Hillary Clinton in a Lesbian Sex Scandal with aide Huma Abedin?

Source: http://www.pollsb.com/polls/poll/3584/hillary-clinton-in-a-lesbian-sex-scandal-with-aide-huma-abedin





Nov 6th, 2007

At first it seemed to be just another vicious little rumour started by Village Voice editor Michael Musto back in August - but now, what started as an unfounded piece of gossip is starting to get credible confirmation from various reputable DC sources (albeit off the record of course...) Hillary Clinton has been having a lesbian affair with her top female aide, the sexy Huma Abedin. This would not be the first time that Hillary has been accused of being a lesbian, however this rumour would be the first to be backed by so many high-level reputable sources. Amongst those corroborating the story of Hilary's lesbian affair, is highly respected journalist and author Ron Rosenbaum. In his October 30 article “Shocking Inside DC Scandal Rumor: A Media Ethics Dilemma” Rosenbaum said the Los Angeles Times has a story “wrapped up and ready to go about what is a potentially devastating sexual scandal involving a leading Presidential candidate” and they are currently ’sitting on it’ because the paper can't decide “the complex ethics of whether and when to run it.” Although Rosenbaum didn’t name Clinton specifically there is enough evidence that she is in fact the target of his accusation. So what do you think? Hillary Clinton a Lesbian? 1st ever Lesbian president? Maybe she just wants to even the score with Bill by also sleeping with a female aide!

Hillary Clinton in a Lesbian Sex Scandal with aide Huma Abedin?

2008 Candidate Anagrams

Joyce Comments: The prime anagram for 'Hillary Rodham Clinton' is 'Damn Chilly Iron Harlot'. Interesting and telling.

Source: http://chriscarlisle.net/ds/?p=97

Tada! Maniac Dangers (Candidate Anagrams)

(In the upcoming presidential primary season, there will be numerous articles that provide in depth coverage and analysis on the many campaigns vying for their respective party’s nomination. There will be examples of hard hitting journalism that expose scandals, point out inaccuracies, and otherwise help shape the landscape of the 2008 presidential election. There will be articles that could possibly elevate a long shot to legitimate candidate status or even serve as the iceberg to an otherwise unsinkable front runner.

Yes, there will be many important articles this presidential primary season. There will also be fluff pieces. The following is a fluff piece.)

Anagrams! Everyone loves them. Well maybe not everyone, but some. Okay, technically there’s just this one guy (Frank something or other) who is really, really fond of them. Pretty much everyone else is indifferent.

An anagram is a word game in which the letters of a word or phrase are rearranged to spell other words using all of the original letters. The goal of the anagrammist is to rearrange the letters so that they form a phrase that provides a reflection on the original subject. Some good examples of such anagrams include The Morse Code (Here Come Dots), Mother-in-law (Woman Hitler), Slot Machines (Cash Lost In ‘Em), George Bush (He bugs Gore), and The United States Bureau of Fisheries (I Raise the Bass to Feed Us in the Future).

In an attempt to reinvent myself as a “serious political analyst”, I thought it might be fun to run some of the presidential candidates names through the Internet Anagram Server (I, Rearrange Servant) to see if any of their anagrams produced humorous or otherwise insightful perspective on their political aspirations.

Not all of the anagrams I found provided any discernible reflection of the candidate’s career in politics, or at least not in the eyes of this serious political analyst. No, these first ones were just too fun to pass up, so I’m throwing these out for your enjoyment.

Barack Obama = Maraca Kabob

I’m not sure what hollowed out gourd rattles spliced together on a savory hickory stick roasted over an open fire have to do with Senator Obama’s political views, but it is really fun to say.

Rudolph Guiliani = I Rig Dolphin Luau

Perhaps it’s a nod to the time he spent as a district attorney fighting organized crime? Of course, that’s assuming one of his cases involved a sting on the black market dolphin trade for entertainment at mobster luaus.

John McCain = In Conch Jam

I’m not sure if this refers to getting stuck in traffic on a gastropod expressway or being submerged in a vat of conch preserves, but I’m certain this has nothing to do with Senator McCain’s campaign. Besides, the phrase “conch jam” makes me want to wash my hands.

John Edwards = D’oh! Jaws Nerd

A perfect match if the former senator is a fan of Spielberg’s shark tale. Alas, John has yet to mention Jaws as one of his favorite films. I did try contacting his campaign for clarification, I just didn’t try very hard.

Bill Richardson = Lord’s Chili Barn

Sure, Gov Richardson is both Catholic and of Hispanic heritage, but this phrase seems better fitted for describing a chain of evangelical soup restaurants rather than the two term governor from New Mexico.

Dennis Kucinich = I ID Nun’s Chicken

He claims that he saw a UFO, so perhaps picking a nun’s chicken out of a lineup isn’t too far fetched.

While the first batch were just for humor’s sake, this second set of anagrams does seem to provide some insight to their namesake. While these probably aren’t as funny as the first set, they’re still pretty interesting.

Ron Paul = Lunar Op

Ron Paul is the favored candidate of internet spambots who skew pretty much every online poll where Ron’s name is mentioned to his favor. But as far as polling of actual humans, Ron is trailing the ever popular candidate “Unsure” and running neck and neck with “Other”. Sure, there’s still time for Ron to turn things around, but it’s going to take an out of this world effort to do so. Oh, and some of his supporters are lunatics. I didn’t say all. Some.

Mitt Romney = Memory Tint

There must be something in that Massachusetts water. Like ‘04 candidate John Kerry, Gov. Romney has also been dogged by his rival Republicans of being a flipflopper on certain issues.

Joe Biden = I Need Job

In all honesty, Joe really doesn’t need the job of POTUS. He’s been a Senator longer than I’ve been alive and generally wins re-election with 60% of the vote. Although his senatorial seat is safe, at age 64 his presidential biological clock is ticking.

Fred Thompson = Depths of Norm

In his ads thus far, Fred has tried to cast himself as the everyman good ol’ boy type. He’s the guy you’d invite over for supper, or to help you with your horse that’s thrown a shoe. He’s just your normal, average, everyday joe, who also happens to be running for President.

The following are the two gems of the bunch. These are the ones you’re most likely to see on an email forward over the coming months. They’re also the ones I’ll probably receive the most flak about. Remember, I’m doing my journalistic duty to report the facts (those facts being anagrams), so don’t shoot the messenger. So without further ado, here are the grand prize winners:

Mike Huckabee = Meek Hick Beau

Gov. Huckabee is from Arkansas. You know who else came from Arkansas? Jed Clampett. Even though Mike has garnered the support of action star Chuck Norris (and even though I risk receiving a roundhouse boot to the back of the head for writing this), Huckabee’s chances of gaining the Republican nod are pretty meek at this point.

Hillary Rodham Clinton = Damn Chilly Iron Harlot

I’m not touching this one. Instead, I’ll just sit back and watch my email inbox to burst into flames from all the angry missives about to be lobbed my way. It should be lots of fun. Feel free to stick around, I plan on roasting maraca kabobs over the flames.

Cassidy murder fugitive held in Miami; cousin charged with aiding his escape

Cassidy murder fugitive held in Miami; cousin charged with aiding his escape

Posted on Tue, Nov. 6, 2007

By Barbara Boyer, Joseph A. Slobodzian and Andrew Maykuth

INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS

Police in Florida apprehended fugitive John Lewis at dawn today at a homeless shelter in downtown Miami, ending a dramatic multistate dragnet for the man wanted in the killing of Philadelphia Police Officer Chuck Cassidy.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson said authorities were tipped off that Lewis was staying at the Miami Rescue Mission after local television broadcast photos of the 21-year-old suspect.

At midday, five Philadelphia police investigators boarded a flight to Miami to retrieve the suspect. Observing a police tradition, the detectives tucked Cassidy's crome handcuffs in their belongings, which they plan to use to bring the suspect north to face prosecution here.

Lewis faces a charge that he murdered Cassidy last week when the officer was shot in the head after interrupting an armed robbery at a West Oak Lane Dunkin' Donuts.

"Now that the killer is in custody, the wheels of justice will begin to turn, and we will use all of our resources to bring this defendant to justice," District Attorney Lynne Abraham said in a statement.

Authorities this afternoon charged a cousin of Lewis with obstruction of justice and hindering arrest. Police said the cousin, Hakim Glover, 29, put Lewis on a bus for Florida on Saturday, allowing the suspect to escape only minutes before police closed in on his mother's home on Roosevelt Boulevard.

Miami Police Chief John Timoney, the former commissioner in Philadelphia, said Philadelphia police alerted him yesterday afternoon after they learned that the suspected killer had fled to Florida. Timoney set up a task force to hunt the fugitive down and enlisted Miami television stations to broadcast a mugshot of the suspect.

Terri Ramos, a spokeswoman for the shelter, said the man identified as Lewis arrived yesterday afternoon, saying he had just arrived in town on a Greyhound Bus.

Ramos said he was dressed in a yellow jacket and gave his name as Akim Melvin Atwell, but he volunteered little else about his background or where he had come from.

Ramos said Atwell spent a quiet night at the 220-bed shelter and interacted with some of the 150 men now staying there.

Shortly after 6 a.m. today, Ramos said, a male staffer at the center saw Lewis' image on the morning news.

"He said, 'I think that's the guy I saw yesterday,'" Ramos said.

Ramos said the staffer – whom she would not identify -- was struck by the hair plaits on the televised image of the suspect and the fact that Atwell's hair had a "wild look" as if he had recently loosened plaits in his hair.

While police were alerted, Ramos said the staff lured the suspect into the chapel on the pretense of attending morning prayers. When Miami-Dade police arrived, the man was told he was needed in the lobby.

"He went very submissively," said Ramos.

"I'm sorry," arresting officers quoted Lewis as saying.

Ramos said the shelter this morning was overwhelmed with television camera crews. "Now we're in the middle of a media frenzy," she said.

The arrest ends an extraordinary manhunt for the man who allegedly gunned down the officer during a botched armed robbery.

"In the city of Philadelphia, we do not stand for this kind of violence, nor do we stand for this kind of violence against our police department," Mayor John F. Street said at a news conference this morning."

"Law enforcement has no boundaries," Johnson said at the news briefing. He thanked federal authorities as well as Miami police for making an all-out effort to apprehend the suspected killer of a law enforcement officer. He also thanked the media for publicizing the suspect's image.

"When a law enforcement officer is killed, it's the entire law enforcement community that suffers because of that," he said.

Lewis will face an extradition hearing in Miami before authorities can return him to Philadelphia.

Homicide Sgt. William Britt, who is among five detectives en route to Miami this afternoon, said Lewis likely would return to Philadelphia tomorrow at the earliest if he does not try to fight his extradition.

Cassidy's family, preparing for his funeral at noon tomorrow, expressed gratitude through a spokesman.

"We are extremely appreciative of the hard work of the Philadelphia Police Department during the past week and are grateful as well for the efforts of the police officers in Miami," the family said in a prepared statement.

For elated Philadelphia police officers, who had worked around the clock searching for the suspect since Cassidy's shooting Wednesday morning, the news of the arrest came on the day that that Cassidy's funderal visitation services are scheduled.

"This is the happiest sad day that I've had in a long time," said Sgt. Tim Cooney, a member of the task force created to catch Cassidy's killer.

"We worked long and hard on this," Cooney said, saying that the homicide task force had worked closely wtih officers in 35th District, where Cassidy worked, and North Division Detectives.

Homicide Detective Greg Singleton, another member of the task force, said exhausted investigators could finally take a break.

"I felt relieved that this guy was caught and we can finally put this thing to rest," said the detective.

The arrest caps an intensive manhunt that involved hundreds of Philadelphia police officers and federal law enforcment agencies.

Investigators were disappointed yesterday to learn that Lewis, an Olney High School dropout who had worked at other Dunkin' Donuts outlets, had managed to escape the city while police were hot on his trail. Today they charged his cousin, Glover, with helping the suspect to escape.

Police said they learned of Lewis' bus trip yesterday when they raid Glover's house on the 3800 block of North Franklin Street, where they recovered two guns - one of them the slain officer's 9 mm Glock semiautomatic.

Glover was initially uncooperative, authorities said. During questioning, he ultimately disclosed that he had taken Lewis to the bus station in Wilmington and that he had a ticket to Miami. But by that time, the bus had already arrived in Miami at 10:45 p.m. Sunday.

Police were uncertain Lewis was in Miami or had disembarked at any of the numerous stops between Wilmington and Florida.

"We had FBI agents and law enforcement all over the place," said Philadelphia Homicide Capt. Michael Costello. "And we had them everywhere in between here and Miami."

Costello said others may be charged in connection with Lewis' run for freedom.

Before police were tipped off to Lewis' identity on Saturday, the suspect appeared to be conducting himself normally and in the open.

Rather than conceal himself in the days following Cassidy's killing, Lewis actually strolled into the Criminal Justice Center on Friday to attend a pre-arranged court hearing related to his arrest on June 14 for drug possession, a court official said today.

While the city was on the lookout for a suspect with spider web tattoo on his hand -- police later dismissed that description after they identified Lewis -- the suspect walked past dozens of law enforcement officers who were attending various hearings at the Center City complex.

After he was ordered to reappear in court in January and left the courthouse, Lewis literally slipped unscathed through the hall of justice.

Authorities confirmed yesterday through a bus driver that Lewis had taken a bus to Miami. Police said they had learned that a relative had purchased a bus ticket for the 30-hour ride to Miami over the weekend for Lewis.

Two handguns that police said were linked to the slaying were recovered yesterday afternoon from the house of Lewis' cousin, Glover. While one was the officer's 9mm Glock semiautomatic, stolen when he was gunned down, the second was not the firearm reported missing by Lewis' mother, Lynn Dyches, a corrections officer in the Philadelphia Prison System. Police initially suspected that the mother's gun may have been used in the slaying.

Cassidy, a 25-year police veteran, was shot Wednesday after walking into a Dunkin' Donuts in West Oak Lane as it was being robbed. He died the next day.

An arrest warrant was issued early Sunday. "Lewis expressed a desire not to be captured," according to a federal affidavit filed in support of the arrest warrant.

Police as well as Lewis' relatives had put out a public appeal for him to surrender, and police said they had pressured Lewis' known associates to turn him in.

The warrant, which suggested that Lewis might intend to flee to Maryland, said that two witnesses identified the suspect. It also said that Lewis' family indicated he was "responsible" for Cassidy's killing.

Authorities had offered a reward, which grew in the last few days to $153,000, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Cassidy's killer.

Dozens of law enforcement officers last night raided a neighborhood close to the Dunkin' Donuts where Cassidy was shot. They searched an apartment complex at 70th Avenue and North Broad Street.

An informal memorial of flowers, stuffed animals and tributes continued to pile up outside the doughnut shop at 6620 N. Broad St.

The Dunkin' Donuts owner mounted a plaque at the memorial, noting that the shop would remain closed until after Cassidy's funeral tomorrow out of respect to the officer who regularly stopped in at the shop as part of his security rounds.

Suspect in Philly cop killing caught

Suspect in Philly cop killing caught

51 minutes ago



PHILADELPHIA - A suspect in the slaying of a police officer during a robbery at a doughnut shop was apprehended early Tuesday at a shelter in Florida, police said.

Investigators began looking in Florida after receiving reports that John Lewis, 21, had boarded a bus for Miami during the weekend.

Officer Chuck Cassidy, 54, died Thursday, a day after a gunman shot him in the head when Cassidy interrupted an armed robbery at a Dunkin' Donuts.

Witnesses have said a gunman went into the shop and demanded money just before the policeman opened the door. The man then spun around and shot Cassidy before the officer could react, they said.

Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson has said one of two weapons officers recovered Monday at a Philadelphia home may be the weapon used to kill Cassidy.

A private viewing for Cassidy was scheduled Tuesday, with a public viewing and funeral service scheduled downtown on Wednesday.

Cassidy was the third Philadelphia police officer to be shot in four days. The other two officers survived.

Fabulous Moolah passes away

Fabulous Moolah passes away

Written: November 3, 2007

WWE is saddened by the passing of Lillian Ellison, who was known to sports-entertainment fans as Hall of Famer Fabulous Moolah. She passed away last night in Columbia, S.C.

In the world of women’s wrestling, there will always be one irrefutable legend that stands head and shoulders above the rest: The Fabulous Moolah. She was the longest reigning champion in the history of her chosen sport, or any sport for that matter. And with more than 50 years in the business to her credit, she established a legacy that will never be forgotten, making her name synonymous with female wrestling.

WWE.com will have more on Fabulous Moolah as it becomes available.

Ford, UAW reach tentative contract deal

Ford, UAW reach tentative contract deal

By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer
1 hour, 50 minutes ago

DETROIT - The United Auto Workers union said early Saturday it reached a tentative four-year contract agreement with Ford Motor Co., avoiding even the threat of a strike against the struggling automaker.

The deal, reached around 3:20 a.m., must be ratified by the UAW's approximately 54,000 members covered by the contract at Ford. If approved, it would bring a close to historic negotiations that have yielded agreements designed to return U.S.-based automakers to profitability.

Details of the Ford agreement were not immediately released, but the deal likely will be close to what was negotiated with General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.

Those pacts — which were reached after short strikes against the automakers — include a union-run trust that would take over the companies' retiree health care obligations, a lower-tier wage scale for some workers and some job security pledges.

In a statement, Ford confirmed that the deal includes the retiree health care trust fund and said the trust is subject to approval by the courts and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Though we will not discuss the specifics of the tentative agreement until after it becomes final, we believe it is fair to our employees and retirees, and paves the way for Ford to increase its competitiveness in the United States," Joe Laymon, Ford's group vice president for human resources and labor affairs, said in the statement.

Ford is financially the weakest of the Detroit Three automakers, having lost more than $12 billion last year. The company has mortgaged its assets — including its blue oval logo — to fund turnaround efforts.

The deal came after a bargaining session that lasted more than 41 hours inside the automaker's world headquarters building in Dearborn.

"Our bargaining committee came through for our active and retired members," UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said in a statement.

The deal encourages Ford to invest in its products while addressing the economic needs of union members, Gettelfinger's statement said.

"We face enormous challenges — and we also have enormous potential," UAW Vice President Bob King said in the statement. King, the chief union negotiator with Ford, said the union's goals were to win new product and investment from the company, get job security and protect seniority rights.

"We made progress in all these areas," he said.

People who had been briefed on the bargaining late Friday said that throughout the lengthy negotiating session, bargainers were weighing the UAW's demand for promises that new vehicles will be built at U.S. factories against the company's desire to further downsize its manufacturing capacity to match lower demand for its products.

The people did not want to be identified because the talks are private.

One of the people said Ford wanted to reduce its U.S. hourly work force by another 13,000 employees through additional buyout and early retirement programs. The union wanted the company to spare from closure some of the six factories that it intends to shutter, both people said.

Ford already has announced its intent to shut down 16 factories as part of a restructuring plan. The company has identified 10 of the closures, but has yet to announce the remaining six. The closures are to be fully completed by 2012.

If more workers leave, some of them could be replaced by so-called "noncore" employees who would be paid on a lower wage scale, starting around $14 per hour. An average Ford hourly worker made $28.88 per hour in 2006, according to the company. The change would help make Ford more competitive with its Japanese rivals that have U.S. factories.

Going into this year's contract talks, U.S.-based automakers said they had about a $25-per-hour total labor cost gap when compared with the Japanese.

Negotiators also were haggling over the level of financing for a union-run trust that would take over Ford's retiree health care obligations and the number of workers who will get the lower wages. The UAW agreed to the health care trusts and the lower wages in contracts that were already approved at General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC.

The UAW called short strikes against GM and Chrysler as a way to speed negotiations.

Ford's four-year contract with the UAW expired Sept. 14 but had been extended while negotiations continued.

Depending on its features, the contract may face a tough ratification vote at Ford because of Chrysler's actions on Thursday to cut 8,500 to 10,000 hourly jobs and 2,100 salaried jobs through 2008, or about 15 percent of its work force.

Thursday's layoffs came less than a week after Chrysler workers ratified a new four-year deal with the company that had job security guarantees at many plants at least for the life of the contract.

Under the new Chrysler contract, workers will get about 95 percent of their pretax pay for 48 weeks, then would go into a "jobs bank" for up to two years if there are no jobs open in the company. After the two years, the UAW and Chrysler would negotiate a plan for workers, a summary of the contract says.

But Gary Walkowicz, a worker and former local union official at a Ford truck plant in Dearborn, said talk on the assembly line Thursday was that workers at Chrysler and GM were deceived by job security pledges.

"It's pretty clear that both at General Motors and Chrysler, the workers were lied to," Walkowicz said. "They were promised job security. The ink wasn't dry on the contract and they're turning around and making layoffs."

In October, GM announced layoffs of more than 1,700 people at three plants in the Pontiac, Detroit and Lansing areas.

Walkowicz said on Friday that workers on the line will be wary of whatever might come out of the negotiations with Ford.

"I think they're going to be skeptical of any job security in the Ford contract," he said.

GM spokesman Tom Wickham said his company's job cuts were planned well in advance of the contract and were based on demand for products, and Chrysler officials also said their decisions were based on declining market conditions for some vehicles.

Ford is expected to announce next week that more than 30,000 hourly workers have taken previous early retirement or buyout offers to leave the company.

Philadelphia officer dies; police hunt doughnut shop gunman

Philadelphia officer dies; police hunt doughnut shop gunman

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A police officer shot in the head during a robbery in a doughnut shop died Thursday morning, the police commissioner said, and his killer remained at large. He was the third city officer shot in the span of four days.

Charles Cassidy, 54, was shot in the forehead Wednesday at a Dunkin' Donuts when a hooded robber spun from the counter and fired at him as he walked in the door, according to an employee.

The 25-year police veteran died at 9:40 a.m. Thursday at Albert Einstein Medical Center, Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.

"This is a sad day for the city of Philadelphia," Johnson said.

Police released portions of a chilling videotape that shows the hooded robber pushing aside two customers and waving a gun as he approaches the counter.

It also shows him grabbing Cassidy's pistol as he fled.

The suspect hadn't been found Thursday. Johnson said video showed the gunman running through the shop's parking lot with a distinctive gait, almost as if he had a limp.

"We still have an armed and dangerous man out there in the streets of Philadelphia," Johnson said.

The officer came in twice a day for a large coffee with cream and sugar, shop employee Sandra Kim said. "He's always nice to all the employees," she said. "The officer was just coming in for a cup of coffee like normal."

Johnson said the officer was doing a routine check on the shop, which had been robbed September 18. He said he didn't think the robber got away with any money.

The shooting came about 12 hours after a masked gunman shot traffic Officer Mario Santiago in the shoulder during a chase downtown.

Santiago was responding to a report of a gunman in a sport utility vehicle shooting at another car, injuring two men and a woman, police said.

He was chasing the SUV when the gunman eventually got out of his vehicle and approached the squad car, firing twice through the window. Santiago was hit once in the right shoulder, police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson said.

Santiago was in fair condition Wednesday.

The gunman in that shooting apparently jumped into the Schuylkill River, where searchers later recovered a body. Police said Wednesday morning that they had not determined whether it was the suspect's body.

Early Sunday, an officer responding to a melee at a West Philadelphia nightclub was shot in the ankle. More than two dozen bullets were fired, police said. One suspect was fatally shot and another was arrested.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Bill's Comment: I really hope that this pondscum gets nabbed. What he did was not only callous, but also ruthless. The perpetrator has NO RESPECT for human life.

I am aware that some inner city neighborhoods have a fallacious "Don't snitch" policy in place. GIVE IT UP! They don't want to snitch; but, are probably the first ones to outcry, "We need the public's help!"

You can't have it both ways. While I am here, let me lay out this reminder. If there is somebody currently with the perpetrator, do the right thing, and call 911. You need to turn his carcass in; or, you could be facing charges for harboring a fugitive.

I am certain that the perpetrator realizes that it is, "GAME OVER!", for him. You will be found, and you will never see life on the streets again. If I was District Attorney Lynne Abraham, I would definitely push for the death penalty, and no deals.

To quote Dennis Miller, "That is just my opinion. I may be wrong."

Pilot of plane that dropped A-bomb dies

Pilot of plane that dropped A-bomb dies

By JULIE CARR SMYTH, Associated Press Writer
8 minutes ago

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Paul Tibbets, who piloted the B-29 bomber Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died Thursday. He was 92 and insisted almost to his dying day that he had no regrets about the mission and slept just fine at night.

Tibbets died at his Columbus home, said Gerry Newhouse, a longtime friend. He suffered from a variety of health problems and had been in decline for two months.

Tibbets had requested no funeral and no headstone, fearing it would provide his detractors with a place to protest, Newhouse said.

Tibbets' historic mission in the plane named for his mother marked the beginning of the end of World War II and eliminated the need for what military planners feared would have been an extraordinarily bloody invasion of Japan. It was the first use of a nuclear weapon in wartime.

The plane and its crew of 14 dropped the five-ton "Little Boy" bomb on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945. The blast killed 70,000 to 100,000 people and injured countless others.

Three days later, the United States dropped a second nuclear bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing an estimated 40,000 people. Tibbets did not fly in that mission. The Japanese surrendered a few days later, ending the war.

"I knew when I got the assignment it was going to be an emotional thing," Tibbets told The Columbus Dispatch for a story published on the 60th anniversary of the bombing. "We had feelings, but we had to put them in the background. We knew it was going to kill people right and left. But my one driving interest was to do the best job I could so that we could end the killing as quickly as possible."

Tibbets, then a 30-year-old colonel, never expressed regret over his role. He said it was his patriotic duty and the right thing to do.

"I'm not proud that I killed 80,000 people, but I'm proud that I was able to start with nothing, plan it and have it work as perfectly as it did," he said in a 1975 interview.

"You've got to take stock and assess the situation at that time. We were at war. ... You use anything at your disposal."

He added: "I sleep clearly every night."

Paul Warfield Tibbets Jr. was born Feb. 23, 1915, in Quincy, Ill., and spent most of his boyhood in Miami.

He was a student at the University of Cincinnati's medical school when he decided to withdraw in 1937 to enlist in the Army Air Corps.

After the war, Tibbets said in 2005, he was dogged by rumors claiming he was in prison or had committed suicide.

"They said I was crazy, said I was a drunkard, in and out of institutions," he said. "At the time, I was running the National Crisis Center at the Pentagon."

Tibbets retired from the Air Force as a brigadier general in 1966. He later moved to Columbus, where he ran an air taxi service until he retired in 1985.

But his role in the bombing brought him fame — and infamy — throughout his life.

In 1976, he was criticized for re-enacting the bombing during an appearance at a Harlingen, Texas, air show. As he flew a B-29 Superfortress over the show, a bomb set off on the runway below created a mushroom cloud.

He said the display "was not intended to insult anybody," but the Japanese were outraged. The U.S. government later issued a formal apology.

Tibbets again defended the bombing in 1995, when an outcry erupted over a planned 50th anniversary exhibit of the Enola Gay at the Smithsonian Institution.

The museum had planned to mount an exhibit that would have examined the context of the bombing, including the discussion within the Truman administration of whether to use the bomb, the rejection of a demonstration bombing and the selection of the target.

Veterans groups objected, saying the proposed display paid too much attention to Japan's suffering and too little to Japan's brutality during and before World War II, and that it underestimated the number of Americans who would have perished in an invasion.

They said the bombing of Japan was an unmitigated blessing for the United States and the exhibit should say so.

Tibbets denounced it as "a damn big insult."

The museum changed its plan and agreed to display the fuselage of the Enola Gay without commentary, context or analysis.

He told the Dispatch in 2005 that he wanted his ashes scattered over the English Channel, where he loved to fly during the war.

Newhouse, Tibbets' longtime friend, confirmed that Tibbets wanted to be cremated, but he said relatives had not yet determined how he would be laid to rest.

___

On the Net:

Enola Gay Remembered Inc.: http://www.enolagay.org

Teen Millionaire

Teen Millionaire

Not so long ago, teen Ashley Qualls lived in a one-bedroom apartment with her mom and sister. But with her computer and savvy business sense she made a better life for all of them.

By KEVIN SITES, TUE OCT 30, 12:11 AM PDT


Ashley Qualls doesn't sound like a typical high school student. Maybe that's because the 17-year-old is the CEO of a million-dollar business.

It all started with capitalism 101, the law of supply and demand. Ashley became interested in graphic design just as the online social networking craze began to catch fire.

When she saw her friends personalizing their MySpace pages, she began creating and giving away MySpace background designs through Whateverlife. The designs are cheery, colorful and whimsical, with lots of hearts, Ashley's favorites.

She also pulled quotes from popular songs and built backgrounds around those themes. "Teenage girls love quotes," Ashley says, scrolling through some of her site's 3,000 designs, more than a third of which she made herself.

Thanks to Ashley's work ethic and savvy cultivation of her peer group as a target market, Whateverlife began pulling in more teenage girls than a Justin Timberlake concert - about a million a day. With a big audience, the site attracted advertisers. Ashley's first check was for $2,700. The next was for $5,000, the third for $10,000.

At the time, Ashley's parents were divorced. She and her little sister, Shelby, were all crammed into her mother's one-bedroom apartment.

When first the check arrived, her mother was doubtful, wondering if her daughter could really make money off a website. But Ashley was confident, telling her mother: "No, I really trust this. I think it's really gonna happen."

Ashley was right. The checks kept coming and the business kept growing-to the point where she could afford to buy a brand new four-bedroom house for them to live in. Ashley also hired her mother, Linda LaBrecque, to help manage the company.

"You know, when I'm with my friends, I'm still 17." — Ashley Qualls

It was and has been a bittersweet time for them both. "It's hard to be a mom and a manager," LaBrecque says. The roles clash every day, she says, but they manage by keeping a sense of humor.

She's proud of Ashley. Prior to starting the business, she says, her daughter was too shy to even order a pizza by phone. Now she's making presentations to business executives.

The job has also made LaBrecque's life easier, allowing her to quit her job and work from home following back surgery.

But Ashley's life has become much more complicated. When her business took off, the former straight-A student quit school to concentrate on Whateverlife.

"It's a busier schedule," Ashley says. "There's more to keep track of, whether its finances or employees and making sure everything is up to date and the content is secure."

In addition to her mom, Ashley hired three friends to help with the business, teaching them design and then requiring them to make a minimum of 25 designs a week.

Bre Newby says Ashley is a better boss than her past employers. "It's cool to have your best friend be like your boss," says Bre, "'cause she's a good boss. She's not like rude or it's not like working at McDonald's where you have like supervisors and people over you all the time."

Has the price of Ashley's business success been the loss of a part of her childhood? She doesn't think so.

"You know, when I'm with my friends, I'm still 17," she says.

But time with friends sometimes has to take a back seat to business. On a recent afternoon, her three friends drop by to hang out with Ashley, but they have to wait for her to finish with her business advisor, internet consultant Robb Lippitt.

Ashley and Robb sit on plastic chairs around a white conference table in Ashley's basement office, the walls decorated with hearts, like a Whateverlife background.

The conversation includes overtures from Hollywood and a possible deal to help promote Britney Spears's new album on Jive Records.

Ashley has even turned down a deal for her own reality television program. "I'm really stubborn, like my mom," she says, "So I know what I want from business. And I don't want that. I like my privacy. I like to hang out with my friends. I don't want cameras following me around."

For his part, Lippit says he had concerns about working with a teenager, but Ashley won him over in the first meeting. "She doesn't sit there and say, ‘I did something well-that's good enough,'" says Lippit. He says Ashley knows, without being told, that she needs to keep developing her business, or it will stop growing.

Unlike many adults, Ashley has not succumbed to the temptations that new wealth can bring. She pays herself a modest salary of $3,000 a month. Aside from the house, she hasn't made any other major purchases.

"I don't even know how to put this," says Ashley, "But it's just kind of like the shiny feeling that when you have this money, it kind of goes away after a while. It gets old, you know. Yeah, I can go out and buy you know something really cool. But at the same time I mean I don't really need too much. I like to invest it back into the business."

Despite all her success, one thing that has eluded her - something most of her friends already have - is a driver's license.

"My mom does drive me. And then my friends drive me wherever we go," she says, "And I want to drive. Believe me. But it's just been kind of crazy lately."

It may be the one thing about Ashley's life that reminds you she really IS still a teenager.

-Producer: Jamie Rubin

-Editor: Steve Nielson



Ashley is the head of whateverlife.com, a website she started when she was just 14 — with eight dollars borrowed from her mother. Now, just three years later, the website grosses more than $1 million a year, providing Ashley and her working class family a sense of security they had never really known.