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Afghanistan: Should We Stay or Should We Go?
Almost nine years after the United States invaded Afghanistan, public support for a continued military presence has wavered and many politicians have called for an exit strategy. However, some observers believe a withdrawal of U.S./NATO troops would create a dangerous vacuum in the region. For those who opposed the invasion from the start, there is further debate: Can the "Out Now" position the antiwar movement has advocated for Iraq also be valid for Afghanistan? Or should activists voice a more nuanced stance that addresses, in particular, the prospective plight of Afghan women under Taliban rule?
Foreign Policy In Focus was pleased to organize a critical conversation about these issues at the recent Left Forum in New York City. The event was moderated by FPIF senior analyst Mark Engler and featured panelists David Wildman, Sunita Viswanath, and Lorelei Kelly.
The following is an edited and abridged version of the panelists' opening remarks, followed by a composite sampling of some of the issues addressed by the panelists during the event's question-and-answer session.
David Wildman
The policy issues around Afghanistan are being debated in Washington right now. There was a vote on a resolution from Dennis Kucinich on withdrawing troops, and there are upcoming votes that have not yet been scheduled on a supplement of around $33 billion dollars to fund U.S. activity in Afghanistan, so these are very immediate issues for us.
They are even more immediate for Afghans. Each day, according to the estimates, 850 children die, largely from preventable diseases—from pneumonia, from diarrhea, from malnutrition. Every 30 minutes a woman in Afghanistan dies from complications related to pregnancy. If there were adequate health care, such women might still be alive. And yet each and every day the U.S. government devotes $2 billion to military spending. [Beyond regular Pentagon spending,] we've devoted at least $250 billion dollars toward waging war in Afghanistan. And so the question that I want to pose for us is, "Is this working?" Is that level of military expenditure the best way to address the needs of Afghan women and children?
I argue that the answer is no. Personally, I've been to Afghanistan a number of times since 2004 [as an executive with the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries]. The United Methodist Church has supported and worked in partnership with Afghans since the 1960s on health issues. The communities we are working in and serving have the highest levels of infant mortality in the world. [That statistic tells us that] something is not working there.
The use of military spending and the current involvement of the United States is like adding gasoline to a fire. Not only is it not working, it is making things much, much worse. And therefore a necessary first step is to push for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan—for the well-being of Afghans and for the safety of U.S. soldiers as well.
I want to give two historic dates, and then focus on the current counter-insurgency approach.
In July 1979, then-National Security Council advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski sent a memo to [President] Carter, who authorized the initial covert shipment of arms to Afghanistan to destabilize the communist government at that time. Later, he acknowledged that the hope was that this might draw the Soviet Union in, and if the Soviets were to move troops into Afghanistan, it would demoralize their military, bankrupt their economy, and splinter their society.
In 1989, the Soviets left. I had the privilege of meeting two Soviet veterans in the fall of 1989 who were coming to the United States. They said that Soviet involvement in Afghanistan had produced exactly the result that Brzezinski had predicted. They said that their troops were suffering from substance abuse, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. They came back home and were blamed for the failure. And within two years, the Soviet Union collapsed.
Afghans have never known relief from 30 years of war. For 30 years the international community has pumped perhaps more aid into Afghanistan than any other country. But most of it has been weapons. So my question is: Have weapons, more and more weapons, 30 years of weapons—sent by the United States, the Soviet Union, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, the Gulf states, you name it—has that helped Afghan women and children? The answer is no. So when we look at Obama's strategy of a surge, I want to ask, is this more of what has failed for 30 years to address the well-being of Afghans?
Today, each one of the U.S. strategies of "clear, hold, and build" endangers Afghan civilians.
- Clear: Most Afghan civilian casualties are from two sources: airstrikes by the government side and improvised explosive devices. Those improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are almost invariably in places where there are foreign troops present. So: no troops [means] no IEDs. It doesn't mean there aren't other problems, I don't want to belittle that. But there are no more IEDs, which is the most significant form of civilian casualties.
- Hold: Part of the strategy is to double the size of the Afghan national army and the Afghan national police. Right now about 90 percent of the Afghan government's budget comes from international donors. It's not sustainable. If you want to double the size of the military, you are militarizing the government. That won't work. It's not sustainable financially, and it's not sustainable in terms of lasting security for anyone.
- Build: The civilian surge that Obama talked about last March and again in December is not a humanitarian surge. It involves 900 people that are non-uniformed U.S. officials who are from USAID, from the Justice Department, State Department, Intelligence Agency. That's the civilian surge; they are to be positioned with military units, and that has to be challenged. When you militarize aid, you then align it with one side of the conflict. My experience has been that of all the non-governmental organizations, both international and Afghan-based, the ones that are seen as taking sides are much more vulnerable to attack from the Taliban and other groups. There are studies that have looked at what schools have been targeted; schools that are seen as linked to the military, or linked to NGOs that have been working closely with the military, are more at risk. Communities are nervous about that.
So what do we do about this? We need to end drone strikes. The drone strikes in Pakistan have actually escalated civilian casualties. They are targeted assassinations. They are war crimes. The special rapporteur of the United Nations, Philip Alston, has suggested that they need to be investigated. The ACLU just pushed for a suit against the Justice and State Departments to get full release of the documentation of the [supposed] legal basis for the strikes. They are being done by the CIA and even in some cases by private contractors, who are waging assassinations. So we [need to] end drone strikes, and we need to end night raids and really reign in the Special Forces.
But I think most of all the United States needs to announce an exit strategy. When that happens the warlords who are with Parliament, who are getting kickbacks and a lot of the reconstruction funding, will start changing their tune. The Karzai government, with all the corruption that is associated with that, will start changing its tune. The Taliban and other armed groups are likely to change their tunes. It will become more possible for the rest of the international community to engage in non-militarized strategies to address people's needs.
The last quote I want to give [is from] Representative Barbara Lee. September 15, 2001 was the only time the Congress debated the use of force in Afghanistan until last week, with Kucinich's resolution. [During the first debate,] Lee was the only person to raise a question in Congress. She said:
If we rush to launch a counter attack, we run too great a risk that women, children, and other noncombatants will be caught in the crossfire. We must be careful not to embark on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target. We cannot repeat past mistakes.
Sadly, we've repeated those mistakes.
Sunita Viswanath
I am co-founder and board member of a nine-year-old grassroots organization called Women for Afghan Women. It was founded right here in New York; it brings core meaning to my life and the lives of everyone I sister with. The two core prongs of our strategy that we [developed] in April 2001, in the months leading up to September 11th, remain our anchors in this work. On the one hand we are devotedly community-based, and on the other hand we reach as high as we need to, wherever we need to go outside of our comfort zone to advocate for the rights of the women whom we exist to serve.
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We have a community in Flushing, Queens, where the Afghan community is concentrated, where we celebrated the Afghan New Year yesterday. It's a thriving community. The fact that male and female leaders there have come together to partner with Women for Afghan Women, which is unwaveringly dedicated to women's rights, wouldn't have happened when we started nine years ago. It has taken a lot of painstaking work to earn the trust of the community and create those inroads.
Over the last five to six years, we have also been working in Afghanistan. So far, we have family guidance centers in three cities. This year we're expanding to two more. In each of those cities we have walk-in centers for men and women, though predominantly women, who have experienced human rights violations. We have lawyers, social workers, peace workers, volunteers. Overall we have a staff of 120 in the country, and it is 100 percent local, as is our staff in Queens.
The strategies that we pursue for each human rights case are community-based. [Afghanistan] isn't a place where you can advocate that a woman stand up for her rights and go get a job and her own apartment. So we work within the family. If it's a domestic dispute case, we bring the couple together with elders to mediate. If the woman is in danger of her life, we have secret shelters in each city and we take the women there. But in as many cases as possible we find alternative solutions: a brother, an uncle, an aunt, somebody who can harbor this woman for as long as possible, who can help her look for work.
When our organization made its first inroads in Afghanistan in 2003, we didn't yet have a presence on the ground, but we went there because the country's constitution was being drafted. We already had held two large conferences here in New York, and we'd made contacts both in the grassroots and in government. We were able to make a critical contribution by bringing women together to talk about the constitution and how it would affect women. We brought together rural activists from every corner of the country to Kandahar, and we had the first women's rights conference in Kandahar in 2003. These women, most of whom were illiterate and who had never been to school, came up with a Women's Bill of Rights, a list of demands that they hoped would be included in the nation's constitution. We then went back to Kabul and brought these very women to the constitutional commission with their Bill of Rights.
[More recently, when] the Elimination of Violence Against Women bill was blocked by the same government that passed this heinous shi'ia law—which has made rape within marriage legal and allows a man to demand sex from his wife every four days—a woman parliamentarian came to our shelter with the wife of an ambassador. Our executive director brought women who are staying in our shelter out to talk to the parliamentarian and they said, "We want to talk to those men in parliament who are blocking this bill. Bring them to us, we would like to tell them our stories and tell them why this is important."
I think we have an intuitive sense as an organization with one foot in the West of when to step back and allow the community-based leadership to flourish, and when to use our clout. Our work is absolutely rooted to the community, and yet we would not waiver if some leader, some imam, puts forth the idea that women's rights are not to be promoted. We will not compromise on our core ethics as we do our work.
We are calling right now for the security of the work we are doing. We know that the Taliban's strength is increasing and becoming more and more of an obstacle to our efforts. We also know that, as modest it is, over these nine years we have seen progress. We have. The fact that in every place we are active we have been able to build relationships with courts, police, ministries of justice—institutions that without the right relationships would be our enemies—the fact that they are referring women to us and that women come is progress. And men come, too.
I can never forget a man who came with nothing—a man from a struggling poor family brought his 5-year-old daughter on a 14-hour bus journey. She had been raped. The two of them were shells of themselves when they got to us. He came to us and said, "I will not rest until justice is done. Help me." And we did. Our lawyers fought that case and the rapist was put in jail. The father now keeps a little room in our shelter; the girl is eight; they are still with us because the family has received death threats.
To us there's no question that our work, and the work of so many organizations like us, would become impossible overnight [if troops withdraw]. Especially in a place where [the United States is] hugely responsible for the devastating situation, there's no question that we need to help bring security to that country before we leave.
Yes, I agree that there must be an exit strategy. But part of that exit strategy has to be that the country is on its feet, that the country can govern itself, that the country can secure its borders, that the people are engaged, that there isn't paralyzing poverty. It is not okay to leave today and allow the bloodbath that will ensue the next day to happen. You just can't do that.
I want to read a couple of paragraphs from our executive director that opened our last e-newsletter:
As I write this update, U.S. troops are fighting to wrest control of Helmand from the Taliban. Just recently, on February 25, insurgents attacked an Indian guesthouse in the center of Kabul. A three-hour gun battle took place and 16 people were killed. These dreadful events are a prelude to the chaos that will ensue if the Taliban are not driven from this country; a chaos that will spread throughout the region and into the world. The work we and other human rights defenders are doing in Afghanistan would not be possible in any Taliban-controlled area. In fact, if the Taliban assume control of Afghanistan, we and NGOs like ours will have to flee the country, and the progress that has been made on behalf of women and children will have been for naught. That is why Women for Afghan Women supports the troop surge.
We do so reluctantly, for we are not pro-war. We have learned many things during our 8 years here. We know that without a commitment to development—aimed at education, employment, and women's rights—that is equivalent to or even greater than the military investment, the surge will ultimately fail. The majority of Afghan people want these things, and they want peace. We know that the commitment of the developed world to Afghanistan must be for the long term—at least as long as it took women in the developed world to get the vote (Swiss women finally achieved it in [1971]!). We believe that after 30 years of war, they have earned our help to recover and prosper.
Lorelei Kelly
I think I can tie these two presentations together quite well. The reason I was invited to this panel is because, [as director of the New Strategic Security Initiative, which runs the Afghanistan Congressional Communications Hub,] I wrote a piece called "A Commitment Strategy for Afghanistan." I've worked in Congress for 12 years, with both Democrats and Republicans—when there were progressive Republicans. I want to see progressives in the room instead of in the street on Afghanistan policy. I feel that if we are not in the room, shaping the environment and the discussion about U.S. national security policies, we are going to be left in the wilderness, like [we were for] 30 years after the Vietnam War. I think that is one of the reasons we have a 30-to-1 imbalance between military and civilian spending.
It is my belief that in today's world Afghanistan is emblematic of many of the problems that face us. We live in a globalizing world, and we really haven't defined security yet. It is a world where relationships are about more than borders, where security is about people much more than machines, where our policy needs to be about inclusion and persuasion more than isolation and coercion. We are better prepared today to fight Napoleon than Bin Laden. We have not left the Cold War behind.
Our military, in fact, is the most progressive foreign policy agency we have in our government. I've worked with the Army for the last 12 years. The Army—and the Marines especially—know that they are picking up the slack for other agencies that are not being funded. The military is doing a lot of development work that it shouldn't be doing, and frankly that the military does not want to do. Progressives are never going to have better cover than they do today to make the case for fully transforming U.S. national security priorities and policies. Our cover is General Petraeus himself. Our cover is General McChrystal himself.
The reason I wrote "A Commitment Strategy for Afghanistan" is because I feel that language like "exit strategy" simply doesn't match the situation over there. When I talk to progressive organizations they say, "of course we don't mean to end the humanitarian commitment." But today you can't have a humanitarian commitment without having some kind of military presence. That's just true. Our military presence there is a condition; it's not a choice. The percentage of women in Afghanistan who have health care has gone up by tens of percentage points in the last 10 years. At least part of the reason for that is the military presence there.
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That said, I don't think there's a military solution to Afghanistan. We live in a world where war has changed to a situation where you have to out-govern your enemies. This a time for the United States to ask the critical question of what division of labor [in our government] would help us to promote solidarity with the Afghan people and to create innovative ways for them to have community involvement and ownership of their situation.
I always say to the Left, especially those protesting outside the Pentagon, "For heaven's sake, it's not the Pentagon that's doing this. It's our elected leadership." [Those really responsible are] members of Congress. Those members of Congress don't have people in their offices educating them about how the world has changed, giving them policy options. They need alternatives to always taking the path of least resistance, which is funding military options.
[Then you have] many military personnel who are idealistic public servants. They are sent into these situations and forced to solve these problems that they weren't trained for. There's going to be a Faustian war inside the Department of Defense about whether or not we continue doing this stuff. We need to get inside the room, into these debates, and start putting forward policy options that are about dramatic change.
A Just Foreign Policy
It's time to leave behind old ideas of superpowers. A changing world brings new opportunities for peace and the chance to join a community of nations.
In today's world, the use of force is mostly counter-productive. The military itself is saying this. I can't [remember] a hearing in the Senate or the House that I've attended in the last 10 years where somebody in uniform has not alluded to the fact that not only is the use of force not effective, it's counter-productive. When they say, 'We kill one insurgent and create 17 more,' that's what they're saying. But the military is not supposed to be a political advocacy organization. And because the Left has been out of the national security discussion for 30 years, the defense industry is able to run free. I've seen it in Congress. The lobbyists had a banner year this year.
I think the greatest question that we have as Americans is, are we going to put everything on the table and talk about what works in today's world. This is a conservative argument. You don't want to use your military very much at all. I think given the situation in today's world a lot of people here would probably agree with me. But we have to come up with the alternatives. Because not being involved is not an option.
What I keep saying to progressives is, "You can't keep blaming the military unless you have positive alternatives." I really do think if progressives stand outside this debate, we are going to be on the margins of national security policy making for another thirty years. Because the future of U.S. national security is being decided right now: How Afghanistan turns out, even if it doesn't turn out in a way that any of us hoped for, is going to define security policy-making for the next generation.
Question and Answer
Question: It's evident that you three hold differing views. However, we haven't had a clear answer about what you each think the policy should be. Do you favor our outright withdrawal from Afghanistan or a continued presence? If the latter, what kind of commitment would that be?
Sunita Viswanath: People are disillusioned, but when you get to the point of "should foreign troops leave?" there is unanimous agreement. All of the progress that has been made since 9/11 would be destroyed overnight. In terms of what I hear from the community here in New York, before 9/11 the thought that Afghans could go back home was impossible. Children grew up with the door to back home closed. Now, all of a sudden, so many people have gone back to be a part of rebuilding their country. Many people have gone back and have been involved in fundraising and all kinds of activities. There's just a real sense that [with a withdrawal], all of that will be lost.
Lorelei Kelly: We need to make the case for our commitment to Afghanistan and make the discussion about how we're going to replace the uniformed presence with a non-uniformed presence. That is going to be our long-term commitment to these people. But we're going to have one with the other for a while, even if we're uncomfortable with that.
David Wildman: My sense is that the troops will actually make things worse. Security is based on relationships. Humanitarian groups have gone to Afghanistan for 40 or 50 years, and they have been far safer [when they go without weapons]. They have relationships with these communities; they don't go in uninvited. It is a fundamentally different approach that has a much better track record for working in Afghanistan.
More men with more guns is not an answer. Even if you don't agree with me on an exit strategy, at least don't support the increased militarization of our presence. There are things on the ground that are actually being jeopardized by the escalation of troops.
Question: Another main difference between your three perspectives seems to involve how concerned citizens can have an influence on policy. There's some argument that we need to focus more on the conversations taking place in the halls of Washington, while others favor a more outsider approach to grassroots mobilization. Are progressives actually able to influence national security and military debates? What strategies do you think are the most effective?
Kelly: What I'm saying is that if you have a message that always makes the military a malign actor, I think that you are not going to get inside the room on the policy debate. Not when most of the money, most of the personnel, and most of the creative initiatives have come out of the Pentagon. Those things not coming out of the State Department, which doesn't have the capacity. They're trying, but will they really be part of a huge transformation of our own government to create a different posture in the world? I don't know.
I don't disagree that having some sort of [outside] mobilization is important. But what I have seen in the last 20 years is that the sort of mobilize-and-punish relationship with your elected leaders doesn't work. We spend all our time and effort there, and we're not in the room making the deals. I can't tell you how good the conservative[s are] at being in the room. They shape the environment; they're there first. I fear that if progressives aren't gently and lovingly making the case that the military is not the vehicle to carry out the policies that are going to make us more prosperous and secure in the future, we are going to be a country where the only functioning, healthy institution is the military.
Wildman: It seems to me that there is a fundamental distinction [to be made with regard to] how change takes place: Is it the top-down change of being inside the room, or is it a bottom-up kind of change? My own sense [with this conflict] is that change is happening on the ground in Afghanistan, first and foremost, and not coming from the halls of power in Washington. In Afghanistan they have a long history of saying, "Empire, no thank you." I think how change takes place is an important debate, but I don't have a lot of faith in Congress. And I think one of the questions in organizing is how much we focus on incremental change. Sometimes the most profound change takes place when it seems least likely. We don't know now what might be happening in just a few years—which is why I say you should do the best you can with what you have at your disposal, and you listen to the folks on the ground.
Viswanath: We really need to get into [the question of] what's working, what are the alternatives, how can we make this work. In terms of being in the room, on the street, in the grassroots, in the community—we need to be doing all of it. Whatever these perceived divisions are between us, we need to smash them down and talk. Left organizations on the ground in the United States and Afghanistan have access to so much good will and philanthropy because they want to help the women in Afghanistan. We work with these organizations in spite of differences in ideology, in particular this question of a military presence.
:: The skyrocketing costs and casualties of the war in Afghanistan should make us re-evaluate our national priorities and broaden our definition of security.


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Stylistically, Sorren has a classic, timeless feel with a contemporary finish and attention to detail. It is characteristically more elegant and considerably sturdier than the typical condensed sans, lending to its singular disposition.

subset: commoncrawl


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In a bid to be recognized as providers of a "one-stop-cloud-shop," Rackspace Hosting and Akamai have brought their respective cloud hosting and cloud optimization services together under a new partnership agreement. The joint offering has been undertaken to allow Rackspace to offer Akamai's web acceleration and cloud optimization services as part of its normal dedicated and cloud hosting portfolio.
Rackspace says it will now work to integrate key Akamai services into its stack such as CNAME Canonical Name Records, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology and CDN delivery for Cloud Files — the latter being a Rackspace service that provides scalable online storage for files and media. With the additional option for Rackspace to resell a range of Akamai site and application acceleration services to its customers, the company tenders this total proposition as a one-stop-shop for hosting, cloud and acceleration services for web content and applications.
"The next decade presents new opportunities in cloud computing, especially around feature-rich content, SaaS applications and dynamic websites," said Lew Moorman, president, cloud and chief strategy officer for Rackspace. "Having independently served hundreds of Akamai's customers, we are excited to streamline the customer experience on dedicated and cloud platforms with the leading cloud optimization services provider, all backed by our trademark Fanatical Support."
Rackspace says that its is integrating Akamai's services into its product portfolio to addresses what the company defines as four common challenges faced by companies moving their businesses into the cloud or into hosted environments: latency, availability, scalability and security. As some justification for this assertion, Rackspace points to Akamai's techniques for reducing latency and providing for high availability in the cloud, which leveraging more than 77,000 servers located in 71 countries.
As a company that seeks to woo customers with a promise of its somewhat boldly named Fanatical Support services, Rackspace will include Akamai solutions, either as an add-on or as an embedded suite of services as part of its full range of offerings across dedicated, cloud and hybrid hosting.


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Posts Tagged 'toothpicks'
Episode 66, Little Hooves & Big Hearts
November 29, 2013
It's time for the sixty-sixth iteration of the The Mikie Show! Note that's iterable not irritable, there's a diff. Yes, join us for a visit with Tammy Mockbee and Amy Armour, a.k.a. Little Hooves & Big Hearts, a non-profit in Arizona that uses equine therapy to help kids with disabilities, seniors and those in hospice […]


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We design and build bicycles in the South West of England, just outside Bristol.
Every bike is individual, each steel frame fashioned by hand, each weld unique and good function guaranteed
we are challenging the established notions of what's possible by bike.
Nice people building good bikes.
All tagged bike lights


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Nirmala and Riki live 9 kilometres away from the nearest market. They both want to arrive at the market at exactly noon. What time should each of them start riding their bikes?
In this version of the story of the hare and the tortoise, the race is 10 kilometres long. Can you work out how long the hare sleeps for using the information given?
Use the interactivity to move Mr Pearson and his dog. Can you move him so that the graph shows a curve?
Can you rank these quantities in order? You may need to find out extra information or perform some experiments to justify your rankings.
Alice's mum needs to go to each child's house just once and then back home again. How many different routes are there? Use the information to find out how long each road is on the route she took.
During the third hour after midnight the hands on a clock point in the same direction (so one hand is over the top of the other). At what time, to the nearest second, does this happen?
A paradox is a statement that seems to be both untrue and true at the same time. This article looks at a few examples and challenges you to investigate them for yourself.
How far have these students walked by the time the teacher's car reaches them after their bus broke down?


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Odd Restaurant Jobs in Honolulu
Chefs receive most of the attention, but there are also many lesser-known, yet fascinating, restaurant jobs. Meet some of the crew at local dining spots who have positions you may never have heard of.
(page 1 of 2)
Fire Stoker
Somewhere in the past couple of decades, people forgot how pizza was supposed to be. That is, at least, according to Alejandro Briceno, whose Neapolitan-style pies have created quite a buzz around town since V-Lounge opened last year.
"To me, pizza got lost in some way and it became about the toppings," says Briceno. "It's not about the toppings, it's about the crust. And if you want to get the crust just right, it's all about the oven."
As the denlike pizza joint's owner, Briceno is the keeper of an oven he describes as his secret weapon: an Italian-inspired behemoth that operates at 1,200 degrees. It resembles Europe's Old-World terra-cotta ovens, but was manufactured in California from refractory cement, which can withstand temperatures well into the thousands of degrees.
V-Lounge serves pies until 4 a.m., or until the day's supply of fresh dough runs out, and Briceno spends much of his time tending the oven.
While it never fully cools, he is able to leave the oven unattended during off-hours because, without a chimney, closing the oven door means depriving any flames of necessary oxygen. He says the oven temperature dips no lower than about 200 degrees before he fires it up again the next day. Briceno burns kiawe wood from Molokai, which takes about a month and a half to dry.
"Taking care of the oven is a whole-day process," says Briceno. "As long as we're selling pizza, somebody has to be here taking care of it. And it's not just adding wood, it's the way you add the wood. You also need to know what happens if the wood is a little bit too wet or dry."
Remarkably, the oven cooks pizza in 90 seconds, and those who swear by Briceno's creations will tell you the pizza itself is mind-blowing enough to eat just as quickly. In May, he added three new pizzas to his menu, including a traditional bianca, or white, pie, and two others he describes as "local Italian fusion."
"One has local cherry tomatoes, fontina cheese, basil and macadamia nuts," he says. "The other one has Italian sausage, ricotta, Maui onions and chili flakes."
In the end, Briceno says he hopes his approach—and his oven—will change the way people expect pizza to taste.
"I mean, the oven is what makes the pizza, and the way it cooks the pizza is what it's about," he says. "That's what we believe in. No matter how much work it is, it's worth it."
V-Lounge, 1344 Kona St., 953-0007, vloungehawaii.com. Hours: Monday through Saturday, 5 p.m. until 4 a.m., or until the pizza dough runs out.
Flame thrower
Order the lobster bisque at Michel's, and the kitchen comes to you. For four decades, the French restaurant's waiters have dazzled happy diners with a fiery flambé, running orange flames over thick morsels of Maine lobster meat in amber cognac.
Tableside preparation is one of the hallmarks at Michel's, one of Honolulu's institutions for fine dining. Since it opened in 1963, Michel's has been famous for its oceanfront view, enormous open windows and tuxedoed waiters preparing gourmet cuisine beside meticulously set tables. While Michel's no longer requires male guests to wear jackets, the experience and ambience is just as it's always been, and earning the right to don the waiter's tux is no easy feat.
"It's incredibly extensive," says Nate Aoyagi, who does everything from wait tables to bartend and manage Sunday brunch for Michel's. "First of all, we rarely hire waiters from out of house. It's something you work up to. Then, from the time you officially start training as a waiter, which can take anywhere from three to five months, you're learning how to make several tableside dishes, and you have to be able to execute them perfectly."
The bisque is just the beginning. Michel's tableside preparations also include filet mignon and salmon, as well as desserts like cherries jubilee and bananas foster. The desserts are the most difficult, Aoyagi says, because of how easily they can burn. He knows from an early experience making a strawberry foie gras dessert.
"That one has a lot of liquor in it, port and cognac," he says. "Because there's no sugar or butter, the pan gets hot really quick, and the hotter your pan gets the bigger your flame gets. I actually set one of the ficus trees in the restaurant on fire. Everybody was OK."
On a typical night, though, "OK" is an understatement. Aoyagi says one of his favorite things about working at Michel's is seeing how diners react to the experience.
"People repeatedly tell you 'thank you,' which is rewarding. The food is great. The crew is great. You don't find too many places where everybody is good at what they do and they get along."
Michel's, 2895 Kalakaua Ave., 923-6552, michelshawaii.com. Hours: Dinner served nightly, starting at 5:30 p.m.


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Demo 09: Doing More With Less
The opening panel at Demo 09 was entitled "doing more with less." This year's show is notably smaller than the show in past year, with 39 companies instead of the 60 last year, and 500 attendees, down from 700. But executive producer show host Chris Shipley said she looked at the "glass half full," as this year most of the companies had actual business models, rather than just trying to get users and figure out the business model later. These companies, she said, may be more mature and are more efficient at using capital. Shipley also said she would be stepping down from Demo after the Demofall show to Matt Marshall of VentureBeat.
Marshall talked about three big trends -- Social data sharing, "productivity 2.0," and the smart grid -- would be added to the conference going forward.
And then the demos started:
The conference is being streamed by BitGravity at www.demo.com/live. Bit Gravity showed off talked about how the company would be streaming live HD shortly, showing a 720p, 1.5 megabit/second stream that looked pretty good. It seemed simple enough to set up.
The major presenters started with Ontier, Inc., which showed a product called Pixetell, a competitor to products like WebEx allows you to send screen shots, video and audio in a special email message;; and to respond similarly. You can use a web cam for video or capture what is happening on your screen; and collect the responses via email. What I like about it is that it allows for a rich media conversation that doesn't have to be in real time. It looked very easy to set up, and I can see how businesses could like this very much.
Transformyx showed Rallypoint, a web-based crisis communications system. Each employee gets an emergency card and in case of emergency, you dial a special number, and receive information from your company, and report on your status. Managers then connect to a web interface that allows managers to track their employees, send email, share documents, and see a map of emergency providers etc. I can see how it would be useful in an emergency.
Vokle is a web-based platform for video conversations; and it allows multiple people to have public or private web chats all through a browser. It seems designed for personal communications, adding voice to social networking. It's a neat idea, although I wonder if it ends up as a separate service or as a feature of another social networking service.
Technicopica showed Gwabbit (which I mentioned in my post this morning), a little utility for Outlook that lets you easily take information from an email message and automatically add it to your address book. In Outlook today, you have to copy the name, phone number, address, email, etc. individually into your contact book. Gwabbit www.gwabbit.com lets you just select the information in the mail and add all the information with a single click. It costs $19.95. I can't say it's unique: over the years, I've seen several such products including Signature2Contacts, but it's a great idea.
Cc:Betty is another add-in that automatically does things based on your email. If you want to schedule an event or share information with others via email, you send a copy to firstname.lastname@example.com. The site then sets up up a private page based on each email, which collects all the things linked to or connected to the mail, including video links, pictures, and the conversation. It's like a FriendFeed for email. I can see it for some small businesses.
Citrix Online, known for products like GoToMyPC showed GoView, an easy way to make a screen recording. You click an icon in the system tray, and the program then captures all the changes on screen along with audio. It saves the recording to a web site, where you can edit it easily (within a browser), and share it with others via email. Now I've seen a lot of screen capture programs over the years - we used one Lotus used to offer in the old PC Magazine CD -- but this looks like an extremely easy way of doing it. At least in beta, it's free.
Zuora, which has a very nice looking software-as-a-service offering that lets other SaaS companies easily add subscription fees, has now taken that concept to Facebook with Z-Commerce for Facebook. Essentially, the idea is that Facebook applications are now typically free or ad-supported, but this makes it easy for the application developer to add a cost (say a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee), by just connecting the application with Zuora's service, which accepts credit cards or PayPal. This looks like a really good option for Facebook developers.
Document Depository Corporation is a hosted service for storing and searching legal and other documents. It has multiple applications for things such as corporate governance and contract tracking; and does seem a bit unusual in letting you collect information from multiple companies
Of these products, the ones I'm most interested in trying myself are Gwabbit (though again what I really need is a Notes version) and GoView, but I'm also impressed with Z-Commerce and Pixetell.


text:
Summit High left behind in bout with Sailors
On Friday, the Summit Tigers boys' basketball team took on Steamboat Springs, but lost 56-47.
The game was close all night, with Summit ahead at the end of the first quarter, 16-13. Thomas DeBonville sunk two three-pointers and one two to tally eight points on the night. Steamboat took control during the second quarter and led at half time 25-20. With balanced scoring from guards Brandon Miller and Carter Counovcky and a five-point quarter from the Sailors' big man, Garrett Bye, Steamboat continued to control the game and led at the end of the third quarter, 40-32. Ben Custer scored eight points for Steamboat during the quarter while Markeith McDonald scored six points in the quarter for Summit.
Summit rallied at the end of the game, cutting Steamboat's lead to four points with about a minute and a half remaining in the fourth quarter.
DeBonville and Noah Glasco each hit a three-pointer while Markeith McDonald had two two-point shots.
But then Brody King hit a big three-pointer and pushed Steamboat's lead to seven with 30 seconds left, a score difference Summit couldn't recover.
DeBonville finished with 16 points and had three threes. McDonald put up 13 points and eight rebounds. Glasco had 11 points on the night. The Tigers' next game is Jan. 8 at Eagle Valley.
Start a dialogue, stay on topic and be civil.
If you don't follow the rules, your comment may be deleted.


text:
From verbal harassment to hanging, persecution for professing faith in Christ is as old as Christianity itself, often comingling with ethnic violence and geo-political conflict. In the 20th century, Christians in formerly Communist countries went underground with their faith, eventually gaining support and advocacy from missionary Brother Andrew and his Open Doors USA. Today the nonprofit compiles an annual list of the world's worst persecutors of Christians; Muslim countries with stringent Shari'ah law comprise 8 of the top 10 worst.
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text:
Preterm labor occurs during pregnancy when the
uterus starts to contract before the 37th week of
pregnancy, causing the
cervix to open (dilate) and thin (efface).
The length of a normal pregnancy is 37 to 42 weeks, measured from the
date of the mother's last menstrual period.
Early symptoms of
preterm labor often are hard to diagnose. The uterus normally begins to
contract around the 20th week of pregnancy. These early contractions (Braxton Hicks contractions) do not dilate or efface
the cervix but help prepare the uterus and fetus for labor. These contractions
can be mistaken for preterm labor.
Preterm labor is diagnosed in a
woman who is 20 to 37 weeks pregnant and has regular uterine contractions. This
means 4 or more in 20 minutes, or about 8 or more in 1 hour.
Before 20 weeks, preterm labor that leads to delivery is considered a
miscarriage (spontaneous abortion).
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William H. Blahd, Jr., MD, FACEP - Emergency Medicine & H. Michael O'Connor, MD - Emergency Medicine
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text:
Dec. 30, 2006
Santa Clara Head Coach Michelle Bento-Jackson
On ending the non-conference season on a winning note:
"From a confidence standpoint, after we had lost three games in a row, these last two wins can do nothing but help our team in that area. The first phase of our season is now over, and we have to turn our attention to preparing for conference play."
On the performances of Chandice Cronk and Ashley Graham:
"Ashley and Chandice are a great duo and I would put them up with anyone in the country when it comes to shooting. They give us a lot of stability and it boosts the team's confidence when they are shooting well."
On Ashley Graham's all-around performance:
"Ashley played a phenomenal game on both ends of the floor tonight. She had a tough defensive assignment tonight and she did a great job."
On the performance of the post players:
"Whenever we can get the balance in our scoring attack, it is only going to help us because then teams can't just focus on stopping Ashley and Chandice. We worked on a lot of things defensively this week with our post players and they did very well tonight."
On having a healthy Jen Gottschalk (nine points, seven rebounds) back in the lineup:
"No question having Jen back has helped us. Every single night she can give us consistency, both on the boards and from a scoring standpoint. She did a great job for us tonight."


text:
I've been trying for awhile to install Funcube Dongle Pro+ driver for gnuradio under ubuntu. Has anyone had any luck?
I get the folllowing error messages:
1. If I am not logged in as root, I get the following:
RuntimeError: No FunCube Dongle V2.0 found.
2. If I log in as root, I get past the previous error message, but get the following:
(python2:3907): GLib-GIO-CRITICAL **: g_dbus_connection_register_object: assertion 'G_IS_DBUS_CONNECTION (connection)' failed


text:
(from 1983)
resurrected plot for gonzo freetext challenge, prob the most gonzo I've got!
With a huge number of sacrificial victims, another realm long ago secretly bound a Prince of the land spirits, Iorstonn by name, thus ensuring the fertility, and improving the magical defences, of their realm. But binding that Prince to one spot has disrupted the weather and magical patterns (ley lines?) over half the continent. Things have become bad enough that a coalition has been formed to rectify the situation, once divinations have established the cause.
Your party is one of the teams assembled to do the rectification: find the binding object and steal it ("so that we can destroy it here in our realm, of course"...*) or destroy it over there. Presumably the Prince will be grateful to his rescuers and angry at the binders, but with a greater spirit like Iorstonn one can never be sure: such beings are "tricksy".
* Of course, the rulers of our realm might want to control Iorstonn for their own ends...


text:
Well boils and ghouls, we've reach the end of the line here! The 13th and last of the Kandy Coated Kackles. This one is very special because it contains a lot of my personal favorites, and there are A LOT of them! This is the most jam packed of all the mixes. Even the cover is jam packed! You might recognize some of the characters in there.
Anyway, I want to thank everyone for really digging these. This was something I wanted to do for a while but was never sure how to go about it. I didn't think they would be such a big hit! I want to thank everyone for your lovely and heart warming comments and thank you to the Strange Kids Club for keeping up with the volumes and posting them every day. You guys are genuine. It really makes me so very happy to see so many people completely immersed in the spirit of this fine holiday and what better way to get the full effect than with music. Now these are my own personal playlists but the beauty is you can mix and match them to make your own mixes or start from scratch! Whatever you want! I'm so glad to finally be able to share this with everyone, for the people who haven't heard and even the people who have but still enjoy it anyway. So what now? Well I think from now on, every year I'll come out with ONE mix tape since I pretty much just shared my entire Halloween library with you all and it was a lot of work making 13 covers. So look out for volume 14 next year! I hope you all have a fun, happy and safe Halloween and thank you once again! Stay spooky, guys.
1. Secret Treat
2. Kill Kill Kill- The White Coffin Terror
3. Everybody Scream- Rob Zombie
4. Murder In The Graveyard- Screaming Lord Sutch
5. Crimson Ghost- The Misfits
6. Hangman Hangten- The Ghastly Ones
7. Secret Treat
8. Halloween- Siouxsie & The Banshees
9. Frankenstein Rock- Brita Borg
10. The Mice, The Demons & The Piggies- Wolfgang & The Jumpin' Terrors
11. It Came In The Night- A Raincoat
12. I Was A Teenage Creature- Lord Luther
13 Graveyard- Leroy Bowman
14. Wolfboy's Song- Myke Chillian
15. Secret Treat
16. Swingin' At The Seance- Glen Miller & Dorothy Claire
17. The Wobblin' Goblin- Rosemary Clooney
18. Spooks!- Louis Armstrong
19. Black Wings- Tom Waits
20. Secret Treat
21. Night of the Vampire- The Moontrekkers
22. Feast of the Mau Mau- Screamin' Jay Hawkins
23. No Club Lone Wolf- The Cramps
24. We're Horrible Men!- Bela Lugosi & Boris Karloff
25. Secret Treat
26. The Maddest Story Ever Told- Lon Chaney Jr.
27. The Headless Horseman- Kay Starr & The Billy Butterfield Quintet
28. Secret Treat
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Kandy Coated Kackles vol 13. Weenies In The Hollow!
Well boils and ghouls, we've reach the end of the line here! The 13th and last of the Kandy Coated Kackles. This one is very special because it contains a lot of my personal favorites, and there are A LOT of them! This is the most jam packed of all the mixes. Even the cover is jam packed! You might recognize some of the characters in there.
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 11:26 PM 4 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Kandy Coated Kackles vol 12. Rotting In The Attic
Today's volume is appropriately titled "Rotting in the Attic" because its compiled of long forgotten ghosts from the early 1930's to the 50's. You'll find skeletons in the closet, Boogey men under the stair case, and demons under the bed. So let those phantom trumpets wail and start swinging you sinners!
1. Haunted House- Ray Noble Orchestra
2. Skeleton In The Closet- Matt Gonella & His Georgians
3. The Boogy Man is Here- Tom Gerun
4. Nightmare- Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
5. Secret Treat
6. The Ghost of the St. Louis Blues- Emmet Miller
7. The Yodeling Ghost- Bing Crosby
8. Hell's Bells- Sid Peltyn
9. Bug-A-Boo- Red Nichols & His Five Pennies
10. The House Is Haunted- Kay Starr
11. Got The Jitters- Don Redman
12. Black Cat, Hoot Owl Blues- Ma Rainey
13. Jeepers Creepers- The Four Freshman
14. Dead Man Blues- Jelly Roll Morton
15. Quoth Th Raven- Ella Mae Morse
16. Mysterioso- Artie Shaw & His Orchestra
17. Secret Treat
18. Tain't No Sin (So Take off Your Skin)- Dan Russo Orchestra
19. With Her Head Tucked Beneath Her Arm- Cyril Smith
20. Dry Bones- Fats Waller
21. Strange Enchantment- Skinnay Ennis
22. Harlem Nocturne- The Viscounts
23. Disney's Trick or Treat for Halloween
24. Son of Frankenstein Main Title- Frank Skinner
25. The Boogie Man/ I'm a Ghost- Todd Rollins
26. Secret Treat
Also if anyone is interested in anything Vintage Halloween, check out my tumblr "Vintage Halloween Treats" !
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 3:14 PM 3 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes, vintage
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Kandy Coated Kackles vol 11. Howlin' Ho Down
When the wolf bane blooms and the full moon is bright is the perfect time to put on Volume 11, Howlin' Ho Down! Aaaaaawooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhh!!!!
1. Secret Treat
2. I'm The Wolfman- Round Robin
3. Ghost of Stephen Foster- Squirrel Nut Zippers
4. Scream!- The Misfits
5. Little Drop of Poison- Tom Waits
6. The Flying Dutchman- The Ghastly Ones
7. Rockin' In The Graveyard- Jackie Morningstar
8. Werewolf, Baby- Rob Zombie
9. Strychnine- The Sonics
10. Have You Ever Seen...?- The Boss Martians
11. Midnight Stroll- The Revells
12. The Devil with The Devil- Larry Clinton Orchestra
13. Werewolves on Wheels- Born Losers
14. Secret Teat
15. Spring Heeled Jack- Zombina & The Skeletones
16. How to Serve Man- Creature Feature
17. Jekyll & Hyde- Jim Burgett
18. Mad Witch- Dave Gardner
19. Skeletons In My Closet- Alice Cooper
20. Brains!- Voltaire
21. Strollin' After Dark- The Shades
22. Secret Treat
23. Lil' Red Riding Hood- Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs
24. The Wolf Man Theme- Charles Previn
25. No One Lives Forever- Oingo Boingo
26. Secret Treat
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 2:21 PM 3 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Friday, October 28, 2011
Kandy Coated Kackles vol. 10 We Belong Dead!
I've been saving some of the best for last! This volume is chock full of more Halloween classics, perfect for the season and essential for any costume or pumpkin carving party! Of course there's some random things thrown in between just to sweeten the batch. Enjoy!
1. Secret Treat
2. The Blob- The Five Blobs
3. The Black Widow- Alice Cooper ft. Vincent Price
4. Little Shop Of Horrors Theme
5. Vampire's Ball- Mann Drake
6. Haunted House- Jumpin' Gene Simmons
7. The Creature From the Black Leather Lagoon- The Cramps
8. Speak of the Devil- The Misfits
9. Godzilla- Blue Oyster Cult
10. Werewolf- The Frantics
11. Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde- The Emersons
12. Psychobitches Outta Hell- The HorrorPops
13. Spookmaster- The Ghastly Ones
14. Dracula's Deuce- Freddy Fortune & The Four-Gone Conclusions
15. Secret Treat
16. Frankenstein's Party- The Swingin' Phillies
17. The Mummy's Bracelet- Lee Ross
18. The Bat- The Ventures
19. Sweet Transvestite- Tim Curry
20. Ghost Train- Gorillaz
21. Halloween (She Gets So Mean)- Rob Zombie ft. The Ghastly Ones
22. Mad Monster Party Theme
23. Bride of Frankenstein Main Title- Franz Waxman
24. Dead Man's Party- Oingo Boingo
25. Secret Treat
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 8:23 AM 1 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Kandy Coated Kackles vol 9. October Octave
Wow, can't believe it's already volume 9! 4 more to go! I want to thank
The Strange Kids Club for keeping with the albums and supporting the idea!
So anyway, October Octave has a very dark pressence. It makes you want to flick the angel
off your shoulder. Turn out the lights, dust off the Ouija board, and pray for some evil!
1. Secret Treat
2. God's Away on Business- Tom Waits
3. Transylvania Terror Train- Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures
4. Til The Following Night- Screaming Lord Sutch
5. Cherry Hill- The Creepshow
6. The Shadow Knows- The Coasters
7. La Grippe- Squirrel Nut Zippers
8. Night of the Werewolf- Lee Kristofferson
9. Graveyard Shift- Bobby "Boris" Picket & The Crypt-Kickers
10. Clockwork Orange Theme- Wendy Carlos
11. Secret Treat
12. Sweet Dreams- Marylin Manson
13. Death At The Chapel- The Horrors
14. Evil Night Together- Jill Tracy
15. Walpurgis Night- The Coffinshakers
16. Nosferatu- The Coral
17. Return of the Phantom Stranger- Rob Zombie
18. When You're Evil- Voltaire
19. Secret Treat
20. I Need Your Head- Hasil Adkins
21. Sleepy Hollow- The Last Word
22. Oogie Boogie's Song
23. Bogey Wail- Jack Hylton & Sam Browne
24. Riders of the Storm- The Doors
25. Secret Treat
26. Hush Hush Hush (Here Comes the Boogeyman)- Henry Hall
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 4:32 AM 2 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Kandy Coated Kackles vol. 8 Stays Dead Even In Milk!
Here's one for the kiddies! A sugar frosted, cavity induced, dairy soaked bowl of spooky goodness from cartoons, childhood memories and kiddy Halloween records. Take out your glow-in-the-dark Boo Berry spoon and dig in.
1. Secret Treat
2. Disney's Halloween Treat
3. The Halloween Dance- Reverend Horton Heat
4. Skull Gully- Bobby "Boris" Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
5. The Vampires- Archie King
6. The Monster Hop- Bert Convoy
7. The Scooby-Doo Theme
8. Blue Ghost- Tommy Roe with the Jordanaires
9. Secret Treat
10. Do The Mummy- Mad Monster Party
11. Spooksville- The Nu Trends
12. Beetlejuice Animated Series Theme
13. Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives- Mel Torme
14. You've Got a Friend- Vincent Price (and The Muppets)
15. Mr. Ghost Goes To Town- Louis Prima
16. Punky Punkin- Rosemary Clooney
17. I Want To Bite Your Hand- Gene Moss & The Monsters
18. Gremlins Theme- Danny Elfman
19. At The Devil's Ball- The Fryer-Barnhart International All Star Jazz Band
20. I Put A Spell On You- Bette Midler
21. Heffalumps and Woozles- Winnie The Pooh
22. Secret Treat
23. Boogie Woogie Boogie Man- The Brian Sisters
24. Grim Grinning Ghosts- Disney's Haunted Mansion
25. Secret Treat
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 7:58 AM 1 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Monday, October 24, 2011
Kandy Coated Kackles vol 7. At The Devil's Whorehouse
Well I must confess that volume 7, At The Devil's Whorehouse really has nothing to do with devils or whores. This volume is actually a true mix in the most literal sense of the word. Its got punk tunes, 60's, 70's, comedy, soundtrack....so enjoy this mixed bag! And sorry if the cover is a bit simple, its hard trying to keep up.
1. Secret Treat
2. Science Fiction/ Double Feature- Richard O'Brien
3. No Costume, No Candy- The Swingin' Neckbreakers
4. American Witch- Rob Zombie
5. Graveyard Girlfriend- Groovie Ghoulies
6. Spooky- Classics IV
7. Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps)- David Bowie
8. Psycho Shower Scene- Bernard Herrmann
9. Bones- The Killers
10. Looking At The Invisible Man- The Dead Weather
11. Clap for the Wolfman- The Guess Who
12. People Are Strange- The Doors
13. Spook City USA- The Misfits
14. Secret Treat
15. Voodoo- Screamin' Jay Hawkins
16. Haunted Mansion Organ Music- Disney
17. Ghost Face- Valentine Six
18. Halloween- Stephen Lynch
19. Kommienezuepadt- Tom Waits
20. Martian Trip- The Vibro Champs
21. Dracula- Gorillaz
22. Season of the Witch- Donovan
23. Secret Treat
24. Don't Fear The Reaper- Blue Oyster Cult
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 9:46 PM 3 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Kandy Coated Kackles vol 6. Monster Mojo
Surfs up, ghouls! Volume 6 Monster Mojo has a heavy surf theme with some random things thrown in between. Get ready to get wet!
1. It's Monster Surfing Time- The Deadly Ones
2. The Creature Stole My Surfboard- Dead Elvi
3. All Black And Hairy- Screaming Lord Sutch
4. Betty Bones- Hellcat & The Prowl
5. Secret Treat
6. Ghost Train- The Swanks
7. Boris the Spider- The Who
8. Martian Band- The Wildtones
9. The Spook- The Tomko's
10. Midnight Monster Hop- Jack and Jim
11. Secret Treat
12. Banshee Beach- The Ghastly Ones
13. Dinner With Drac- Zacherle
14. Fashion Zombies!- The Aquabats
15. Ghost Town- The Specials
16. Voodoobilly Man- Deadbolt
17. Twilight Zone Theme- Marius Constant
18. Rockin' Bones- The Cramps
19. The Mummy- Bob Mcfadden & Dor
20. The Gila Monster- Joe Johnson
21. Frankensurfer- The Surfaholics
22. The Creature From the Black Lagoon- Dave Edmunds
23. Fright Night Theme- J. Geils Band
24. House on Haunted Hill- The Mummies
25. Secret Treat
26. Halloween II- The Misfits
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 8:34 PM 2 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Kandy Coated Kackles vol 5. Hillbilly Haunts
When the sun goes down on the ol' prairie, slap this baby onto your record player! Volume 5, Hillbilly Haunts is full of spooky country, western, cowboy, hillbilly and blue grass tunes that any yella' belly can blow a jug to! With of course some special surprises hidden in between the toes. So get along little ghosties! Yee Haw!
1. Secret Treat
2. Honky Tonk Halloween- Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures
3. American Nightmare- The Misfits
4. Hell-O-Ween- The Swing Rays
5. Little Ghost- The White Stripes
6. Evil (Is Going On)- Howlin' Wolf
7. Tennessee Hillbilly Ghost- Red Foley
8. Creature From Outer Space- Sonny Day
9. Graveyard Boogie- Buster Doss & his Arkansas Playboys
10. Omar The Vampar- The Hamburger Bros.
11. Secret Treat
12. Vampire Outlaw- The Coffinshakers
13. Mississippi Murderer- Amboy Dukes
14. Dead Outlaw- Ghoultown
15. This World Is Evil- Those Poor Bastards
16. Ghosts From Boot Hill- The Hellbenders
17. Ichabod Crane- Bing Crosby
18. Bad Moon Rising- Creedence Clearwater Revival
19. Wolfman- The Real Tuesday Weld
20. The Devil Went Down to Georgia- Primus
21. Murder In The Red Barn- Tom Waits
22. House of 1000 Corpses- Rob Zombie
23. Long Pine Box- The Howdies
24. Ghost Riders In The Sky- Johnny Cash
25. Secret Treat
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 11:20 AM 4 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Kandy Coated Kackles vol 4. Bad Blood
Day 4 of the 13 days of Kandy Coated Kackles brings us Bad Blood, a more raw edgier side of Halloween tunes. A grisly collection of punk, garage, rockabilly, psychobilly and surf tracks will haunt you while mosh all those nasty Trick or Treater kids.
1. Secret Treat
2. Surfin' Dead- The Cramps
3. London Dungeon- The Misfits
4. Corpse Grinder- The Meteors
5. Witch- The Sonics
6. Rockula- Los Straitjackets
7. Motel Hell- Blitzkid
8. Zombie Crush- Groovie Ghoulies
9. Secret Treat
10. Do The Devil- The Amazing Royal Crowns
11. Graveyard Tree- Koffin Kats
12. A Corpse In My Bed- Creature Feature
13. Raised in Hell- Zombina & The Skeletones
14. To Walk The Night- Mad Sin
15. Grave Diggers- The Creepshow
16. Fall Children- AFI
17. Haunted Cathouse- Nekromantix
18. Secret Treat
19. Zombies- The White Coffin Terror
20. Horrorbeach- The HorrorPops
21. Goo Goo Muck- Ronnie Cook
22. Cat Man- Gene Vincent
23. Sinners- Freddie & The Hitch-Hikers
24. Secret Treat
25. Dark Night- The Blasters
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 11:07 AM 3 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Kandy Coated Kackles vol 3. Voodoo Vibes
Lets change things up a bit. Todays mix has a certain bad juju going on with it. Why? Well because.
1. Secret Treat
2. The Witch Queen of New Orleans- Redbone
3. Voodoo Voodoo- Lavern Baker
4. Alligator Wine- Screamin' Jay Hawkins
5. The Voo Doo Walk- Sonny Richard's Panics with Cindy And Misty
6. Big Green- Igor and the Maniacs
7. She's My Witch- Kip Tyler
8. Watusi Zombie- Jan Davis
9. The Ghost of Smokey Joe- Cab Calloway
10. You've Got Me Voodoo'd- Louis Armstrong
11. Secret Treat
12. Man With The Hex- The Atomic Fireballs
13. Hell- Squirrel Nut Zippers
14. Bag Things- Jace Everett
15. Love Potion No. 9- The Clovers
16. Cha Cha with the Zombies- The Upperclassmen
17. Bodies- Danzig
18. Taboo- Gene Summers
19. Big Black Witchcraft Rock- The Cramps
20. The Fang- Nervous Norvus
21. Devil's Gonna Get You- Bessie Smith
22. Secret Treat
23. And When I Die- The Heavy
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 6:03 PM 3 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Kandy Coated Kackles vol 2. Groovin' Goblins
Another day, another mix! There's some pretty special tracks on here that I'm hoping not
too many people have heard, but if you have I hope you can enjoy them anyway. So turn off the lights, eat some candy corn and drink some apple cidar, this is volume 2!
1. Secret Treat
2. Welcome to My Nightmare- Alice Cooper
3. Creatures of the Night- The Creepshow
4. Spooks Night Out- The Legendary Invisible Men
5. Buried Alive- Creature Feature
6. Little Demon- Screamin' Jay Hawkins
7. Beetlejuice Theme- Danny Elfman
8. Secret Treat
9. Dig Up Her Bones- The Misfits
10. Living Dead Girl- Rob Zombie
11. Diablo's Theme- The Ghastly Ones
12. The Skeleton in the Closet- Louis Armstrong
13. My Son the Vampire- Allan Sherman
14. Batman, Wolfman, Frankenstein or Dracula- The Diamonds
15. Secret Treat
16. Human Fly- The Cramps
17. Werewolf- Southern Culture on the Skids
18. It's Terror Time Again- Skycycle
19. Feed Me (Git It)- Levi Stubbs & Rick Moranis
20. Terror in the Haunted House- Blitzkid
21. Jack's Lament- Danny Elfman
22. Secret Treat
23. Frankenstein Main Title- Bernhard Kaun
24. Legend of the Headless Horseman- Bing Crosby
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 11:06 AM 4 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes
Kandy Coated Kackles: Songs for Halloween
Well guys, its Halloween again and I'm doing something very special this year. I'm sharing my personal Halloween playlists with everyone! I've been collecting kooky tunes and spooky tracks for about 7 years now and I really feel like sharing with everyone! So for the next 13 days I will post one mix tape up until October 31st! So we got 13 mix tapes in all. Each mix will have a cover drawn by me (some might be new art some might be old since drawing everyday has become difficult for me during work). Also each mix will have some secret treats that you can only hear when you download them.
So lets start things off with the first volume: Ectoplasmic Essentials. All the essential songs you need for any Halloween party or event. I added a couple songs that people might not know to switch things up. Hope you guys enjoy this volume and tune in tomorrow for the next one!
1. Secret Treat
2. Halloween- The Misfits
3. Dragula- Rob Zombie
4. I Was a Teenage Werewolf- The Cramps
5. Haulin' Hearse- The Ghastly Ones
6. This is Halloween- Danny Elfman
7. Secret Treat
8. One-Eyed One-Horned Flying Purple People Eater- Sheb Wooley
9. Werewolves of London- Warren Zevon
10. The Time Warp- Richard O'Brien & Cast
11. Psycho Theme- Bernard Herrmann
12. Ghost Busters- Ray Parker Jr.
13. Pet Sematary- The Ramones
14. Halloween Theme- John Carpenter
15. Mysterious Mose- Harry Reser & Radio All-Star Novelty Orchestra
16. Addams Family Theme- Stan Adams
17. Munsters Theme- Los Straitjackets
18. The Boogie Monster- Gnarls Barkley
19. Jack the Ripper- Screaming Lord Sutch
20. Thriller- Michael Jackson ft. Vincent Price
21. I Put a Spell on You- Screamin' Jay Hawkins
22. Dracula Main Theme- Phillip Glass
23. Monster Mash- Bobby (Boris) Pickett & The Crypt-Kickers
24. Secret Treat
Posted by Zach Bellissimo at 8:55 AM 6 comments
Labels: halloween, kandy coated kackles, mix tapes


text:
A young woman of 19 in Mersin, Turkey, Hatice Ferat, ran away from home to live with her boyfriend. Her brother Mahsun did not approve.
Mahsun visited her in her new home and invited her out to take a walk along the beach. He then lured her in[to a] secluded area, slit her throat, stabbed her forty times, and disposed of the body in a river. When it was eventually found, her family refused to attend her funeral.
The investigation is ongoing – no trial has yet taken place. The funeral was held by 50 women, who took the opportunity to make it clear that such behavior would not be tolerated under their watch, shouting slogans that included "We are not going to be anyone's honor," "End honor killings," and "Hands that hurt women should be broken."
H/t Deeyah.