I don't know the source of this but it is brilliant . . . read & heed:


You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door. Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers. At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way. With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun. You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it. In the darkness, you make out two shadows.

One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire. The blast knocks both thugs to the floor. One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside. As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble.

In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few that are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless. Yours was never registered. Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died. They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession of a Firearm. When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter.

"What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask.

"Only ten-to-twelve years," he replies, as if that's nothing. "Behave yourself, and you'll be out in seven."

The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper. Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men you shot are represented as choirboys. Their friends and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them. Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times. But the next day's headline says it all: "Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die." The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters. As the days wear on, the story takes wings. The national media picks it up, then the international media. The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.

Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll probably win. The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and that you've been critical of local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the suspects. After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege that you were lying in wait for the burglars.

A few months later, you go to trial. The charges haven't been reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works against you. Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean, vengeful man. It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of all charges.

The judge sentences you to life in prison.

This case really happened.

On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk , England , killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term.

How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great British Empire ?

It started with the Pistols Act of 1903. This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns.

Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.

Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed Man with a Kalashnikov rifle, walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw. When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.

The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control", demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)

Nine years later, at Dunblane , Scotland , Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.

For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable, or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later,sealed the fate of the few sidearms still owned by private citizens.

During the years in which the British government incrementally took away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism. Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun. Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.

Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law into their own hands."

All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.

When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local authorities. Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply. Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens.

How did the authorities know who had handguns? The guns had been registered and licensed. Kinda like cars.

Sound familiar?

WAKE UP AMERICA , THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.

"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."

--Samuel Adams

CONVERSATION WITH EIGHT

This week I had a very interesting conversation with eight young soldiers in their twenties - two Hispanics, (one male / one female, married w/2 kids) and six white (one female, single). Each one of them had joined the Army after September 2001.

The situation was a non-traditional military training environment; because of my professional experience and qualifications I serve as a consultant in a very intense action-oriented training program with an academic / informational aspect. I introduced myself with a brief introduction, my experience and credentials. As we spoke of our backgrounds and beliefs, in time each of these young soldiers revealed that they had voted for Obama, because he represented change.

I pointed out the support Obama enjoys in the Arab world, how in some circles he was referred to as the “Hamas Candidate”. Of course the situation in the Middle East is of great interest amongst soldiers these days. Somehow the phrase “jihad” came out into the conversation; I took the opportunity to ask these young soldiers, “Does anybody here know what the word ‘jihad’ actually means?”

Shrugs all around. Despite a surprising handle on basic Arabic amongst the group, nobody seemed to know what the word ‘jihad’ actually meant.

“It means ‘the struggle’,” I explained, “This word is usually understood to mean a Muslim ‘Holy War’, against the infidels, or non-believers of Mohammed, although a more legitimate meaning of the word is the Muslim’s requirement to struggle in the way of Allah, or God – not necessarily military combat.”

“The term ‘mujahideen’ comes from the word ‘jihad’ – one who is involved in jihad,” I continued. They had all heard of mujahideen; the Muslim terrorist enemy. The opportunity had just presented itself for an interesting point. “Can anybody tell me what they call us?”

“Crusaders . . .”

“That’s right,” I replied, “Does anyone here know what the Crusades are, or were?”

Incredibly enough, nobody spoke up.

A certain memory came flooding back, from my time in the Mahgreb.
It was in the house of one of my Moorish hosts, a mud hut, we were sitting on carpets drinking tea and enduring the heat. The strife between the Western countries and the Arab world was the subject of the afternoon’s conversation.

The Moors spoke in Hassaniya Arabic dialect amongst themselves, with some French thrown in, then they’d turn to me and we’d speak French. I understood the Crusades had made their way into the conversation when the Moor Moktar mentioned le grand Roi français Louis. I asked, did he know who the Crusaders were? Moktar nodded and indicated on his chest a cross, like the Crusader knights used to wear on their cassocks.

There was agreement when I said that the Arabs seem to feel they are still fighting the Crusader wars; a general sentiment exists amongst the Arabs that Israel - “the Jewish State” - is actually a modern Crusader foothold in the land of Palestine. It surprised my Moor hosts when I said that most Americans don’t even know what the Crusades are.

This was before September 2001. At that time, most Americans paid very little attention to the sentiments of the Arab world. Return to 2008, and my conversation with the post-9/11 “Army Strong” generation; it was obviously time for Everything You Wanted to Know About the Crusades in 5 Minutes or Less:

“The Crusades were a series of wars, starting way back in the collective insanity known as Dark Ages. The West, mostly France because that was the only country around back in those days, sent Christian armies - Crusaders - over to the sand countries, to re-take the Holy Land from the Muslims . . .

“. . . The Crusaders took Jerusalem, and held on to a cluster of Crusader Kingdoms in what is now Israel, Lebanon and Syria, for over a hundred years. But the Crusaders weren’t really very nice people; they weren’t the heroes they’re often portrayed in books and in the movies. They were quite indiscriminate about killing, and they killed in the hundreds and in the hundreds of thousands. They killed Arabs, Jews and anybody else who got in their way – to include other Christians.

“Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “Kill Them All, Let God Sort Them Out?”

“Oh, yeah!”

“Hoo-ah!”

“Kick Ass!”

“A French bishop said this, around the year 1200, during a Crusade that spun out of control in southern France. He was concerned some heretics would masquerade as Catholics to escape death. Around 10,000 were massacred that day. No Muslims were involved, on either side.”

Absolute silence.

“My point is it might behoove you to bone up on some cultural information, to increase your situational awareness before you go downrange. Think about it; we’re involved in a war the enemy calls a jihad. The same enemy refers to us Crusaders – now you know the significance of that – and our new President’s middle name is Hussein.”

Surely I am not the only one who senses some kind of terrific irony going on here?

Shilpa in upbeat mood with her 'Rajasthan Royals'

As IPL is about to start, Cape Town could see some well known faces of Bollywood, gorgeous Shilpa Shetty, bubbly Preity Zinta and enthusiastic Shahrukh with their respective team. At a star-studded parade, 8 teams paved their ways though the busy streets of Cape Town waving hands to their fans from an open-air bus. Along with the players, the team owners, and franchisees were seen in full masti mood. Shilpa who was not part of the last year IPL was seen smiling and responding to the fans.

The ‘Rajasthan Royals’ that was devoid of any glitz and glamour last year have Shilpa this time and the players were also seen quite excited about their new innings. Shilpa with her businessman boyfriend, Raj Kundra won the ‘Rajasthan Royals’ with high strake. Shane Warne and last year's star performer Swapnil Asnodkar and other team members accompanied Shilpa.

Shilpa is doing all the needful for her team and her video ‘Halla Bol’ is picking up the pace.



courtesy : Bollywoodmantra.com

Asin, Genelia fight over Orange

Two new hot sensations of Bollywood hailed from South, Asin and Genelia D’Souza are fighting over India’s biggest orange soft drink market- South India as who will endorse the product.

Asin has been endorsing Mirinda for the last three years, while Genelia is Fanta brand ambassador. Tamilnadu alone accounts 25 percent of the total orange soft drink market in the country and the rivalry between PepsiCo and Coca Cola India over South Orange market has turned bitter.

Says a leading Chennai based brand consultant, “Asin and Genelia are big in Bollywood today after Ghajini and Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na respectively. They have already become national brand ambassadors for their respective brands. But the winner in the orange war will be decided by who wins in Tamilnadu, the biggest market for orange soft drink in the country.”

Asin’s two new television commercials with the theme 'Mirinda Kannu, Konjam Galatta Pannu' is very popular among the audience and Genelia too is excited to be associated with fanta.

Now who will endorse the Orange soft drink, Asin or Genelia is the current issue of the soft drink company.


courtesy : Bollywoodmantra.com

Neil drops his pant, goes complete naked

Neil Nitin Mukesh after getting rave reviews for his last release ‘Aa Dekhen Zara’ is putting extra effort to make sure that his next release Madhur Bhandarkar’s ‘Jail’ look more realistic and receive good comments. In one of the jail scene, Neil drops his pant and goes complete nude.

Madhur portrays realism in his film and for one of the crucial scene in ‘Jail’, he wanted Neil to go complete nude. It’s a demand of the film and Neil followed his word and portrayed the scene flawlessly and it is considered to be one of the most beautiful scenes of the film that would shock the audience.

At first Neil was bit hesitant to go complete nude in front of the cast and the crew but later he went ahead and fulfilled the director’s demand. To make him comfortable, Madhur made sure that only he and cinematographer were present while filming the shot.

The scene speaks about prison authorities torturing Neil by asking him to strip.



courtesy : Bollywoodmantra.com

Sunny Leone

Sunny Leone was born May 13, 1981 in Ontario, Canada. As a child Sunny loved her Canadian winters playing in the snow with her friends, building snowmen, or ice skating at the closest lake. Sunny was a very active child she loved to play sports with the boys and was always dancing around the house and singing her favorite tunes. All this came to an end in the summer of 1996 when Sunny got the terrible news that she and her family were moving to California. Sunny packed up all her stuff and sadly said goodbye to all her friends and started her journey to "Sunny California. The Leone family headed to California in their rented U-haul to start their new life with Sunny crying and pouting the whole way. Arriving in California Sunny started her sophomore year in high school, which was very devastating to the little Canadian, the girls weren't as nice and the boys wanted to play games Sunny wasn't accustomed to back home. She, of course, missed all her friends and family back home, but what she missed most was the change of seasons, the color of the leaves changing, the fluffy white snow, and the cool Canadian summers. During high school Sunny Leone had about every kind of after school job you can think of, whether it was decorating birthday cakes at a bakery close to her house, or changing oil at Jiffy Lube. Sunny worked her butt off to enjoy the California lifestyle like the rest of her friends and classmates. After graduating high school in 1999 she started taking classes at a local Junior college where she met a girl that told her that she should model, the girl gave her a number to a agency and Sunny soon found out that it wasn't a regular modeling agency, it was an agency for Adult entertainment. It is unusual for a woman of Indian background to enter the adult field, but Sunny's curiosity lead her to achieve one of the highest honors in adult modeling, in January 2001 Sunny found out that she was going to be Penthouse Pet of March 2001. Since her Penthouse issue's been out, Sunny's done a number of appearances and conventions across the United States, including an interviewer for E!'s Wild On, introducing other adult industry performers for VH1, and a red carpet reporter for the “After Dark” program coverage of the Sundance Film Festival, and loves every bit of her new career. In January 2003, Sunny Leone was given her title as Penthouse Pet of the Year. Sunny Leone currently plays on a women's soccer league team in California whenever she has a moment. She also likes to ride horseback English style and is a fan of opera, rap music and both Italian and Indian food.

Priyanka, Shahid’s relationship on the rock!

Shahid Kapur who is hitting the headlines for his most publicized relationship with Priyanka Chopra is making news again for his break-up. It is known that he had a fall out with Piggy Chops due to her extrovert and party nature. He used to induce his principles on Priyanka which she doesn’t like at all. Therefore Shahid overprotective nature is assumed to have created hole in their relationship.

Shahid’s birthday party marked the beginning of their tussle where Priyanka Chopra was totally absorbed in her vodka despite Shahid’s objection. Shahid, a staunch follower of Radhasoami is not in the favor of drinking and partying.

It is even said that Shahid’s forceful act on Priyanka to follow vegetarian and perform yoga is the cause of Priyanka’s ill health.

Whatever, the duo is trying hard to keep their differences under wrap as their much awaited flick ‘Kaminay’ is about to hit the theatre. Post the release of the film the actual picture of their relationship will be known. Now they are trying to stick together.


courtesy : Bollywoodmantra.com