.

Don't get me wrong, these changes are welcome indeed. I think I would die if I could only get my news at one nightly news channel at a time. The problem is, that most other people aren't trying to get more amounts of news because they are trying to avoid it.

This is where the numbers come in. Ten thousand dead here, One hundred thousand troop surge, three thousand plus injured, etc. Combine this number count with the public's ability to be distracted by Snookie's latest fist fight and you have an audience horribly intentionally segregated from reality.

This is why I felt the need to show such a picture. Although not of a U.S. war, the fight for freedom throughout the the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA) has been documented by news organizations world wide with terminology such as "Intense fighting"  and "military crackdown."

This picture is what they mean by "military crackdown" and a blown off leg from a rebel in Libya is what they mean by "intense fighting." I will never deny the importance of statistics especially in making policy decisions, but we must not let them distract us from the reality and stories behind those numbers. What are the numbers but another list of the dead in a fight? Here we learn the numbers are broken jaws, pierced skulls, and raped bodies. The next time you speak of some conflict in the world, consider this picture. 

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Alleged $3.7m fraud ring brains bailed

THE man police accused of orchestrating a $3.7 million fraud ring that allegedly involved a Hells Angel bikie boss has been granted bail.

Adam Eli Meyer, a husband and father, defrauded or attempted to defraud legitimate businesses of property, luxury cars, a yacht and excavation equipment, police allege.

Meyer, 37, appeared today in Sydney's Central Local Court charged with 12 fraud offences and with one count of dealing with the proceeds of crime.

A number of the offences allegedly involved Felix Lyle, the president of the Sydney chapter of the Hells Angels who has been in custody for two weeks.

Court documents show a string of alleged fraud offences spanning from September 2010 to early this year.

Police say he provided false business and tax documents from a dummy company, BRZ Investments Pty Ltd, in attempts to obtain financing to purchase high-value items.


Four Caterpillar excavators worth $940,000, a Regal Commodore yacht worth $325,000 and $1.2 million Alexandria property was on the wish list.

Other items included four Harley Davidson motorcycles, three Lexus, two Mercedes, two Toyotas and number of computers.

Meyer represented himself as John Formosa during the transactions and attempted transactions, police stated in the court documents.

He colluded with Lyle and Terence Reddy on a number of the alleged fraudulent activities.

"Police have established through covert means that Meyer, Reddy and Lyle have organised the submission of numerous loan applications which they knew to be false," the police statement of facts said.

"The accused persons organised systemic methods to screen third parties making inquiries on the information within the loan applications."

Police have also charged Roger Hassin, also known as Roger Morris, over a number of the alleged offences.

The late Natalie Laffy was listed as director of BRZ Investments and was ailing from terminal cancer at the time the offences took place.

The court documents did not specify what connection she had with the men.

When contacted today, a police spokesman declined to elaborate on Mrs Laffy, stating "more arrests are expected".

In court, Meyer's solicitor Paul Kenny said his client was prepared to comply with strict bail conditions and his parents would provide their houses as collateral.

Magistrate Julie Huber ordered Meyer to have one or two people provide $250,000 in surety in the form of cash or property.

He must surrender his passport, not leave NSW, not approach an international port of departure and not approach Reddy, Hassin or Lyle.

The matters for Meyer, Reddy and Hassin will come before Central Local Court on August 30.

Yesterday, Lyle was again unable to find an acceptable person to post a $100,000 surety in the form of cash to meet his bail conditions.