"The 2009 Lexus ES 350 shot through suburban San Diego like a runaway missile, weaving at 120 miles an hour through rush hour freeway traffic as flames flashed from under the car.

At the wheel, veteran California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor desperately tried to control the 272-horsepower engine that was roaring at full throttle as his wife, teenage daughter and brother-in-law were gripped by fear.

"We?re in trouble.?.?.?. There?s no brakes," Saylor's brother-in-law Chris Lastrella told a police dispatcher over a cellphone. Moments later, frantic shrieks filled the car as it slammed into another vehicle and then careened into a dirt embankment, killing all four aboard.

The tragedy Aug. 28 was at least the fifth fatal crash in the U.S. over the last two years involving runaway Toyota and Lexus vehicles made by Toyota Motor Corp. It is also among hundreds of incidents of sudden acceleration involving the company's vehicles that have been reported to Toyota or the federal government, according to an examination of public records by The Times.

Toyota has blamed the incidents -- apart from those caused by driver error -- on its floor mats, asserting that if they are improperly installed they can jam open the accelerator pedal. A month after the Saylor crash, Toyota issued its biggest recall in company history, affecting 3.8 million vehicles in model years as far back as 2004. But auto safety experts believe there may be a bigger problem with Toyota vehicles than simply the floor mats." (latimes)

The 911 call.

"MAGUINDANAO PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES - NOVEMBER 24: The bodies of victims are recovered following the massacre of at least 46 kidnap victims on Monday in Ampatuan town, on November 24, 2009 in Maguindanao Province, Philippines. Around 100 gunmen are reported to have hijacked the party, including the wife, sister and other relatives of Buluan's Vice Mayor Esmael Mangudadatu, en route to filing election papers for candidate Mangudadatu ahead of next May's elections. Mangudadatu's wife, sister and family members, Armed Forces of the Philippines, civilians and at least 12 media personnel are thought to be amongst those killed in the attack, believed to be politically motivated. The Ampatuan clan, political rivals, are being blamed for the kidnap, mutilation, rape and murder of the victims." (daylife)

This is horrifying - especially the context is an election 6 months from now. The Vice Mayor himself was not in the convoy.

12 journalists were killed in this attack. I don't think we have heard this number of casualties in one event ever. This is a statement from Reporters without Borders

?We have often condemned the culture of impunity and violence in the Philippines, especially Mindanao. This time, the frenzied violence of thugs working for corrupt politicians has resulted in an incomprehensible bloodbath. We call for a strong reaction from the local and national authorities.?"

When you think of a "sex tourist", you probably think of a dirty old man in Asia, molesting young boys. As it turns out, these filthy old men now have some competition.

International organization "Defense for Children-EPCAT" is sounding the alarm bell for a disturbing new trend in the world of sex tourism - older women heading to Africa for the sole purpose of sex. (link)

"A view of Leh, the capital of the Ladakh region, often called Little Tibet."
India.

NYT

Flickr

"Amnesty International has accused Tajikistan of failing to protect its women, saying nearly half are raped, beaten or abused by their families.

http://www.healthreform.gov/index.html contains state by state breakdown on the current health insurance situation in the USA. It tells about the number of uninsured people, etc.

"For many women, the correlation between sex and snoring is one of those annoying facts of life: no matter when passionate encounters occur, men always seem to fall asleep immediately afterwards. Dave Zinczenko, the author of Men, Love and Sex: The Complete User Guide For Women, explained the phenomenon to Huffington Post writer Arianna Huffington this way: ?Men go to sleep because women don?t turn into a pizza.?"(scienceline)

"'Now, I should tell you, I should be honest, as President of the United States, there are times where I wish information didn't flow so freely because then I wouldn't have to listen to people criticizing me all the time. I think people naturally are -- when they're in positions of power sometimes thinks, oh, how could that person say that about me, or that's irresponsible, or -- but the truth is that because in the United States information is free, and I have a lot of critics in the United States who can say all kinds of things about me, I actually think that that makes our democracy stronger and it makes me a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don't want to hear. It forces me to examine what I'm doing on a day-to-day basis to see, am I really doing the very best that I could be doing for the people of the United States.'" (PBO)

Nov. 12th, New York Times:
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WASHINGTON ? The Federal Reserve announced new rules on Thursday that would sharply restrict banks and others that issue debit cards from charging overdraft fees without the express permission of the cardholder.

Advertisement on my gmail, Nov. 22nd:
=====================================
Bank of America � - www.BankofAmerica.com - Changing the Way Overdraft Fees Work. See How We're Helping.

"For many years, European soccer has looked east toward China, Hong Kong and Singapore hoping that the day would never dawn when its own sports were contaminated by match fixing on anything like the levels of Asia.

Events in Bochum on Friday killed that hope. There, at police headquarters in the heart of the industrial Ruhr Valley, law enforcement officials announced that 15 suspects in Germany and two in Switzerland were under arrest. This, apparently, is the tip of an iceberg. The police claim they have evidence implicating the corrupting of some 200 professional matches across nine central European countries during 2009 alone.

The suspect matches range from minor regional leagues in Germany to top Champions League and Europa League encounters, the two most glamorous club tournaments in the global sport.
" (NY Times)

Belle de Jour revealed. She turns out to be a PhD.