Teh interesting (non-PHL-related) news stub thread

[Twin-Skies]

Iraqi reporter throws shoe at Bush during press con

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino was slightly bruised in the aftermath of the shoe-throwing melee at President Bush's news conference at the Prime Minister's Palace in Baghdad on Sunday, a senior administration official said.

But Perino will be fine and is continuing with the presidential party, the official said.

Perino was hit in the face with a microphone as security wrestled with the reporter, NBC News reported.

The White House transcript from the news conference labels the incident an "audience interruption."

President Bush said. "Okay, everybody calm down for a minute."

Then, indicating Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the president continued: "First of all, thank you for apologizing on behalf of the Iraqi people. It doesn't bother me. And if you want some — if you want the facts, it's a size 10 shoe that he threw. (Laughter.) Thank you for your concern, do not worry about it."

The president then brushed off a question from a reporter who was asking about the greater meaning of the fracas.

I can imagine that the journalist was saying as he got carted off by Secret Service:

"I got your Show and Awe right here, motha[bleep]!"

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LOL - I remember that skit Very appropriate.

Immigrants mistaken for gay couple, beaten to death by homophobes

NEW YORK--An Ecuadorean immigrant viciously beaten by men who yelled anti-Hispanic and anti-gay slurs at him and his brother has died, nearly a week after the attack.

Jose Sucuzhanay died late Friday at Elmurst Hospital as his mother was en route from Ecuador to see him, spokesman Francisco Moya said. Sucuzhanay, a 31-year-old real estate broker, had been listed in critical condition since the assault early Dec. 7.

Police were searching for three suspects in the attack. The New York Police Department's hate crime task force is investigating what prosecutors have called an appalling eruption of bigotry.

Sucuzhanay (suh-KOO-chen-eye) and his brother Romel, 38, were walking arm-in-arm after a night out when a sport utility vehicle pulled up near them at a Brooklyn stoplight, police said.

Witnesses said they heard the men in the car shouting anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs at the brothers. The attackers jumped out of the car and smashed a beer bottle over Jose Sucuzhanay's head, hit him in the head with an aluminum baseball bat and kicked him, police said. Romel Sucuzhanay was able to get away; the attackers drove off after he returned and said he had called police, authorities said.

His mother, Julia Quintuna, obtained a humanitarian visa late this week to visit her injured son. She landed Saturday only to learn that he had died, Moya said.

The stupid...it burns!