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North Korea says it has detained a U.S. citizen

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:41:00 +0000

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea said Friday that an American citizen has been detained after confessing to unspecified crimes, confirming news reports about his arrest at a time when Pyongyang is facing criticism from Washington for launching a long-range rocket last week.

The American was identified as Pae Jun Ho in a brief dispatch issued by the state-run Korean Central News Agency in Pyongyang. News reports in the U.S. and South Korea said Pae is known in his home state of Washington as Kenneth Bae, a 44-year-old tour operator of Korean descent.

An expert said he is likely to become a bargaining chip for the North, an attempt to draw the U.S. into talks. Five other Americans known to have been detained in North Korea since 2009 were all eventually released.

North Korean state media said Pae arrived in the far northeastern city of Rajin on Nov. 3 as part of a tour.

Rajin is part of a special economic zone not far from Yanji, China, that has sought to draw foreign investors and tourists over the past year. Yanji, home to many ethnic Korean Chinese, also serves as a base for Christian groups that shelter North Korean defectors.

Weird news: Americans prepare for “12-12-12″

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:46:00 +0000

A Michigan sixth-grader will put aside her nerves and get her ears pierced on her 12th birthday. Two law-enforcement officials will exchange wedding vows at 12:12 p.m. in Pittsburgh's federal courthouse. And gamblers can take advantage of promotions some casinos are using to lure in patrons who want to test their luck.

With a once-a-century date arriving Wednesday, some people across the United Stated are betting on good fortune for 12-12-12.

In New England, Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut will offer $12 in free slots play to rewards cards members who sink $12 into the slots.

A southwestern Michigan casino is also betting that 12-12-12 is going to be a lucky day for opening its new hotel. A ribbon-cutting is planned for 12:12 p.m. Wednesday for the eight-story, 242-room hotel at FireKeepers Casino near Battle Creek.

Hours later, Anna Gandy, of Battle Creek, Mich., will head to the Lakeview Square Mall after school lets out. She realized last year that she would turn 12 on 12-12-12, her father Bryan Gandy said Tuesday. But between her sports team commitments and nerves, Anna decided to wait until Wednesday to get her ears pierced.

America’s forgotten war

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 15:00:00 +0000

IN THE EUPHORIC FIRST WEEKS after the fall of the Berlin Wall, East German protesters who had risked everything to overthrow their government and were now jockeying for position in the emerging new Germany were puzzled by a growing number of news reports from the other side of the Atlantic.

American conservatives, they kept hearing, were claiming credit for ending the Cold War and “liberating” them from the yoke of Soviet communism.

They were puzzled not just because the names of these conservatives — Gingrich, Buchanan, Kemp — were unfamiliar. What baffled them was more fundamental: they hadn’t received American help at all. The CIA, by its own later admission, was entirely absent during the long months and years when East German dissidents organized covert meetings in churches and semi-derelict apartment buildings, usually no more than a step or two ahead of the Stasi, the all-pervasive secret police.

New reason to move to Canada: More Twinkies

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 17:22:00 +0000

Americans started to panic after Hostess Brands, makers of Twinkies and Ding Dongs, moved to liquidate their assets last Friday. Although it's not clear what will happen to the now-endangered American species, the Canadian breed is doing just fine.

Reuters reports that Saputo Inc., Canada’s largest dairy processor, "has the trademark and brand rights to Hostess CupCakes and Hostess Twinkies." Sandy Vassiadis, a spokeswoman for Saputo, said, "It’s totally separate." She added, "We own the rights in Canada so what’s happening in the U.S. doesn't affect us.”

In other words, now the people who complain about Obamacare have another reason to move to Canada.

h/t Consumerist.

Even losers go to Disneyland

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:15:00 +0000

Many wondered how GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney would fare after the election. Much to America's surprise, Romney has been doing a lot of stuff that the 47 percent might do: Watching "Twilight" with his wife, hanging out at Disneyland and pumping his own gas, for example. And he seems to be having a good time (well, except while pumping gas).

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Does TV actually brainwash Americans?

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 13:26:00 +0000

Historically, television viewing has been used by various authorities to quiet potentially disruptive people—from kids, to psychiatric inpatients, to prison inmates. In 1992, Newsweek (“Hooking Up at the Big House”) reported, “Faced with severe overcrowding and limited budgets for rehabilitation and counseling, more and more prison officials are using TV to keep inmates quiet.” Joe Corpier, a convicted murderer, was quoted, “If there’s a good movie, it’s usually pretty quiet through the whole institution.” Both public and private-enterprise prisons have recognized that providing inmates with cable television can be a more economical method to keep them quiet and subdued than it would be to hire more guards.