Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (25309)	7/3/2008 9:26:06 AM
From: manalagi	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

The economy is in a mess and yet the biggest news are Cindy McCain spending $ 750,000 on her credit card, and that Rush Limbaugh getting contract extension and big boost to $ 50 million a year. Are those people role models for their followers? Are Limbaugh's listeners just want to be like him? Those who are against Obama and are ditto heads are afraid that Obama will raise taxes. In other words, their pocket book is first, no matter what the country needs. Let's assume that everybody is more concerned with his her pocketbook, and damned others. What kins of country will we be living in? You can have your Lexus, Mercedes, Ferrari and big houses, but once you go shopping, you have to go through all kinds of potholes, you have to pass all the homeless people, and you need bodyguards ro protect from burglars. You get home, and the water is not running. When your house is on fire, the Fire Department cannot respond because they don't have enough personnel. Those ditto heads will think that as long as their income is tax free, they will live in a happy environment, and damn others.

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (25309)	7/3/2008 1:14:56 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

I know this way off topic but this is the coolest example of trickery I've seen in a while. James Bond, Batman, Mission Impossible.....eat your collective hearts out. Old-fashioned fake-out results in freedom for hostages BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Government agents posing as rebels tricked a gang of armed desperados into handing over 15 hostages during a rendezvous deep in Colombia's unforgiving jungle. Gen. Mario Montoya leads freed hostages across the tarmac Wednesday at the Bogota, Colombia, airport. The Colombian government's bloodless rescue of the hostages Wednesday was the product of a perfectly executed ruse that depended on old-school spy games rather than high-tech gadgetry. Agents spent months worming their way into the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, an insurgent force that has waged war on the Colombian state for 40 years, Gen. Freddy Padilla de Leon told CNN. The agents gained the rebels' trust and rose to the top of FARC's leadership council as well as a team assigned to guard the hostages. When the time was ripe, the moles used the authority they'd gained within the group to order the 15 hostages moved from three separate locations to one central area, and the game was on. Watch how the operation went down » "We convinced the FARC that they were talking to those of their own," said Gen. Mario Montoya of the Colombian army. "It was all human intelligence." Once the hostages -- including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three American contractors -- were gathered, the agents ordered a 90-mile march through the steamy jungle, Montoya said. Such relocations were not unusual for the hostages or the rebels, who constantly move about to avoid detection by the Colombian military. Watch what the FARC is all about » Little did the rebels know that the military was about to pull off a bait-and-switch that would leave them standing in a jungle clearing, not realizing they'd just been hustled out of their most valuable assets. See former hostages, officials exult » The agents told their FARC comrades that an "international mission" -- such as the Red Cross or a U.N. delegation -- was coming to visit the hostages, Montoya said. At the appointed hour, an unmarked white helicopter set down in the jungle along the trekkers' path. Colombian security forces posing as FARC rebels jumped out, some wearing shirts emblazoned with the likeness of revolutionary icon Che Guevara. The helicopter crew told the 60 or so real rebels that the chopper was going to ferry the hostages to the meeting with the "international mission," Montoya said. During their 22 minutes on the jungle floor, the government pilot and co-pilot spoke in code with their colleagues, authorities said, using phrases such as "Generators OK" that carried a secret meaning to the security forces. All 15 hostages were handcuffed and placed aboard the helicopter, along with two of their guards, leaving the rest of the FARC detachment on the ground. Once the chopper was up and safely away from the landing zone, the fake rebels persuaded the real ones aboard to hand them their weapons. Moments later, both rebels were on the floor of the aircraft, cuffed and blindfolded by their erstwhile comrades, Betancourt said. Watch Betancourt describe her 'miracle' » cnn.com