Read from BBC: "FBI charges 127 alleged mobsters in north-east US". Also, a personalized stamp with a mafia cultural reference (The Sopranos)

Read the whole article here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12243086#

"Officials said alleged leaders of the all five major crime families in New York were arrested, including the entire leadership of the Colombo family not already in prison. In addition, the arrests hit the Gambino, Genovese, Lucchese, Bonanno, and DeCavalcante families."


Superior detective work, a la Lieutenant Columbo, culminated in a cavalcade of arrests. A novel wave of arrests of those who forced their Lucc at Gamb-ling with the law - 2011 will be a bon anno.


Is that gonna definitively eradicate THE MAFIA?

http://www.zazzle.com/fuhgeddaboutit_postage-172290341172830415?rf=238693463283865848

Part 1 - Side-by-side comparison between European bison (Bison bonasus) and American bison (Bison bison)

The front view, of the head only, is not too conclusive for the layman, for the average person. Don't they look pretty similar, at first glance?

Captivity versus Freedom? How about Freedom made possible only thru Captivity? The fascinating true story of how the last 11+1 specimens [7 cows and (4+1) bulls] have saved the species called Wisent (pronounced /ˈviːzənt/) (Bison bonasus), also known as the European bison

I will detail this amazing story later, with more images and comments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisent

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY [  :) yes, I mean "long story - short" ]: this species was saved from the brink of extinction by the coordinated effort of breeding the last 12 specimens alive, all captive: 7 cows and 4 bulls of Lowland Wisent (Bison bonasus bonasus),  and 1 bull of Caucasian Wisent (Bison bonasus caucasicus) .

The eventual FREEDOM, semi-freedom or zoo captivity of the descendents was possible only thru CAPTIVITY, and selective breeding (yes, some in-breeding, too).

TBC (to be continued)

See, it might be a good idea to have a...Caucasian in your genealogic tree. :)

For comparison with the European bison: American bison (Bison bison).

===============================

Please visit the Two 4 Tuesday meme: http://www.two4tuesday.com/home/two4tuesday/index.php/2011/01/18/captivity-freedom/

Captivity – Freedom

January 18, 2011

Floating anniversary of Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Also, Muhammad Ali's birthday.

Liberty - an ideal for which many have fought and died, including Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Liberty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._Day

"Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African American civil rights movement.^[1] He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi.^[2] King is often presented as a heroic leader in the history of modern American liberalism.^[3]"

^{Did you know this?}

^"Martin Luther King Jr. expressed a view that black Americans, as well as other disadvantaged Americans, should be compensated for historical wrongs. In an interview conducted for Playboy in 1965, he said that granting black Americans only equality could not realistically close the economic gap between them and whites. 

King said that he did not seek a full restitution of wages lost to slavery, which he believed impossible, but proposed a government compensatory program of US$50 billion over ten years to all disadvantaged groups. 

He posited that "the money spent would be more than amply justified by the benefits that would accrue to the nation through a spectacular decline in school dropouts, family breakups, crime rates, illegitimacy, swollen relief rolls, rioting and other social evils".^[71] 

He presented this idea as an application of the common law regarding settlement of unpaid labor but clarified that he felt that the money should not be spent exclusively on blacks. 

He stated, "It should benefit the disadvantaged of all races".^[72]"

^{How about this?}

"King began to speak of the need for fundamental changes in the political and economic life of the nation. Towards the time of his murder, King more frequently expressed his opposition to the war and his desire to see a redistribution of resources to correct racial and economic injustice.^[97] 

Though his public language was guarded, so as to avoid being linked to communism by his political enemies, in private he sometimes spoke of his support for democratic socialism. 

In one speech, he stated that "something is wrong with capitalism" and claimed, "There must be a better distribution of wealth, and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism."^[98]

King had read Marx while at Morehouse, but while he rejected "traditional capitalism," he also rejected Communism because of its "materialistic interpretation of history" that denied religion, its "ethical relativism," and its "political totalitarianism."^[99]

King also stated in his "Beyond Vietnam" speech that "true compassion is more

than flinging a coin to a beggar....it comes to see that an


 edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring".^[100] King quoted a United States official, who said that, from Vietnam to South America to Latin America, the country was "on the wrong side of a world revolution."^[100] King condemned America's "alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America," and said that the United States should support "the shirtless and barefoot people" in the Third World rather than suppressing their attempts at revolution.^[101]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.}

What de-classified revelations will we have, if any, in 2027?

"On January 31, 1977, United States district Judge John Lewis Smith, Jr., ordered all known copies of the recorded audiotapes and written transcripts resulting from the FBI's electronic surveillance of King between 1963 and 1968 to be held in the National Archives and sealed from public access until 2027.^[181]"

^"Allegations of adultery

Having concluded that King was dangerous due to communist infiltration, the focus of the Bureau's investigations shifted to attempting to discredit King through revelations regarding his private life. FBI surveillance of King, some of it since made public, attempted to demonstrate that he also engaged in numerous extramarital affairs.^[164] Further remarks on King's lifestyle were made by several prominent officials, such as Lyndon Johnson, who once said that King was a "hypocritical preacher".^[171] Ralph Abernathy, a close associate of King's, stated in his 1989 autobiography And the Walls Came Tumbling Down that King had a "weakness for women".^[172][173] In a later interview, Abernathy said he only wrote the term "womanizing", and did not specifically say King had extramarital sex.^[174] King's biographer David Garrow detailed what he called King's "compulsive sexual athleticism." Garrow wrote about a number of extramarital affairs, including one with a woman King saw almost daily. According to Garrow, "that relationship, rather than his marriage, increasingly became the emotional centerpiece of King's life, but it did not eliminate the incidental couplings that were a commonplace of King's travels." King explained his extramarital affairs as "a form of anxiety reduction." Garrow noted that King's promiscuity was the cause of "painful and overwhelming guilt".^[175]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.}

"King spoke earlier about what people should remember him for if they are around for his funeral. He said rather than his awards and where he went to school, people should talk about how he fought peacefully for justice.:

“

I'd like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to give his life serving others. I'd like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King Jr. tried to love somebody. I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question.  I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry.  I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked.  I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison.  And I want you to say that I tried to love  and serve humanity. Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major.  Say that I was a drum major for justice.  Say that I was a drum major for peace.  I was a drum major for righteousness.  And all of the other shallow things will not matter.[127]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr. ================== Happy Birthday, Muhammad Ali, my most favorite boxer ever! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali ============================================ Happy Blue Monday! Please visit:  http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

My post for the "Sunday Stamps" meme: cool stamp from the Republic of South Africa, with WITRENOSTER/ WHITE RHINO (Ceratotherium simum)

"The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum) is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist and is one of the few megafaunal species left. It has a wide mouth used for grazing and is the most social of all rhino species. The White Rhino consists of two subspecies: the Southern White Rhino, with an estimated 17,480 wild-living animals at the end of 2007 (IUCN 2008), and the much rarer Northern White Rhino. The northern subspecies may have eight remaining worldwide — all in captivity.^[3]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_rhino

I like this stamp because it shows not only the rhinos, but it also gives you a clue, a research starting point, a spark for your mind: the map of the region of KwaZulu/Natal, in the context of South Africa.

So, the point is: don't just look at this rhino stamp and move on with your oh, so busy life.

While you are at it, at least take a quick look at the (wikipedia, for example) entry for South Africa.

Expand your horizon. Horizontally. Coz now it may be too much of a vertical horizon, ultra-specialized in your tiny square of knowledge required to do your job, whatever that is.

:)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa

==========

Happy Sunday Stamps!

Please visit http://viridianpostcard.blogspot.com/