Archive for January 18th, 2006
 A hot bowl is chili is shown Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006 at the same Wendy’s restaurant in San Jose, Calif., where Anna Ayala and her husband, Jaime Plascencia, cooked up a scheme last March to plant a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili to extort money from the fast food chain. Both were sentenced to lengthy prison terms on Wednesday.
New York Times: Couple Sentenced to Prison for Wendy’s Chili Scheme
A state court judge sentenced a Las Vegas couple who admitted to planting a severed human finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili to lengthy prison terms Wednesday.
The couple, Anna Ayala and Jaime Placencia, pleaded guilty in September to planting the finger as part of an extortion scheme. Their story received heavy news coverage and briefly threatened a public relations nightmare for the fast food chain.
Ms. Ayala and Mr. Placencia apologized Wednesday in state court in San Jose. Mr. Placencia was sentenced to 12 years and 4 months, said his lawyer, Charles Kramer, and Ms. Ayala was sentenced to 9 years.
The judge, Edward J. Davila, also ordered the couple to pay about $21 million in restitution to Wendy’s.
The finger:
Police in San Jose, Calif., were investigating the possibility that Sandy Allman’s fingertip, above, which a leopard bit off in February, matched the finger that a Las Vegas woman says she found last month in her bowl of Wendy’s chili, below.
The criminals:
 Anna Ayala
 Anna Ayala, left, and her husband, Jaime Plascencia, right, exchange words after they were sentenced in a Santa Clara County Superior Court in a San Jose, Calif., courtroom, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006. Ayala and Plascencia, who cooked up a scheme last March to plant a severed finger in a bowl of Wendy’s chili to extort money from the fast food chain were sentenced to Wednesday. Ayala, 40, was sentenced to nine years and Plascencia was sentenced to more than 12 years. In center is an unidentified interpreter.
At the hearing Wednesday, The Associated Press reported, several Wendy’s employees testified, including the man who made the chili.
“I felt so bad for the fear of what people would think of me,” The A.P. quoted the chili maker, Hector Pineda, as saying. “We are the ones that have suffered.”
Now, it is time for these two MORONS to pay their debt back to society…….
David Boyd, the prosecutor on the case, said it was ironic that the publicity Ms. Ayala had courted to cover her claim resulted in a stiffer penalty because the it increased harm to Wendy’s business.
“She went on ‘Good Morning America’ with her attorney to say how horrible it was,” Mr. Boyd said. Her statement “actually had substantial impact on Wendy’s sales.” The authorities suspected a hoax early on. A test by the Santa Clara County coroner’s office concluded that the finger “was not consistent with an object that had been cooked in chili at 170 degrees for three hours,” as is the Wendy’s policy.
And police officers also were never able to verify contentions by Ms. Ayala and two relatives that she vomited after spitting out the detached finger. The officers found no vomit at the scene, the affidavit said.
Case closed.
Previous:
Guilty Pleas in Wendy’s Finger in Chili Case
What Wendy’s Learned in Finger Flap
Police Say They Know Source of Finger Found in Chili
Woman in Wendy’s finger case eager to face charges
Line at San Jose Wendy’s is Now Out the Door
San Jose Wendy’s Fans Not Knuckling Under to Finger Fiasco
Police Finger Woman and Say Wendy’s Finger a HOAX
Wendy’s Finger Finder Pinched
Technorati Tags: Wendy’s, Wendy’sChili, AnnaAyala, JaimePlacencia, Morons
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 Pakistani tribal villagers offer prayers at graves of people who were killed by U.S. strikes in Damadola on Saturday Jan 14, 2006 in the Pakistani tribal area of Bajour. Pakistani intelligence agents were hunting Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006 for the graves of four al-Qaida militants believed killed in a U.S. missile strike whose bodies were reportedly whisked away by their comrades who survived, officials said.
ASSociated Press: Reports: Airstrike Killed Top Militant
Pakistani intelligence agents hunted Wednesday for the graves of four al-Qaida militants believed killed in an airstrike near the Afghan border — including at least one suspected high-ranking al-Qaida figure.
ABC News and The New York Times reported that Pakistani officials believe a master bomb maker and chemical weapons expert for al-Qaida was killed in the attack on the village of Damadola last week. He was identified as Midhat Mursi, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, who ran an al-Qaida training camp and has a $5 million reward on his head.
 Midhat Mursi or AKA Abu Khabab al-Masri
Also killed, Pakistani officials believe, was Khalid Habib, the al-Qaida operations chief for Pakistan and
Afghanistan, ABC said. The Times, however, said officials were uncertain about whether he was killed.
The Times also reported that Pakistani officials believe Moroccan Abd al-Rahman al-Maghrebi, the son-in-law of al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri, and the man who ran the group’s propaganda in the region, was killed in the strike. ABC described al-Maghrebi as a senior operations commander.
The newspaper said an Egyptian chief of insurgent operations in a region near the airstrikes also was believed killed and an Egyptian associate of al-Zawahiri’s was possibly slain
Shame the CIA did not KILL Al-Zawahiri but the MORE Al Qaeda DEAD the BETTER.
America will get Al-Zawahiri eventually…….
Stay tuned for a developing story about the missing Al Qaeda bodies…….
Michelle Malkin: HIT: AL QAEDA’S BOMB MAKER
ABC News has learned that al Qaeda’s master bomb maker and chemical weapons expert was one of the men killed in last week’s U.S. missile attack in eastern Pakistan.
Midhat Mursi, 52, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, was identified by Pakistani authorities as one of three known al Qaeda leaders present at an apparent terror summit conference in the village of Damadola.
The United States had posted a $5 million reward for Mursi’s capture. He is described by U.S. authorities as the man who ran al Qaeda’s infamous Derunta training camp in Afghanistan, where he used dogs and other animals as subjects of experiments with poison and chemicals.
“This is extraordinarily important,” said former FBI agent Jack Cloonan, an ABC News consultant, who was the senior agent on the FBI’s al Qaeda squad. “He’s the man who trained the shoe bomber, Richard Reid and Zacharias Mousssaoui, as well as hundreds of others.”
Previous:
Global War on Terror Watch: Al-Zawahri ALIVE: Arabiya TV Citing Al Qaeda-linked Source
Global War on Terror Watch: Ayman al-Zawahiri Killed in Pakistan?
Technorati Tags: AlQaeda, Al-Zawahri, Pakistan, OsamaBinLaden, MidhatMursi, AbuKhababal-Masri
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 U.S. first lady Laura Bush, center, sits with Afoma Adigwe, President of Uplifting Women through Farming, left, and Hajia Bilkisu Yusuf of the Federation of Muslim Women Association of Nigeria at the National Center for Women’s Development in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006.
ASSociated Press: First Lady Assails Sen. Clinton for Remark
Laura Bush criticized Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday for suggesting that the Republican-controlled House is run like a plantation where dissenting voices are ignored.
“It think it’s ridiculous _ it’s a ridiculous comment,” Mrs. Bush told reporters when asked about the remark during a return flight to Washington following her four-day swing through West Africa.
Why, of course but the Democrats are running for cover and even defending her – like Obama here.
Clinton made the comment in Harlem at an event honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. She said the GOP was running the House “like a plantation” because ideas from the minority Democrats were not respected. The White House on Tuesday called the senator’s comments “way out of line.”
Hillary and the Democrats OWN the African-American vote and she/they will do anything to pander to this solid block of votes.
Pretty pathetic………
Previous:
Cox & Forkum: Hillary Clinton – House of Representatives Run Like a Plantation
Hillary Clinton Watch: House of Representatives Run Like a Plantation
Technorati Tags: HillaryClinton, AlSharpton, MartinLutherKingDay, plantation, HouseofRepresentatives
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 AEA flag in front of the International Atomic Energy Agency headquarters in Vienna. The UN atomic watchdog said it would hold an emergency meeting on Iran’s nuclear program but Tehran voiced confidence it would avoid referral to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Reuters: IAEA to hold emergency Iran meeting on Feb 2
The governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency will hold an emergency meeting on Iran’s nuclear work on Feb. 2 at the request of European Union powers, an IAEA spokesman said on Wednesday.
France, Britain, Germany and the United States are expected to push at the session to have Tehran referred to the U.N. Security Council after it resumed research that could be used for generating electricity or make atomic bombs.
The West suspects Iran is seeking a nuclear arsenal. Tehran says its goal is to better power an energy-hungry economy.
The “EU3″ group earlier on Wednesday began gauging the views of states on the IAEA’s 35-member board on a resolution asking that the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, report Iran to the Security Council.
That drew a dismissive response from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. “It is clear this is politically motivated,” he told reporters. “We are asking them to step down from their ivory towers and act with a little logic.”
Despite all of the bluster the IEAE will meet on February 2nd to decide whether to refer Iran to the United Nations Security Council.
Even if referred there is no guarantee that Russia or China would NOT use their veto power to block Iranian sanctions.
Michelle Malkin has Iran Watch:
Charles Krauthammer: The Iran Charade, Pt. II
Michael Ledeen: Do the Right Thing
Wretchard at The Belmont Club: The Coming of the Bomb. Wretchard links to the US Army Institute’s “Getting Ready for a Nuclear-Ready Iran.”
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Iran Nuclear Watch: Iran Scorns EU 3’s Draft Nuclear Resolution
Iran Nuclear Watch: France Rejects Iran’s Request for More Talks on Nuclear Program
Iran Nuclear Watch: European Union 3 Draft Resolution Opens Door to United Nations Security Council Sanctions
Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia and China Do NOT Support Sanctions Against Iran
The Iran Files
Technorati Tags: Iran, Russia, China, SergeiLavrov, UnitedNations, UnitedNationsSecurityCouncil, ZhouWenzhong, NicholasBurns, EuropeanUnion, MahmoudAhmadinejad, ManouchehrMottaki
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 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to the media, as Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki stands behind him, in Tehran, January 18, 2006.
Reuters: Iran scorns EU trio’s draft nuclear resolution
EU powers began circulating a draft resolution on Wednesday for a February 2 meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog asking it to report Iran to the Security Council, drawing scorn from Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency will hold an emergency meeting on Iran’s nuclear work at the request of European Union powers, an IAEA spokesman said.
France, Britain, Germany and the United States are expected to push to have Tehran referred to the U.N. Security Council after it resumed research that could be used for generating electricity or making atomic bombs.
France and Germany said the IAEA should send a signal to Iran that its decision to restart nuclear research was unacceptable.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin did not specify what action they expected the IAEA to take its February 2 meeting.
“There is the issue of whether it goes to the U.N. Security Council — this is a question that has to be answered,” Merkel said. “I think we have to think step by step, and above all send a signal to Iran that shows the international community won’t accept it if Iran doesn’t respect the commitments that are expected of it and the promises it has made.”
Villepin said a referral to the Security Council could not be excluded “today” but suggested the door remained open for further diplomacy.
Equivocation on behalf of the Europeans……so what else is new?
Now for the quotes from Irans President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“It is clear this is politically motivated,” the Iranian president said when asked about the text drafted by France, Britain and Germany, which diplomats said had so far only been seen by U.S. and EU officials.
“We are asking them to step down from their ivory towers and act with a little logic,” the 48-year-old leader told reporters.
The logic is that Iran and President Ahmadinejad want to develop a nuclear weapon and they will stall negotiations until they developed their processes to enrich uranium.
This is the logic.
What more is there to discuss?
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said there was “not much to talk about” and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana agreed.
Iran on Tuesday proposed more talks with the Europeans, who called off the negotiations last week after Tehran removed U.N. seals on uranium enrichment equipment.
Rice, speaking before talks with Solana in Washington, said the EU had made clear Iran had crossed an important threshold.
“Iran must not be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. It must not be allowed to pursue activities that might lead to a nuclear weapon and on that we are fully united,” she said.
More bluster and little substance from Iran.
Flap handicaps less than a 50 per cent chance this matter is referred to the United Nations Security Council after the IEAE meeting in early February.
Previous:
Iran Nuclear Watch: France Rejects Iran’s Request for More Talks on Nuclear Program
Iran Nuclear Watch: European Union 3 Draft Resolution Opens Door to United Nations Security Council Sanctions
Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia and China Do NOT Support Sanctions Against Iran
The Iran Files
Technorati Tags: Iran, Russia, China, SergeiLavrov, UnitedNations, UnitedNationsSecurityCouncil, ZhouWenzhong, NicholasBurns, EuropeanUnion, MahmoudAhmadinejad, ManouchehrMottaki
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 U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns speaks at a press conference, in Bombay, India, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006. Burns said Wednesday that the United States and key European powers along with Russia and China agree that Iran should suspend its nuclear program and return to negotiations.
ASSociated Press: France Rejects Iranian Request for Talks
France rejected Iran’s request for more talks on the Islamic republic’s nuclear program, saying Wednesday that Tehran first must suspend its atomic activities.
Iran asked for a ministerial-level meeting with France, Germany, Britain and the
European Union, but its decision to resume some uranium enrichment-related activities “means that it is not possible for us to meet under satisfactory conditions to pursue these discussions,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said in Paris.
“Iran must return to a complete suspension of these activities.”
U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns supported the idea that Iran should suspend its program and return to talks.
“There is a consensus that Iran should turn back, return to negotiations and suspend its nuclear program,” Burns told reporters in Bombay, India, during a South Asia tour. “But that’s not the path Iran is on now.”
But, the key to any sanctions is China who receives 20% of its oil from Iran.
Developing……
Previous:
Iran Nuclear Watch: European Union 3 Draft Resolution Opens Door to United Nations Security Council Sanctions
Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia and China Do NOT Support Sanctions Against Iran
The Iran Files
Technorati Tags: Iran, Russia, China, SergeiLavrov, UnitedNations, UnitedNationsSecurityCouncil, ZhouWenzhong, NicholasBurns, EuropeanUnion
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