bye bye baby: Eylül 2012

30 Eylül 2012 Pazar

This old house

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That's Seth and Miles in the upper right, flying their kite. :-)

I spent a couple of hours on Sunday painting a picture of my house in Illinois . . in my garage in Arizona. I'm not the artist in the family - that would be my brother Steve or my kids, Zach and Rachel. I've never painted a darn thing. Not ever. My artsy-fartsiness has been limited to sewing and cross stitch, scrap-booking and baking. The garage project started out as me hating the floor [so I turned it into bricks like I did back in Illinois on our front steps] and the fence because Arizona just doesn't have picket fences. Of course what's a picket fence without flowers. What's flowers without a garden/zombie gnome. And then the fence needed a gate because I got called out on putting up another wall or sorts and everyone knows a gate has to open to . . .something or why is a gate there in the first place. There never has been a plan, I just keep thinking of stuff and adding it. One thing leading to another. Which is a good thing since there are 2 more walls . . much to Terry's chagrin.
I lived in this house for 12 years and have owned it for 15. It was built in 1902 and has the original woodwork and some of the charms of an old house - the nooks and crannies that made more sense then than now but I love it all the same. It was a sanctuary to me after the divorce. A place to get back on my feet because there was a tenant upstairs helping to pay the mortgage. It has also been a sanctuary for my son and my daughter during rough times in their lives when they need a place to live. Ditto for my step-daughter. I even moved back upstairs during a brief time when Terry and I broke up. It's just always sort of been there. A sanctuary.
That's not to say there haven't been problems. There's always something that needs to be fixed - a broken furnace belt at an in-opportune time, plumbing repairs, windows needing to be replaced. There is always a list of repairs that need to be done. Even that has had it's good points - so many skills I have learned because I couldn't afford to hire it done.

Today is the day. After 9 months of legal process my tenant is being evicted. I have never had a problem with a tenant. Not in 12 years. I dropped Terry off at the airport this morning so he could fly back and handle things for me - I just get too upset. Upset as in wonky leg and chest pain. I just can't do it. Terry's a good man to step in and deal with this [but I suspect he has just enough detachment that it's almost kinda fun for him] They haven't paid rent since Feb but it's not the money that upsets me - it's the disrespect. The place is trashed. They've kicked in the panels of those old old doors - they might as well have kicked me in the gut. It's filthy. The wallpaper has been ripped off - might as well have been my heart.
They are way more savvy about this process than I am. They are refusing to leave. Even with a court order for eviction they are refusing to leave. It blows my mind. I have to pay to have the Sheriff show up tomorrow and walk them off the property. They won't leave without that. Just plain refusing to leave. Amazing huh? It astounds me that someone in there 20's could know THIS much about the system. Last night they did move some things out. Know how they did it? Did they rent a truck or borrow a friend's car? Nope - they called Late Night Ride, the free taxi service that is provided by the community to reduce the number of impaired drivers. Late Night Ride exists out of the goodness of my community - no questions asked, they will drive you from one location to another. They called Late Night Ride right after they stopped texting me at 1am. The 3 hours of constant texting telling me they weren't leaving. They don't pay rent, a community charity pays their utilities, food stamps, free childcare at the junior college where she has a scholarship and the local Salvation Army provides clothes, diapers and rides to school Un-frickin-believable.

So. I need to let it go. Let go of the anger. Let go of the frustration. Stop the tears and the constant feeling that I'm going to vomit. Letting it go.

I love that old house so I brought it to Arizona. Bringing all the good memories and leaving the garbage behind. Hauling the garbage down the vinca and rose bordered path to the road and leaving it there.

It's turning into a sanctuary again this time for Terry's daughter [the downstairs] and his first ex-wife [upstairs]. LOL I gotta laugh but it's the right thing to do.

24 more hours and it will be a sanctuary again.
It's gonna be ok.

This old house - update

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I can't figure out how to upload the photos that were emailed to me but you get the idea. This is some of the stuff that had to be hauled out. Add many more bags, a couch and chair and mattresses. The front door was kicked in as was the beautiful bathroom door. Tiles around the bathtub broken and/or removed. They drilled holes in the refridgerator and then punched dents in it. They left . . everything. Food, clothes, furniture, toys. Everything. And everything with syrup on it. Syrup in the stove and fridge. Let me say right now and to all of blog world - I have the most amazing friends and family to have taken care of this for me. I will never be able to repay this debt. Not ever.Pat has repainted the trim in the livingroom while Ella and my daughter-in-law Heather have tackled the kitchen. Zach repaired the tile in the bathroom. Terry has done . . .everything.
There haven't been any more phone calls or text messages from the FORMER tenant since this morning. Amidst the obscenities and screaming she told me I should be grateful [GRATEFUL!] that they didn't do more damage and that I deserved everything they did to the apartment and more. I can't wait to play that for the judge :-D

Super glue

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Well, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised but it caught me off guard again - another exacerbation. My leg has been wonky these past weeks but I was unable to move toes Thurs and the trigeminal neuralgia reared it's ugly head. Stress will do that to ya.

Terry is back in Illinois handling the physical aspect of the eviction. Lots of hard work that is almost done. Painting, cleaning, and LOTS of minor repair. The good news is there was less major damage than we first thought AND I had saved enough scraps and pieces of wallpaper that Ella was able to repair what those horrid people had destroyed. That and super glue :-) :::shaking head. Terry and his super glue::: Funny thing is if I had been there I would have fussed and taken it down and started over. Terry squirted super glue in the appropriate places and spread it back into place. Wall paper paste wouldn't hold it but super glue did. End result is exactly the same, I just would have made it harder. And more expensive. Super glue hadn't even crossed my mind.

My daughter-in-law reports how much more peaceful it is with those horrid people gone for 5 days. My step-daughter reports how excited her mom [Terry's first ex-wife] is to live up there and how, in Sept after my son and his family have moved to Kentucky, excited she is to live in the lower half of the house. Terry says how much fun he and his friends/family have had tackling this project. Hard work but fun. I'm thinking of starting a business there. One that helps walk landlords thru this process. Providing the muscle to move squatters out. Providing before and after pictures to the landlord. Maybe a cleaning service. Providing a secondary source of income for some people back home whom I love very much. This is turning into a very good thing.

Like the wallpaper, I should have just used super glue. Like I would have done with the wallpaper, I've stressed and stewed about it, worked myself into a big lather over the past weeks and worked myself into this damn exacerbation. My own doing. Trying to cover every angle. Trying to cover all my bases. Bases that weren't touched. Bases not worth touching.

Today is Round 3 of infusions. I hate getting the IV and I hate the way the infusion makes me feel. Too tired to do anything and too cranked on the steroids to sleep or concentrate to read. Crazy hungry and too nauseous to eat. Eternally grateful for this treatment despite my whining. It's been rough to go thru this all by myself but easier in a way too. I'm glad Terry didn't see me like this. He is back in AZ tomorrow and it should all be over. As much as it is ever over.

Terry is reclaiming my house there in Illinois.

I'm reclaiming my house here. This garage is proving to be super glue for ME.

hitting the books

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Today is day one. After 15 years of procrastination I have finally enrolled in school to pursue my BSN. 15 years is a long time to avoid the inevitiable. LOL I'm hoping that the accumulated energy of avoidance will prove to exceed the energy it takes to just tackle this bugger. Graduation will be in May 2013 [with class ending Sept 2013-not sure how that all works]

I'm thinking a Mexican Fiesta for the graduation party - you're all invited!

A conversation with myself

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Two weeks (3 papers, 4 researched discussion postings and 14 responses to others' postings. seriously. I counted) left in class 2. 10 classes left after that and then 18 months in the Master's program (oh what have I gotten myself into!) and I will be done with school in this lifetime (When I say 'lifetime' it doesn't seem quite so bad. Maybe I'll miss it? Nah.). I had another MS exacerbation at the beginning of class 1 (I think I already wrote about that) and most of the symptoms went away (Either that or you're dragging your leg again). Did I mention that I got an A on the last 2 papers (100%'s. Not bad for an old bird) and an A in the last class (98.37%. Damn! You have to remember to look for allllllll of the gramatical errors. Thank the gods that blogs aren't required to have APA format!) I'm not really bragging. More surprised than anything (You think? Beating yourself up over every paper doesn't tend to bring out the best in you. How do you spell insecurities because I spell it L I N D A)

I am spending a hell-a-cious amount of time on school stuff. Up at 5 and at it almost all day. On the days I don't work I try to go for a walk for a break (after you spend 30 min deciding if you can 'do' the walk. Worst case scenario is that you turn around, dummy. And just how many times in the past year have you not been able to complete a walk anyway? ZERO times. Get over it). And on the days I work, I work at the paper for a bit before going into work, print it off and work on it during down time at work, come home and type in the info/corrections while I eat dinner and try to connect with Terry. Today is a day off and the goal is to complete 2 responses and get a rough completion of this week's paper so that I can edit it tomorrow and submit. Sunday we are driving down to Terry's parent's house and I'll have 5 hours each way to connect with the hubby (what you should really do is print off the discussion questions for next week and do them in the car so that you can sleep unto 6am all week!). If I'm done early enough today I hope to get my little garden weeded and some of the seed planted (tick tock baby. seeds needed to be in 2 weeks ago). Remembering how yummy that lettuce was (and how convenient it would be to not run to the store for lettuce) is one of the motivators for cutting this post short at getting back to work on that (bloody) paper.

I've missed all of you and hoping that I can get caught up with your blogs soon (fat chance of that if you're going to whine about 'only' getting a 98.37%).

Somebody shut her up, will you?

29 Eylül 2012 Cumartesi

On The "Emunah" Jingle

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The jingle above for Emunah (a Dati-Leumi women's movement) has been playing on the radio for the last few weeks. I'll admit that I really like it - though probably for all the wrong reasons. The music of the jingle is quite simply -old fashioned. For some reason the "old fashioned" nature of the jingle conveys very well the picture of Emunah as nice charming grandmothers.

Rachel Corrie, Political Tourist - Modern Crusader

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Lee Smith explains:

Groups like the International Solidarity Movement, then, act as a sort of tour agency for a particular kind of Western adventurer, searching for a level of raw political engagement and ideological commitment that simply doesn’t exist in the United States. The obvious advantage that Israel offers is that, compared to the rest of the Middle East, it is relatively safe. Corrie herself implicitly acknowledged this fact when she walked into the middle of a war zone to mount a protest. No sensible person could similarly assume the mercies of, say, the Syrian regime were he to walk into the middle of that war zone to complain of government atrocities.

Branden O'neill adds:

Corrie’s cheerleaders – which includes actor Alan Rickman, who turned her writings into a hit play – seem unaware of how much their sanctification of Corrie echoes the old crusading Christian desire to save foreigners from wickedness. Corrie is treated as a uniquely good Westerner whose sole motivation was to “save” Palestinians, especially Palestinian children, from what Corrie herself described as Israel’s attempt to “erase” them. So one writer praises Corrie’s purity of soul, the fact that she eschewed “having a good time experimenting with drugs, booze and sex”, and even turned her back on her “Ivy League University”, in the name of travelling thousands of miles and “giving her life to save Palestinian homes and families”. Here, Corrie is turned into a kind of Christ-like figure, rejecting the shallow joys of Western privilege in favour of venturing into the desert to “give her life” for others.

On Comparing Israel Policy To Nazism

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David Hirsch:

BERLET: It seems that people who think of themselves as anti-racist and of some sort of progressive political bent have a hard time recognizing antisemitism, even if they recognize antisemitic statements they have a hard time seeing it in the same context of a broader global anti-racist struggle. Why do you think that is? HIRSH: I think people are very good at recognizing some kinds of antisemitism. If it wears a Nazi uniform they understand it, if it’s right-wing they understand it, if it’s some sort of very simple worldview of racism and anti-racism. If it comes from the left and it comes from people who are anti-racist, then there’s often much more difficulty in recognizing and understanding what’s going on. There [are] many reasons for that. One is that we think of antisemitism as being Nazism. Nazism was actually an unusual form of antisemitism; it was very clear, it allowed no exceptions; it allowed no escape for Jews. Most forms of antisemitism haven’t been like that., Christian antisemitism allowed people to convert to Christianity and therefore make themselves clean; also political antisemitism allowed Jews to put themselves on the right side of history. One of things we shouldn’t get too hung up on is the idea that antisemites are all like Adolph Hitler, because they’re not.

Professor Zimmerman demonstrates:

Rather, the heart of the matter is this: both cases, in 1938 and in 2012, involve heartlessness as to the fate of refugees. In both cases the refugees are stigmatized as "vermin" or "infiltrators." Both cases involve hairsplitting over the extent to which the lives of the refugees themselves are in danger. In October 1938, as now, the threat was not to the lives of German Jews but rather to their economic existence. It was only a few days later, after a member of one of the refugee families assassinated a German diplomat, that the resulting pogrom known as Kristallnacht took place, proving that there was indeed a danger to their lives.
One transgression leads to another. Germany and Poland could treat the unfortunate Jews who found themselves on the border in this manner because they had realized only a few months earlier, at the Evian Conference dealing with international aid to Jewish refugees from Germany, that other countries were indifferent to their fate. Hitler himself learned this lesson very well. Three months after the events of Zbaszyn he taunted the world: "If you care about the Jews so much, why are you not fighting over who will take them in?" Because he knew the answer, he pledged in that speech that the Jews would be destroyed in the next war.

Can Israeli behavior toward refugees on the Egyptian border be accepted, given the memory of 1938 etched into our consciousness? In 2012, this the matriculation exam in history for Israelis.

Spiderman Vs. Kippaman

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From the Times of Israel:

Marvel’s Spidey sense for copyright violations has stretched all the way to Jerusalem to ensnare a popular kippa maker in its web of lawsuits.
The comics publisher swung into action recently over the sale of products, notably skullcaps, featuring Spider-Man.
The company is suing the well-known Kippa Man shop for NIS 100,000 ($25,274) in damages because it sells a range of kippas featuring the red and blue superhero’s costume design and image, Maariv reported on Thursday.

A kippa is perhaps the most obvious sign of religious affiliation. As such one wonders how all those little boys (and hip American men) walking around with their Spiderman Kippot are now feeling, discovering that their head is adorned with an ongoing copyright violation?

Sidenote:
Given how widespread copyright violations are in Israel, I'm intrigued by why Marvel chose the tiny little store "Kippa Man" as their target.Though undoubtedly the best Kippah shop in Jerusalem (Full disclosure: I'm writing this with a "Kippa Man" Kippa on my head, though sadly without any superhero decoration) "Kippa Man" is two tiny stores that are little more than holes in the wall.

Philo of Alexandria on the "Festival of Trumpets"

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Philo of Alexandria (20BC-50AD) was a Jewish philosopher, whose writings were largely lost to mainstream Judaism. Part of the reason I find him so interesting is that he had first hand knoweldge of the temple. Here is his description of Rosh Hashana - The Eight Festival of the Year:

THE EIGHTH FESTIVAL
XXXI. (188) Immediately after comes the festival of the sacred moon; in which it is the custom to play the trumpet in the temple at the same moment that the sacrifices are offered. From which practice this is called the true feast of trumpets, and there are two reasons for it, one peculiar to the nation, and the other common to all mankind. Peculiar to the nation, as being a commemoration of that most marvellous, wonderful, and miraculous event that took place when the holy oracles of the law were given; (189) for then the voice of a trumpet sounded from heaven, which it is natural to suppose reached to the very extremities of the universe, so that so wondrous a sound attracted all who were present, making them consider, as it is probable, that such mighty events were signs betokening some great things to be accomplished. (190) And what more great or more beneficial thing could come to men than laws affecting the whole race? And what was common to all mankind was this: the trumpet is the instrument of war, sounding both when commanding the charge and the retreat. ... There is also another kind of war, ordained of God, when nature is at variance with itself, its different parts attacking one another. (191) And by both these kinds of war the things on earth are injured. They are injured by the enemies, by the cutting down of trees, and by conflagrations; and also by natural injuries, such as droughts, heavy rains, lightning from heaven, snow and cold; the usual harmony of the seasons of the year being transformed into a want of all concord. (192) On this account it is that the law has given this festival the name of a warlike instrument, in order to show the proper gratitude to God as the giver of peace, who has abolished all seditions in cities, and in all parts of the universe, and has produced plenty and prosperity, not allowing a single spark that could tend to the destruction of the crops to be kindled into flame.

Though in this text Philo does not mention any concept of "New Year" he does make a passing reference to it elsewhere. Weirdly, his universal interpretation for the Shofar ("Trumpets" which is how the Pentatauch translates it) is negative. We hear the trumpets - a sound of war - to give thanks to G-d for giving peace.

28 Eylül 2012 Cuma

ONE COULD TWITTER ONE'S LIFE AWAY

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@v@
0

Terry A.Travers,

Here's what's happening on Twitter

Stories

Search for Worcester head librarian reverts to traditional

After exploring the idea of tweaking the functions of the head librarian, a library board of directors subcommittee instead moved ahead tonight with advertising a more traditional approach to its search for a…

telegram.com · Tweet this story

Keller @ Large: How Many Will Watch Debate With An Open Mind?

It will be up to you to determine how well or poorly each candidate handled the question, how evasive they were or weren't.

boston.cbslocal.com · Tweet this story

Mauling victim wanted 'to be one' with Tiger

David Villalobos, 25, faces arrest after jumping into tiger's den at Bronx Zoo

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Tweeted by
NECN

Cell phone ad from 1989 is a hilarious 80's memory

In honor of the highly sought after iPhone 5's release this week, one YouTube video gives a nostalgic look back at when cellular phones were strapped to a box that resembles a roadside safety kit. Whi

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Tweeted by
FOX 25 News Boston

Obama's embassy cover story dissolves

???initialComments:true! pubdate:09/21/2012 12:11 EDT! commentPeriod:14! commentEndDate:10/5/12 12:11 EDT! currentDate:9/20/12 8:0 EDT! allowComments:true! displayComments:true! The Post Most: Opinions…

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Tweeted by
Worcester Tea Party

Tweets

		MASS STATE POLICE @MassStatePolice	21 Sep


		RT495S@213 in Methuen closed for fatal crash.Traffic is backed up for miles.1 on medflight. Road to be closed for hours.

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		Adam Harding @AdamHardingNews	22 Sep


		Police investigating bad crash in #quincy #7news pic.twitter.com/D1uXsuAS

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		Jeremy Reiner @jreineron7	22 Sep


		Dry next few hours. Showers in eastern New York will cross New England later this evening & overnight. #7news twitpic.com/axdg7c

		Retweeted by 7News and 1 others

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		Harvey Leonard @HarveyWCVB	22 Sep


		Here is an even better pic of the double rainbow over P-Town late Fri. aft'n. pic.twitter.com/5Kb0oZvP

		Retweeted by WCVB-TV Boston and 9 others

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		Emily Riemer @EmilyWCVB	22 Sep


		Can't get enough of what the Rover's up to! Pic is great MT @MarsCuriosity Stars & Stripes Forever on the Red Planet twitpic.com/awz668

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WHEN BILL CALLS TQ ANSWERS

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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Clinton
Date: Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 10:47 AM
Subject: Good morning
To: Terry Travers

I hope you'll pay attention, Terry.

We're facing a big FEC fundraising deadline -- after this, there's only one more before Election Day.

Here's why that matters: Your donation will go further now than it will next week. That's because it will immediately be put to use -- if your $5 (for example) goes toward hiring an organizer in Akron, Ohio, she'll have more time to do her job and reach more voters. And that's how elections are won.

I hope you'll donate $5 or more before the September fundraising deadline:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Deadline-September

Thanks for everything you do.

Bill Clinton

P.S. -- If you donate $5 or whatever you can today, you and a guest will be automatically entered to fly out to meet President Obama and me on the campaign trail.

No purchase, payment, or contribution necessary to enter or win. Contributing will not improve chances of winning. Void where prohibited. Entries must be received by September 28, 2012. You may enter by contributing to Obama for America here, by signing up for Quick Donate here, or click here to enter without contributing or signing up for Quick Donate. Two (2) winners will each receive the following prize package: round-trip tickets for winner and a guest from within the fifty U.S. States, DC, or Puerto Rico to a destination to be determined by Sponsor; hotel accommodations for winner and a guest; tickets for winner and a guest to two events of Sponsor; and the opportunity to meet with President Obama and President Clinton (approximate retail value of all prizes $3,200). Odds of winning depend on number of entries received. Promotion open only to U.S. citizens, or lawful permanent U.S. residents who are legal residents of 50 United States, District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and 18 or older (or age of majority under applicable law). Promotion subject to Official Rules and additional restrictions on eligibility. Sponsor: Obama for America, 130 E. Randolph St., Chicago, IL 60601.

Contributions or gifts to Obama for America are not tax deductible

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Cheat Sheet - Libyan Attackers Bragged to al Qaeda

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Today: Bo Xilai to 'Face Justice' , The Debate Expectations Game , 5 Dead in Office Shooting

	September 28, 2012

INTEL 1. Libya Attackers Bragged to al Qaeda

Conversations monitored by U.S. intelligence show Ansar al-Sharia jihadists boasted to al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb about the attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and others—more evidence the assault was not a spontaneous reaction to the anti-Muslim video. Eli Lake reports.

Read it at The Daily Beast Scandal 2. Bo Xilai to 'Face Justice'

Chinese politician Bo Xilai has been stricken from the country's ruling Communist Party, which has released a statement saying it would hand him over for investigation of the multiple crimes of which he stands accused. Bo was Communist Party leader in the southwestern city of Chongqing, where scandalous rumors have been flying around the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood. Bo's wife and former police chief have already been jailed for the scandal, and the new statement claims that the politician "abused his powers of office".

Read it at Reuters BRAGGART 3. The Debate Expectations Game

Obama's played it perfectly. But Romney's already botched it. The Daily Beast's Michelle Cottle on how Romney is talking himself up too much—and why he never should have abandoned the underdog tactic.

Read it at The Daily Beast SENSELESS 4. 5 Dead in Office Shooting

A Minneapolis man and shot and killed four former colleagues and himself on Thursday at what is believed to be his former company. Four other people were wounded, three critically. The victims' bodies were found shortly after officers arrived on Thursday afternoon, and Minneapolic Police Deputy Chief Kris Arneson said officers never fired at the shooter. A former employee said the gunman was an employee of the firm who had been laid off on Thursday morning. The shooter was known to police before the incident and, according to a source, police suspect he may have been targeting specific co-workers at Accent Signage in his shooting rampage.

Read it at NBC News Prison Break 5. Militants in Iraq Attack Prison

Iraqi security forces have taken back control of a Tikrit prison Friday morning after Iraqi militants seized control on Thursday night and caused a riot. The attack began when a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside Tasfirat prison, about 100 miles northwest of Baghdad, which soon led to clashes between militants and guards. In all, 12 guards were killed and 90 inmates were freed during the attack. The attackers reportedly made off with a police car and weapons taken from prison guards.

Read it at BBC News

Austerity
Greece Agrees to New Cuts
While France imposes toughest budget in 30 years. Show Me the Money
Soros to Give to Obama Super PAC
Despite his stance against them. COOKED
Chef Convicted of 2nd Degree Murder
Allegedly boiled his wife's body. Heist
Flea-Market Renoir: Stolen?
Painting disappeared from museum collection 60 years ago. FUN
NYC to Get World's Tallest Ferris Wheel
Ride will top current tallest by 84 feet.

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J.K. Rowling's New Book: For Adults Only

Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults comes out today. On this edition of NewsBeast, Malcolm Jones gives his review of 'The Casual Vacancy' while John Avlon and Lucas Wittmann bond over never having read the Potter books.