By William Blake
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
Prudence is a rich, ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
The cut worm forgives the plow.
Dip him in the river who loves water.
A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.
He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.
Eternity is in love with the productions of time.
The busy bee has no time for sorrow.
The hours of folly are measur'd by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.
All wholesome food is caught without a net or a trap.
Bring out number, weight and measure in a year of dearth.
No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings.
A dead body revenges not injuries.
The most sublime act is to set another before you.
If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
Folly is the cloak of knavery.
Shame is Pride's cloke.
Prisons are built with stones of law, brothels with bricks of religion.
The pride of the peacock is the glory of Nature.
The lust of the goat is the bounty of Nature.
The wrath of the lion is the wisdom of Nature.
The nakedness of woman is the work of Nature.
Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps.
The roaring of lions, the howling of wolves, the raging of the stormy sea, and the destructive sword, are portions of eternity, too great for the eye of man.
The fox condemns the trap, not himself.
Joys impregnate. Sorrows bring forth.
Let man wear the fell of the lion, woman the fleece of the sheep.
The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.
The selfish, smiling fool, and the sullen, frowning fool shall be both thought wise, that they may be a rod.
What is now proved was once only imagin'd.
The rat, the mouse, the fox, the rabbit watch the roots; the lion, the tyger, the horse, the elephant watch the fruits.
The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.
One thought fills immensity.
Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.
Every thing possible to be believ'd is an image of truth.
The eagle never lost so much time as when he submitted to learn of the crow.
The fox provides for himself, but Nature provides for the lion.
Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.
He who has suffer'd you to impose on him, knows you.
As the plow follows words, so Nature rewards prayers.
The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction.
Expect poison from the standing water.
You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.
Listen to the fool's reproach! it is a kingly title!
The eyes of fire, the nostrils of air, the mouth of water, the beard of earth.
The weak in courage is strong in cunning.
The apple tree never asks the beech how he shall grow; nor the lion, the horse, how he shall take his prey.
The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.
If others had not been foolish, we should be so.
The soul of sweet delight can never be defil'd.
When thou seest an eagle, thou seest a portion of genius; lift up thy head!
As the caterpiller chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.
To create a little flower is the labour of ages.
Damn braces. Bless relaxes.
The best wine is the oldest, the best water the newest.
Prayers plow not! Praises reap not!
Joys laugh not! Sorrows weep not!
The head Sublime, the heart Pathos, the genitals Beauty, the hands and feet Proportion.
As the air to a bird or the sea to a fish, so is contempt to the contemptible.
The crow wish'd every thing was black, the owl that every thing was white.
Exuberance is Beauty.
If the lion was advised by the fox, he would be cunning.
Improvement makes strait roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are roads of genius.
Sooner murder an infant in its cradle than nurse unacted desires.
Where man is not, nature is barren.
Truth can never be told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd.
Enough! or too much.
From: http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/proverbs-of-hell-excerpt-from-the-marriage-of-he/
Studies in Misanthropology: Exploiting & Questioning Ignorance, Stupidity, Mediocrity & Human Folly. Encouraging Aesthetics & Great Works Throughout the World's History to Enlighten the Self.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Romantic gesture ends in tragedy in Fallbrook
By Kristina Davis, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Friday, February 26, 2010 at 2:16 p.m.
FALLBROOK — The chalk-drawn sunflower in the middle of the road was supposed to bring a smile to his girlfriend’s face.
But Deio Alcala’s romantic gesture ended in tragedy Friday when he was hit by a school bus before he could finish the drawing.
The girlfriend’s mother, Rita Bennett, described 38-year-old Alcala as a unique character.
“He was a very, very romantic person,” said Bennett. “Her heart is just totally broken.”
Authorities said the bus driver was going east on Reche Road in front of Potter Junior High School about 5:40 a.m. and entered the center median to make a U-turn when he spotted Alcala, said California Highway Patrol Officer Eric Newbury.
The Fallbrook resident, who was kneeling in the median in front of his girlfriend’s home, looked up but did not move in time. The bus driver swerved to the left but couldn’t avoid hitting Alcala, who was then thrown into a Ford Explorer also driving east, Newbury said.
He died shortly after.
No other injuries were reported. There were no students aboard the bus.
Investigators closed Reche Road between South Stage Coach Lane and Green Canyon Road in both directions for several hours.
Alcala, who lived with a roommate and did odd jobs around town, had been dating his 34-year-old girlfriend, Rachel Holmes, for about six months. The chalk drawing was one in a string of romantic gestures to her.
“Her room is full of the poetry he’s written for her,” Bennett said.
Another time, he wrote “Will work for the most beautiful Princess Rachel” on a sign and stood outside where she drops off her children before going to work.
From: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/26/pedestrian-hit-killed-school-bus-fallbrook/?imw=Y
Friday, February 26, 2010 at 2:16 p.m.
FALLBROOK — The chalk-drawn sunflower in the middle of the road was supposed to bring a smile to his girlfriend’s face.
But Deio Alcala’s romantic gesture ended in tragedy Friday when he was hit by a school bus before he could finish the drawing.
The girlfriend’s mother, Rita Bennett, described 38-year-old Alcala as a unique character.
“He was a very, very romantic person,” said Bennett. “Her heart is just totally broken.”
Authorities said the bus driver was going east on Reche Road in front of Potter Junior High School about 5:40 a.m. and entered the center median to make a U-turn when he spotted Alcala, said California Highway Patrol Officer Eric Newbury.
The Fallbrook resident, who was kneeling in the median in front of his girlfriend’s home, looked up but did not move in time. The bus driver swerved to the left but couldn’t avoid hitting Alcala, who was then thrown into a Ford Explorer also driving east, Newbury said.
He died shortly after.
No other injuries were reported. There were no students aboard the bus.
Investigators closed Reche Road between South Stage Coach Lane and Green Canyon Road in both directions for several hours.
Alcala, who lived with a roommate and did odd jobs around town, had been dating his 34-year-old girlfriend, Rachel Holmes, for about six months. The chalk drawing was one in a string of romantic gestures to her.
“Her room is full of the poetry he’s written for her,” Bennett said.
Another time, he wrote “Will work for the most beautiful Princess Rachel” on a sign and stood outside where she drops off her children before going to work.
From: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/feb/26/pedestrian-hit-killed-school-bus-fallbrook/?imw=Y
Wedding for rapists and goat victim in Mozambique
NewsCore February 26, 2010 9:58PM
TWO young men accused of having sex with a goat in central Mozambique were facing criminal charges, and the goat's owner was demanding they make traditional wedding arrangements, state media said today.
The young men, whose names and ages were not released, were caught in the act by police and arrested outside the rural town of Mbucuta in central Mozambique, the website of the state broadcaster said.
"One of the young men was naked and holding the goat's head, and the other was having sex with the animal," witness Mario Creva told Radio Mozambique.
District prosecutor Leonides Mapasse said the two would face trial for simple larceny.
The goat's owner may also file a civil suit against them, he said.
The owner was demanding the young men pay him damages and initiate a traditional wedding ceremony by paying "lobolo," a dowry, a family member told Radio Mozambique.
From: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/wedding-for-rapists-and-goat-victim-in-mozambique/story-e6frf7jx-1225834936925
TWO young men accused of having sex with a goat in central Mozambique were facing criminal charges, and the goat's owner was demanding they make traditional wedding arrangements, state media said today.
The young men, whose names and ages were not released, were caught in the act by police and arrested outside the rural town of Mbucuta in central Mozambique, the website of the state broadcaster said.
"One of the young men was naked and holding the goat's head, and the other was having sex with the animal," witness Mario Creva told Radio Mozambique.
District prosecutor Leonides Mapasse said the two would face trial for simple larceny.
The goat's owner may also file a civil suit against them, he said.
The owner was demanding the young men pay him damages and initiate a traditional wedding ceremony by paying "lobolo," a dowry, a family member told Radio Mozambique.
From: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/wedding-for-rapists-and-goat-victim-in-mozambique/story-e6frf7jx-1225834936925
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Boy, 5, 'scalped' by Rottweiler in horror attack
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 10:18 AM on 26th February 2010
A five-year-old boy has been left permanently scarred after he was 'scalped' by a Rottweiler.
Rhys Webb, who will never be able to grow hair on parts of his head, needed 87 stitches after the random attack.
But the owner of the dog called Rocky escaped prosecution because the animal wasn't in his care at the time.
Rhys was playing with his two brothers in a communal garden in Rainham, Essex, when the Rottweiler charged around a corner, sank his teeth into the boy's head and shook him from side to side.
His father Andrew Webb, 28, said: 'The dog made a beeline for Rhys, totally unprovoked.
'It sunk his teeth into his head, and Rhys tried to get up and run, but the dog got his head like a football.
'The skin had been dragged down from the back over the front.
'He was just ripping the skin back from his head. He was pretty much scalped. I ran down, launched myself at the dog and punched it until it let go.
'I had to stem the blood with towels. It was a horrible thing to see. If the dog had gone for one of the younger children they would have died.'
Yesterday the dog was ordered to be destroyed by Recorder Mary Spacey at Basildon Crown Court.
She said: 'One police officer described him as being "de-gloved", the dog had taken off the scalp from the boy's head from ear to ear in the attack.
'The dog is clearly dangerous. It simply refused to let go of that poor boy's skull and he was scalped.'
Rocky's owner Steven Spence had left him in the care of his friend Kevin Mills, 47, in December 2008. But he went out, leaving the dog with his drug-addict brother Graham, 45.
Graham Mills admitted being in charge of a dog which caused injury whilst dangerously out of control.
He received a six-month sentence, suspended for 18 months and was banned from keeping dogs for 10 years. He also was given a curfew, requiring him to be at home between 9pm and 6am, and a drug rehabilitation requirement.
Rhys's mother Cassie Daly, 25 said after the sentence: 'I am angry that the owner of the dog didn't get anything at all but at least the dog was destroyed.
'I was so relieved to tell Rhys the dog couldn't hurt him again. That was the main thing I wanted.
'I am grateful that somebody got done for it, though I am disappointed with the sentence and I'm disappointed Steven Spence couldn't be prosecuted or banned from keeping dogs because I blame the owner more than then animal.'
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1253896/Boy-5-scalped-Rottweiler-horrendous-unprovoked-attack.html
Last updated at 10:18 AM on 26th February 2010
A five-year-old boy has been left permanently scarred after he was 'scalped' by a Rottweiler.
Rhys Webb, who will never be able to grow hair on parts of his head, needed 87 stitches after the random attack.
But the owner of the dog called Rocky escaped prosecution because the animal wasn't in his care at the time.
Rhys was playing with his two brothers in a communal garden in Rainham, Essex, when the Rottweiler charged around a corner, sank his teeth into the boy's head and shook him from side to side.
His father Andrew Webb, 28, said: 'The dog made a beeline for Rhys, totally unprovoked.
'It sunk his teeth into his head, and Rhys tried to get up and run, but the dog got his head like a football.
'The skin had been dragged down from the back over the front.
'He was just ripping the skin back from his head. He was pretty much scalped. I ran down, launched myself at the dog and punched it until it let go.
'I had to stem the blood with towels. It was a horrible thing to see. If the dog had gone for one of the younger children they would have died.'
Yesterday the dog was ordered to be destroyed by Recorder Mary Spacey at Basildon Crown Court.
She said: 'One police officer described him as being "de-gloved", the dog had taken off the scalp from the boy's head from ear to ear in the attack.
'The dog is clearly dangerous. It simply refused to let go of that poor boy's skull and he was scalped.'
Rocky's owner Steven Spence had left him in the care of his friend Kevin Mills, 47, in December 2008. But he went out, leaving the dog with his drug-addict brother Graham, 45.
Graham Mills admitted being in charge of a dog which caused injury whilst dangerously out of control.
He received a six-month sentence, suspended for 18 months and was banned from keeping dogs for 10 years. He also was given a curfew, requiring him to be at home between 9pm and 6am, and a drug rehabilitation requirement.
Rhys's mother Cassie Daly, 25 said after the sentence: 'I am angry that the owner of the dog didn't get anything at all but at least the dog was destroyed.
'I was so relieved to tell Rhys the dog couldn't hurt him again. That was the main thing I wanted.
'I am grateful that somebody got done for it, though I am disappointed with the sentence and I'm disappointed Steven Spence couldn't be prosecuted or banned from keeping dogs because I blame the owner more than then animal.'
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1253896/Boy-5-scalped-Rottweiler-horrendous-unprovoked-attack.html
'Zombies' have free speech rights too, US court rules
AFP - Friday, February 26
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – They're said to utter little more than an occasional groan, but zombies -- the blood-drenched monsters of Hollywood "B" movies -- still have a right to free speech, a US court ruled this week.
An appeals court in the northern US city of Minneapolis, Minnesota on Wednesday allowed a group of zombies -- or rather, several protesters costumed as such -- to press ahead with their lawsuit against police who arrested them for disorderly conduct.
The appeals court overturned a lower court in finding that the group of seven "zombies" had been wrongfully detained during a 2006 shopping mall protest against consumerism.
The three-judge panel, by a two-to-one vote, ruled that Minneapolis police lacked probable cause to arrest the demonstrators for disorderly conduct.
At the time of the protest, the plaintiffs were wearing makeup that gave them a "living dead" look: white face powder, fake blood and black circles around their eyes.
They lurched stiff-legged through the halls of the mall urging shoppers to "get your brains here" and "brain cleanup in aisle five."
In various bags, the protesters carried audio equipment including loudspeakers and wireless phone handsets, which police had described as "simulated weapons of mass destruction."
The judicial panel upheld the lower court in dismissing the plaintiffs' claims of "false imprisonment" and "First Amendment retaliation" by Minneapolis police after being put in jail for two nights.
But the appeals court sided with the protesters in ruling that police had no reason to imprison them simply for "dressing as zombies, and walking erratically in downtown Minneapolis," the court decision said.
"An objectively reasonable person would not think probable cause exists under the Minnesota disorderly conduct statue to arrest a group of peaceful people for engaging in an artistic protest by playing music, broadcasting statements (and) dressing as zombies," the appeals court ruled.
The decision allows the protesters to revive their lawsuit against Minneapolis and its police, which according to the Star Tribune newspaper seeks damages of at least 50,000 dollars per person arrested.
From: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100226/tts-us-court-justice-offbeat-972e412.html
WASHINGTON (AFP) - – They're said to utter little more than an occasional groan, but zombies -- the blood-drenched monsters of Hollywood "B" movies -- still have a right to free speech, a US court ruled this week.
An appeals court in the northern US city of Minneapolis, Minnesota on Wednesday allowed a group of zombies -- or rather, several protesters costumed as such -- to press ahead with their lawsuit against police who arrested them for disorderly conduct.
The appeals court overturned a lower court in finding that the group of seven "zombies" had been wrongfully detained during a 2006 shopping mall protest against consumerism.
The three-judge panel, by a two-to-one vote, ruled that Minneapolis police lacked probable cause to arrest the demonstrators for disorderly conduct.
At the time of the protest, the plaintiffs were wearing makeup that gave them a "living dead" look: white face powder, fake blood and black circles around their eyes.
They lurched stiff-legged through the halls of the mall urging shoppers to "get your brains here" and "brain cleanup in aisle five."
In various bags, the protesters carried audio equipment including loudspeakers and wireless phone handsets, which police had described as "simulated weapons of mass destruction."
The judicial panel upheld the lower court in dismissing the plaintiffs' claims of "false imprisonment" and "First Amendment retaliation" by Minneapolis police after being put in jail for two nights.
But the appeals court sided with the protesters in ruling that police had no reason to imprison them simply for "dressing as zombies, and walking erratically in downtown Minneapolis," the court decision said.
"An objectively reasonable person would not think probable cause exists under the Minnesota disorderly conduct statue to arrest a group of peaceful people for engaging in an artistic protest by playing music, broadcasting statements (and) dressing as zombies," the appeals court ruled.
The decision allows the protesters to revive their lawsuit against Minneapolis and its police, which according to the Star Tribune newspaper seeks damages of at least 50,000 dollars per person arrested.
From: http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100226/tts-us-court-justice-offbeat-972e412.html
Mother, half brother indicted in death of North Collins woman
By Gene Warner and Jay Tokasz
NEWS STAFF REPORTERS
Updated: February 26, 2010, 11:28 pm /
Published: February 26, 2010, 8:40 pm
An Erie County grand jury has indicted the mother and half brother of a mentally disabled North Collins homicide victim on multiple charges, including accusations of a hate crime and predatory sexual assault.
The grand jury Friday indicted Eva M. Cummings and her son, Luke J. Wright, on a total of 15 charges in connection with the suffocation death of Laura Cummings, 23, on Jan. 21.
Eva Cummings, 51, faces a second-degree murder charge, while her son, 31, is charged with five sexual assault charges. And both are accused of using a broomstick to sexually attack the young woman, according to the indictment papers.
Mother and son also are accused of unlawfully imprisoning Laura Cummings in the family's North Collins apartment — because of her mental disability.
"It's a hate crime because it's motivated in whole or substantial part by the belief or perception regarding the victim's disability," District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said in announcing the indictment.
If convicted on all counts, Eva Cummings could face a possible sentence of 83 years to life on five charges, while her son could face 133 years to life on 10, prosecutors said.
The charges, based on extensive investigation by four Erie County sheriff's detectives and statements from both suspects, paint an extremely troubling portrait of the alleged abuse against the young woman who talked with a speech impediment, had difficulty swallowing food and was said to have a mental capacity of a pre-teenage girl.
Both mother and son are charged with unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a mentally disabled person.
Here are some of the specific acts listed in the indictment handed up by the grand jury late Friday morning:
• Laura Cummings was repeatedly tied to a chair in her home, often all night, for the last two years.
• A hood often was put over her head while she was tied to the chair.
• She was forced to put her face in her own waste at times.
• She was beaten repeatedly, both manually and with a blunt instrument.
• And she was scalded with hot water at least twice, in early January and on the day she died.
"This is a case of unspeakable degradation," Sedita said. "These defendants allegedly assaulted this mentally disabled girl in every way imaginable."
Senior Trial Counsel Thomas M. Finnerty from the district attorney's office tried to put the pattern of abuse and assault in perspective, referring to his 17 years as a prosecutor.
"It's the worst case I've ever seen," he said. "It's sadistic, and it's allegedly sustained over a long period of time."
The indictment states that some of the abuse goes back to the mid-1990s. Erie County sheriff's detectives and investigators from the district attorney's office seemed particularly troubled by the increasing wave of abuse in recent months.
"Starting in November, there's a significant escalation of her debasement as a human being," Finnerty said. "It was happening on a daily or nightly basis."
That was especially true of the unlawful imprisonment of Laura Cummings, in the weeks preceding her death.
"She's restrained more often than she's not," Sheriff's Capt. Ronald L. Kenyon said.
Sedita and Kenyon both praised Sheriff's Detectives Gregory McCarthy, Dennis Fitzgibbon, Matthew Noecker and Jack Graham.
"The efforts of the Sheriff's Department were dogged," Sedita said. "They didn't stop. They interviewed basically the whole town of North Collins."
The indictment charges Eva Cummings with murder, predatory sexual assault, assault, endangering the welfare of a mentally disabled person and unlawful imprisonment. Her son was charged with predatory sexual assault, incest, endangering the welfare, unlawful imprisonment and two counts each of assault, rape and criminal sexual act.
Cummings and Wright are expected to be arraigned at 2 p.m. Monday before Erie County Court Judge Sheila A. DiTullio.
Sedita was asked to describe the life that Laura Cummings led.
"What's worse than a prison?" he asked. "The victim's life was hell on earth."
From: http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/02/26/970378/mother-half-brother-indicted-in.html
NEWS STAFF REPORTERS
Updated: February 26, 2010, 11:28 pm /
Published: February 26, 2010, 8:40 pm
An Erie County grand jury has indicted the mother and half brother of a mentally disabled North Collins homicide victim on multiple charges, including accusations of a hate crime and predatory sexual assault.
The grand jury Friday indicted Eva M. Cummings and her son, Luke J. Wright, on a total of 15 charges in connection with the suffocation death of Laura Cummings, 23, on Jan. 21.
Eva Cummings, 51, faces a second-degree murder charge, while her son, 31, is charged with five sexual assault charges. And both are accused of using a broomstick to sexually attack the young woman, according to the indictment papers.
Mother and son also are accused of unlawfully imprisoning Laura Cummings in the family's North Collins apartment — because of her mental disability.
"It's a hate crime because it's motivated in whole or substantial part by the belief or perception regarding the victim's disability," District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III said in announcing the indictment.
If convicted on all counts, Eva Cummings could face a possible sentence of 83 years to life on five charges, while her son could face 133 years to life on 10, prosecutors said.
The charges, based on extensive investigation by four Erie County sheriff's detectives and statements from both suspects, paint an extremely troubling portrait of the alleged abuse against the young woman who talked with a speech impediment, had difficulty swallowing food and was said to have a mental capacity of a pre-teenage girl.
Both mother and son are charged with unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a mentally disabled person.
Here are some of the specific acts listed in the indictment handed up by the grand jury late Friday morning:
• Laura Cummings was repeatedly tied to a chair in her home, often all night, for the last two years.
• A hood often was put over her head while she was tied to the chair.
• She was forced to put her face in her own waste at times.
• She was beaten repeatedly, both manually and with a blunt instrument.
• And she was scalded with hot water at least twice, in early January and on the day she died.
"This is a case of unspeakable degradation," Sedita said. "These defendants allegedly assaulted this mentally disabled girl in every way imaginable."
Senior Trial Counsel Thomas M. Finnerty from the district attorney's office tried to put the pattern of abuse and assault in perspective, referring to his 17 years as a prosecutor.
"It's the worst case I've ever seen," he said. "It's sadistic, and it's allegedly sustained over a long period of time."
The indictment states that some of the abuse goes back to the mid-1990s. Erie County sheriff's detectives and investigators from the district attorney's office seemed particularly troubled by the increasing wave of abuse in recent months.
"Starting in November, there's a significant escalation of her debasement as a human being," Finnerty said. "It was happening on a daily or nightly basis."
That was especially true of the unlawful imprisonment of Laura Cummings, in the weeks preceding her death.
"She's restrained more often than she's not," Sheriff's Capt. Ronald L. Kenyon said.
Sedita and Kenyon both praised Sheriff's Detectives Gregory McCarthy, Dennis Fitzgibbon, Matthew Noecker and Jack Graham.
"The efforts of the Sheriff's Department were dogged," Sedita said. "They didn't stop. They interviewed basically the whole town of North Collins."
The indictment charges Eva Cummings with murder, predatory sexual assault, assault, endangering the welfare of a mentally disabled person and unlawful imprisonment. Her son was charged with predatory sexual assault, incest, endangering the welfare, unlawful imprisonment and two counts each of assault, rape and criminal sexual act.
Cummings and Wright are expected to be arraigned at 2 p.m. Monday before Erie County Court Judge Sheila A. DiTullio.
Sedita was asked to describe the life that Laura Cummings led.
"What's worse than a prison?" he asked. "The victim's life was hell on earth."
From: http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/02/26/970378/mother-half-brother-indicted-in.html
Utah Bill Criminalizes Miscarriage
By Rachel Larris, RH Reality Check
February 20, 2010 - 9:00am
A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this week and waiting for the governor's signature, will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage, and make induced abortion a crime in some instances.
According Lynn M. Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, what makes Utah's proposed law unique is that it is specifically designed to be punitive toward pregnant women, not those who might assist or cause an illegal abortion or unintended miscarriage.
The bill passed by legislators amends Utah's criminal statute to allow the state to charge a woman with criminal homicide for inducing a miscarriage or obtaining an illegal abortion. The basis for the law was a recent case in which a 17-year-old girl, who was seven months pregnant, paid a man $150 to beat her in an attempt to cause a miscarriage. Although the girl gave birth to a baby later given up for adoption, she was initially charged with attempted murder. However the charges were dropped because, at the time, under Utah state law a woman could not be prosecuted for attempting to arrange an abortion, lawful or unlawful.
The bill passed by the Utah legislature would change that. While the bill does not affect legally obtained abortions, it criminalizes any actions taken by women to induce a miscarriage or abortion outside of a doctor's care, with penalties including up to life in prison.
"What is really radical and different about this statute is that all of the other states' feticide laws are directed to third party attackers," Paltrow explained. "[Other states' feticide laws] were passed in response to a pregnant woman who has been beaten up by a husband or boyfriend. Utah's law is directed to the woman herself and that's what makes it different and dangerous."
In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by "reckless" behavior.
Using the legal standard of "reckless behavior" all a district attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to cause miscarriage, even if she didn't intend to lose the pregnancy. Drink too much alcohol and have a miscarriage? Under the new law such actions could be cause for prosecution.
"This creates a law that makes any pregnant woman who has a miscarriage potentially criminally liable for murder," says Missy Bird, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Utah. Bird says there are no exemptions in the bill for victims of domestic violence or for those who are substance abusers. The standard is so broad, Bird says, "there nothing in the bill to exempt a woman for not wearing her seatbelt who got into a car accident."
Such a standard could even make falling down stairs a prosecutable event, such as the recent case in Iowa where a pregnant woman who fell down the stairs at her home was arrested under the suspicion she was trying to terminate her pregnancy.
"This statute and the standards chosen leave a large number of pregnant women vulnerable to arrest even though they have no intention of ending a pregnancy," Paltrow said. "Whether or not the legislature intended this bill to become a tool for policing and punishing all pregnant women, if enacted this law would permit prosecution of a pregnant woman who stayed with her abusive husband because she was unable to leave. Not leaving would, under the 'reckless' standard, constitute conduct that consciously disregarded a substantial risk," Paltrow explained.
While many states have fetal homicide laws most apply only in the third trimester. Utah's bill would apply throughout the entirety of a woman's pregnancy. Even first trimester miscarriages could become the basis for a murder trial.
Bird said she is also concerned that the law will drive pregnant women with substance abuse problems "underground;" afraid to seek treatment lest they have a miscarriage and be charged for murder. She said it directly reverses the attempts made, though a bill passed in 2008, to encourage pregnant women to seek treatment for addiction.
Paltrow added that the commonly thought belief that pregnant women who use drugs are engaging in behavior that is likely to cause a stillbirth or a miscarriage is wrong.
"Science now makes clear that drug use by pregnant women does not create unique risks for pregnant women, although it is likely that among those targeted for prosecutions by this statute will be women who go to term under drug usage," she said.
The bill does exempt from prosecution fetal deaths due to failure to follow medical advice, accept treatment or refuse a cesarean section. Bird said this exemption was likely because of a 2004 case where a woman who was pregnant with twins was later charged with criminal homicide after one of the babies was stillborn, which the state deemed due to her refusal to have a cesarean section.
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Utah worked together to "amend the hell out of the bill," Bird said. One of their few accomplishments was at least dropping the legal standard of "negligence" from the bill, a much lower standard than "recklessness."
Bird was shaken with emotion after the Senate vote. "I broke down and cried," she admitted. "I normally never let these kind of [legislative] battles get to me."
"What really sucks is that we had three supposed allies in the Senate, three [Democratic] women, who voted for the bill," Bird said, adding she didn't yet know why the three senators switched votes.
Marina Lowe is legislative and policy counsel for the ACLU of Utah. She worked in tandem with Bird on trying to derail or at least mitigate the worst aspects of the bill. Lowe says at this point she doesn't know if there is a potential constitutional challenge to the law once it is signed by the governor.
But she points to cases like the one in Iowa as exactly the kind of situation that might arise once this law is put into place.
Paltrow says this bill puts a lie to the idea that the pro-life movement cares about women.
"For all these years the anti-choice movement has said ‘we want to outlaw abortion, not put women in jail, but what this law says is ‘no, we really want to put women in jail.'"
From: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2010/02/19/utah-passes-bill-that-charges-women-for-illegal-abortion-or-miscarriage
February 20, 2010 - 9:00am
A bill passed by the Utah House and Senate this week and waiting for the governor's signature, will make it a crime for a woman to have a miscarriage, and make induced abortion a crime in some instances.
According Lynn M. Paltrow, executive director of National Advocates for Pregnant Women, what makes Utah's proposed law unique is that it is specifically designed to be punitive toward pregnant women, not those who might assist or cause an illegal abortion or unintended miscarriage.
The bill passed by legislators amends Utah's criminal statute to allow the state to charge a woman with criminal homicide for inducing a miscarriage or obtaining an illegal abortion. The basis for the law was a recent case in which a 17-year-old girl, who was seven months pregnant, paid a man $150 to beat her in an attempt to cause a miscarriage. Although the girl gave birth to a baby later given up for adoption, she was initially charged with attempted murder. However the charges were dropped because, at the time, under Utah state law a woman could not be prosecuted for attempting to arrange an abortion, lawful or unlawful.
The bill passed by the Utah legislature would change that. While the bill does not affect legally obtained abortions, it criminalizes any actions taken by women to induce a miscarriage or abortion outside of a doctor's care, with penalties including up to life in prison.
"What is really radical and different about this statute is that all of the other states' feticide laws are directed to third party attackers," Paltrow explained. "[Other states' feticide laws] were passed in response to a pregnant woman who has been beaten up by a husband or boyfriend. Utah's law is directed to the woman herself and that's what makes it different and dangerous."
In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by "reckless" behavior.
Using the legal standard of "reckless behavior" all a district attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to cause miscarriage, even if she didn't intend to lose the pregnancy. Drink too much alcohol and have a miscarriage? Under the new law such actions could be cause for prosecution.
"This creates a law that makes any pregnant woman who has a miscarriage potentially criminally liable for murder," says Missy Bird, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Utah. Bird says there are no exemptions in the bill for victims of domestic violence or for those who are substance abusers. The standard is so broad, Bird says, "there nothing in the bill to exempt a woman for not wearing her seatbelt who got into a car accident."
Such a standard could even make falling down stairs a prosecutable event, such as the recent case in Iowa where a pregnant woman who fell down the stairs at her home was arrested under the suspicion she was trying to terminate her pregnancy.
"This statute and the standards chosen leave a large number of pregnant women vulnerable to arrest even though they have no intention of ending a pregnancy," Paltrow said. "Whether or not the legislature intended this bill to become a tool for policing and punishing all pregnant women, if enacted this law would permit prosecution of a pregnant woman who stayed with her abusive husband because she was unable to leave. Not leaving would, under the 'reckless' standard, constitute conduct that consciously disregarded a substantial risk," Paltrow explained.
While many states have fetal homicide laws most apply only in the third trimester. Utah's bill would apply throughout the entirety of a woman's pregnancy. Even first trimester miscarriages could become the basis for a murder trial.
Bird said she is also concerned that the law will drive pregnant women with substance abuse problems "underground;" afraid to seek treatment lest they have a miscarriage and be charged for murder. She said it directly reverses the attempts made, though a bill passed in 2008, to encourage pregnant women to seek treatment for addiction.
Paltrow added that the commonly thought belief that pregnant women who use drugs are engaging in behavior that is likely to cause a stillbirth or a miscarriage is wrong.
"Science now makes clear that drug use by pregnant women does not create unique risks for pregnant women, although it is likely that among those targeted for prosecutions by this statute will be women who go to term under drug usage," she said.
The bill does exempt from prosecution fetal deaths due to failure to follow medical advice, accept treatment or refuse a cesarean section. Bird said this exemption was likely because of a 2004 case where a woman who was pregnant with twins was later charged with criminal homicide after one of the babies was stillborn, which the state deemed due to her refusal to have a cesarean section.
Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Utah worked together to "amend the hell out of the bill," Bird said. One of their few accomplishments was at least dropping the legal standard of "negligence" from the bill, a much lower standard than "recklessness."
Bird was shaken with emotion after the Senate vote. "I broke down and cried," she admitted. "I normally never let these kind of [legislative] battles get to me."
"What really sucks is that we had three supposed allies in the Senate, three [Democratic] women, who voted for the bill," Bird said, adding she didn't yet know why the three senators switched votes.
Marina Lowe is legislative and policy counsel for the ACLU of Utah. She worked in tandem with Bird on trying to derail or at least mitigate the worst aspects of the bill. Lowe says at this point she doesn't know if there is a potential constitutional challenge to the law once it is signed by the governor.
But she points to cases like the one in Iowa as exactly the kind of situation that might arise once this law is put into place.
Paltrow says this bill puts a lie to the idea that the pro-life movement cares about women.
"For all these years the anti-choice movement has said ‘we want to outlaw abortion, not put women in jail, but what this law says is ‘no, we really want to put women in jail.'"
From: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2010/02/19/utah-passes-bill-that-charges-women-for-illegal-abortion-or-miscarriage
Friday, February 26, 2010
The Bloodstained Shadow (1978)
Italy / 1978 - Directed by Antonio Bido - Starring Lino Capolicchio, Stefania Casini, Craig Hill - Color / 109 Minutes
Mathematics professor Stefano D'Arcangelo (The House With Laughing Windows' Lino Capolicchio) takes a leave of absence from his teaching job in Rome to visit his childhood home on an island near Venice. For years he has been bothered by anxiety attacks seemingly rooted in a childhood trauma. These attacks have gotten worse recently, persuading him to take a break from his work. On the train trip south he meets a beautiful antiques dealer named Sandra (Suspiria's Stefania Casini), who is traveling to the same island. Stefano is attracted to her and she doesn't seem to mind his attention. Once on the island he takes up residence with his older brother Paolo (Craig Hill), the town's Catholic priest. When Stefano remarks on an odd woman he sees in a restaurant, Paolo explains that she is the local medium. With very little prodding Paolo (like a gossiping old woman) relates the salacious nature of several of her client's backgrounds, including a doctor suspected of murdering his first wife, a midwife believed to perform abortions, and a wealthy child molester. On the first night of Stefano's return home the medium is strangled to death outside the church. Paolo witnesses the murder but can't see clearly enough through the rain and shadows to identify the killer. Running outside, Paolo and Stefano can't find the body. They decide to keep quiet. But next morning, when a threatening typewritten note is slipped under Paolo's door, they realize something did happen.
After the police find the medium's body, Stefano begins to try to unravel the murder urged along by the steady string of notes to Paolo threatening him to stay silent. The priest is distraught since he has no idea who the killer is and is unsure of what to do. Within days after the medium's death her prominent clients begin turning up murdered as well. It seems sure that Paolo will be next. Stefano's anxiety attacks continue as he divides his time between romancing Sandra and following clues. He begins to think that there might be a connection between the fragmentary memories from his childhood, the killing of a young girl years before, and the murders happening around him now.
From: http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/cult_movies/bloodstained_shadow.htm
Mathematics professor Stefano D'Arcangelo (The House With Laughing Windows' Lino Capolicchio) takes a leave of absence from his teaching job in Rome to visit his childhood home on an island near Venice. For years he has been bothered by anxiety attacks seemingly rooted in a childhood trauma. These attacks have gotten worse recently, persuading him to take a break from his work. On the train trip south he meets a beautiful antiques dealer named Sandra (Suspiria's Stefania Casini), who is traveling to the same island. Stefano is attracted to her and she doesn't seem to mind his attention. Once on the island he takes up residence with his older brother Paolo (Craig Hill), the town's Catholic priest. When Stefano remarks on an odd woman he sees in a restaurant, Paolo explains that she is the local medium. With very little prodding Paolo (like a gossiping old woman) relates the salacious nature of several of her client's backgrounds, including a doctor suspected of murdering his first wife, a midwife believed to perform abortions, and a wealthy child molester. On the first night of Stefano's return home the medium is strangled to death outside the church. Paolo witnesses the murder but can't see clearly enough through the rain and shadows to identify the killer. Running outside, Paolo and Stefano can't find the body. They decide to keep quiet. But next morning, when a threatening typewritten note is slipped under Paolo's door, they realize something did happen.
After the police find the medium's body, Stefano begins to try to unravel the murder urged along by the steady string of notes to Paolo threatening him to stay silent. The priest is distraught since he has no idea who the killer is and is unsure of what to do. Within days after the medium's death her prominent clients begin turning up murdered as well. It seems sure that Paolo will be next. Stefano's anxiety attacks continue as he divides his time between romancing Sandra and following clues. He begins to think that there might be a connection between the fragmentary memories from his childhood, the killing of a young girl years before, and the murders happening around him now.
From: http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/cult_movies/bloodstained_shadow.htm
Star Devours Its Own Planet
The star is squeezing a planet 40 percent larger than Jupiter into the shape of a football.
Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:47 AM ET | content provided by AFP
THE GIST:
One star 600 light-years away is essentially gobbling up one of its own planets.
So close is its orbit that the gravitational tug of the star has helped to squeeze one planet into a football shape.
Searing heat is stripping away layers of the gas, whose mass is then captured by the star.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like the Roman god Saturn who ate his own children, a star 600 light-years from Earth is slowly gobbling up one of its own planets, according to a study released on Wednesday in Nature, the British science journal.
The planet, whose discovery was reported last year, is a "gas giant" with a mass about 40 percent greater than that of Jupiter, the biggest planet of our Solar System, and with a radius 79 percent bigger.
But whereas Jupiter takes nearly 12 years to plod around the Sun, it takes WASP-12b a mere 26 hours to race around its star, WASP-12, located in the constellation of Auriga.
So close is its orbit that the gravitational tug of the star has helped to squeeze the planet into a prolate shape, meaning that it has taken the form of a rugby ball, or American football.
Searing heat is stripping away layers of the gas, whose mass is then captured by the star.
The disk of captured matter around the star may mask "a detectable resonant super-Earth," whose presence may cause WASP-12b to orbit in a remarkably egg-shaped path, suggests the study.
Most planets that orbit close to their sun have a more circular track.
The investigation is led by Shu-lin Li of the Department of Astronomy at the Peking University, Beijing.
More than 400 so-called exoplanets -- the term for planets that orbit stars other than the Sun -- have been spotted since 1995, although none has turned out to be a rocky, watery world like our own.
Most, like WASP-12b, are so-called "hot Jupiters," or huge gassy balls that are heated to scorching temperatures by proximity to their planets.
A planet with water would have to inhabit what has been termed the Goldilocks Zone, meaning that it is not so close that its precious water evaporates nor so far that the water freezes, but somewhere in between so that water can exist in liquid form.
From: http://news.discovery.com/space/star-gravitational-exoplanet.html
Wed Feb 24, 2010 11:47 AM ET | content provided by AFP
THE GIST:
One star 600 light-years away is essentially gobbling up one of its own planets.
So close is its orbit that the gravitational tug of the star has helped to squeeze one planet into a football shape.
Searing heat is stripping away layers of the gas, whose mass is then captured by the star.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Like the Roman god Saturn who ate his own children, a star 600 light-years from Earth is slowly gobbling up one of its own planets, according to a study released on Wednesday in Nature, the British science journal.
The planet, whose discovery was reported last year, is a "gas giant" with a mass about 40 percent greater than that of Jupiter, the biggest planet of our Solar System, and with a radius 79 percent bigger.
But whereas Jupiter takes nearly 12 years to plod around the Sun, it takes WASP-12b a mere 26 hours to race around its star, WASP-12, located in the constellation of Auriga.
So close is its orbit that the gravitational tug of the star has helped to squeeze the planet into a prolate shape, meaning that it has taken the form of a rugby ball, or American football.
Searing heat is stripping away layers of the gas, whose mass is then captured by the star.
The disk of captured matter around the star may mask "a detectable resonant super-Earth," whose presence may cause WASP-12b to orbit in a remarkably egg-shaped path, suggests the study.
Most planets that orbit close to their sun have a more circular track.
The investigation is led by Shu-lin Li of the Department of Astronomy at the Peking University, Beijing.
More than 400 so-called exoplanets -- the term for planets that orbit stars other than the Sun -- have been spotted since 1995, although none has turned out to be a rocky, watery world like our own.
Most, like WASP-12b, are so-called "hot Jupiters," or huge gassy balls that are heated to scorching temperatures by proximity to their planets.
A planet with water would have to inhabit what has been termed the Goldilocks Zone, meaning that it is not so close that its precious water evaporates nor so far that the water freezes, but somewhere in between so that water can exist in liquid form.
From: http://news.discovery.com/space/star-gravitational-exoplanet.html
Nanotech May Tap Into Your Mind
Thu Feb 25, 2010 05:53 AM ET | content provided by Annabel McGilvray, ABC Science Online
New sensors built using nanotechnology could read and write information directly into the brain.
THE GIST:
The research is likely to provide relief for people with Parkinson's disease or overcoming stroke.
There are a number of hurdles to overcome, such as adverse immune responses and possible faults with the machinery.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telecommunications researchers in Japan are attempting to create electronic sensors that can not only receive information from the brain, but could manipulate our neural pathways.
While the concept might conjure science-fiction images of half-human, half-machine cyborgs, Dr Keiichi Torimitsu of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), says the research is more likely to provide relief for people with Parkinson's disease or overcoming stroke.
Torimitsu presented his team's work on the development of bionic, or bio-mimetic, brain sensors at this week's International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN) in Sydney.
"Establishing connections between the brain and electrical instruments is important for understanding how the brain works and for controlling neural activity," says Torimitsu, who heads NTT's Molecular and Bioscience Group.
"To develop some kind of devices or interfaces with the brain that would make it possible to transmit our information, sending it through the telecommunication pathways to another person or device such as a computer -- that is the goal."
A neural interface would be a significant achievement in the rapidly advancing realm of bionic technology, which includes devices such as the cochlear ear implant.
Torimitsu is working on creating a nano-scaled implant comprising a nano-electrode coated with an artificial membrane that mimics the receptor proteins found on the surface of brain cells, such as glutamate and GABA receptors -involved in increasing and inhibiting brain activity.
Interactions between the receptors and neurotransmitters naturally generate electrical activity. Carefully placed nano-electrodes receive the neurotransmissions providing an instant, accurate electrical reflection of what is occurring, which can be read by an external device.
Torimitsu hopes it would not only monitor activity, but also interact in the connections between neurons known as the synapses.
Ideally, he says, the device would use a biological energy source such as glucose.
"If we could use those proteins on a nano-electrode to generate electrical responses, we could achieve the bio-mimicry of responses."
Torimitsu admits there are a number of hurdles to overcome such as adverse immune responses and possible faults with the machinery. He says at this stage it's unlikely that healthy people would volunteer to have the devices implanted.
But, Torimitsu says it has great medical potential for stroke sufferers and people with Parkinson's disease where brain activity could be controlled.
The Japanese team is working with several researchers in Australia to refine the concept and devise applications for the technology.
Torimitsu has been working with Dr Simon Koblar of the University of Adelaide's Centre for Molecular Genetics of Development, looking at how to apply the technology for the treatment of stroke sufferers.
He is also about to commence working with the University of Wollongong's Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, which works at the forefront of bionics.
Director of the Institute, Professor Gordon Wallace, says one of the goals is to improve the interface with cochlear implant.
He says Torimitsu's work - a meeting of telecommunications technology and biological knowledge -- shows why it makes it a very exciting time to be doing such research.
"People are starting to realize all around the world that there are lots of tools that we can use that we already have at our disposal to make this field progress very quickly," says Wallace.
From: http://news.discovery.com/tech/nanotech-brain-ear-implant.html
New sensors built using nanotechnology could read and write information directly into the brain.
THE GIST:
The research is likely to provide relief for people with Parkinson's disease or overcoming stroke.
There are a number of hurdles to overcome, such as adverse immune responses and possible faults with the machinery.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Telecommunications researchers in Japan are attempting to create electronic sensors that can not only receive information from the brain, but could manipulate our neural pathways.
While the concept might conjure science-fiction images of half-human, half-machine cyborgs, Dr Keiichi Torimitsu of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT), says the research is more likely to provide relief for people with Parkinson's disease or overcoming stroke.
Torimitsu presented his team's work on the development of bionic, or bio-mimetic, brain sensors at this week's International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICONN) in Sydney.
"Establishing connections between the brain and electrical instruments is important for understanding how the brain works and for controlling neural activity," says Torimitsu, who heads NTT's Molecular and Bioscience Group.
"To develop some kind of devices or interfaces with the brain that would make it possible to transmit our information, sending it through the telecommunication pathways to another person or device such as a computer -- that is the goal."
A neural interface would be a significant achievement in the rapidly advancing realm of bionic technology, which includes devices such as the cochlear ear implant.
Torimitsu is working on creating a nano-scaled implant comprising a nano-electrode coated with an artificial membrane that mimics the receptor proteins found on the surface of brain cells, such as glutamate and GABA receptors -involved in increasing and inhibiting brain activity.
Interactions between the receptors and neurotransmitters naturally generate electrical activity. Carefully placed nano-electrodes receive the neurotransmissions providing an instant, accurate electrical reflection of what is occurring, which can be read by an external device.
Torimitsu hopes it would not only monitor activity, but also interact in the connections between neurons known as the synapses.
Ideally, he says, the device would use a biological energy source such as glucose.
"If we could use those proteins on a nano-electrode to generate electrical responses, we could achieve the bio-mimicry of responses."
Torimitsu admits there are a number of hurdles to overcome such as adverse immune responses and possible faults with the machinery. He says at this stage it's unlikely that healthy people would volunteer to have the devices implanted.
But, Torimitsu says it has great medical potential for stroke sufferers and people with Parkinson's disease where brain activity could be controlled.
The Japanese team is working with several researchers in Australia to refine the concept and devise applications for the technology.
Torimitsu has been working with Dr Simon Koblar of the University of Adelaide's Centre for Molecular Genetics of Development, looking at how to apply the technology for the treatment of stroke sufferers.
He is also about to commence working with the University of Wollongong's Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, which works at the forefront of bionics.
Director of the Institute, Professor Gordon Wallace, says one of the goals is to improve the interface with cochlear implant.
He says Torimitsu's work - a meeting of telecommunications technology and biological knowledge -- shows why it makes it a very exciting time to be doing such research.
"People are starting to realize all around the world that there are lots of tools that we can use that we already have at our disposal to make this field progress very quickly," says Wallace.
From: http://news.discovery.com/tech/nanotech-brain-ear-implant.html
Ex-cop jailed for trying to murder wife
February 25, 2010, 5:16 pm
An ex-policeman who tried to kill his wife by driving her off a pier has vowed to "do the job properly" when freed from jail.
Although it will be a minimum of 12 years before Cameron Neil Cook is released, his ex-wife still fears what he will do.
In sentencing Cook on Thursday, Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said he was overheard in custody saying he would "do the job properly" when free and talked of getting revenge and killing his wife.
When asked outside court if she was scared of what might happen on his release, Cook's ex-wife, who cannot be named, replied "yes".
Jealous and unable to accept his 10-year marriage was over, Cook bashed, bound and gagged his wife after drugging their seven-year-old son.
He chained her to the inside of the car, then headed for Mordialloc pier in Melbourne's south, hours after confronting her about her affair, the Victorian Supreme Court heard.
Once there, he chained himself to the vehicle to kill them both, telling his wife: "I'm sorry ... but I am taking you with me".
She screamed in terror before the car veered off the pier, hitting a steel gate on the way.
The gate flew off its hinges, almost hitting a fisherman.
But his wife was lucky to survive - she freed herself when something inside the car broke and escaped through a window.
Police found her walking in a nearby street, injured, with a chain on her ankle at about 3.30am.
Justice Hollingworth said Cook's actions were "cowardly, violent and unprovoked".
She jailed him for 15 years over the terrifying 2007 ordeal.
Justice Hollingworth said his response to his marriage breakdown was totally inappropriate.
"Your actions towards your wife that night seem to have been motivated by an inability or unwillingness to accept that the marriage was over, and jealousy because she had found a new partner," she said.
The judge said Cook lacked remorse, blamed his wife and was still hostile towards her.
She said there was a risk he might try to harm her after his release.
The court heard the incident unfolded two months after Cook's wife asked for a divorce.
He became aggressive and threatened to kill her.
On the day of the incident, he hired a private investigator to carry out surveillance footage of her which showed her kissing another man.
At this stage she believed the marriage was over.
Cook then bought handcuffs, chains and a knife and that night gave his son a sleeping tablet.
He bashed his wife, put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her and their son before chaining her to the car.
Justice Hollingworth said Cook lied to police when he said he thought his wife was already dead when he entered the water.
Cook, of Cheltenham, was jailed for a minimum 12 years after pleading guilty to attempted murder, reckless conduct endangering life and intentionally causing serious injury.
The judge took into account his lack of prior convictions and previous good character.
Outside court, his former wife told reporters she was relieved the two-and-a-half year legal battle had ended.
"I'm just happy it's over. I can start moving on with my life," she said.
She added threats Cook had made towards her while in custody were "very real".
From: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/6852417/ex-cop-jailed-for-trying-to-murder-wife/
An ex-policeman who tried to kill his wife by driving her off a pier has vowed to "do the job properly" when freed from jail.
Although it will be a minimum of 12 years before Cameron Neil Cook is released, his ex-wife still fears what he will do.
In sentencing Cook on Thursday, Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth said he was overheard in custody saying he would "do the job properly" when free and talked of getting revenge and killing his wife.
When asked outside court if she was scared of what might happen on his release, Cook's ex-wife, who cannot be named, replied "yes".
Jealous and unable to accept his 10-year marriage was over, Cook bashed, bound and gagged his wife after drugging their seven-year-old son.
He chained her to the inside of the car, then headed for Mordialloc pier in Melbourne's south, hours after confronting her about her affair, the Victorian Supreme Court heard.
Once there, he chained himself to the vehicle to kill them both, telling his wife: "I'm sorry ... but I am taking you with me".
She screamed in terror before the car veered off the pier, hitting a steel gate on the way.
The gate flew off its hinges, almost hitting a fisherman.
But his wife was lucky to survive - she freed herself when something inside the car broke and escaped through a window.
Police found her walking in a nearby street, injured, with a chain on her ankle at about 3.30am.
Justice Hollingworth said Cook's actions were "cowardly, violent and unprovoked".
She jailed him for 15 years over the terrifying 2007 ordeal.
Justice Hollingworth said his response to his marriage breakdown was totally inappropriate.
"Your actions towards your wife that night seem to have been motivated by an inability or unwillingness to accept that the marriage was over, and jealousy because she had found a new partner," she said.
The judge said Cook lacked remorse, blamed his wife and was still hostile towards her.
She said there was a risk he might try to harm her after his release.
The court heard the incident unfolded two months after Cook's wife asked for a divorce.
He became aggressive and threatened to kill her.
On the day of the incident, he hired a private investigator to carry out surveillance footage of her which showed her kissing another man.
At this stage she believed the marriage was over.
Cook then bought handcuffs, chains and a knife and that night gave his son a sleeping tablet.
He bashed his wife, put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her and their son before chaining her to the car.
Justice Hollingworth said Cook lied to police when he said he thought his wife was already dead when he entered the water.
Cook, of Cheltenham, was jailed for a minimum 12 years after pleading guilty to attempted murder, reckless conduct endangering life and intentionally causing serious injury.
The judge took into account his lack of prior convictions and previous good character.
Outside court, his former wife told reporters she was relieved the two-and-a-half year legal battle had ended.
"I'm just happy it's over. I can start moving on with my life," she said.
She added threats Cook had made towards her while in custody were "very real".
From: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/newshome/6852417/ex-cop-jailed-for-trying-to-murder-wife/
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Henri Désiré Landru
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henri Désiré Landru (born April 12, 1869 in Paris, France – executed February 25, 1922 in Versailles, France) was a French serial killer and real-life Bluebeard.
Early life
Landru was born in Paris. After leaving school, he spent four years in the French Army from 1887 – 1891. After he was discharged from service, he proceeded to have a sexual relationship with his cousin. She bore him a daughter, although Landru did not marry her; he married another woman two years later and had four children. He was shortly swindled out of money by a fraudulent employer. He turned to fraud himself, operating scams that usually involved swindling elderly widows. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment in 1900 after being arrested and found guilty of fraud, the first of several such convictions. By 1914, Landru was estranged from his wife and working as a second-hand furniture dealer.
Murders
Landru began to put advertisements in the lonely hearts sections in Paris newspapers, usually along the lines of "Widower with two children, aged 43, with comfortable income, serious and moving in good society, desires to meet widow with a view to matrimony." With World War I underway, many men were being killed in the trenches, leaving plenty of widows upon whom Landru could prey.
Landru would seduce the women who came to his Parisian villa and, after he was given access to their assets, he would kill them — possibly by strangulation or stabbing — and burn their dismembered bodies in his oven. Between 1914 and 1918, Landru claimed 11 victims: 10 women plus the teenaged son of one of his victims. With no bodies, the victims were just listed as missing, and it was virtually impossible for the police to know what had happened to them as Landru used a wide variety of aliases in his schemes. His aliases were so numerous that he had to keep a ledger listing all the women with whom he corresponded and which particular identity he used for each woman.
In 1919, the sister of one of Landru's victims, Madame Buisson, attempted to track down her missing sibling. She did not know Landru's real name but she knew his appearance and where he lived, and she eventually persuaded the police to arrest him. Originally, Landru was charged only with embezzlement. He refused to talk to police, and with no bodies (police dug up his garden, but with no results), there was seemingly not enough evidence to charge him with murder. However, policemen did eventually find various bits of paperwork that listed the missing women, including Madame Buisson, and combining those with other documents, they finally built up enough evidence to charge him with murder.
Trial and execution
Landru stood trial on 11 counts of murder in November 1921. He was convicted on all counts, sentenced to death, and guillotined three months later in Versailles. Forty years later, there was a rumour that the daughter of Landru's lawyer Vincent de Moro-Giafferi found a picture Landru had drawn while awaiting execution, and on the back of it he had apparently written, "I did it. I burned their bodies in my kitchen stove".
In popular culture
Landru was the inspiration for Charlie Chaplin's film Monsieur Verdoux (1947). The original story was written by Orson Welles, who originally wanted to direct the film with Chaplin in the title role. However, since Chaplin did not like to be directed by anyone but himself, Chaplin bought the story from Welles. Chaplin then wrote, directed, and starred in Monsieur Verdoux himself.
The 1960 film, Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons, starred George Sanders as Landru.
The 1962 film Landru, directed by Claude Chabrol, was inspired by the murders.
In the 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "The New Exhibit," a wax figure of Landru plays an important role.
The case also featured in one of the episodes of the 1976 BBC seres Second Verdict.
A 2005 French movie named Désiré Landru is another adaptation of this story.
In 2001, the French satirical journalist Frédéric Pagès, writing under the pseudonym Jean-Baptiste Botul, published a book entitled Landru: Precursor of Feminism (Landru, Precurseur du Feminisme: La Correspondance Inedite, 1919-1922).
Accounts in English include Dennis Barden's The Ladykiller: The Life of Landru, the French Bluebeard and William Bolitho's Murder for Profit.
Henri Désiré Landru's severed head is on display at the Museum of Death in Hollywood, California.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_D%C3%A9sir%C3%A9_Landru
Henri Désiré Landru (born April 12, 1869 in Paris, France – executed February 25, 1922 in Versailles, France) was a French serial killer and real-life Bluebeard.
Early life
Landru was born in Paris. After leaving school, he spent four years in the French Army from 1887 – 1891. After he was discharged from service, he proceeded to have a sexual relationship with his cousin. She bore him a daughter, although Landru did not marry her; he married another woman two years later and had four children. He was shortly swindled out of money by a fraudulent employer. He turned to fraud himself, operating scams that usually involved swindling elderly widows. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment in 1900 after being arrested and found guilty of fraud, the first of several such convictions. By 1914, Landru was estranged from his wife and working as a second-hand furniture dealer.
Murders
Landru began to put advertisements in the lonely hearts sections in Paris newspapers, usually along the lines of "Widower with two children, aged 43, with comfortable income, serious and moving in good society, desires to meet widow with a view to matrimony." With World War I underway, many men were being killed in the trenches, leaving plenty of widows upon whom Landru could prey.
Landru would seduce the women who came to his Parisian villa and, after he was given access to their assets, he would kill them — possibly by strangulation or stabbing — and burn their dismembered bodies in his oven. Between 1914 and 1918, Landru claimed 11 victims: 10 women plus the teenaged son of one of his victims. With no bodies, the victims were just listed as missing, and it was virtually impossible for the police to know what had happened to them as Landru used a wide variety of aliases in his schemes. His aliases were so numerous that he had to keep a ledger listing all the women with whom he corresponded and which particular identity he used for each woman.
In 1919, the sister of one of Landru's victims, Madame Buisson, attempted to track down her missing sibling. She did not know Landru's real name but she knew his appearance and where he lived, and she eventually persuaded the police to arrest him. Originally, Landru was charged only with embezzlement. He refused to talk to police, and with no bodies (police dug up his garden, but with no results), there was seemingly not enough evidence to charge him with murder. However, policemen did eventually find various bits of paperwork that listed the missing women, including Madame Buisson, and combining those with other documents, they finally built up enough evidence to charge him with murder.
Trial and execution
Landru stood trial on 11 counts of murder in November 1921. He was convicted on all counts, sentenced to death, and guillotined three months later in Versailles. Forty years later, there was a rumour that the daughter of Landru's lawyer Vincent de Moro-Giafferi found a picture Landru had drawn while awaiting execution, and on the back of it he had apparently written, "I did it. I burned their bodies in my kitchen stove".
In popular culture
Landru was the inspiration for Charlie Chaplin's film Monsieur Verdoux (1947). The original story was written by Orson Welles, who originally wanted to direct the film with Chaplin in the title role. However, since Chaplin did not like to be directed by anyone but himself, Chaplin bought the story from Welles. Chaplin then wrote, directed, and starred in Monsieur Verdoux himself.
The 1960 film, Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons, starred George Sanders as Landru.
The 1962 film Landru, directed by Claude Chabrol, was inspired by the murders.
In the 1963 episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "The New Exhibit," a wax figure of Landru plays an important role.
The case also featured in one of the episodes of the 1976 BBC seres Second Verdict.
A 2005 French movie named Désiré Landru is another adaptation of this story.
In 2001, the French satirical journalist Frédéric Pagès, writing under the pseudonym Jean-Baptiste Botul, published a book entitled Landru: Precursor of Feminism (Landru, Precurseur du Feminisme: La Correspondance Inedite, 1919-1922).
Accounts in English include Dennis Barden's The Ladykiller: The Life of Landru, the French Bluebeard and William Bolitho's Murder for Profit.
Henri Désiré Landru's severed head is on display at the Museum of Death in Hollywood, California.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_D%C3%A9sir%C3%A9_Landru
Sentence doubled in West Bromwich iron 'branding' case
Last updated at 16:39 GMT, Wednesday, 24 February 2010
An abusive husband who "branded" his wife's face with an iron has had his sentence doubled by the Appeal Court.
Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, personally appeared at the London court to seek an increase to Harpal Singh Moore's two-and-a-half year term.
Moore, 36, of West Bromwich, was jailed in September after admitting grievous bodily harm with intent.
Lady Justice Hallett said five years was "the very least that could and should have been imposed".
'Sustained cruelty'
At Wednesday's hearing Lady Justice Hallett and two other judges at the Court of Appeal agreed with Baroness Scotland that the jail term imposed in September last year was "unduly lenient".
She said: "The days when incidents of violence within the home were dismissed by many as 'just another domestic' are long gone."
She added five years was "the very least that could and should have been imposed" in Moore's case for what she described as a brutal, sustained act of cruelty.
Moore, who lived in the Tame Bridge area, had switched on an iron at their home and held it to his wife's face four to five times, leaving it on her skin for two to three seconds each time.
She has been left with permanent scarring and describes herself as a "broken woman".
Baroness Scotland, the government's chief law officer, said "a victim who happens to be in an intimate relationship deserves no less consideration than if this had been visited on her, or him, by a stranger".
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/8534797.stm
An abusive husband who "branded" his wife's face with an iron has had his sentence doubled by the Appeal Court.
Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, personally appeared at the London court to seek an increase to Harpal Singh Moore's two-and-a-half year term.
Moore, 36, of West Bromwich, was jailed in September after admitting grievous bodily harm with intent.
Lady Justice Hallett said five years was "the very least that could and should have been imposed".
'Sustained cruelty'
At Wednesday's hearing Lady Justice Hallett and two other judges at the Court of Appeal agreed with Baroness Scotland that the jail term imposed in September last year was "unduly lenient".
She said: "The days when incidents of violence within the home were dismissed by many as 'just another domestic' are long gone."
She added five years was "the very least that could and should have been imposed" in Moore's case for what she described as a brutal, sustained act of cruelty.
Moore, who lived in the Tame Bridge area, had switched on an iron at their home and held it to his wife's face four to five times, leaving it on her skin for two to three seconds each time.
She has been left with permanent scarring and describes herself as a "broken woman".
Baroness Scotland, the government's chief law officer, said "a victim who happens to be in an intimate relationship deserves no less consideration than if this had been visited on her, or him, by a stranger".
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/west_midlands/8534797.stm
SeaWorld trainer dies in killer whale attack in Orlando
Last updated at 08:49 GMT, Thursday, 25 February 2010
A trainer at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, Florida, has died after being attacked by a killer whale.
Witnesses said the orca had jumped and grabbed Dawn Brancheau by the waist from a poolside platform before dragging her underwater.
Guests were evacuated while fire crews tried to rescue the 40-year-old, but they were unable to revive her.
The killer whale, Tilikum, was also reportedly involved in the death of a female trainer in Canada in 1991.
Other orcas were also said to have attacked trainers at SeaWorld parks in 2006 and 2004.
'Shaking her violently'
Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld parks' head of animal training, was quoted by Reuters news agency saying: "She was rubbing the killer whale's head, and [it] grabbed her and pulled her in."
SeaWorld said an investigation was under way into Wednesday afternoon's death of Ms Brancheau, a trainer with 16 years' experience.
Jim Solomons, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, said early accounts indicated she could have slipped and fallen into the tank.
He said it was too early to tell if she had been attacked by the 12,000lb (5,450kg) orca.
But witnesses told a different story.
Park visitor Victoria Biniak told a local TV channel that the trainer had just finished explaining to the audience what they were about to see.
At that point, she said, the whale "took off really fast, and then he came back around to the glass, jumped up, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started shaking her violently. The last thing we saw was her shoe floating."
Audience member Eldon Skaggs told AP news agency the whale had "pulled her under and started swimming around with her".
A male spectator who witnessed the tragedy gave CNN a similar version of events.
Brazilian tourist Joao Lucio DeCosta Sobrinho and his girlfriend were at an underwater viewing area when they saw the whale with the trainer in its mouth.
The entertainment park, known for its killer whale, seal and dolphin displays, was closed after the incident. SeaWorld in San Diego also suspended its killer whale show.
Tilikum is said to have been involved in previous incidents, the BBC's Andy Gallacher reports from Florida.
A SeaWorld spokesman said the orca had been one of three whales blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after she had fallen in a pool at a marine park in British Columbia, Canada.
Naked man
After the whale - nicknamed Telly - was sold to SeaWorld Orlando it was involved in a second incident when authorities discovered the body of a naked man lying across his back in 1999.
Officials later concluded the man, who had either crept into SeaWorld after closing time or hidden in the park until it closed, probably drowned after suffering hypothermia.
There have been incidents involving other whales at SeaWorld.
In November 2006, a male trainer escaped with a broken foot after he was bitten and held underwater by a female killer whale during a show at SeaWorld's San Diego park.
In 2004, another whale at the company's San Antonio park attempted to bite a trainer, but he too escaped.
Though called a killer whale, the orca (Orcinus orca), is actually the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family.
Animal rights group Peta says it has long been asking SeaWorld to stop taking wild, ocean-going mammals and confining them to an area that, to them, is "the size of a bathtub".
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8535618.stm
A trainer at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, Florida, has died after being attacked by a killer whale.
Witnesses said the orca had jumped and grabbed Dawn Brancheau by the waist from a poolside platform before dragging her underwater.
Guests were evacuated while fire crews tried to rescue the 40-year-old, but they were unable to revive her.
The killer whale, Tilikum, was also reportedly involved in the death of a female trainer in Canada in 1991.
Other orcas were also said to have attacked trainers at SeaWorld parks in 2006 and 2004.
'Shaking her violently'
Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld parks' head of animal training, was quoted by Reuters news agency saying: "She was rubbing the killer whale's head, and [it] grabbed her and pulled her in."
SeaWorld said an investigation was under way into Wednesday afternoon's death of Ms Brancheau, a trainer with 16 years' experience.
Jim Solomons, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, said early accounts indicated she could have slipped and fallen into the tank.
He said it was too early to tell if she had been attacked by the 12,000lb (5,450kg) orca.
But witnesses told a different story.
Park visitor Victoria Biniak told a local TV channel that the trainer had just finished explaining to the audience what they were about to see.
At that point, she said, the whale "took off really fast, and then he came back around to the glass, jumped up, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started shaking her violently. The last thing we saw was her shoe floating."
Audience member Eldon Skaggs told AP news agency the whale had "pulled her under and started swimming around with her".
A male spectator who witnessed the tragedy gave CNN a similar version of events.
Brazilian tourist Joao Lucio DeCosta Sobrinho and his girlfriend were at an underwater viewing area when they saw the whale with the trainer in its mouth.
The entertainment park, known for its killer whale, seal and dolphin displays, was closed after the incident. SeaWorld in San Diego also suspended its killer whale show.
Tilikum is said to have been involved in previous incidents, the BBC's Andy Gallacher reports from Florida.
A SeaWorld spokesman said the orca had been one of three whales blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after she had fallen in a pool at a marine park in British Columbia, Canada.
Naked man
After the whale - nicknamed Telly - was sold to SeaWorld Orlando it was involved in a second incident when authorities discovered the body of a naked man lying across his back in 1999.
Officials later concluded the man, who had either crept into SeaWorld after closing time or hidden in the park until it closed, probably drowned after suffering hypothermia.
There have been incidents involving other whales at SeaWorld.
In November 2006, a male trainer escaped with a broken foot after he was bitten and held underwater by a female killer whale during a show at SeaWorld's San Diego park.
In 2004, another whale at the company's San Antonio park attempted to bite a trainer, but he too escaped.
Though called a killer whale, the orca (Orcinus orca), is actually the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family.
Animal rights group Peta says it has long been asking SeaWorld to stop taking wild, ocean-going mammals and confining them to an area that, to them, is "the size of a bathtub".
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8535618.stm
Chainsaw death for refusal to read Kampusch book
A Norwegian man has gone on trial for shooting his mother to death and cutting her body into "bite-sized" cubes - because she refused to read a bestselling book about Austrian kidnap victim Natascha Kampusch.
A court in Oslo heard yesterday (Mon) that the 40-year-old man went berserk when she declined his request to read "Girl in the Cellar" written by British journalist Allan Hall.
"It's a great read," the defendant told his mother, who replied: "No, not my cup of tea."
So he shot her then hacked her up into small pieces with a chain saw.
The accused, who was described by prosecutors as "severely psychotic," believed that Natascha Kampusch - held for over eight years by kidnapper Wolfgang Priklopil in Strasshof near Vienna - was his daughter after reading the book first published in 2006.
Prosecutors have asked for him to be held indefinitely in a secure mental institution.
Allan Hall, who wrote the book, told the Austrian Times: "I always thought the book was a killer read! It's a shame his mother didn't give it a go."
From: http://austriantimes.at/image/12709/news/Panorama/2010-02-15/20668/Chainsaw_death_for_refusal_to_read_Kampusch_book
A court in Oslo heard yesterday (Mon) that the 40-year-old man went berserk when she declined his request to read "Girl in the Cellar" written by British journalist Allan Hall.
"It's a great read," the defendant told his mother, who replied: "No, not my cup of tea."
So he shot her then hacked her up into small pieces with a chain saw.
The accused, who was described by prosecutors as "severely psychotic," believed that Natascha Kampusch - held for over eight years by kidnapper Wolfgang Priklopil in Strasshof near Vienna - was his daughter after reading the book first published in 2006.
Prosecutors have asked for him to be held indefinitely in a secure mental institution.
Allan Hall, who wrote the book, told the Austrian Times: "I always thought the book was a killer read! It's a shame his mother didn't give it a go."
From: http://austriantimes.at/image/12709/news/Panorama/2010-02-15/20668/Chainsaw_death_for_refusal_to_read_Kampusch_book
Mom Convicted of Killing Daughters, Keeping Bodies in Freezer
Associated Press
8:56 PM PST, February 22, 2010
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- A Maryland woman who adopted three children despite a troubled past was convicted Monday of murdering two of the girls, whose bodies were stored in a freezer as the woman continued collecting payments meant to help with their care.
Renee Bowman, 44, kept the bodies of the two young girls on ice for months while she continued to collect subsidies paid to parents who adopt special-needs children in the District of Columbia, receiving a total of about $150,000 since adopting the girls.
The bodies were found after the third daughter escaped by jumping out a window. The girl, now 9 and living with new foster parents, testified in the murder trial last week about the abuse she and her sisters endured -- being beaten with a baseball bat and shoes and choked until they lost consciousness.
The girl's older sisters, Minnet and Jasmine Bowman, were both younger than 10 when they died, though authorities were never able to determine exactly when the murders occurred. Nobody knew they were missing, and there are no records the children were ever enrolled in school. Prosecutors said Bowman killed them while the family was living in Rockville and took the freezer with her when the family moved first to Charles County and later to Lusby, in Calvert County.
Bowman showed no emotion as she listened to the verdict -- guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree child abuse. Jurors deliberated for about two hours.
Prosecutors said they would ask for life in prison without the possibility of parole when Bowman is sentenced March 22. Bowman's attorneys did not immediately return a call seeking comment. She has already been sentenced to 25 years in prison in Calvert County for abusing the surviving girl.
Afterward, jurors said the main issue was whether to convict her of first- or second-degree murder. Bowman's lawyer had argued the killings weren't premeditated.
"I am not going to insult your intelligence and say to you that she did not hurt those children, that she did not abuse those children," public defender Alan Drew told the jury. "Renee Bowman is not guilty of first-degree premeditated murder."
However, prosecutors argued the killings were deliberate, and Bowman's former cellmate testified that Bowman confided to her that she smothered them.
"She made a decision to go down, take a pillow, and smother these children," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said in his closing arguments.
During her testimony, the surviving girl clutched a Valentine's Day teddy bear as she told the jury about the abuse she suffered at the hands of the woman she called her "ex-mother"
She said she and her sisters were kept in a locked room in their Rockville home.
"There was a bucket where we went to the bathroom because we weren't allowed out of the room," she said.
McCarthy asked the girl where she had been beaten the worst. Asked to demonstrate on the bear, she pointed to its backside and its crotch.
The girl often waved happily at her foster mother during the testimony and talked about the books she likes to read. That contrasted sharply to a photo McCarthy showed that was taken in the hospital after she was found. In the photo, she stares with frightened eyes and part of her lip is missing -- a result of the abuse, authorities say.
Bowman was able to adopt the children despite being convicted of threatening a 72-year-old man over damage to her car. She also had filed for bankruptcy, even though D.C. officials said financial stability is a requirement for adoption.
From: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-mom-freezer,0,964776.story
8:56 PM PST, February 22, 2010
ROCKVILLE, Md. -- A Maryland woman who adopted three children despite a troubled past was convicted Monday of murdering two of the girls, whose bodies were stored in a freezer as the woman continued collecting payments meant to help with their care.
Renee Bowman, 44, kept the bodies of the two young girls on ice for months while she continued to collect subsidies paid to parents who adopt special-needs children in the District of Columbia, receiving a total of about $150,000 since adopting the girls.
The bodies were found after the third daughter escaped by jumping out a window. The girl, now 9 and living with new foster parents, testified in the murder trial last week about the abuse she and her sisters endured -- being beaten with a baseball bat and shoes and choked until they lost consciousness.
The girl's older sisters, Minnet and Jasmine Bowman, were both younger than 10 when they died, though authorities were never able to determine exactly when the murders occurred. Nobody knew they were missing, and there are no records the children were ever enrolled in school. Prosecutors said Bowman killed them while the family was living in Rockville and took the freezer with her when the family moved first to Charles County and later to Lusby, in Calvert County.
Bowman showed no emotion as she listened to the verdict -- guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree child abuse. Jurors deliberated for about two hours.
Prosecutors said they would ask for life in prison without the possibility of parole when Bowman is sentenced March 22. Bowman's attorneys did not immediately return a call seeking comment. She has already been sentenced to 25 years in prison in Calvert County for abusing the surviving girl.
Afterward, jurors said the main issue was whether to convict her of first- or second-degree murder. Bowman's lawyer had argued the killings weren't premeditated.
"I am not going to insult your intelligence and say to you that she did not hurt those children, that she did not abuse those children," public defender Alan Drew told the jury. "Renee Bowman is not guilty of first-degree premeditated murder."
However, prosecutors argued the killings were deliberate, and Bowman's former cellmate testified that Bowman confided to her that she smothered them.
"She made a decision to go down, take a pillow, and smother these children," Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said in his closing arguments.
During her testimony, the surviving girl clutched a Valentine's Day teddy bear as she told the jury about the abuse she suffered at the hands of the woman she called her "ex-mother"
She said she and her sisters were kept in a locked room in their Rockville home.
"There was a bucket where we went to the bathroom because we weren't allowed out of the room," she said.
McCarthy asked the girl where she had been beaten the worst. Asked to demonstrate on the bear, she pointed to its backside and its crotch.
The girl often waved happily at her foster mother during the testimony and talked about the books she likes to read. That contrasted sharply to a photo McCarthy showed that was taken in the hospital after she was found. In the photo, she stares with frightened eyes and part of her lip is missing -- a result of the abuse, authorities say.
Bowman was able to adopt the children despite being convicted of threatening a 72-year-old man over damage to her car. She also had filed for bankruptcy, even though D.C. officials said financial stability is a requirement for adoption.
From: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-mom-freezer,0,964776.story
Wife blindfolded husband for 'surprise,' beat him with hammer
Updated: 02/24/2010 09:08:30 AM MST
A 37-year-old Salt Lake City woman on Tuesday admitted hitting her husband in the head with a hammer three years ago after blindfolding him and promising a "surprise."
Amy Teresa Ricks was charged in 3rd District Court with second-degree felony attempted murder for the May 4, 2007, attack.
She pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, which is also a second-degree felony, but prosecutors have agreed to reduce the conviction to a third-degree felony after Ricks completes probation.
Prosecutors also agreed to allow Ricks to seek expungement of the crime after seven years.
Defense attorneys Susanne Gustin and Gilbert Athay called the expungement agreement a crucial part of the plea deal because of HB21, which is legislation that would no longer allow the expungement of any violent felony.
Sentencing is set for April 19 before Judge William Barrett.
Gustin said Ricks has no memory of the hammer attack because she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. But she knows she did it because she told a dispatcher about it during a 911 call, Gustin said.
Court records indicate the defense was preparing to claim at trial that Ricks was the victim of Battered Spouse Syndrome. Gustin on Tuesday declined to comment about trial strategy.
According to charging documents, Ricks and her husband, Joel Ricks, were out on a date when she drove him to her mother's Holladay condo.
Saying she had a surprise for him,
Ricks blindfolded her husband and led him to the basement, where she spun him around, told him to count to 100 and then began striking him with a hammer, according to court documents.
After suffering several blows, Joel Ricks removed the blindfold and grabbed the hammer, although he was unable to get it away from his wife, who continued trying to hit him.
He fled to a neighboring condo, where he asked the residents to call 911. Amy Ricks, who went looking for her husband, also called 911. She was arrested about two miles away.
Joel Ricks, who suffered only minor injuries, told sheriff's deputies that sleeping bags had been spread on the floor under his feet, and that nearby he saw a 9-inch-long kitchen knife inside a plastic bag.
It was that element of apparent premeditation that prompted prosecutors to file a charge of attempted murder.
Gustin said the case took nearly three years to resolve because of defense efforts to obtain Joel Ricks' mental health records. The defense took its records request to both the Utah Court of Appeals and Utah Supreme Court without success.
Gustin said Tuesday's resolution will provide closure to both spouses, who are still married but are separated.
From: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14454828
A 37-year-old Salt Lake City woman on Tuesday admitted hitting her husband in the head with a hammer three years ago after blindfolding him and promising a "surprise."
Amy Teresa Ricks was charged in 3rd District Court with second-degree felony attempted murder for the May 4, 2007, attack.
She pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, which is also a second-degree felony, but prosecutors have agreed to reduce the conviction to a third-degree felony after Ricks completes probation.
Prosecutors also agreed to allow Ricks to seek expungement of the crime after seven years.
Defense attorneys Susanne Gustin and Gilbert Athay called the expungement agreement a crucial part of the plea deal because of HB21, which is legislation that would no longer allow the expungement of any violent felony.
Sentencing is set for April 19 before Judge William Barrett.
Gustin said Ricks has no memory of the hammer attack because she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. But she knows she did it because she told a dispatcher about it during a 911 call, Gustin said.
Court records indicate the defense was preparing to claim at trial that Ricks was the victim of Battered Spouse Syndrome. Gustin on Tuesday declined to comment about trial strategy.
According to charging documents, Ricks and her husband, Joel Ricks, were out on a date when she drove him to her mother's Holladay condo.
Saying she had a surprise for him,
Ricks blindfolded her husband and led him to the basement, where she spun him around, told him to count to 100 and then began striking him with a hammer, according to court documents.
After suffering several blows, Joel Ricks removed the blindfold and grabbed the hammer, although he was unable to get it away from his wife, who continued trying to hit him.
He fled to a neighboring condo, where he asked the residents to call 911. Amy Ricks, who went looking for her husband, also called 911. She was arrested about two miles away.
Joel Ricks, who suffered only minor injuries, told sheriff's deputies that sleeping bags had been spread on the floor under his feet, and that nearby he saw a 9-inch-long kitchen knife inside a plastic bag.
It was that element of apparent premeditation that prompted prosecutors to file a charge of attempted murder.
Gustin said the case took nearly three years to resolve because of defense efforts to obtain Joel Ricks' mental health records. The defense took its records request to both the Utah Court of Appeals and Utah Supreme Court without success.
Gustin said Tuesday's resolution will provide closure to both spouses, who are still married but are separated.
From: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_14454828
Director of state hospital that treats child molesters accused of repeatedly raping foster child (Updated)
February 24, 2010 | 3:28 pm
The executive director of Napa State Hospital, a Northern California mental institution whose patients include convicted child molesters, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of sexually molesting a foster child in his care for more than a decade.
Claude Edward Foulk, 62 had been charged Tuesday with 35 felony counts, including 22 counts of forcible oral copulation, 11 counts of sodomy by use of force and two counts of forcible lewd act on a child, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
Prosecutors asked that bail be set at $3.5 million.
If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of 280 years in state prison.
An appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Foulk allegedly began molesting the then-10-year-old boy in the fall of 1992, shortly after taking him in as a foster child. They lived in Long Beach at the time, authorities said.
The molestation allegedly continued through 2003, after Foulk and the youth moved to Walnut.
Prosecutors said there are "numerous" additional victims "who fall outside the statute of limitations." According to a statement from the Orange County district attorney's office, they cannot pursue cases of molestation that occurred before 1988 because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Police were alerted to the allegations of sexual assault last year after one alleged victim, now in his 40s, discovered that Foulk was in charge of a hospital in Northern California.
Neither Foulk nor his attorney could be reached for comment.
State officials released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying Foulk had been removed from his job.
[Updated at 3:36 p.m. "Long Beach police served an arrest warrant at Napa State Hospital today, taking Executive Director Claude Edward Foulk into custody on felony charges of child molestation," the statement read. "Foulk served as executive director at the hospital from 2007 to the present. The charges are related to incidents that predate Mr. Foulk’s tenure at Napa State Hospital. Mr. Foulk’s employment with the Department of Mental Health has been terminated, effective immediately.”]
--Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton
From: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/director-of-state-hospital-that-treated-child-molesters-accused-of-child-molesting-foster-child.html
The executive director of Napa State Hospital, a Northern California mental institution whose patients include convicted child molesters, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of sexually molesting a foster child in his care for more than a decade.
Claude Edward Foulk, 62 had been charged Tuesday with 35 felony counts, including 22 counts of forcible oral copulation, 11 counts of sodomy by use of force and two counts of forcible lewd act on a child, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office.
Prosecutors asked that bail be set at $3.5 million.
If convicted on all counts, he faces a maximum sentence of 280 years in state prison.
An appointee of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Foulk allegedly began molesting the then-10-year-old boy in the fall of 1992, shortly after taking him in as a foster child. They lived in Long Beach at the time, authorities said.
The molestation allegedly continued through 2003, after Foulk and the youth moved to Walnut.
Prosecutors said there are "numerous" additional victims "who fall outside the statute of limitations." According to a statement from the Orange County district attorney's office, they cannot pursue cases of molestation that occurred before 1988 because of a U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Police were alerted to the allegations of sexual assault last year after one alleged victim, now in his 40s, discovered that Foulk was in charge of a hospital in Northern California.
Neither Foulk nor his attorney could be reached for comment.
State officials released a statement Wednesday afternoon saying Foulk had been removed from his job.
[Updated at 3:36 p.m. "Long Beach police served an arrest warrant at Napa State Hospital today, taking Executive Director Claude Edward Foulk into custody on felony charges of child molestation," the statement read. "Foulk served as executive director at the hospital from 2007 to the present. The charges are related to incidents that predate Mr. Foulk’s tenure at Napa State Hospital. Mr. Foulk’s employment with the Department of Mental Health has been terminated, effective immediately.”]
--Andrew Blankstein and Richard Winton
From: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/director-of-state-hospital-that-treated-child-molesters-accused-of-child-molesting-foster-child.html
Pirate's head taken off again
The Times February 24, 2010 12:00AM
WHEN fearsome Baltic pirate Klaus Stortebeker was executed 600 years ago, his headless body is said to have walked 12m along the length of Hamburg quayside.
He had struck a deal with the elders of the port: any of his 70 men he managed to pass in his post-decapitation walk should be spared. The quivering corpse passed 11 fellow pirates before the executioner put out a foot and tripped him up.
Little wonder, then, that the skull of Stortebeker has fascinated Germans for so long -- and that its theft from a Hamburg museum last month has kept police busy. They interrogated members of the often reckless FC St Pauli fan club and dug deep into the city's Goth scene, before concentrating on a new possibility: that the pirate's skull has become a trophy in the turf wars between rival biker gangs.
On Saturday night, a skull was placed outside the offices of the Hamburger Morgenpost with "No Tacos" written on its crown. Tacos is slang for the biker group Bandidos, which is challenging the Hell's Angels for control over northern Germany's lucrative drugs trade. Ralph Wiechmann, the head of archeology at Hamburg Museum, was called in to examine the skull and ruled it belonged to a more recent corpse than that of Stortebeker.
The pirate's skull has a gaping hole on its right side, where it was nailed to a wooden stake outside the harbour gate to deter people from piracy. The latest skull bore axe wounds but no nail hole.
Even so, the local press continues to insist that a Hell's Angels chapter is the likely culprit. The Morgenpost cites an "insider from the biker scene" as saying the skull was offered to the Hell's Angels free of charge by an unnamed thief. "The piratical skull and crossbones is certainly part of the insignia of aggressive motorcycle gangs," a police investigator said.
Stortebeker is regarded as a Robin Hood or even a Che Guevara figure by many north Germans because he robbed the rich merchant ships of the Hanseatic League. However, evidence of him redistributing his booty to the poor is scarce. Legend has it that after his execution, Hamburg senators found the masts of his ships had cores of gold and silver.
The possibility that Stortebeker, who was decapitated in October 1401 (or a year earlier, by some accounts), aged 40, was little more than a bloodthirsty crook has not detracted from his iconic status. He has a statue honouring him in Hamburg and a brewery in Stralsund named after him. "The skull is an important relic of Hamburg history," said Hamburg Museum director Lisa Kosok. "It is priceless." It disappeared for a few centuries but re-emerged in 1878 during excavations to expand Hamburg harbour. The age of the skull was confirmed in 1999.
The Hamburg Senate failed to keep its promise to Stortebeker and the 11 men were not spared. After chopping off the heads of all of Stortebeker's pirates, the executioner was asked if he was not a little tired. He replied that he had enough energy to execute the Senate elders as well. This was probably intended as a joke -- but the Senate ordered the executioner to be beheaded.
From: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/pirates-head-taken-off-again/story-e6frg6so-1225833605152
WHEN fearsome Baltic pirate Klaus Stortebeker was executed 600 years ago, his headless body is said to have walked 12m along the length of Hamburg quayside.
He had struck a deal with the elders of the port: any of his 70 men he managed to pass in his post-decapitation walk should be spared. The quivering corpse passed 11 fellow pirates before the executioner put out a foot and tripped him up.
Little wonder, then, that the skull of Stortebeker has fascinated Germans for so long -- and that its theft from a Hamburg museum last month has kept police busy. They interrogated members of the often reckless FC St Pauli fan club and dug deep into the city's Goth scene, before concentrating on a new possibility: that the pirate's skull has become a trophy in the turf wars between rival biker gangs.
On Saturday night, a skull was placed outside the offices of the Hamburger Morgenpost with "No Tacos" written on its crown. Tacos is slang for the biker group Bandidos, which is challenging the Hell's Angels for control over northern Germany's lucrative drugs trade. Ralph Wiechmann, the head of archeology at Hamburg Museum, was called in to examine the skull and ruled it belonged to a more recent corpse than that of Stortebeker.
The pirate's skull has a gaping hole on its right side, where it was nailed to a wooden stake outside the harbour gate to deter people from piracy. The latest skull bore axe wounds but no nail hole.
Even so, the local press continues to insist that a Hell's Angels chapter is the likely culprit. The Morgenpost cites an "insider from the biker scene" as saying the skull was offered to the Hell's Angels free of charge by an unnamed thief. "The piratical skull and crossbones is certainly part of the insignia of aggressive motorcycle gangs," a police investigator said.
Stortebeker is regarded as a Robin Hood or even a Che Guevara figure by many north Germans because he robbed the rich merchant ships of the Hanseatic League. However, evidence of him redistributing his booty to the poor is scarce. Legend has it that after his execution, Hamburg senators found the masts of his ships had cores of gold and silver.
The possibility that Stortebeker, who was decapitated in October 1401 (or a year earlier, by some accounts), aged 40, was little more than a bloodthirsty crook has not detracted from his iconic status. He has a statue honouring him in Hamburg and a brewery in Stralsund named after him. "The skull is an important relic of Hamburg history," said Hamburg Museum director Lisa Kosok. "It is priceless." It disappeared for a few centuries but re-emerged in 1878 during excavations to expand Hamburg harbour. The age of the skull was confirmed in 1999.
The Hamburg Senate failed to keep its promise to Stortebeker and the 11 men were not spared. After chopping off the heads of all of Stortebeker's pirates, the executioner was asked if he was not a little tired. He replied that he had enough energy to execute the Senate elders as well. This was probably intended as a joke -- but the Senate ordered the executioner to be beheaded.
From: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/pirates-head-taken-off-again/story-e6frg6so-1225833605152
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Man beaten with his wheelchair
Two men were arguing over smoking Crack
Updated: Monday, 22 Feb 2010, 5:22 PM EST
Published : Monday, 22 Feb 2010, 12:37 PM EST
Carla Castaño
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin police said a disabled man was beaten badly with parts of his own wheelchair over a drug argument.
Police said at 4 a.m. on Saturday, the victim and his alleged attacker were smoking Crack together at the victim’s apartment at 1111 Rutland Drive in North Austin when the two men began arguing about who would be able to smoke the larger Crack rock.
The victim had "several of [the victim's] colostomy bags pulled out" when police arrived according to police paperwork.
Police arrested and charged David Carrion, 52, with aggravated assault.
From: http://www.wavy.com/dpps/news/us_news/south/cops-man-beaten-with-his-wheelchair-_3247674
Updated: Monday, 22 Feb 2010, 5:22 PM EST
Published : Monday, 22 Feb 2010, 12:37 PM EST
Carla Castaño
AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin police said a disabled man was beaten badly with parts of his own wheelchair over a drug argument.
Police said at 4 a.m. on Saturday, the victim and his alleged attacker were smoking Crack together at the victim’s apartment at 1111 Rutland Drive in North Austin when the two men began arguing about who would be able to smoke the larger Crack rock.
The victim had "several of [the victim's] colostomy bags pulled out" when police arrived according to police paperwork.
Police arrested and charged David Carrion, 52, with aggravated assault.
From: http://www.wavy.com/dpps/news/us_news/south/cops-man-beaten-with-his-wheelchair-_3247674
Covington Doctor Stabs Woman With Sword
Neighbor Intervenes In Pike Street Attack
POSTED: 5:06 pm EST February 22, 2010
UPDATED: 2:08 pm EST February 23, 2010
COVINGTON, Ky. -- A Covington psychiatrist had a sword raised above his head Sunday evening and was about to stab a woman for a second time, said a man who witnessed the attack.
"I heard some screaming -- it's the kind of screaming you don't ignore -- (and) I ran upstairs," said Doug Hamilton, who asked the doctor why he stabbed the woman.
Hamilton said Dr. Douglas Rank's answer didn't make any sense.
"He said, 'Four quarts low on the truck,'" Hamilton said. "I'm only giving you what I've got; that's what he said."
Emergency crews found 32-year-old Misty Lake lying at the door of the Pike Street building where she'd been attacked, and she was taken to University Hospital with life-threatening chest wounds.
Hamilton said he threw a stack of books at Rank while Lake ran. Another neighbor helped Lake escape, as well.
Hamilton, who knew both Rank and Lake, said he intervened in the attack and the physician threatened his life.
"He tried to stab down at her when I yelled at him to stop," Hamilton said. "Then I got him focused on me when I yelled at him, then he said, 'I'll kill you too,' and I said, 'Now we don't want that.'"
Rank was taken into police custody and charged with first-degree assault, and the attack remains under investigation.
"This is an unusual situation for us to deal with," Assistant Chief Spike Jones said.
Detectives are working on details in this case and more charges may follow.
Officers said that Rank told them he had drank a fifth of brandy and had taken muscle relaxants.
"I know he's been helping her over the last year, counseling (her) through a drug problem. She's been having some custody problems with her children, he was trying to help with that," Hamilton said. "They're both wonderful people. It's a terrible tragedy. My thoughts go to both families."
This isn't the first time Rank has been in trouble.
His medical license has been in jeopardy and he was once under investigation by the medical board.
In 2000, Lexington police showed the board the doctor had prescribed a large amount of narcotics to a female patient. His license was suspended and later reinstated.
Rank's license is set to expire this Sunday, and he remains in police custody on $50,000 bond.
From: http://www.wlwt.com/news/22636852/detail.html
POSTED: 5:06 pm EST February 22, 2010
UPDATED: 2:08 pm EST February 23, 2010
COVINGTON, Ky. -- A Covington psychiatrist had a sword raised above his head Sunday evening and was about to stab a woman for a second time, said a man who witnessed the attack.
"I heard some screaming -- it's the kind of screaming you don't ignore -- (and) I ran upstairs," said Doug Hamilton, who asked the doctor why he stabbed the woman.
Hamilton said Dr. Douglas Rank's answer didn't make any sense.
"He said, 'Four quarts low on the truck,'" Hamilton said. "I'm only giving you what I've got; that's what he said."
Emergency crews found 32-year-old Misty Lake lying at the door of the Pike Street building where she'd been attacked, and she was taken to University Hospital with life-threatening chest wounds.
Hamilton said he threw a stack of books at Rank while Lake ran. Another neighbor helped Lake escape, as well.
Hamilton, who knew both Rank and Lake, said he intervened in the attack and the physician threatened his life.
"He tried to stab down at her when I yelled at him to stop," Hamilton said. "Then I got him focused on me when I yelled at him, then he said, 'I'll kill you too,' and I said, 'Now we don't want that.'"
Rank was taken into police custody and charged with first-degree assault, and the attack remains under investigation.
"This is an unusual situation for us to deal with," Assistant Chief Spike Jones said.
Detectives are working on details in this case and more charges may follow.
Officers said that Rank told them he had drank a fifth of brandy and had taken muscle relaxants.
"I know he's been helping her over the last year, counseling (her) through a drug problem. She's been having some custody problems with her children, he was trying to help with that," Hamilton said. "They're both wonderful people. It's a terrible tragedy. My thoughts go to both families."
This isn't the first time Rank has been in trouble.
His medical license has been in jeopardy and he was once under investigation by the medical board.
In 2000, Lexington police showed the board the doctor had prescribed a large amount of narcotics to a female patient. His license was suspended and later reinstated.
Rank's license is set to expire this Sunday, and he remains in police custody on $50,000 bond.
From: http://www.wlwt.com/news/22636852/detail.html
Woman, 100, stabbed to death at home in East London
By staff writers From: NewsCore February 25, 2010 12:32AM
A century old woman was murdered today after being stabbed in the neck at a home in East London.
The Sun reported the woman was found by police and ambulance staff in the Whitechapel area and was pronounced dead at the scene.
She was yet to be identified.
A police spokesman said, "A murder inquiry has been launched after the fatal stabbing of an elderly woman. Next of kin have been informed. We await formal identification of the victim."
The spokesman also revealed that a 61-year-old man has been arrested and is currently in custody.
A police source said the murder is believed to be the result of a domestic dispute.
From: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/woman-100-stabbed-to-death-at-home-in-east-london/story-e6frfku0-1225834094322
A century old woman was murdered today after being stabbed in the neck at a home in East London.
The Sun reported the woman was found by police and ambulance staff in the Whitechapel area and was pronounced dead at the scene.
She was yet to be identified.
A police spokesman said, "A murder inquiry has been launched after the fatal stabbing of an elderly woman. Next of kin have been informed. We await formal identification of the victim."
The spokesman also revealed that a 61-year-old man has been arrested and is currently in custody.
A police source said the murder is believed to be the result of a domestic dispute.
From: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/woman-100-stabbed-to-death-at-home-in-east-london/story-e6frfku0-1225834094322
Man jailed for feeding kittens to pitbull
By staff writers From: NewsCore February 23, 2010 5:18PM
A NEW Zealand man was jailed for seven months for feeding five live kittens to his pet pitbull terrier, with the nation's peak animal welfare agency saying it was "satisfied" with the sentence.
Te Ahu Mankelow, 31, unemployed, was sentenced in the Gisborne District Court on New Zealand's North Island after pleading guilty to five charges of wilful ill treatment against an animal.
Robyn Kippenberger, SPCA National Chief Executive, told NewsCore that sentencing laws for animal cruelty would soon double in New Zealand due to new legislation currently before Parliament, but that the penalty imposed on Mankelow was in line with similar examples.
The court heard how an associate recorded video footage on a cellphone of Mankelow tipping five kittens from a box for his dog, which attacked them one by one, killing them all, local newspaper The Gisborne Herald reported.
Mankelow was heard urging the dog to eat the kittens and praising it for doing so.
Defense counsel Leighvi Maynard said Mankelow acknowledged the behavior was callous and cruel but he accepted responsibility and was deeply ashamed and remorseful.
Mankelow was banned from owning or having any interest in an animal for 10 years.
From: http://www.news.com.au/world/man-jailed-for-feeding-kittens-to-pitbull/story-e6frfkyi-1225833565589
A NEW Zealand man was jailed for seven months for feeding five live kittens to his pet pitbull terrier, with the nation's peak animal welfare agency saying it was "satisfied" with the sentence.
Te Ahu Mankelow, 31, unemployed, was sentenced in the Gisborne District Court on New Zealand's North Island after pleading guilty to five charges of wilful ill treatment against an animal.
Robyn Kippenberger, SPCA National Chief Executive, told NewsCore that sentencing laws for animal cruelty would soon double in New Zealand due to new legislation currently before Parliament, but that the penalty imposed on Mankelow was in line with similar examples.
The court heard how an associate recorded video footage on a cellphone of Mankelow tipping five kittens from a box for his dog, which attacked them one by one, killing them all, local newspaper The Gisborne Herald reported.
Mankelow was heard urging the dog to eat the kittens and praising it for doing so.
Defense counsel Leighvi Maynard said Mankelow acknowledged the behavior was callous and cruel but he accepted responsibility and was deeply ashamed and remorseful.
Mankelow was banned from owning or having any interest in an animal for 10 years.
From: http://www.news.com.au/world/man-jailed-for-feeding-kittens-to-pitbull/story-e6frfkyi-1225833565589
NHS manager who bragged 'I am better than a man' jailed for 12 months over lesbian sex attack
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:48 PM on 23rd February 2010
An NHS manager who bragged: 'I'm better than a man' during a lesbian attack was jailed for a year yesterday.
Teresa Cottingham, 35, drunkenly floored another woman with a martial arts move in a hotel room before throttling her and forcing a sex act on her.
Cottingham, who has since married a man, had travelled up from Eastbourne to North London on January 26 last year to attend a conference.
After checking into the Premier Inn hotel in Euston she joined a group in a nearby pub where she became 'almost senseless' with alcohol, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.
The victim, who was known to her, escorted her back to the hotel in a taxi.
Adam Davis, prosecuting, said: 'In the hotel room the defendant collapsed onto the bed. She started to get undressed. Ms Cottingham asked the victim to make a cup of tea.
'The victim had her back to the defendant and it seems the defendant tried to pull her back onto the bed by the waistband of her shorts.
'She refers to the defendant as keeping on trying to pull her onto the bed.'
The young woman warned her: 'Look Teresa, you'll regret this in the morning' and finished making the bedtime drink.'
But Cottingham shouted 'You know you want it, you've been parading your a*** in front of me'.
'The defendant then pulled her onto the bed and there was a struggle,' added the prosecutor.
As she tried to subdue her victim, she bragged: 'I know what I'm doing - I'm better than a man.'
The victim at first thought Cottingham was joking, but realised she meant business when she tripped her over with the martial arts move, causing her to hit her head on a cupboard.
The barrister said: 'There was a certain amount of wrestling, with the complainant making it perfectly clear she didn't want to participate. Cottingham got more aggressive and forceful.'
The woman, who cannot be identified, took advantage of a pause to hoist herself onto the bed and away from Cottingham, who demanded to know: 'What do you want?' and was told: 'Get off me.'
'The victim's shorts and underwear had been taken off by this point, said the prosecutor, who added that the victim was grabbed by the throat.
'She was pushed back and every time she tried to move, her throat was squeezed harder.'
It was then that she performed the sex act on her victim.
The court heard that Cottingham eventually said: 'If you're not comfortable with this, I'll stop', but the victim told her it was 'too late for that'.
Cottingham then fell asleep, leaving the woman alone.
When Cottingham was arrested on February 5 she claimed the drunken incident was between 'two consenting adults' but confessed she had carpet burns on her knees.
She eventually changed her plea to guilty on the first day of her trial on January 4 this year, despite being unable to recall much of what happened.
Sharon Bailey, defending, urged Judge Ian Karsten QC to suspend any prison sentence because Cottingham, who acted 'completely out-of-character' has already suffered enough.
The court was told the mother-of-one has been sacked from her position with Sussex Partnership, a mental health trust, over the 'devastating' scandal.
Cottingham, of Lewes, East Sussex who admitted sexual assault, had managed to get a job in a pub but was forced to leave after her secret got out.
'She had a professional position with a good salary,' said Ms Bailey.
'She is no longer able to keep up with her outgoings and this may result in her being made bankrupt.'
The barrister added that Cottingham had married a man - who wept in the public gallery - just last week.
But the judge said: 'If this had been a man doing this, everyone would say "he has got to go down".' He added: 'This was a horrid attack.
'I accept you were drunk and that had you not been, you would not have done anything like that.
'It was a violent assault and humiliating for the victim. The impact statement shows it's really had long-term serious effects on her.
'As sex assaults go I have to say it really is a bad case.'
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1253083/NHS-manager-bragged-I-better-man-jailed-12-months-lesbian-sex-attack.html
Last updated at 12:48 PM on 23rd February 2010
An NHS manager who bragged: 'I'm better than a man' during a lesbian attack was jailed for a year yesterday.
Teresa Cottingham, 35, drunkenly floored another woman with a martial arts move in a hotel room before throttling her and forcing a sex act on her.
Cottingham, who has since married a man, had travelled up from Eastbourne to North London on January 26 last year to attend a conference.
After checking into the Premier Inn hotel in Euston she joined a group in a nearby pub where she became 'almost senseless' with alcohol, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.
The victim, who was known to her, escorted her back to the hotel in a taxi.
Adam Davis, prosecuting, said: 'In the hotel room the defendant collapsed onto the bed. She started to get undressed. Ms Cottingham asked the victim to make a cup of tea.
'The victim had her back to the defendant and it seems the defendant tried to pull her back onto the bed by the waistband of her shorts.
'She refers to the defendant as keeping on trying to pull her onto the bed.'
The young woman warned her: 'Look Teresa, you'll regret this in the morning' and finished making the bedtime drink.'
But Cottingham shouted 'You know you want it, you've been parading your a*** in front of me'.
'The defendant then pulled her onto the bed and there was a struggle,' added the prosecutor.
As she tried to subdue her victim, she bragged: 'I know what I'm doing - I'm better than a man.'
The victim at first thought Cottingham was joking, but realised she meant business when she tripped her over with the martial arts move, causing her to hit her head on a cupboard.
The barrister said: 'There was a certain amount of wrestling, with the complainant making it perfectly clear she didn't want to participate. Cottingham got more aggressive and forceful.'
The woman, who cannot be identified, took advantage of a pause to hoist herself onto the bed and away from Cottingham, who demanded to know: 'What do you want?' and was told: 'Get off me.'
'The victim's shorts and underwear had been taken off by this point, said the prosecutor, who added that the victim was grabbed by the throat.
'She was pushed back and every time she tried to move, her throat was squeezed harder.'
It was then that she performed the sex act on her victim.
The court heard that Cottingham eventually said: 'If you're not comfortable with this, I'll stop', but the victim told her it was 'too late for that'.
Cottingham then fell asleep, leaving the woman alone.
When Cottingham was arrested on February 5 she claimed the drunken incident was between 'two consenting adults' but confessed she had carpet burns on her knees.
She eventually changed her plea to guilty on the first day of her trial on January 4 this year, despite being unable to recall much of what happened.
Sharon Bailey, defending, urged Judge Ian Karsten QC to suspend any prison sentence because Cottingham, who acted 'completely out-of-character' has already suffered enough.
The court was told the mother-of-one has been sacked from her position with Sussex Partnership, a mental health trust, over the 'devastating' scandal.
Cottingham, of Lewes, East Sussex who admitted sexual assault, had managed to get a job in a pub but was forced to leave after her secret got out.
'She had a professional position with a good salary,' said Ms Bailey.
'She is no longer able to keep up with her outgoings and this may result in her being made bankrupt.'
The barrister added that Cottingham had married a man - who wept in the public gallery - just last week.
But the judge said: 'If this had been a man doing this, everyone would say "he has got to go down".' He added: 'This was a horrid attack.
'I accept you were drunk and that had you not been, you would not have done anything like that.
'It was a violent assault and humiliating for the victim. The impact statement shows it's really had long-term serious effects on her.
'As sex assaults go I have to say it really is a bad case.'
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1253083/NHS-manager-bragged-I-better-man-jailed-12-months-lesbian-sex-attack.html
Atheist billboards in Sacto: 'Are you good without God?'
Don't believe in the Man Upstairs? Atheists and agnostics want you to know that you're not the only one. And they've been spreading this message through a nationwide campaign that started last year. With the help of an umbrella organization called the United Coalition of Reason, local atheist groups have paid for billboards and other ads in about a dozen cities, including San Diego, Houston, Tulsa and New Orleans. Signs like the ones that recently emerged in Sacramento ask "Are you good without God? Millions are." Others proclaim "Don't believe in God? You are not alone," while the NYC subway ads point out, "A million New Yorkers are good without God. Are you?"
From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?blogid=111&entry_id=57062
A man jumps to his death and people -- laugh?
On Tuesday afternoon, a man crawled out of an apartment window. He stood on the ledge above the Forever 21 store at Powell St. near the cable car turnaround and, eventually, he jumped. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
But this is only part of the story. According to the SF Examiner, a large crowd watched as the man contemplated his demise. Some people tweeted about it. Even more horrifying, others encouraged him to jump, said passerby Terence Prasad, of San Francisco. (**The Chronicle and SFGate elected not to report on the suicide)
Online commenters who say they witnessed the incident paint a similarly disturbing picture. They describe the callous reaction and behavior of bystanders. At the same time, posters expressed with startling honesty the trauma of seeing the suicide while offering an outpouring of empathy, perhaps making up for the sickening lack of humanity yesterday and reminding us there are still many good, decent people out there.
From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?blogid=111&entry_id=57406
But this is only part of the story. According to the SF Examiner, a large crowd watched as the man contemplated his demise. Some people tweeted about it. Even more horrifying, others encouraged him to jump, said passerby Terence Prasad, of San Francisco. (**The Chronicle and SFGate elected not to report on the suicide)
Online commenters who say they witnessed the incident paint a similarly disturbing picture. They describe the callous reaction and behavior of bystanders. At the same time, posters expressed with startling honesty the trauma of seeing the suicide while offering an outpouring of empathy, perhaps making up for the sickening lack of humanity yesterday and reminding us there are still many good, decent people out there.
From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/scavenger/detail?blogid=111&entry_id=57406
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Diocletian's Religious Persecutions
Early persecutions
At the conclusion of the peace, Diocletian and Galerius returned to Syrian Antioch. At some time in 299, the emperors took part in a ceremony of sacrifice and divination in an attempt to predict the future. The haruspices were unable to read the entrails of the sacrificed animals, and blamed Christians in the imperial household. The emperors ordered all members of the court to perform a sacrifice to purify the palace. The emperors sent letters to the military command, demanding the entire army perform the required sacrifices or face discharge. Diocletian was conservative in matters of religion, a man faithful to the traditional Roman pantheon and understanding of demands for religious purification, but Eusebius, Lactantius and Constantine state that it was Galerius, not Diocletian, who was the prime supporter of the purge, and its greatest beneficiary. Galerius, even more devoted and passionate than Diocletian, saw political advantage in the politics of persecution. He was willing to break with a government policy of inaction on the issue.
Antioch was Diocletian's primary residence from 299 to 302, while Galerius swapped places with his Augustus on the Middle and Lower Danube. He visited Egypt once, over the winter of 301–2, and issued a grain dole in Alexandria. Following some public disputes with Manicheans, Diocletian ordered that the leading followers of Mani be burnt alive along with their scriptures. In a March 31, 302 rescript from Alexandria, he declared that low-status Manicheans must be executed by the blade, and high-status Manicheans must be sent to work in the quarries of Proconnesus (Marmara Island, Turkey) or the mines of Phaeno in southern Palestine. All Manichean property was to be seized and deposited in the imperial treasury. Diocletian found much to be offended by in Manichean religion: its novelty, its alien origins, the way it corrupted the morals of the Roman race, and its inherent opposition to long-standing religious traditions. Manichaeanism was also supported by Persia at the time, compounding religious dissent with international politics. Excepting Persian support, the reasons why he disliked Manichaenism were equally applicable, if not more so, to Christianity, his next target.
Great Persecution
Diocletian returned to Antioch in the autumn of 302. He ordered that the deacon Romanus of Caesarea have his tongue removed for defying the order of the courts and interrupting official sacrifices. Romanus was then sent to prison, where he was executed on November 17, 303. Diocletian believed that Romanus of Caesarea was arrogant, and he left the city for Nicomedia in the winter, accompanied by Galerius. According to Lactantius, Diocletian and Galerius entered into an argument over imperial policy towards Christians while wintering at Nicomedia in 302. Diocletian argued that forbidding Christians from the bureaucracy and military would be sufficient to appease the gods, but Galerius pushed for extermination. The two men sought the advice of the oracle of Apollo at Didyma. The oracle responded that "the just on earth" hindered Apollo's ability to provide advice. These "just", Diocletian was informed by members of the court, could only refer to the Christians of the empire. At the behest of his court, Diocletian acceded to demands for universal persecution.
On February 23, 303, Diocletian ordered that the newly built church at Nicomedia be razed. He demanded that its scriptures be burned, and seized its precious stores for the treasury. The next day, Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" was published. The edict ordered the destruction of Christian scriptures and places of worship across the Empire, and prohibited Christians from assembling for worship. Before the end of February, a fire destroyed part of the imperial palace. Galerius convinced Diocletian that the culprits were Christians, conspirators who had plotted with the eunuchs of the palace. An investigation was commissioned, but no responsible party was found. Executions followed anyway, and the palace eunuchs Dorotheus and Gorgonius were executed. One individual, Peter, was stripped, raised high, and scourged. Salt and vinegar were poured in his wounds, and he was slowly boiled over an open flame. The executions continued until at least April 24, 303, when six individuals, including the bishop Anthimus, were decapitated. A second fire occurred sixteen days after the first. Galerius left the city for Rome, declaring Nicomedia unsafe. Diocletian would soon follow.
Although further persecutionary edicts followed, compelling the arrest of the Christian clergy and universal acts of sacrifice, the persecutionary edicts were ultimately unsuccessful; most Christians escaped punishment, and even pagans were generally unsympathetic to the persecution. The martyrs' sufferings strengthened the resolve of their fellow Christians. Constantius and Maximian did not apply the later persecutionary edicts, and left the Christians of the West unharmed. Galerius rescinded the edict in 311, announcing that the persecution had failed to bring Christians back to traditional religion. The temporary apostasy of some Christians, and the surrendering of scriptures, during the persecution played a major role in the subsequent Donatist controversy. Within twenty-five years of the persecution's inauguration, the Christian emperor Constantine would rule the empire alone. He would reverse the consequences of the edicts, and return all confiscated property to Christians. Under Constantine's rule, Christianity would become the empire's preferred religion. Diocletian was demonized by his Christian successors: Lactantius intimated that Diocletian's ascendancy heralded the apocalypse, and in Serbian mythology, Diocletian is remembered as Dukljan, the adversary of God.
From; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian#Religious_persecutions
At the conclusion of the peace, Diocletian and Galerius returned to Syrian Antioch. At some time in 299, the emperors took part in a ceremony of sacrifice and divination in an attempt to predict the future. The haruspices were unable to read the entrails of the sacrificed animals, and blamed Christians in the imperial household. The emperors ordered all members of the court to perform a sacrifice to purify the palace. The emperors sent letters to the military command, demanding the entire army perform the required sacrifices or face discharge. Diocletian was conservative in matters of religion, a man faithful to the traditional Roman pantheon and understanding of demands for religious purification, but Eusebius, Lactantius and Constantine state that it was Galerius, not Diocletian, who was the prime supporter of the purge, and its greatest beneficiary. Galerius, even more devoted and passionate than Diocletian, saw political advantage in the politics of persecution. He was willing to break with a government policy of inaction on the issue.
Antioch was Diocletian's primary residence from 299 to 302, while Galerius swapped places with his Augustus on the Middle and Lower Danube. He visited Egypt once, over the winter of 301–2, and issued a grain dole in Alexandria. Following some public disputes with Manicheans, Diocletian ordered that the leading followers of Mani be burnt alive along with their scriptures. In a March 31, 302 rescript from Alexandria, he declared that low-status Manicheans must be executed by the blade, and high-status Manicheans must be sent to work in the quarries of Proconnesus (Marmara Island, Turkey) or the mines of Phaeno in southern Palestine. All Manichean property was to be seized and deposited in the imperial treasury. Diocletian found much to be offended by in Manichean religion: its novelty, its alien origins, the way it corrupted the morals of the Roman race, and its inherent opposition to long-standing religious traditions. Manichaeanism was also supported by Persia at the time, compounding religious dissent with international politics. Excepting Persian support, the reasons why he disliked Manichaenism were equally applicable, if not more so, to Christianity, his next target.
Great Persecution
Diocletian returned to Antioch in the autumn of 302. He ordered that the deacon Romanus of Caesarea have his tongue removed for defying the order of the courts and interrupting official sacrifices. Romanus was then sent to prison, where he was executed on November 17, 303. Diocletian believed that Romanus of Caesarea was arrogant, and he left the city for Nicomedia in the winter, accompanied by Galerius. According to Lactantius, Diocletian and Galerius entered into an argument over imperial policy towards Christians while wintering at Nicomedia in 302. Diocletian argued that forbidding Christians from the bureaucracy and military would be sufficient to appease the gods, but Galerius pushed for extermination. The two men sought the advice of the oracle of Apollo at Didyma. The oracle responded that "the just on earth" hindered Apollo's ability to provide advice. These "just", Diocletian was informed by members of the court, could only refer to the Christians of the empire. At the behest of his court, Diocletian acceded to demands for universal persecution.
On February 23, 303, Diocletian ordered that the newly built church at Nicomedia be razed. He demanded that its scriptures be burned, and seized its precious stores for the treasury. The next day, Diocletian's first "Edict against the Christians" was published. The edict ordered the destruction of Christian scriptures and places of worship across the Empire, and prohibited Christians from assembling for worship. Before the end of February, a fire destroyed part of the imperial palace. Galerius convinced Diocletian that the culprits were Christians, conspirators who had plotted with the eunuchs of the palace. An investigation was commissioned, but no responsible party was found. Executions followed anyway, and the palace eunuchs Dorotheus and Gorgonius were executed. One individual, Peter, was stripped, raised high, and scourged. Salt and vinegar were poured in his wounds, and he was slowly boiled over an open flame. The executions continued until at least April 24, 303, when six individuals, including the bishop Anthimus, were decapitated. A second fire occurred sixteen days after the first. Galerius left the city for Rome, declaring Nicomedia unsafe. Diocletian would soon follow.
Although further persecutionary edicts followed, compelling the arrest of the Christian clergy and universal acts of sacrifice, the persecutionary edicts were ultimately unsuccessful; most Christians escaped punishment, and even pagans were generally unsympathetic to the persecution. The martyrs' sufferings strengthened the resolve of their fellow Christians. Constantius and Maximian did not apply the later persecutionary edicts, and left the Christians of the West unharmed. Galerius rescinded the edict in 311, announcing that the persecution had failed to bring Christians back to traditional religion. The temporary apostasy of some Christians, and the surrendering of scriptures, during the persecution played a major role in the subsequent Donatist controversy. Within twenty-five years of the persecution's inauguration, the Christian emperor Constantine would rule the empire alone. He would reverse the consequences of the edicts, and return all confiscated property to Christians. Under Constantine's rule, Christianity would become the empire's preferred religion. Diocletian was demonized by his Christian successors: Lactantius intimated that Diocletian's ascendancy heralded the apocalypse, and in Serbian mythology, Diocletian is remembered as Dukljan, the adversary of God.
From; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diocletian#Religious_persecutions
History in the Remaking
A temple complex in Turkey that predates even the pyramids is rewriting the story of human evolution.
A pillar at the Gobekli Tepe temple near Sanliurfa, Turkey, the oldest known temple in the world
By Patrick Symmes | NEWSWEEK
Published Feb 19, 2010
They call it potbelly hill, after the soft, round contour of this final lookout in southeastern Turkey. To the north are forested mountains. East of the hill lies the biblical plain of Harran, and to the south is the Syrian border, visible 20 miles away, pointing toward the ancient lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, the region that gave rise to human civilization. And under our feet, according to archeologist Klaus Schmidt, are the stones that mark the spot—the exact spot—where humans began that ascent.
Standing on the hill at dawn, overseeing a team of 40 Kurdish diggers, the German-born archeologist waves a hand over his discovery here, a revolution in the story of human origins. Schmidt has uncovered a vast and beautiful temple complex, a structure so ancient that it may be the very first thing human beings ever built. The site isn't just old, it redefines old: the temple was built 11,500 years ago—a staggering 7,000 years before the Great Pyramid, and more than 6,000 years before Stonehenge first took shape. The ruins are so early that they predate villages, pottery, domesticated animals, and even agriculture—the first embers of civilization. In fact, Schmidt thinks the temple itself, built after the end of the last Ice Age by hunter-gatherers, became that ember—the spark that launched mankind toward farming, urban life, and all that followed.
Göbekli Tepe—the name in Turkish for "potbelly hill"—lays art and religion squarely at the start of that journey. After a dozen years of patient work, Schmidt has uncovered what he thinks is definitive proof that a huge ceremonial site flourished here, a "Rome of the Ice Age," as he puts it, where hunter-gatherers met to build a complex religious community. Across the hill, he has found carved and polished circles of stone, with terrazzo flooring and double benches. All the circles feature massive T-shaped pillars that evoke the monoliths of Easter Island.
Though not as large as Stonehenge—the biggest circle is 30 yards across, the tallest pillars 17 feet high—the ruins are astonishing in number. Last year Schmidt found his third and fourth examples of the temples. Ground-penetrating radar indicates that another 15 to 20 such monumental ruins lie under the surface. Schmidt's German-Turkish team has also uncovered some 50 of the huge pillars, including two found in his most recent dig season that are not just the biggest yet, but, according to carbon dating, are the oldest monumental artworks in the world.
The new discoveries are finally beginning to reshape the slow-moving consensus of archeology. Göbekli Tepe is "unbelievably big and amazing, at a ridiculously early date," according to Ian Hodder, director of Stanford's archeology program. Enthusing over the "huge great stones and fantastic, highly refined art" at Göbekli, Hodder—who has spent decades on rival Neolithic sites—says: "Many people think that it changes everything…It overturns the whole apple cart. All our theories were wrong."
Schmidt's thesis is simple and bold: it was the urge to worship that brought mankind together in the very first urban conglomerations. The need to build and maintain this temple, he says, drove the builders to seek stable food sources, like grains and animals that could be domesticated, and then to settle down to guard their new way of life. The temple begat the city.
This theory reverses a standard chronology of human origins, in which primitive man went through a "Neolithic revolution" 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. In the old model, shepherds and farmers appeared first, and then created pottery, villages, cities, specialized labor, kings, writing, art, and—somewhere on the way to the airplane—organized religion. As far back as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, thinkers have argued that the social compact of cities came first, and only then the "high" religions with their great temples, a paradigm still taught in American high schools.
Religion now appears so early in civilized life—earlier than civilized life, if Schmidt is correct—that some think it may be less a product of culture than a cause of it, less a revelation than a genetic inheritance. The archeologist Jacques Cauvin once posited that "the beginning of the gods was the beginning of agriculture," and Göbekli may prove his case.
The builders of Göbekli Tepe could not write or leave other explanations of their work. Schmidt speculates that nomadic bands from hundreds of miles in every direction were already gathering here for rituals, feasting, and initiation rites before the first stones were cut. The religious purpose of the site is implicit in its size and location. "You don't move 10-ton stones for no reason," Schmidt observes. "Temples like to be on high sites," he adds, waving an arm over the stony, round hilltop. "Sanctuaries like to be away from the mundane world."
Unlike most discoveries from the ancient world, Göbekli Tepe was found intact, the stones upright, the order and artistry of the work plain even to the un-trained eye. Most startling is the elaborate carving found on about half of the 50 pillars Schmidt has unearthed. There are a few abstract symbols, but the site is almost covered in graceful, naturalistic sculptures and bas-reliefs of the animals that were central to the imagination of hunter-gatherers. Wild boar and cattle are depicted, along with totems of power and intelligence, like lions, foxes, and leopards. Many of the biggest pillars are carved with arms, including shoulders, elbows, and jointed fingers. The T shapes appear to be towering humanoids but have no faces, hinting at the worship of ancestors or humanlike deities. "In the Bible it talks about how God created man in his image," says Johns Hopkins archeologist Glenn Schwartz. Göbekli Tepe "is the first time you can see humans with that idea, that they resemble gods."
The temples thus offer unexpected proof that mankind emerged from the 140,000-year reign of hunter-gatherers with a ready vocabulary of spiritual imagery, and capable of huge logistical, economic, and political efforts. A Catholic born in Franconia, Germany, Schmidt wanders the site in a white turban, pointing out the evidence of that transition. "The people here invented agriculture. They were the inventors of cultivated plants, of domestic architecture," he says.
Göbekli sits at the Fertile Crescent's northernmost tip, a productive borderland on the shoulder of forests and within sight of plains. The hill was ideally situated for ancient hunters. Wild gazelles still migrate past twice a year as they did 11 millennia ago, and birds fly overhead in long skeins. Genetic mapping shows that the first domestication of wheat was in this immediate area—perhaps at a mountain visible in the distance—a few centuries after Göbekli's founding. Animal husbandry also began near here—the first domesticated pigs came from the surrounding area in about 8000 B.C., and cattle were domesticated in Turkey before 6500 B.C. Pottery followed. Those discoveries then flowed out to places like Çatalhöyük, the oldest-known Neolithic village, which is 300 miles to the west.
The artists of Göbekli Tepe depicted swarms of what Schmidt calls "scary, nasty" creatures: spiders, scorpions, snakes, triple-fanged monsters, and, most common of all, carrion birds. The single largest carving shows a vulture poised over a headless human. Schmidt theorizes that human corpses were ex-posed here on the hilltop for consumption by birds—what a Tibetan would call a sky burial. Sifting the tons of dirt removed from the site has produced very few human bones, however, perhaps because they were removed to distant homes for ancestor worship. Absence is the source of Schmidt's great theoretical claim. "There are no traces of daily life," he explains. "No fire pits. No trash heaps. There is no water here." Everything from food to flint had to be imported, so the site "was not a village," Schmidt says. Since the temples predate any known settlement anywhere, Schmidt concludes that man's first house was a house of worship: "First the temple, then the city," he insists.
Some archeologists, like Hodder, the Neolithic specialist, wonder if Schmidt has simply missed evidence of a village or if his dating of the site is too precise. But the real reason the ruins at Göbekli remain almost unknown, not yet incorporated in textbooks, is that the evidence is too strong, not too weak. "The problem with this discovery," as Schwartz of Johns Hopkins puts it, "is that it is unique." No other monumental sites from the era have been found. Before Göbekli, humans drew stick figures on cave walls, shaped clay into tiny dolls, and perhaps piled up small stones for shelter or worship. Even after Göbekli, there is little evidence of sophisticated building. Dating of ancient sites is highly contested, but Çatalhöyük is probably about 1,500 years younger than Göbekli, and features no carvings or grand constructions. The walls of Jericho, thought until now to be the oldest monumental construction by man, were probably started more than a thousand years after Göbekli. Huge temples did emerge again—but the next unambiguous example dates from 5,000 years later, in southern Iraq.
The site is such an outlier that an American archeologist who stumbled on it in the 1960s simply walked away, unable to interpret what he saw. On a hunch, Schmidt followed the American's notes to the hilltop 15 years ago, a day he still recalls with a huge grin. He saw carved flint everywhere, and recognized a Neolithic quarry on an adjacent hill, with unfinished slabs of limestone hinting at some monument buried nearby. "In one minute—in one second—it was clear," the bearded, sun-browned archeologist recalls. He too considered walking away, he says, knowing that if he stayed, he would have to spend the rest of his life digging on the hill.
Now 55 and a staff member at the German Archaeological Institute, Schmidt has joined a long line of his countrymen here, reaching back to Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of Troy. He has settled in, marrying a Turkish woman and making a home in a modest "dig house" in the narrow streets of old Urfa. Decades of work lie ahead.
Disputes are normal at the site—the workers, Schmidt laments, are divided into three separate clans who feud constantly. ("Three groups," the archeologist says, exasperated. "Not two. Three!") So far Schmidt has uncovered less than 5 percent of the site, and he plans to leave some temples untouched so that future researchers can examine them with more sophisticated tools.
Whatever mysterious rituals were conducted in the temples, they ended abruptly before 8000 B.C., when the entire site was buried, deliberately and all at once, Schmidt believes. The temples had been in decline for a thousand years—later circles are less than half the size of the early ones, indicating a lack of resources or motivation among the worshipers. This "clear digression" followed by a sudden burial marks "the end of a very strange culture," Schmidt says. But it was also the birth of a new, settled civilization, humanity having now exchanged the hilltops of hunters for the valleys of farmers and shepherds. New ways of life demand new religious practices, Schmidt suggests, and "when you have new gods, you have to get rid of the old ones."
From: http://www.newsweek.com/id/233844
A pillar at the Gobekli Tepe temple near Sanliurfa, Turkey, the oldest known temple in the world
By Patrick Symmes | NEWSWEEK
Published Feb 19, 2010
They call it potbelly hill, after the soft, round contour of this final lookout in southeastern Turkey. To the north are forested mountains. East of the hill lies the biblical plain of Harran, and to the south is the Syrian border, visible 20 miles away, pointing toward the ancient lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, the region that gave rise to human civilization. And under our feet, according to archeologist Klaus Schmidt, are the stones that mark the spot—the exact spot—where humans began that ascent.
Standing on the hill at dawn, overseeing a team of 40 Kurdish diggers, the German-born archeologist waves a hand over his discovery here, a revolution in the story of human origins. Schmidt has uncovered a vast and beautiful temple complex, a structure so ancient that it may be the very first thing human beings ever built. The site isn't just old, it redefines old: the temple was built 11,500 years ago—a staggering 7,000 years before the Great Pyramid, and more than 6,000 years before Stonehenge first took shape. The ruins are so early that they predate villages, pottery, domesticated animals, and even agriculture—the first embers of civilization. In fact, Schmidt thinks the temple itself, built after the end of the last Ice Age by hunter-gatherers, became that ember—the spark that launched mankind toward farming, urban life, and all that followed.
Göbekli Tepe—the name in Turkish for "potbelly hill"—lays art and religion squarely at the start of that journey. After a dozen years of patient work, Schmidt has uncovered what he thinks is definitive proof that a huge ceremonial site flourished here, a "Rome of the Ice Age," as he puts it, where hunter-gatherers met to build a complex religious community. Across the hill, he has found carved and polished circles of stone, with terrazzo flooring and double benches. All the circles feature massive T-shaped pillars that evoke the monoliths of Easter Island.
Though not as large as Stonehenge—the biggest circle is 30 yards across, the tallest pillars 17 feet high—the ruins are astonishing in number. Last year Schmidt found his third and fourth examples of the temples. Ground-penetrating radar indicates that another 15 to 20 such monumental ruins lie under the surface. Schmidt's German-Turkish team has also uncovered some 50 of the huge pillars, including two found in his most recent dig season that are not just the biggest yet, but, according to carbon dating, are the oldest monumental artworks in the world.
The new discoveries are finally beginning to reshape the slow-moving consensus of archeology. Göbekli Tepe is "unbelievably big and amazing, at a ridiculously early date," according to Ian Hodder, director of Stanford's archeology program. Enthusing over the "huge great stones and fantastic, highly refined art" at Göbekli, Hodder—who has spent decades on rival Neolithic sites—says: "Many people think that it changes everything…It overturns the whole apple cart. All our theories were wrong."
Schmidt's thesis is simple and bold: it was the urge to worship that brought mankind together in the very first urban conglomerations. The need to build and maintain this temple, he says, drove the builders to seek stable food sources, like grains and animals that could be domesticated, and then to settle down to guard their new way of life. The temple begat the city.
This theory reverses a standard chronology of human origins, in which primitive man went through a "Neolithic revolution" 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. In the old model, shepherds and farmers appeared first, and then created pottery, villages, cities, specialized labor, kings, writing, art, and—somewhere on the way to the airplane—organized religion. As far back as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, thinkers have argued that the social compact of cities came first, and only then the "high" religions with their great temples, a paradigm still taught in American high schools.
Religion now appears so early in civilized life—earlier than civilized life, if Schmidt is correct—that some think it may be less a product of culture than a cause of it, less a revelation than a genetic inheritance. The archeologist Jacques Cauvin once posited that "the beginning of the gods was the beginning of agriculture," and Göbekli may prove his case.
The builders of Göbekli Tepe could not write or leave other explanations of their work. Schmidt speculates that nomadic bands from hundreds of miles in every direction were already gathering here for rituals, feasting, and initiation rites before the first stones were cut. The religious purpose of the site is implicit in its size and location. "You don't move 10-ton stones for no reason," Schmidt observes. "Temples like to be on high sites," he adds, waving an arm over the stony, round hilltop. "Sanctuaries like to be away from the mundane world."
Unlike most discoveries from the ancient world, Göbekli Tepe was found intact, the stones upright, the order and artistry of the work plain even to the un-trained eye. Most startling is the elaborate carving found on about half of the 50 pillars Schmidt has unearthed. There are a few abstract symbols, but the site is almost covered in graceful, naturalistic sculptures and bas-reliefs of the animals that were central to the imagination of hunter-gatherers. Wild boar and cattle are depicted, along with totems of power and intelligence, like lions, foxes, and leopards. Many of the biggest pillars are carved with arms, including shoulders, elbows, and jointed fingers. The T shapes appear to be towering humanoids but have no faces, hinting at the worship of ancestors or humanlike deities. "In the Bible it talks about how God created man in his image," says Johns Hopkins archeologist Glenn Schwartz. Göbekli Tepe "is the first time you can see humans with that idea, that they resemble gods."
The temples thus offer unexpected proof that mankind emerged from the 140,000-year reign of hunter-gatherers with a ready vocabulary of spiritual imagery, and capable of huge logistical, economic, and political efforts. A Catholic born in Franconia, Germany, Schmidt wanders the site in a white turban, pointing out the evidence of that transition. "The people here invented agriculture. They were the inventors of cultivated plants, of domestic architecture," he says.
Göbekli sits at the Fertile Crescent's northernmost tip, a productive borderland on the shoulder of forests and within sight of plains. The hill was ideally situated for ancient hunters. Wild gazelles still migrate past twice a year as they did 11 millennia ago, and birds fly overhead in long skeins. Genetic mapping shows that the first domestication of wheat was in this immediate area—perhaps at a mountain visible in the distance—a few centuries after Göbekli's founding. Animal husbandry also began near here—the first domesticated pigs came from the surrounding area in about 8000 B.C., and cattle were domesticated in Turkey before 6500 B.C. Pottery followed. Those discoveries then flowed out to places like Çatalhöyük, the oldest-known Neolithic village, which is 300 miles to the west.
The artists of Göbekli Tepe depicted swarms of what Schmidt calls "scary, nasty" creatures: spiders, scorpions, snakes, triple-fanged monsters, and, most common of all, carrion birds. The single largest carving shows a vulture poised over a headless human. Schmidt theorizes that human corpses were ex-posed here on the hilltop for consumption by birds—what a Tibetan would call a sky burial. Sifting the tons of dirt removed from the site has produced very few human bones, however, perhaps because they were removed to distant homes for ancestor worship. Absence is the source of Schmidt's great theoretical claim. "There are no traces of daily life," he explains. "No fire pits. No trash heaps. There is no water here." Everything from food to flint had to be imported, so the site "was not a village," Schmidt says. Since the temples predate any known settlement anywhere, Schmidt concludes that man's first house was a house of worship: "First the temple, then the city," he insists.
Some archeologists, like Hodder, the Neolithic specialist, wonder if Schmidt has simply missed evidence of a village or if his dating of the site is too precise. But the real reason the ruins at Göbekli remain almost unknown, not yet incorporated in textbooks, is that the evidence is too strong, not too weak. "The problem with this discovery," as Schwartz of Johns Hopkins puts it, "is that it is unique." No other monumental sites from the era have been found. Before Göbekli, humans drew stick figures on cave walls, shaped clay into tiny dolls, and perhaps piled up small stones for shelter or worship. Even after Göbekli, there is little evidence of sophisticated building. Dating of ancient sites is highly contested, but Çatalhöyük is probably about 1,500 years younger than Göbekli, and features no carvings or grand constructions. The walls of Jericho, thought until now to be the oldest monumental construction by man, were probably started more than a thousand years after Göbekli. Huge temples did emerge again—but the next unambiguous example dates from 5,000 years later, in southern Iraq.
The site is such an outlier that an American archeologist who stumbled on it in the 1960s simply walked away, unable to interpret what he saw. On a hunch, Schmidt followed the American's notes to the hilltop 15 years ago, a day he still recalls with a huge grin. He saw carved flint everywhere, and recognized a Neolithic quarry on an adjacent hill, with unfinished slabs of limestone hinting at some monument buried nearby. "In one minute—in one second—it was clear," the bearded, sun-browned archeologist recalls. He too considered walking away, he says, knowing that if he stayed, he would have to spend the rest of his life digging on the hill.
Now 55 and a staff member at the German Archaeological Institute, Schmidt has joined a long line of his countrymen here, reaching back to Heinrich Schliemann, the discoverer of Troy. He has settled in, marrying a Turkish woman and making a home in a modest "dig house" in the narrow streets of old Urfa. Decades of work lie ahead.
Disputes are normal at the site—the workers, Schmidt laments, are divided into three separate clans who feud constantly. ("Three groups," the archeologist says, exasperated. "Not two. Three!") So far Schmidt has uncovered less than 5 percent of the site, and he plans to leave some temples untouched so that future researchers can examine them with more sophisticated tools.
Whatever mysterious rituals were conducted in the temples, they ended abruptly before 8000 B.C., when the entire site was buried, deliberately and all at once, Schmidt believes. The temples had been in decline for a thousand years—later circles are less than half the size of the early ones, indicating a lack of resources or motivation among the worshipers. This "clear digression" followed by a sudden burial marks "the end of a very strange culture," Schmidt says. But it was also the birth of a new, settled civilization, humanity having now exchanged the hilltops of hunters for the valleys of farmers and shepherds. New ways of life demand new religious practices, Schmidt suggests, and "when you have new gods, you have to get rid of the old ones."
From: http://www.newsweek.com/id/233844