Kenguy comments

I have also observed that news reports often state what seem to be fairly long recovery times for injuries, but broken face-bones? Ouch. From western news publications I would expect an explanation that went far enough to specify the injury's location to go a bit further and explain the type, like: broken nose/cheekbone, fractured skull/orbital socket, ect. How fast was the car moving? Was the kid crossing at a marked intersection when he was struck at high speed and dragged or did he dart out between parked delivery trucks and hit the side of a slow-moving car with his (nonspecific face-bone)?

I hope the kid got to a hospital quickly. Broken bones usually hurt a lot.

sctaber56: I'm sure techall was being sarcastic, (this is obviously wildly inappropriate behavior for anyone).

Techall, I agree, the timeline is absurd. Fleeing an arrest weeks in advance despite the arrests of the traffickers being last summer? If she had run after the bust in the summer it would make sense. Why do they take so long to go through phone records anyway? It's just what they do when they want to put in some overtime or what? That said, it's been a long time and no-one's heard from her? She may not have been using at all after her initial arrest, but for someone with an amphetamine addiction to disappear in the Philippines for a long time....

What this boils down to is the issue of recidivism. As Fadamor said, sex offenders usually can't change their predilictions. This is not to say that they cannot learn to control themselves, but there is always some risk of recidivism. However, becasue these GPS devices are only going to be put on offenders who have already been caught and rehabilitatedpunished once, the question is if the money and man-hours required for this system would be better spent on extended or indefinite probationary periods. If the GPS is enough to scare them into never offending again, it's a good investment. Unfortunately, the technology isn't perfect and ostracization breeds contempt. When offenders start thinking "I don't care, let them try to put me in jail," the system becomes an easier way for police to catch perps rather than a means of protecting the public.

Maybe there were no broken windows and, as jonobugs said, it was only reported 'broken'. The police could have just asked if the last guy remembered to lock it. When he says '....oh man,' they've got all the info they need. As for it being coincidence, healthy skepticism is in order.

I think elbud's point is that, evil as he was, Saddam was iron-handed enough to keep all the other factions in the country somewhat under control. Taking him out of the driver's seat saw everyone and their dog reaching for their AKs. The country went from stable (though oppressed), to a mess where it seems anyone who wants to be crazy and violent will go to blow stuff up and/or get killed. Pity about the locals who can't get out of the way.

Gbagbo has been in power since '03. His mandate ened in '05. It already is a one party state. The people just don't all know it yet. That said, it might be a good thing for the country to split into more than one state, as ethnic self-determination would dictate.