Too Young Yet So Heroic: 3000th Patriot Died Defending Freedom

Specialist Dustin R. Donica of Texas, aged 22, died on Thursday, December 28, 2006 in the defense of Liberty.

FR: Illegals to Make More Gains in 2007; But Who's Looking Out for Joe Sixpack?!!

No one. Because regular tax-paying Americans are just cash cows and not a special interest group.

"Home" from the Holidays: Illegals Return to USA after Long Break

Photo from: http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com

These hard-working undocumented Americans are heading to their vacation homes in Northern Territories (formerly the United States of America), where they will work hard at making babies, collecting welfare and laundering money. Welcome home, guys!

Saddam Hussein Hanged: Sic Semper Tyrannis

Eye Candy of the Day

SIZZLES!!!

Is This the Stupidest Man Alive?

Fred Blunder, an unfortunate but apt name, is the putative CIO of the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Yet, he knows next to nothing about IT and even less about management.

In a period of two years, ten senior and mid-level managers walked out on him.

His staff hate him, and so do his colleagues. But he remains in his post. Only in Government is incompetence rewarded with ever higher salaries and benefits.

BREAKING NEWS: PRESIDENT FORD DIES

KFI Radio in Los Angeles has reported the passing of the 38th President of the United States (1974-77), Gerald R. Ford. Ford was 93 years old.

Surgery (at least Make-up) Gone Bad

Beyonce Knowles of the USA

Photo: Daily Mail, England

Surgery Gone Well

Dawn Yang of Singapore

Is the Vagina Mexico's Weapon of Mass Destruction against the USA??!

Illegal Aliens Have Hijacked California's State, County and Municipal Govts!!!

Illegal Aliens Account for Majority of Births in California! And They Don't Pay One Worthless Peso in Cost!!

Yet Another Illegal Alien Shot SoCal Cops!

There are 20-25 million illegal aliens in the country, and they are packing heat. Two more police officers are shot and severely wounded by an illegal alien. Bush, Boxer and the open-border crowd, yet again, have blood on their hands.

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_4897697

Asian Men Riding High

By Thomas Derr
Special Contributor, The Fairbank Report

For the longest time, Asian women have been coveted and lusted after by Western men for their beauty, charm and silky smooth skin. No white woman's figure can compare to that of an Asian woman's. So the Western propaganda machines started their unholy work to turn Asian women against their men in favour of white men. The result has been an unprecedented number of Asian women marrying or maintaining liaisons with white guys. Among Japanese-Americans, the result of this campaign has been devastating on the Japanese-American males. Ninety percent of Japanese-American women marry white guys! And we are seeing similar trends among other Asian groups.

But wait! Asian men are fighting back. For the longest time, Asian males have been deprived of good nutrition by the Western imperialists, which has resulted in the devastation of our physcial bodies. Thus, the stereotype that Asian men are scrawny and weak. But with China and the rest of the Pacific Rim unshackling themselves from the yokes of American and British imperialism, Asian men are eating better (thanks in part to the 10% GDP growth per year in China for the last 25 years) and getting better physique.

Of course, Asian-American men have also benefited from better nutrition and higher levels of education. In fact, because of our lack of fat compared to the Western man, we are physically superior--at least in the looks department--to the regular white guy who often carries a spare tire around the gut. So much so that a recent trend has been observed in California: white women are chasing after Asian men!

With superior physique and higher income, Asian men are now the "in" thing among women in general. And more and more non-Asian women are competing for the attention of Asian men.

Now that's progress!

EYE CANDY FOR THE HOLIDAYS!

State of America, 2006

From the New York Sun (12/21/2006) via the Drudge Report (12/22/2006):

Of the city's births in 2005, 52% of them were paid for by Medicaid, the government health program for the poor. Of women giving birth in New York City, 44% were unmarried.

2006 Person of the Year

The Fairbank Report’s Person of the Year for Calendar Year 2006 is Diana, Princess of Wales. Nearly a decade after her death, the princess can still stoke controversy from the grave. Last week, it was revealed that the Clinton Administration, yes the same Clintons who opposed President Bush’s electronic monitoring of evil-doers, had spied on the late princess as late as hours before her tragic death in 1997.

For at least the next 50 years, Princess Diana will remain a global iconic figure, just as Che Guevarra is an icon in Latin America and Mao Zedong is an icon in China and indeed beyond China.

J. Fairbank, Editor-in-Chief

Without Govt, Some Guys Will Just Starve

I am walking around downtown L.A., and I see all these government "workers" (in name only) lounging about in the morning, mid-day and late afternoon. These guys are raking in great salaries and excellent benefits for doing very little.

Fat and lazy, these government employees spend their time coveting each other's future pension benefits. In the interim, they don't pick up the phone when it rings; they deliver services with a grunt (if you're lucky) or a vicious sneer.

LA County employees are the worst.

Without government, these obese and unskilled morons will literally starve away, or possibly riot.

UCLA to Beat USC, 21-17

REMEMBERING NGUYEN TUONG VAN: ONE YEAR LATER

By Diori Yu

Has it been a year since we and others frantically blogged and pleaded with whomever would listen to spare Van's young life from a Singaporean hanging?

Nancy Pelosi's First Major Defeat

Speaker-elect Pelosi's strong support for war-critic John Murtha to become House Majority Leader was rebuked in a Party caucus vote this morning. Pelosi's long-time rival, Steny Hoyer, was elected to the leadership post instead.

This is a warning shot across the bow from "blue-dog" Democrats to their liberal colleagues: Do not move too Left too quickly.

This turn of events cannot be a good sign for the Botox Lady's leadership of the House of Representatives.

I Told You So...

We correctly predicted the Republicans' defeat in both the House and Senate. See The Fairbank Report's October 28, 2006 entry.

But let's put things into perspective here. Yes, it was a thumping as the President colourfully put it. But this Republican defeat is similar to other mid-year "thumpings." In the 1982 mid-term, Reagan lost 30 seats in the House. And please remember, my benighted colleagues in the MSM, that Bill and Madame Clinton lost a whopping 73 seats in the House in 1994. Now that's getting hammered!

THE GREAT HOUSING BUBBLE BURSTS

What goes up really fast will come down really hard!

November 7, 2006: BUSHWACKED!

By Jonathan Fairbank, Editor-in-Chief, The Fairbank Report

Los Angeles, CA-- About a fortnight before the mid-term Congressional elections, it is now apparent that the Republicans will lose control of the House of Representatives. It has been 12 years since Newt Gingrich brilliantly engineered the Party’s victory of the House. And the Republicans were able to do some significant things. First and foremost, they stopped Bill Clinton from moving to the Left. From 1994 onward, he (and Madame Clinton) had little choice but remained centrist.

Second, the Republicans passed two historic pieces of legislation: welfare reform (which had been sorely needed since 1965) and the 1997 tax relief act, which allows most American homeowners to keep the profits from the sale of their houses tax-free. The latter was a significant contribution to the 1998-2005 housing boom, which resulted in billions of tax-free dollars in Americans’ pocketbooks.

Power over a long period of time, history reminds us, often results in arrogance. And the Republicans of the Class of 1994 were no exception. Under the first six years of the Bush presidency, the Republican-controlled Congress authorized unprecedented amounts of Federal spending on all kinds of questionable programs.

And then there is the problematic issue of illegal immigration. At a time when American men and women are fighting a troublesome two-front “war on terror” in order to defend the Homeland, President Bush and his Republican Congress are actually encouraging a civil invasion from Mexico and Central America. America’s major urban centers are no longer recognizable as America’s own, and about half of the 300 million people who reside in the territorial United States do not speak English!

Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, Miami, and Houston have virtually become territorial enclaves of the great Republic of Mexico.

All of these developments were actively encouraged by President Bush and the Republican Congress.

Only recently have certain Republicans in the House reacted to the de facto invasion of America. They have pushed through a few robust legislation to defend America’s southern borders (by dragging their reluctant Senate colleagues as well as the President kicking and screaming).

But it’s a bit too little too late. In May, we at the Fairbank Report argued that the Republicans will lose their base of political support because of unfettered Federal spending and illegal immigration and therefore will lose the House (and possibly the Senate) in November. We noted then that conservative thinker Peggy Noonan was of the same opinion.

Now, it’s only a matter of days when the Republicans WILL lose control of the House of Representatives and very likely the Senate too. A gleeful “I told you so” immediately comes to our minds. But the thought of Nancy “Botox” Pelosi as Speaker of the House and Harry “Wimpy” Reed as Senate Majority Leader calls for sobriety, if not outright Parkinsonian convulsions…JF

HERE WE GO AGAIN: RACE RIOTS IN SOCAL SCHOOL!

The school year is only a month old, and a 500-person race riot between Hispanic and black students broke out at Fontana High School in the Inland Empire of Southern California. This does not bode well for the school year. Last year, there were at least four major riots between Hispanic and black students throughout the southern portion of the Golden State.

At the heart of these riots is one issue: the rapidly growing Hispanic population. Hispanics have moved into many traditionally African-American communities and have displaced them politically and even economically.

Again, unchecked illegal immigration is tearing at the fabric of American society.

HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE FAIRBANK REPORT!!!

We have covered stories great and small--featuring stories that the MSM dared not touch!

Racism: UCLA Dumbing Down Standards for Minorities

At a time when meritocracy is fast becoming the gold standard for global achievements, one of America's top universities, UCLA, is dumbing down its admission standards for "minority" students. The reason? Minority students do not have the academic skills and grades to get admitted into the hitherto prestigeous University.

A superior and more permanent approach would be to help these minority students obtain the necessary skills and marks in order to earn admission into the University. Teach a man to fish, and he will never go hungry again...

Once again white liberal guilt is condemning yet another generation of people of color to mediocrity and government hand-out. How illiberal!!!!

THE EAST IS RED (HOT): CHINA'S ECON UP!!!

The booming economy's 20-year run shows no sign of slow down.

Bootlicking Hong Kong Geese...

yearn to be second-class British subjects...

Zhang Ziyi Speaks Perfect English, Better Than Most Hong Kong Geese

http://kinggab.blogspot.com/2006/08/ziyi-zhang-msn-interview-although.html

Hong Kong Pop Media are Racist and Self-Hating Sycophants

International film goddess Zhang Ziyi (Gong Li's heir) is stunningly beautiful and incredibly talented. Not only does she play dramatic roles (as in Zhang Yimou's The Road Home) but also star in such physically demanding action films as Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Zhang Yimou's Hero.

Yet the Hong Kong pop media continue to taunt her for being "Chinese." Huh? Who do these Hong Kong geese think they are? British? Ha! I used to travel in Europe with a Hong Kong friend whose passport was classified as "British Dependency," which was third-class British documentation and essentially worthless. British, these Hong Kong geese are not. They are, on the other hand, self-hating sycophants and bottom-lickers! Yuck!

ZHANG ZIYI IS A GODDESS, AND I WORSHIP AT HER TEMPLE.

BIAN-LIAN HUANG.

BEAUTY STRIKES BACK!

Singaporean Internet super-beauty, DawnYang, who has been fodder for critique and outright criticisms for her denial of plastic surgery for almost a year now, strikes back at her detractors. See her August 22, 2006 entry. I think her remarks and photographic evidence are interesting and perhaps even compelling. However, the evidence provided by Ms. Yang only underscores the fact that she did indeed undergo the knife for such a fantastic transformation.

Bian-lian Huang, Associate Editor.

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Here We Go Again: Illegals to March en masse in L.A.

Another massive pro-illegal alien march will take place on September 2 in downtown Los Angeles, the capital of illegal aliens. This will be the third such rally this year. This audacity on the part of the illegal alien community is understandable. They have vaulted their guy into the office of mayor of Los Angeles. Similarly, they have successfully placed their own candidates in County and State offices; both the Speaker of the Assembly and the President Pro-Temp of the State Senate are avid supporters of the reconquista movement.

Hey, dude where's my state?

RED ALERT: EVIL-DOERS' PLAN TO COMMIT MASS MURDER USING COMMERCIAL PLANES

THEY HAD PLANNED TO DETONATE LIQUID BOMBS ON AMERICAN COMMERCIAL PLANES COMING FROM EUROPE.

WAKE UP, AMERICA!

BREAKING: Fidel Near Death. Possible Cause: Sepsis

The Pride of West Covina

Local girl sacrificed arm to save little brother's life...

Arrow's "Impossibility Theorem" Still Applies: The Cases of China and India

The great American economist Kenneth Arrow won the Nobel Prize in Economics in the 1950's when he mathematically proved that you cannot have both democracy and efficiency. It's either one or the other. The Republic of Singapore comes immediately to mind.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes of the BBC, who is not a fan of the Chinese government, recounts his experiences in both Beijing and New Delhi and basically affirms Arrow's "Impossibility Theorem."

"No Puedo Pagar"

"No puedo pagar." I cannot pay. That's a ubiquitous Spanish phrase these days in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. No puedo pagar, and the illegal aliens get "food coupons" for free food. No puedo pagar, and they get a free UNIVERSITY education. No puedo pagar, and the same illegals get free state-of-the-art health care. No puedo pagar, and they get to go free when they rearend your car.

Yes, there are classes in this country: One class of people who work 16-hour days and get
(t)axed so that the other class of illegal aliens and their ilk who don't do any work and get everything gratis. Isn't America grand?

"Because We All Came From the Sea": Fish With Human Teeth

"I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it is because in addition to the fact that the sea changes and the light changes, and ships change, it is because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it we are going back from whence we came."

JFK's quote is appropriate here. Fish with human teeth found in Texas.

WAR!!!

Israel bombed the Beirut Airport

1967--Six Day War
1973--Yom Kippur War
2006--WAR WAR WAR

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5179862.stm

14 July, 2006: Happy Bastille Day!!

VIVA LA FRANCE

Wash., DC: America's Falluja

Rapes and robberies of tourists have increased dramatically. One visitor, a British national, was decapitated. This is what happens when sinecuristic liberals are put in high places because of corruption and nepotism. Charles Ramsey is still police chief in DC? His department couldn't even find Chandra Levy's body. It was a National Park officer who found it, which was located in an easily accessible area.

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/12/D8IQH9P05.html

Dallas Hospital Over-Run by Illegals

For many years, the illegals have and continue to decimate the hospital systems of California, in particular those in Southern California. Now, they have turned their destructive rampage on the Texan hospital systems.

Remembering the Victims of 7/7

Russell Square... So distant in time and space yet so very near in one's heart.

FR Staff Go on Fast

*****PRESS RELEASE*****

For Immediate Release

10:00 AM PDT July 6, 2006

Los Angeles, CA

In solidarity with anti-war babe Cindy Sheehan and other Hollywood elites, Fairbank Report staff Jonathan Fairbank and Michael Henchard will forgo their 3 PM high tea for one week starting today. Both gentlemen will, of course, continue to partake in their usual breakfasts, lunches and dinners as well as the occasional light snacks.

How Prescient We Were: "$3 Gas is Cheap"

In September 2005, the FR commented that $3 per gallon of gas in the United States is quite cheap relative to what we can afford to pay. This summer's travel season has certainly proved us right. Freeways and streets continue to be gridlocked as more people than ever take to the roads with SUVs and other motor vehicles.

As oil prices surpassed $75 per barrel today, we note that the market has agreed with our 2005 analysis that the average American can afford to pay more than $3 per gallon of gas -- perhaps even $7 per gallon.

So for all these years of $1.25 gas or even $2.25 gas, the American people have been robbing their government blind. All this time, we should have been paying $7 per gallon of gas because this is our affordability threshold.

19th Century Thinking: "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed" !!!!

Photo: Shanghaiist.com

During the late 19th century and early 20th century, chunks of Chinese real estate, known as "concessions," were divided among the Western imperialist powers (although, it should be noted that China was never colonized by any power.)

It was not uncommon then to see signs posted in parks and clubhouses equating Chinese to dogs.

The picture above, however, was taken recently in Shanghai, China. It's probably one of those bad translations, which are ubiquitous throughout Asia. Nevertheless, it's disturbing: It proves that 19th-century memes still live amongst the Chinese, in spite of Liberation in 1949 and the Cultural Revolution...

More on this interesting placard, see here.

Hero Laid to Rest on Patriotic Weekend

Pfc Thomas Tucker, one of three Marines who were killed last month in Iraq and one of two who were brutally tortured and murdered by Satanic elements, was laid to rest in his home state of Oregon over the weekend. See Kristian Menchaca's funeral services under the title "Liberator's Homecoming."

God's Speed, Roger!

Roger Ebert is my favorite film critic and one of the best writers in print media. I usually refer/defer to his analytical and incisive written critiques before selecting a film on DVD or attending cinema. And he has been writing movie critiques since 1967!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, Roger!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/03/entertainment/main1773947.shtml

Happy Independence Day, 2006

Please rise for the national anthem en Espanol.

July 1: Happy Canada Day!

Listen to the peaceful national anthem of our northern neighbour.

Another version.

Before William Hung, There Was WING

Here, Wing sings the signature song of Phantom of the Opera, a frightening thought indeed.

Breaking: New Bin Laden Tape Reveals Different Side of World's Most Wanted Man

This is the side of OBL that the world has not seen before.

First Casualty of UC Comp Scandal

Photo: dailybruin.ucla.edu

University of California, Santa Cruz Chancellor Denice Denton committed suicide by jumping off her partner's San Francisco apartment building over the past weekend. Denton was one of the numerous University of California executives at the center of the compensation scandal, in which UC mandarins bypassed the Board of Regents and paid themselves and their friends (in Denton's case her partner) unjustifiably high salaries and benefits.

The Fairbank Report maintains our position that many executives in the UC (and perhaps the California State University) system are excessively compensated and, more significantly, they routinely violate University policies which they themselves impose on their subordinates.

Most university executives come from the ranks of academics and are not professional managers who might command above-market rates.

Taiwan, ROC: Republic of Corruption

Editor's notes: The United States, in particular California, is the chief recipient/"beneficiary" of dirty money from both Taiwan and China. Every year, billions of dollars from Greater China are laundered in both California and the United States. One of the unfortunate results of these dirty monies is the vast disparity of wealth between the Greater Chinese community and the native-born American communities. Another problematic effect is hyper-inflation in the real estate market in California, where 86% of the state's population cannot afford to buy a house.

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/..\p_detail.asp?id=84901&GRP=i&onNews=

President Chen to stay on despite corruption scandals
2006/6/28

Today, Tuesday, June 27, 2006, the Legislative Yuan will vote on an unprecedented motion, calling for a national referendum to recall the president for misgovernment and over corruption scandals involving his family and close aides.

It is a foregone conclusion that the recall motion against President Chen Shui-bian, initiated by the opposition Kuomintang and the People First Party three weeks ago, will not get passed in the Legislature because the opposition, with a three-seat majority, will not be able to muster the two-thirds majority required for launching the referendum in the 221-seat parliament.

Legislators of the ruling DPP are expected to boycott the vote en mass to show support for the native president despite his poor record and corruption allegations.
It is also a foregone conclusion that President Chen has lost the trust and respect of not only his people but also Taiwan's most important ally, the U.S.

Washington has repeatedly warned Chen against his moves to change the status quo that could drag the U.S. into military conflicts with China over Taiwan.

Taiwan's people have been so disillusioned by the Chen administration's poor performance of the past six years that the approval ratings for the president and his party have both sunk to the same 18 percent, according to the ruling party's own survey.

Media polls indicate most people are dissatisfied with the president, do not believe his word or the innocence of his wife and associates implicated in the scandals, and say he is unfit for his office.

Public trust and respect for the president have eroded beyond repair since his disputed re-election victory two years ago, which was made possible by an election eve vote-swaying assassination attempt on the president and vice president that caused minor injuries to both.

His government refused to cooperate with the ad hoc commission authorized to find the truth.
His integrity became a growing public concern after a fugitive business tycoon charged that Chen's wife, Wu Shu-chen, took NT$6 million cash donations from him in 1994 and 1998 respectively. The Chens vehemently denied it, swearing to "quit politics for good immediately" if they were found to have taken bribes from the tycoon, Chen Yo-hao, former head of the Tuntex group now on the most wanted list on charges of embezzlement and fraud.

Last week, the president, in his rebuttal to hit back at the opposition over its attempt to recall him, changed his line, admitting to have received political contributions from the tycoon. "But my wife never met Chairman Chen in private or at public occasions before. And she did receive his wife, accompanied by a friend, at our residence after she and her husband had been placed on the most wanted list."

His wife never met him; if she did, why not admit it? So she couldn't have taken money from him.

On Sunday, the tycoon again held a press conference televised live from Los Angeles, to call both the president and the first lady "liars". "My wife visited the first lady six months before our warrants were issued. A new lie by Ah-Bian to reinforce their original lie."

The tycoon said he had three witnesses, including a former legislator of the DPP, and two chauffeurs who had taken them to Wu's residence.

The legislator, Shen Fu-hsiung, recently admitted he had taken the tycoon to see Wu, but since the president openly denied the meeting he has remained quiet.

And then, the president and his wife have to answer questions about her role in the transfer of ownership of the Sogo department store and the origin of their Sogo gift vouchers worth millions.

The recall motion ends today, not the search for the smoking gun.

LIBERATOR'S HOMECOMING

Photographs: michellemalkin.com

PFC Kristian Menchaca's body is returned to Texas. For full story, see below:

http://fairbankreport.blogspot.com/2006/06/barbarians-beheaded-us-heroes.html

A Triumvirate of Good

Warren Buffett, Melinda and Bill Gates

Gates: Buffet's Donation Might Help Cure World's Worst DiseasesJune 26, 2006

By Associated Press
NEW YORK - Warren Buffett's contribution of about $1.5 billion a year to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be used to seek cures for the world's worst diseases and improve American education, Bill Gates said Monday.

"There is no reason we can't cure the top 20 diseases," Gates said while appearing with Buffett during a donation ceremony at the New York Public Library.

The Buffett and Gates families, as well as onlookers, were beaming as the so-called Oracle of Omaha officially made his benevolence a reality.

"There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way," said Buffett. He presented the biggest gift to Gates, and $1 billion donations to his own foundation and the foundations run by each of his three children.

"It's easy to sign. I just signed, "Dad,"' Buffett joked while handing one of the donation documents, a stock transfer letter, to his daughter, Suze Buffett.

In a letter dated Monday, Buffett had informed Bill and Melinda Gates that the first donation of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock would go to the foundation next month.

The foundation, which has assets of $29.1 billion, spends money on world health, poverty and increasing access to technology in developing countries. In the United States, it focuses on education and technology in public libraries.

The money from Buffett, who is 75 but considered strong and healthy, comes with a significant catch. The letter says Buffett wants all his money to be distributed in the year it is donated, not added to the foundation's assets for future giving. The foundation gave away $1.36 billion in 2005, so the Buffett commitment would effectively double its spending.

Buffett had said he would give away 12,050,000 Class B shares of Berkshire Hathaway stock to the five foundations. The shares fell $40, or 1.3 percent, to $3,031.01 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The gifts would be worth nearly $37 billion, which represents the bulk of the $44 billion that Buffet's stock holdings are worth today. Five-sixths of the shares will be earmarked for the Gates Foundation.

In his letter to the Gates Foundation, Buffett said he admired the foundation and wanted to extend its "future capabilities." Until now, all the money given away by the Gates Foundation has come from the couple.

In a statement over the weekend, Bill and Melinda Gates spoke of their relationship with Buffett over the past 15 years and his influence on their philanthropy.

"Warren has not only an amazing intellect but also a strong sense of justice. Warren's wisdom will help us do a better job and make it more fun at the same time," they said. The couple said they were "awed" by Buffett's decision.

The Buffett pledge also requires that Bill and Melinda Gates remain alive and active in the policy-setting and administration of the foundation. Buffett plans to give each foundation 5 percent of his total pledge each year in July.

Bill Gates, the world's richest man, announced earlier this month that he would be stepping back from his day-to-day responsibilities at Microsoft Corp. in July 2008 so he can spend more time on the Seattle-based foundation. The foundation followed his announcement by saying Melinda Gates would also be taking a more active role in their philanthropic work.

Buffett, the world's second-richest man, said in an interview with Fortune magazine that the timing of the two announcements - one week apart - was just "happenstance."

Buffett's gift is "really significant," not just for its size but for its potential to encourage other giving, said Diana Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector, a nonprofit coalition of about 550 charities, foundations and corporate giving programs that includes The Gates Foundation.

"I'm sure there are lots of young, wealthy individuals who have made their fortunes and who are watching this very carefully," she said. "These business leaders are icons."

Kung Fu Chimp: This Monkey Ain't No Curious George!

This is one cool chimp.

Repost: Brokeback Borders

Originally Posted on The Fairbank Report on January 27, 2006

From legendary director Ang Lee comes another epic love story between two rancheros. One is a soft-spoken Texan with a troubled past. The other is a former Mexican executive with an extravagant wife.

They met on the plains of Texas, and the rest, as they say, is the stuff of legends. Their love is so intense that the prosaic Texan is willing to sell out his own country to the multinationals and the multiculturalists while his Mexican lover plots to reclaim the northern territories "lost" by his ancestors.

"Brokeback Borders" has it all: romance, intrigue and tragedy. Tragedy because in the end, a once mighty super-power is reduced to Third World status by the uncontrolled influx of illegal immigrants.

This film is not yet rated.