By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Way out there on the wicked, broken fringes of society, those ugly and savage edges that always seem to be moving ever closer to the mainstream and appear more dangerous to the collective soul than ever, there live some masterful miscreants of the human drama, bizarre creatures so moldy and low they can't but help you see the world anew.
You can, for example, happily read about the latest wanderings of Fred Phelps' adorable "God Hates Fags" cluster of manure clumps from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., right now picketing everything from military funerals to high school musicals, Laramie Project lectures to various modest Christian churches that dare to promote tolerance and love. Phelps and his little bucket 'o bile are widely considered the finest freakshow in all of Nutball Godsville.
Then again, competition abounds. Perhaps you've read about that other amoral chunk of anti-spiritual razor wire named Terry Jones, a leathery little Florida pastor with his tiny flock of 50 whack-nut imbeciles who've decided to go forth with their T-shirt-ready "Burn a Quran" day on September 11th? Talk about your genius marketing. I predict a new reality show.
Jones' charmingly repulsive event has not only outraged the easily outraged fundamentalist fringes of Afghanistan (really, it doesn't take much) but also a very unhappy American general who thinks Jones' flagrant idiocy could endanger the lives of American soldiers. Not bad for a shriveled, pea-sized soul from Florida, eh Terry? Jesus would be so proud.
Don't stop just yet. What about that (now-ex) Tea Party slug named Tim Ravndal, suddenly infamous for posting a sweet little joke on Facebook about lynching gay people to death -- a thoughtful reference to Matthew Shepherd -- because apparently Ravndal's God-given right to be a tiny-brained macho cockroach from Montana are threatened by the fact that some people are far more secure in their sexuality than he will ever be? Oh, Tea Party, will your nefarious gifts never cease?
On it devolves. How low do you want to go? Nazi skinheads? Black Tea Party inverto-racists? The 57 percent of Republicans who think Obama is a Muslim? Feverish Glenn Beck sycophants loading up the pickup truck with shotguns and Coors Light, on their way to take out an abortion clinic or maybe a Gay Pride parade, but who take the wrong exit and/or drive into a wall because they can't read the GPS?
Comedic horrors thrive, moronism seems to inbreed and fester, and most of it manifests under the banner of a mutant Christian God, or extreme conservatism, or some form of fundamentalist moral outrage that can't exactly be explained but which often makes its most devout adherents appear to be nothing more than frenetic fleas sucking blood from the Great Hound of life. The beast merely scratches and sighs, and keeps right on gnawing the bone of eternity.
Perhaps you stop to ponder, as I occasionally do, the curious fact that you never read about, say, a die-hard Richard Dawkins fanatic going off hinge and orchestrating a marvelous "Burn A Bible, Save A Kitten" protest event. Or perhaps a Unitarian Church minister commanding her flock to load up their Priuses with Ecstasy and rum to go spike the punch at the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing-along. Wouldn't that be fun? Wouldn't that make a powerful counter-statement? Damn right it would.
Where is the liberal outrage? Where are the extreme acts of radical love? Where is the crazed "Daily Show" fan secretly planning to dump 10,000 gallons of Astroglide on Fox News HQ because Jon Stewart appeared in a pot-induced fever dream and ordered them to?
I still await the hippie liberal apocalypse. I still await my fellow progressives gathering at the Lincoln Memorial in calmly organized outrage, armed with Sigg bottles full of Cabernet and copies of the New Yorker, demanding free iPads for the poor and more compound sentences on CNN. Hell, I just came back from that infamous neo-pagan antichrist orgy known as Burning Man, and all I got was this lousy glow stick.
Oh, the hardcore lefty fringe has its violent cretins, to be sure, natty Earth Firsters to slavering PETA blood hurlers, eco-terrorists and freako off-grid cults, but those groups never claim to be a vital part of the Democratic Party. Liberalism does not depend on terrible education rates to survive.
The GOP, on the other hand, sucks hard from the teat of ignorant extremism, splashes gleefully in the shallow mud puddles of Sarah Palin's battered grammar, draws much of its power from the worst the human spectacle has to offer. Simply put, the modern Republican Party would not exist without its army of high school dropouts drunk on Rush Limbaugh and sexual dread. It's not difficult to imagine "Burn a Quran Day" becoming a new Texas state holiday.
What to make of it? After all, the world has always been speckled with rabid clowns, an endless parade of spittle-flecked sociopaths that make us shudder and sigh, many with "Reverend" before their names or "Show" just after it. American culture is rife with worldviews so narrow and poorly educated, you can be quickly convinced we are but an inch from permanent insanity.
Or maybe not. I prefer to think of these fine denizens of dumb as the darker, skankier parts of our individual consciousness, the red flags of the soul. Should we not be grateful they exist? That they are here to remind us to be ever vigilant and wary? Hell yes we should.
After all, the Fred Phelps, the Glenn Becks, the Terry Jones of the world are but our basest natures made manifest, the bleakest, most paranoid, lazily ignorant parts of each and every one of us. Deny it at your peril. As Joseph Conrad once wrote, "the bitterest contradictions and the deadliest conflicts of the world are carried on in every individual breast capable of feeling and passion." He should know.
These wretched little demons, they are eternal. They have always been here. And they exist to deliver but one message: If you're not conscious, if you don't pay attention, if you don't fill your cup to brimming every single day with laughter and paradox, love and possibility, if you don't deeply appreciate the madhouse irony of this completely gorgeous, impossibly ruthless human experiment, well, they will but fester like a sore on your big toe, and you'll no longer be able to dance.
From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/09/08/notes090810.DTL
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Livermore man stabbed son, wife on trip
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
A Livermore man is being held on suspicion of attempted murder after stabbing his 14-year-old son and his wife after an argument on an overnight fishing trip, officers said Monday.
Gary Gomez, 48, was arrested around 4:15 a.m. Sunday after his wife, their son and two teenage friends escaped in a van with one flat tire, which Gomez had punctured with his fishing knife, said Sgt. J.D. Nelson, spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff's Department. He said the woman and child were treated at a local hospital and released.
Nelson said Gomez and his wife took the three youths to Bethany Reservoir in the Altamont Hills, near Tracy, late Saturday night. About 2 a.m., the officer said, one of the friends said he had to go home, Gomez objected, and Gomez's son spoke up in his friend's defense.
The father and son came to blows, and when the boy started to win, Gomez grabbed his fishing knife and stabbed him 11 times, Nelson said. When Gomez's wife and the other youths tried to break up the fight, he said, Gomez stabbed her through the hand. He also cut a hole in a tire of the van, but she managed to drive off with the three teenagers, the officer said.
The woman contacted the sheriff's office, which dispatched medical help and also sent deputies to find Gomez, Nelson said. He was booked on suspicion of child endangerment and attempted murder.
From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/06/BA1D1F9I1B.DTL
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
A Livermore man is being held on suspicion of attempted murder after stabbing his 14-year-old son and his wife after an argument on an overnight fishing trip, officers said Monday.
Gary Gomez, 48, was arrested around 4:15 a.m. Sunday after his wife, their son and two teenage friends escaped in a van with one flat tire, which Gomez had punctured with his fishing knife, said Sgt. J.D. Nelson, spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff's Department. He said the woman and child were treated at a local hospital and released.
Nelson said Gomez and his wife took the three youths to Bethany Reservoir in the Altamont Hills, near Tracy, late Saturday night. About 2 a.m., the officer said, one of the friends said he had to go home, Gomez objected, and Gomez's son spoke up in his friend's defense.
The father and son came to blows, and when the boy started to win, Gomez grabbed his fishing knife and stabbed him 11 times, Nelson said. When Gomez's wife and the other youths tried to break up the fight, he said, Gomez stabbed her through the hand. He also cut a hole in a tire of the van, but she managed to drive off with the three teenagers, the officer said.
The woman contacted the sheriff's office, which dispatched medical help and also sent deputies to find Gomez, Nelson said. He was booked on suspicion of child endangerment and attempted murder.
From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/06/BA1D1F9I1B.DTL
Monday, September 6, 2010
Holiday Brit, 27, dies when stunt to show friends how long he could hold on to balcony goes wrong
By Gerrard Couzens
Last updated at 5:32 PM on 6th September 2010
A British holidaymaker has died after a drunken prank at his Majorca hotel went horribly wrong.
The 27-year-old plunged more than 30 feet after losing his grip as he hung off his fifth-floor balcony and asked friends to count how long he could hold on for.
The dead man had just got back from a boozy night out with four holiday pals in the party resort of Magaluf when he attempted the stunt.
He was today named as Kevin Anthony Arie Hubert Louis, from Blackburn, Lancashire.
An onlooker said: 'It all happened so quickly. He clambered over his balcony and only held on for a few seconds before he dropped.
'He fell head-first like a lead weight and smashed on to a concrete ramp leading down to an underground car park next to his hotel garden.
'His friends saw everything.
'They were in tears when ambulance workers told them their friend was gone.'
A police source added: 'The friends told us he wanted to show off and hung off his balcony to see how long he could hold on for.
'He fell before they could talk him out of it.
'They had been drinking most of the night but they sobered up pretty quickly with the shock.'
The group of five men only returned to their holiday apartment near Magaluf ten minutes before Sunday morning’s tragedy, which happened around 7.40am.
Pathologists were due to conduct a post-mortem today in the Majorcan capital Palma.
The dead man is the second Brit to die this summer in a fall from a Magaluf hotel.
A string of other Brit tourists have been injured in similar circumstances in Majorca and the neighbouring island of Ibiza.
Grace Ford, 17, from Greenhalgh near Kirkham, Lancs, died after five days in hospital on July 25.
She fell 90ft after trying to sneak into her hotel with an 18-year-old British boy she met the night of her accident and plunging down a shaft she thought led to the hotel’s stairwell.
Ryan Elley, 20, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, has been in an induced coma in hospital in Majorca for a month after falling from his hotel in neighbouring Ibiza.
He made a last-minute decision to join his friends on holiday and did not take out travel insurance.
Friends and wellwishers have raised £15,000 to fly him back home by air ambulance when he is well enough.
Many of the hotel falls involving foreign holidaymakers in Spain this summer have been blamed on a craze dubbed balconing, where holidaymakers try to leap between rooms or jump from their room into their swimming pool.
Hotel owners in the Balearic Islands are set to discuss measures including fines, repatriations and a hard-hitting video campaign to stop youngsters attempting the dangerous stunts.
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1309475/Brit-27-plunges-30ft-death-balcony-stunt-Magaluf-goes-wrong.html
Last updated at 5:32 PM on 6th September 2010
A British holidaymaker has died after a drunken prank at his Majorca hotel went horribly wrong.
The 27-year-old plunged more than 30 feet after losing his grip as he hung off his fifth-floor balcony and asked friends to count how long he could hold on for.
The dead man had just got back from a boozy night out with four holiday pals in the party resort of Magaluf when he attempted the stunt.
He was today named as Kevin Anthony Arie Hubert Louis, from Blackburn, Lancashire.
An onlooker said: 'It all happened so quickly. He clambered over his balcony and only held on for a few seconds before he dropped.
'He fell head-first like a lead weight and smashed on to a concrete ramp leading down to an underground car park next to his hotel garden.
'His friends saw everything.
'They were in tears when ambulance workers told them their friend was gone.'
A police source added: 'The friends told us he wanted to show off and hung off his balcony to see how long he could hold on for.
'He fell before they could talk him out of it.
'They had been drinking most of the night but they sobered up pretty quickly with the shock.'
The group of five men only returned to their holiday apartment near Magaluf ten minutes before Sunday morning’s tragedy, which happened around 7.40am.
Pathologists were due to conduct a post-mortem today in the Majorcan capital Palma.
The dead man is the second Brit to die this summer in a fall from a Magaluf hotel.
A string of other Brit tourists have been injured in similar circumstances in Majorca and the neighbouring island of Ibiza.
Grace Ford, 17, from Greenhalgh near Kirkham, Lancs, died after five days in hospital on July 25.
She fell 90ft after trying to sneak into her hotel with an 18-year-old British boy she met the night of her accident and plunging down a shaft she thought led to the hotel’s stairwell.
Ryan Elley, 20, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, has been in an induced coma in hospital in Majorca for a month after falling from his hotel in neighbouring Ibiza.
He made a last-minute decision to join his friends on holiday and did not take out travel insurance.
Friends and wellwishers have raised £15,000 to fly him back home by air ambulance when he is well enough.
Many of the hotel falls involving foreign holidaymakers in Spain this summer have been blamed on a craze dubbed balconing, where holidaymakers try to leap between rooms or jump from their room into their swimming pool.
Hotel owners in the Balearic Islands are set to discuss measures including fines, repatriations and a hard-hitting video campaign to stop youngsters attempting the dangerous stunts.
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1309475/Brit-27-plunges-30ft-death-balcony-stunt-Magaluf-goes-wrong.html
Murder-accused husband had 'gymnastic sex' with other woman
Monday, 6 September 2010
A newlywed who killed his wife after five months of marriage enjoyed "gymnastic" sex sessions with another woman, a court heard today.
Michael Roberts, 27, killed wife Vicky, 25, on November 29 last year.
He denies murder and claims his wife died accidentally during a sex game in which he throttled her with a cord at their flat in Runcorn, Cheshire.
Today, Kerrie Hall, told Liverpool Crown Court she began seeing Roberts, a colleague at Phones4U in November 2008 and developed "a purely sexual" relationship.
Ms Hall said Roberts would regularly visit her home where they slept together before and after he married.
Asked what her memories were of the sex, she said: "That it was always gymnastic, there was always lots of action, he never stayed in one spot.
"It was all over the place.
"I have never done anything like that before.
"It was new to me so I was trusting him with what was going on."
The pair first kissed after a work social in Chester in November 2008 and ended up handcuffed to each other.
Ms Hall said she wanted fun at first, was equally "up for it" but was devastated when he got married as her feelings had developed.
The 31-year-old said Roberts had twice squeezed her neck during sex when she was close to climax.
And he had once squeezed so hard that he left a bruise.
Though saying she was "very open-minded" and "would have done anything to him pretty much", Ms Hall did not like to be throttled.
"I didn't like it at all and told him to get off me," she said.
She added: "He bruised me quite a few times, mainly around my breasts.
"He bit my nipple so hard once that it actually cracked."
David Steer QC, prosecuting, has told the eight men and four women of the jury that Roberts had a bag of sex toys.
Ms Hall acknowledged she had her own collection of sex toys, and that Roberts once tied her up.
After killing his wife the defendant wrapped up her body and stored it in their garage.
The Crown say he used her mobile phone to send messages creating the illusion she had left him for another man.
When police discovered the body - in Roberts's presence - he ran off and hid out in hotels for several days before he was found in Wrexham on Sunday December 6.
Being arrested he told police: "I didn't mean to do it."
Roberts, who managed a shop in Winsford, last cheated on his wife with Ms Hall in September 2009, she said.
The following month he began another affair with another Phones4U employee, Karen Wilson.
The 26-year-old left her fiance, who managed the business's Colwyn Bay store, for Roberts.
A week before he killed his wife, Roberts told his lover he had ended his marriage for her, she said.
From: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/murderaccused-husband-had-gymnastic-sex-with-other-woman-2071731.html
A newlywed who killed his wife after five months of marriage enjoyed "gymnastic" sex sessions with another woman, a court heard today.
Michael Roberts, 27, killed wife Vicky, 25, on November 29 last year.
He denies murder and claims his wife died accidentally during a sex game in which he throttled her with a cord at their flat in Runcorn, Cheshire.
Today, Kerrie Hall, told Liverpool Crown Court she began seeing Roberts, a colleague at Phones4U in November 2008 and developed "a purely sexual" relationship.
Ms Hall said Roberts would regularly visit her home where they slept together before and after he married.
Asked what her memories were of the sex, she said: "That it was always gymnastic, there was always lots of action, he never stayed in one spot.
"It was all over the place.
"I have never done anything like that before.
"It was new to me so I was trusting him with what was going on."
The pair first kissed after a work social in Chester in November 2008 and ended up handcuffed to each other.
Ms Hall said she wanted fun at first, was equally "up for it" but was devastated when he got married as her feelings had developed.
The 31-year-old said Roberts had twice squeezed her neck during sex when she was close to climax.
And he had once squeezed so hard that he left a bruise.
Though saying she was "very open-minded" and "would have done anything to him pretty much", Ms Hall did not like to be throttled.
"I didn't like it at all and told him to get off me," she said.
She added: "He bruised me quite a few times, mainly around my breasts.
"He bit my nipple so hard once that it actually cracked."
David Steer QC, prosecuting, has told the eight men and four women of the jury that Roberts had a bag of sex toys.
Ms Hall acknowledged she had her own collection of sex toys, and that Roberts once tied her up.
After killing his wife the defendant wrapped up her body and stored it in their garage.
The Crown say he used her mobile phone to send messages creating the illusion she had left him for another man.
When police discovered the body - in Roberts's presence - he ran off and hid out in hotels for several days before he was found in Wrexham on Sunday December 6.
Being arrested he told police: "I didn't mean to do it."
Roberts, who managed a shop in Winsford, last cheated on his wife with Ms Hall in September 2009, she said.
The following month he began another affair with another Phones4U employee, Karen Wilson.
The 26-year-old left her fiance, who managed the business's Colwyn Bay store, for Roberts.
A week before he killed his wife, Roberts told his lover he had ended his marriage for her, she said.
From: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/murderaccused-husband-had-gymnastic-sex-with-other-woman-2071731.html
Dog saved after eating 12 bras
By STAFF REPORTER
Published: 03 Sep 2010
SHOCKED vets carried out surgery on a dog after X-rays revealed it had eaten 12 BRAS.
Sick pup Molly was seized from her owners weighing half the weight of a normal Rottweiler and suffering a swollen stomach.
When docs carried out an X-ray they were stunned to discover the dog's belly was full of UNDERWEAR — including the wiring from a comedy bra.
When vet Michael Jefferson cut Molly open he removed a bundle of 12 bras worn by "a lady of a fuller figure" — which weighed 5KG.
The underwear may have been in the poor pup's belly for up to THREE MONTHS and would have prevented her from eating.
Molly's owners, Rebecca Danville, 26, and partner Stuart Lane, 28, of Grimsby, admitting animal cruelty at Grimsby Magistrates' Court on Thursday.
Vet Michael Jeffreson revealed that Molly was "skeletal" when she was rushed into his clinic on March 13 this year.
He said: "She was taken to surgery and a large quantity of items of underclothing that the dog had eaten was removed.
"In my opinion the owners of this dog by their negligence caused her unnecessary suffering over a considerable period of time in not seeking veterinary attention for her obvious emaciation and vomiting.
"She was like a hat rack when she came in and was almost skeletal. I've never seen anything like it. Her stomach was so distended it took up her whole abdomen.
"We pulled out around a dozen under garments which were very large and can only be described as for a lady of a fuller figure. Within days Molly was like a new dog."
Molly has now been handed to new loving owners in Lincolnshire and is described as "happy" and "healthy" after making a full recovery.
Jobless Danville and Lane, who claimed they couldn't afford veterinary treatment, were banned them from keeping animals for five years, fined £100 and ordered to pay £100 costs.
Insp Laura Jones, of Rspca, said: "If you take on the responsibility of a pet you always have to bare in mind the financial burden that comes with it."
From: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3123845/Dog-saved-after-eating-12-bras.html
Published: 03 Sep 2010
SHOCKED vets carried out surgery on a dog after X-rays revealed it had eaten 12 BRAS.
Sick pup Molly was seized from her owners weighing half the weight of a normal Rottweiler and suffering a swollen stomach.
When docs carried out an X-ray they were stunned to discover the dog's belly was full of UNDERWEAR — including the wiring from a comedy bra.
When vet Michael Jefferson cut Molly open he removed a bundle of 12 bras worn by "a lady of a fuller figure" — which weighed 5KG.
The underwear may have been in the poor pup's belly for up to THREE MONTHS and would have prevented her from eating.
Molly's owners, Rebecca Danville, 26, and partner Stuart Lane, 28, of Grimsby, admitting animal cruelty at Grimsby Magistrates' Court on Thursday.
Vet Michael Jeffreson revealed that Molly was "skeletal" when she was rushed into his clinic on March 13 this year.
He said: "She was taken to surgery and a large quantity of items of underclothing that the dog had eaten was removed.
"In my opinion the owners of this dog by their negligence caused her unnecessary suffering over a considerable period of time in not seeking veterinary attention for her obvious emaciation and vomiting.
"She was like a hat rack when she came in and was almost skeletal. I've never seen anything like it. Her stomach was so distended it took up her whole abdomen.
"We pulled out around a dozen under garments which were very large and can only be described as for a lady of a fuller figure. Within days Molly was like a new dog."
Molly has now been handed to new loving owners in Lincolnshire and is described as "happy" and "healthy" after making a full recovery.
Jobless Danville and Lane, who claimed they couldn't afford veterinary treatment, were banned them from keeping animals for five years, fined £100 and ordered to pay £100 costs.
Insp Laura Jones, of Rspca, said: "If you take on the responsibility of a pet you always have to bare in mind the financial burden that comes with it."
From: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3123845/Dog-saved-after-eating-12-bras.html
Husband jailed for hatchet killing
A 76-year-old Melbourne man has been jailed for 18 years for killing his wife with a hatchet.
Peter and Rosa Caruso were about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary when he attacked her with a hatchet at their Templestowe home in July 2008.
He then tried to cover up the crime by claiming his wife was attacked by an intruder.
The court heard Mrs Caruso died of "extensive depressed cranial fractures".
In sentencing, Justice Betty King told Caruso that his crime remained "entirely motiveless" and was out of character for him and the relationship he had had with his wife.
She sentenced him to 18 years in jail to serve a minimum of 15 years.
From: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/06/3004119.htm?section=justin
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Afghanistan's dirty little secret
August 29, 2010 | By Joel Brinkley
Western forces fighting in southern Afghanistan had a problem. Too often, soldiers on patrol passed an older man walking hand-in-hand with a pretty young boy. Their behavior suggested he was not the boy's father. Then, British soldiers found that young Afghan men were actually trying to "touch and fondle them," military investigator AnnaMaria Cardinalli told me. "The soldiers didn't understand."
All of this was so disconcerting that the Defense Department hired Cardinalli, a social scientist, to examine this mystery. Her report, "Pashtun Sexuality," startled not even one Afghan. But Western forces were shocked - and repulsed.
For centuries, Afghan men have taken boys, roughly 9 to 15 years old, as lovers. Some research suggests that half the Pashtun tribal members in Kandahar and other southern towns are bacha baz, the term for an older man with a boy lover. Literally it means "boy player." The men like to boast about it.
"Having a boy has become a custom for us," Enayatullah, a 42-year-old in Baghlan province, told a Reuters reporter. "Whoever wants to show off should have a boy."
Baghlan province is in the northeast, but Afghans say pedophilia is most prevalent among Pashtun men in the south. The Pashtun are Afghanistan's most important tribe. For centuries, the nation's leaders have been Pashtun.
President Hamid Karzai is Pashtun, from a village near Kandahar, and he has six brothers. So the natural question arises: Has anyone in the Karzai family been bacha baz? Two Afghans with close connections to the Karzai family told me they know that at least one family member and perhaps two were bacha baz. Afraid of retribution, both declined to be identified and would not be more specific for publication.
As for Karzai, an American who worked in and around his palace in an official capacity for many months told me that homosexual behavior "was rampant" among "soldiers and guys on the security detail. They talked about boys all the time."
He added, "I didn't see Karzai with anyone. He was in his palace most of the time." He, too, declined to be identified.
In Kandahar, population about 500,000, and other towns, dance parties are a popular, often weekly, pastime. Young boys dress up as girls, wearing makeup and bells on their feet, and dance for a dozen or more leering middle-aged men who throw money at them and then take them home. A recent State Department report called "dancing boys" a "widespread, culturally sanctioned form of male rape."
So, why are American and NATO forces fighting and dying to defend tens of thousands of proud pedophiles, certainly more per capita than any other place on Earth? And how did Afghanistan become the pedophilia capital of Asia?
Sociologists and anthropologists say the problem results from perverse interpretation of Islamic law. Women are simply unapproachable. Afghan men cannot talk to an unrelated woman until after proposing marriage. Before then, they can't even look at a woman, except perhaps her feet. Otherwise she is covered, head to ankle.
"How can you fall in love if you can't see her face," 29-year-old Mohammed Daud told reporters. "We can see the boys, so we can tell which are beautiful."
Even after marriage, many men keep their boys, suggesting a loveless life at home. A favored Afghan expression goes: "Women are for children, boys are for pleasure." Fundamentalist imams, exaggerating a biblical passage on menstruation, teach that women are "unclean" and therefore distasteful. One married man even asked Cardinalli's team "how his wife could become pregnant," her report said. When that was explained, he "reacted with disgust" and asked, "How could one feel desire to be with a woman, who God has made unclean?"
That helps explain why women are hidden away - and stoned to death if they are perceived to have misbehaved. Islamic law also forbids homosexuality. But the pedophiles explain that away. It's not homosexuality, they aver, because they aren't in love with their boys.
Addressing the loathsome mistreatment of Afghan women remains a primary goal for coalition governments, as it should be.
But what about the boys, thousands upon thousands of little boys who are victims of serial rape over many years, destroying their lives - and Afghan society.
"There's no issue more horrifying and more deserving of our attention than this," Cardinalli said. "I'm continually haunted by what I saw."
As one boy, in tow of a man he called "my lord," told the Reuters reporter: "Once I grow up, I will be an owner, and I will have my own boys."
From: http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-08-29/opinion/22949948_1_karzai-family-afghan-men-president-hamid-karzai
Western forces fighting in southern Afghanistan had a problem. Too often, soldiers on patrol passed an older man walking hand-in-hand with a pretty young boy. Their behavior suggested he was not the boy's father. Then, British soldiers found that young Afghan men were actually trying to "touch and fondle them," military investigator AnnaMaria Cardinalli told me. "The soldiers didn't understand."
All of this was so disconcerting that the Defense Department hired Cardinalli, a social scientist, to examine this mystery. Her report, "Pashtun Sexuality," startled not even one Afghan. But Western forces were shocked - and repulsed.
For centuries, Afghan men have taken boys, roughly 9 to 15 years old, as lovers. Some research suggests that half the Pashtun tribal members in Kandahar and other southern towns are bacha baz, the term for an older man with a boy lover. Literally it means "boy player." The men like to boast about it.
"Having a boy has become a custom for us," Enayatullah, a 42-year-old in Baghlan province, told a Reuters reporter. "Whoever wants to show off should have a boy."
Baghlan province is in the northeast, but Afghans say pedophilia is most prevalent among Pashtun men in the south. The Pashtun are Afghanistan's most important tribe. For centuries, the nation's leaders have been Pashtun.
President Hamid Karzai is Pashtun, from a village near Kandahar, and he has six brothers. So the natural question arises: Has anyone in the Karzai family been bacha baz? Two Afghans with close connections to the Karzai family told me they know that at least one family member and perhaps two were bacha baz. Afraid of retribution, both declined to be identified and would not be more specific for publication.
As for Karzai, an American who worked in and around his palace in an official capacity for many months told me that homosexual behavior "was rampant" among "soldiers and guys on the security detail. They talked about boys all the time."
He added, "I didn't see Karzai with anyone. He was in his palace most of the time." He, too, declined to be identified.
In Kandahar, population about 500,000, and other towns, dance parties are a popular, often weekly, pastime. Young boys dress up as girls, wearing makeup and bells on their feet, and dance for a dozen or more leering middle-aged men who throw money at them and then take them home. A recent State Department report called "dancing boys" a "widespread, culturally sanctioned form of male rape."
So, why are American and NATO forces fighting and dying to defend tens of thousands of proud pedophiles, certainly more per capita than any other place on Earth? And how did Afghanistan become the pedophilia capital of Asia?
Sociologists and anthropologists say the problem results from perverse interpretation of Islamic law. Women are simply unapproachable. Afghan men cannot talk to an unrelated woman until after proposing marriage. Before then, they can't even look at a woman, except perhaps her feet. Otherwise she is covered, head to ankle.
"How can you fall in love if you can't see her face," 29-year-old Mohammed Daud told reporters. "We can see the boys, so we can tell which are beautiful."
Even after marriage, many men keep their boys, suggesting a loveless life at home. A favored Afghan expression goes: "Women are for children, boys are for pleasure." Fundamentalist imams, exaggerating a biblical passage on menstruation, teach that women are "unclean" and therefore distasteful. One married man even asked Cardinalli's team "how his wife could become pregnant," her report said. When that was explained, he "reacted with disgust" and asked, "How could one feel desire to be with a woman, who God has made unclean?"
That helps explain why women are hidden away - and stoned to death if they are perceived to have misbehaved. Islamic law also forbids homosexuality. But the pedophiles explain that away. It's not homosexuality, they aver, because they aren't in love with their boys.
Addressing the loathsome mistreatment of Afghan women remains a primary goal for coalition governments, as it should be.
But what about the boys, thousands upon thousands of little boys who are victims of serial rape over many years, destroying their lives - and Afghan society.
"There's no issue more horrifying and more deserving of our attention than this," Cardinalli said. "I'm continually haunted by what I saw."
As one boy, in tow of a man he called "my lord," told the Reuters reporter: "Once I grow up, I will be an owner, and I will have my own boys."
From: http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-08-29/opinion/22949948_1_karzai-family-afghan-men-president-hamid-karzai
Boy attacks elderly woman in Livermore
Updated at 12:18 AM today
LIVERMORE, CA (KGO) -- An attack on an elderly woman in Livermore is hard to wrap your mind around. It's not just her age, 89, but that of her attacker -- a boy last seen taking off on his scooter.
Livermore police want the public to take a good look at the composite sketch released. He is believed to be around 13 years old and what he did has investigators dumbfounded.
Police say it was on a path near the Arroyo Mocho Creek where he approached an 89-year-old woman. He told her his name was "Cameron," that he was in the seventh grade and that he wanted to show her something off the trail.
She followed him and that is when he struck her on the head with an unknown object.
The boy continued to hit the woman even after she fell down.
"It seems awfully young, but he must have a lot of issues to take it out on an older person like that," said Livermore resident Stevie Lindh.
Luckily, a man ran over after hearing the woman's cries for help. The boy immediately took off on his scooter. Police say they have no idea what motivated him to attack.
The 89-year-old woman was taken to the hospital. She suffered injuries to the head, but has since been released and is expected to be OK.
The people of Livermore now hope police will find the person responsible soon. They say they'll be extra vigilant until the boy is caught.
"That's very unusual for this area and... our group is definitely going to be out here keeping an eye," says Livermore resident Mercedes Phillips.
From: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=7650006
LIVERMORE, CA (KGO) -- An attack on an elderly woman in Livermore is hard to wrap your mind around. It's not just her age, 89, but that of her attacker -- a boy last seen taking off on his scooter.
Livermore police want the public to take a good look at the composite sketch released. He is believed to be around 13 years old and what he did has investigators dumbfounded.
Police say it was on a path near the Arroyo Mocho Creek where he approached an 89-year-old woman. He told her his name was "Cameron," that he was in the seventh grade and that he wanted to show her something off the trail.
She followed him and that is when he struck her on the head with an unknown object.
The boy continued to hit the woman even after she fell down.
"It seems awfully young, but he must have a lot of issues to take it out on an older person like that," said Livermore resident Stevie Lindh.
Luckily, a man ran over after hearing the woman's cries for help. The boy immediately took off on his scooter. Police say they have no idea what motivated him to attack.
The 89-year-old woman was taken to the hospital. She suffered injuries to the head, but has since been released and is expected to be OK.
The people of Livermore now hope police will find the person responsible soon. They say they'll be extra vigilant until the boy is caught.
"That's very unusual for this area and... our group is definitely going to be out here keeping an eye," says Livermore resident Mercedes Phillips.
From: http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=7650006
In $1.2 Million Fraud Plot, Four Women Invented A Man Then Killed Him Off
Ryan J. Reilly | September 3, 2010, 6:17PM
Just how low did four California women go to make a quick buck ripping off insurance companies? Six feet under.
Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters today highlighted a recent conviction in a scheme by four individuals in the Los Angeles area to invent a man out of whole cloth, hold his funeral, and then reap in the insurance benefits from his death.
A simple scheme this was not -- they went as far as to stage a funeral with paid actors, claim expenses for an extravagant funeral package and buy a burial plot for "Jim Davis." The fake funeral they actually held, however, was a simple affair featuring only a handful of fake family members, and the defendants allegedly pocketed the difference.
Jean Crump, a former mortuary employee, was found guilty last month, joining three other women who together defrauded insurance companies by filing $1.2 million in false claims.
The scheme began to fall apart once two insurance companies started looking at the claims and assigned an investigator to look more closely at rip-off.
Once those in on the scheme got word the feds were snooping around, they unearthed the coffin with the supposed remains of "Jim Davis" and re-filled the casket with a mannequin and cow parts. Then they sent it off to the crematory, and filed false documents stating "Davis" had been cremated and his ashes released into the Pacific Ocean.
The 67-year-old Crump was found guilty last month on two counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
The other defendants included 61-year-old Faye Shilling, who pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud; 64-year-old Barbara Ann Lynn, who previously pleaded guilty in relation to the scheme; and 35-year-old Lydia Eileen Pearce, the mortuary owner who pleaded guilty as well.
Fake funerals aren't a tool used exclusively by the bad guys, however. The FBI itself staged a fake funeral to lure members of the Hutaree militia into federal custody back in March.
From: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/fbi_on_the_watch_for_fake_funeral_scams.php?ref=fpb
Just how low did four California women go to make a quick buck ripping off insurance companies? Six feet under.
Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters today highlighted a recent conviction in a scheme by four individuals in the Los Angeles area to invent a man out of whole cloth, hold his funeral, and then reap in the insurance benefits from his death.
A simple scheme this was not -- they went as far as to stage a funeral with paid actors, claim expenses for an extravagant funeral package and buy a burial plot for "Jim Davis." The fake funeral they actually held, however, was a simple affair featuring only a handful of fake family members, and the defendants allegedly pocketed the difference.
Jean Crump, a former mortuary employee, was found guilty last month, joining three other women who together defrauded insurance companies by filing $1.2 million in false claims.
The scheme began to fall apart once two insurance companies started looking at the claims and assigned an investigator to look more closely at rip-off.
Once those in on the scheme got word the feds were snooping around, they unearthed the coffin with the supposed remains of "Jim Davis" and re-filled the casket with a mannequin and cow parts. Then they sent it off to the crematory, and filed false documents stating "Davis" had been cremated and his ashes released into the Pacific Ocean.
The 67-year-old Crump was found guilty last month on two counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.
The other defendants included 61-year-old Faye Shilling, who pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud; 64-year-old Barbara Ann Lynn, who previously pleaded guilty in relation to the scheme; and 35-year-old Lydia Eileen Pearce, the mortuary owner who pleaded guilty as well.
Fake funerals aren't a tool used exclusively by the bad guys, however. The FBI itself staged a fake funeral to lure members of the Hutaree militia into federal custody back in March.
From: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/09/fbi_on_the_watch_for_fake_funeral_scams.php?ref=fpb
Mom threw kids from Sellwood Bridge to 'end their suffering'
NWCN.com
Posted on September 2, 2010 at 10:51 PM
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Newly released documents reveal the Tualatin mother that threw her two children from the Sellwood Bridge told investigators she wanted to "end their suffering."
Additional comments from Amanda Stott-Smith were redacted and there was no further explanation. Newschannel 8 obtained the internal state documents from the Department of Human Services through a public records request.
Stott-Smith is serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 35 years for throwing her children from the Sellwood Bridge in May of 2009.
Four-year-old Eldon Smith died. His then 7-year-old sister Trinity survived the 75-foot fall.
In the reports, Trinity explains her mother seemed talkative and happy as they drove to go watch fireworks. The seven-year old told investigators "she fell asleep in the car" and "then she woke up and she was in the water." A pair of good samaritans rescued the girl.
Since the tragedy, state child welfare workers have followed Trinity's progress. The reports suggest a case worker has been meeting with her roughly twice a month.
They report she is getting counseling. She appears happy and healthy.
"Trinity seemed to be doing very well and she reported that she really likes school," writes a DHS worker. "She appears to be quite the reader."
From: http://www.nwcn.com/home/Mom-threw-kids-from-Sellwood-Bridge-to-end-their-suffering-102129519.html
Son accused of robbing parents for back rent before murders
by KGW
NWCN.com
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 10:02 PM
SALEM, Ore. -- A Salem woman who wanted to get her children out of state custody was pressuring her boyfriend to get money from his parents when he snapped and murdered them on their Dallas farm Tuesday, according to investigators.
The 20-year-old Salem man, Andrew Jondle, and his 46-year-old girlfriend Cindy Lou Beck were arrested Tuesday. Polk County deputies found 61-year-old David Scott Jondle and his 58-year-old wife Marilyn Ruth Jondle dead at their home on Gilliam Road in what the sheriff called a "gruesome" scene.
The family ran the Abundant Life Farm near Dallas.
Detectives said some time between 11 p.m. Monday night and 2 a.m. Tuesday, Jondle had gone to the home to rob them, in order to pay back rent.
An autopsy Wednesday showed David Jondle died from stab wounds inflicted by a scythe. Marilyn had been beaten to death with a metal pipe.
"We have been able to establish that both Andrew Jondle, son of the victims, along with his girlfriend, Cindy Lou Beck, conspired the plan to kill the victims in order to get money," Wolfe said.
The suspect returned home to Salem after taking credit cards and jewelry later found there, detectives said.
A metal pipe suspected to have been the murder weapon was also recovered at the scene, deputies said.
Police from several area agencies and Oregon State troopers went to the apartment of the Jondle's son on Royvonne Avenue in Salem around 11:30 a.m.
Andrew Jondle was charged with two counts of aggravated murder and Beck, for hindering prosecution. He was held without bail as detectives continued to investigate.
Investigators think Andrew acted alone, but Beck was likely to still face additional charges, Wolfe said.
Polk County Sheriff Bob Wolfe said that Beck told police she found Andrew Jondle with blood on his clothes and helped him dispose of them.
Wolfe said Beck and Andrew Jondle were in a relationship and his parents didn't approve, causing tension in the family.
Beck previously had children taken by Oregon Department of Human Services and needed money to get them back, investigators said. The Jondles had also recently taken a car away from their son.
According to a website of the family's business, David worked as a software engineer with aerospace companies for several years while Marilyn homeschooled their three sons.
The family decided to start their own farm in 2000.
From: http://www.nwcn.com/news/Son-accused-of-robbing-parents-for-back-rent-before-murders-102037888.html
NWCN.com
Posted on September 1, 2010 at 10:02 PM
SALEM, Ore. -- A Salem woman who wanted to get her children out of state custody was pressuring her boyfriend to get money from his parents when he snapped and murdered them on their Dallas farm Tuesday, according to investigators.
The 20-year-old Salem man, Andrew Jondle, and his 46-year-old girlfriend Cindy Lou Beck were arrested Tuesday. Polk County deputies found 61-year-old David Scott Jondle and his 58-year-old wife Marilyn Ruth Jondle dead at their home on Gilliam Road in what the sheriff called a "gruesome" scene.
The family ran the Abundant Life Farm near Dallas.
Detectives said some time between 11 p.m. Monday night and 2 a.m. Tuesday, Jondle had gone to the home to rob them, in order to pay back rent.
An autopsy Wednesday showed David Jondle died from stab wounds inflicted by a scythe. Marilyn had been beaten to death with a metal pipe.
"We have been able to establish that both Andrew Jondle, son of the victims, along with his girlfriend, Cindy Lou Beck, conspired the plan to kill the victims in order to get money," Wolfe said.
The suspect returned home to Salem after taking credit cards and jewelry later found there, detectives said.
A metal pipe suspected to have been the murder weapon was also recovered at the scene, deputies said.
Police from several area agencies and Oregon State troopers went to the apartment of the Jondle's son on Royvonne Avenue in Salem around 11:30 a.m.
Andrew Jondle was charged with two counts of aggravated murder and Beck, for hindering prosecution. He was held without bail as detectives continued to investigate.
Investigators think Andrew acted alone, but Beck was likely to still face additional charges, Wolfe said.
Polk County Sheriff Bob Wolfe said that Beck told police she found Andrew Jondle with blood on his clothes and helped him dispose of them.
Wolfe said Beck and Andrew Jondle were in a relationship and his parents didn't approve, causing tension in the family.
Beck previously had children taken by Oregon Department of Human Services and needed money to get them back, investigators said. The Jondles had also recently taken a car away from their son.
According to a website of the family's business, David worked as a software engineer with aerospace companies for several years while Marilyn homeschooled their three sons.
The family decided to start their own farm in 2000.
From: http://www.nwcn.com/news/Son-accused-of-robbing-parents-for-back-rent-before-murders-102037888.html
9 killed in New Zealand skydiving plane crash
Sep 4, 4:15 AM EDT
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A light aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in flames Saturday near a popular tourist spot in New Zealand's Southern Alps, killing nine people including four foreign tourists, police said.
The plane caught fire after takeoff from an airstrip at Fox Glacier on the country's South Island, said Ian Henderson, a spokesman for local ambulance services. But other locals said the fire erupted when the plane crashed into a fence at the end of the runway after it failed to lift off safely.
The pilot and eight passengers were killed, Greymouth Police Senior Sgt. Allyson Ealam said.
Ealam said four foreign tourists from Ireland, England, Germany and Australia were among the dead, and the embassies of each victim had been informed.
Police would not release names until next of kin had been advised, she noted, and the bodies would remain at the crash site until Sunday when they were to be moved to Dunedin Hospital for autopsies.
An identification team was en route to Fox Glacier, she said.
In addition to the pilot, four New Zealanders - reportedly skydiving instructors - were killed in the crash.
New Zealand's stuff.co.nz website said there is only one skydiving company operating out of the Fox Glacier airstrip, Skydive New Zealand, but a company spokeswoman reached by telephone refused to comment. An answering machine message at the company said skydiving had ceased for the day.
Police said the aircraft was a Fletcher fixed-wing plane of a type designed and built in New Zealand. The planes are popularly used for scenic flights and skydiving in the area around New Zealand's Southern Alps.
Fox Glacier is on the western coast of the South Island, about 90 miles (150 kilometers) from the main city, Christchurch, which was hit early Saturday by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that damaged buildings and injured at least two people.
The fatal crash was the third in the region in the past 17 years.
In October 1993, nine people died in a plane crash when a twin-engine Nomad 22 crashed at nearby Franz Josef Glacier. In October 1994, seven people were killed when a Helicopter Line Squirrel helicopter on a sightseeing flight crashed in a mountainous area near Fox Glacier.
From: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NEW_ZEALAND_PLANE_CRASH?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A light aircraft carrying skydivers crashed in flames Saturday near a popular tourist spot in New Zealand's Southern Alps, killing nine people including four foreign tourists, police said.
The plane caught fire after takeoff from an airstrip at Fox Glacier on the country's South Island, said Ian Henderson, a spokesman for local ambulance services. But other locals said the fire erupted when the plane crashed into a fence at the end of the runway after it failed to lift off safely.
The pilot and eight passengers were killed, Greymouth Police Senior Sgt. Allyson Ealam said.
Ealam said four foreign tourists from Ireland, England, Germany and Australia were among the dead, and the embassies of each victim had been informed.
Police would not release names until next of kin had been advised, she noted, and the bodies would remain at the crash site until Sunday when they were to be moved to Dunedin Hospital for autopsies.
An identification team was en route to Fox Glacier, she said.
In addition to the pilot, four New Zealanders - reportedly skydiving instructors - were killed in the crash.
New Zealand's stuff.co.nz website said there is only one skydiving company operating out of the Fox Glacier airstrip, Skydive New Zealand, but a company spokeswoman reached by telephone refused to comment. An answering machine message at the company said skydiving had ceased for the day.
Police said the aircraft was a Fletcher fixed-wing plane of a type designed and built in New Zealand. The planes are popularly used for scenic flights and skydiving in the area around New Zealand's Southern Alps.
Fox Glacier is on the western coast of the South Island, about 90 miles (150 kilometers) from the main city, Christchurch, which was hit early Saturday by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that damaged buildings and injured at least two people.
The fatal crash was the third in the region in the past 17 years.
In October 1993, nine people died in a plane crash when a twin-engine Nomad 22 crashed at nearby Franz Josef Glacier. In October 1994, seven people were killed when a Helicopter Line Squirrel helicopter on a sightseeing flight crashed in a mountainous area near Fox Glacier.
From: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_NEW_ZEALAND_PLANE_CRASH?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=HOME
Friday, September 3, 2010
Group of teens bash man at station after he glared at them for smoking
Herald Sun, AAP September 03, 2010 3:23PM
A MAN was attacked by a gang of teens at a Melbourne railway station, after he glared at them for smoking on the train - despite the presence of four Metro officers.
Acting Supt Nigel Howard from the police transit division described the unprovoked attack on a man, 38, as callous and cowardly, but said it could have been worse.
"Luck would have it there were four Metro officers on the train, which prevented further serious injuries because when they came to the aid of the victim these six offenders ran off," Supt Howard said.
But he conceded Metro officers can't always act on transit crime.
Police were told the man glared at two of the youths smoking in the second carriage of a Frankston-bound train as he got off at Malvern station about 9.40pm.
Once off the train the duo signalled to about four other boys and yelled for them to bash the Caulfield North man.
The victim, who was standing on platform two, ran at the group and tried to knock them over after he heard the youths urging each other to attack him.
The remaining three attackers dragged the man to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him to the face, head and body.
"Callous is one word that comes to mind. Our victim has obviously taken offence - and rightfully so - that two youths, as we understand it, (were) smoking on trains and he has suffered as a result of it," Supt Howard said.
"The disturbing thing is that the youth of today put the boot in and it's not something we should have happen in society."
Supt Howard was adamant police will find the offenders, and urged them to come forward.
"I would like to think they have the courage to turn themselves into police, because we will find you, we will arrest you and you will appear in court.
"What are their parents doing about this?"
Multimedia designer Jordan Marquez said he was on the packed train when he saw two youths arguing with the man as he got off the train.
"He ran away from them and then a group of them just started bashing him," Mr Marquez, 24, said.
"It was despicable."
Mr Marquez said onlookers watched in horror.
"They pulled out their camera phones, took pictures, took video and called for help," he said.
From: http://www.news.com.au/national/group-of-teens-bash-man-at-station-after-he-glared-at-them-for-smoking/story-e6frfkvr-1225913708812
A MAN was attacked by a gang of teens at a Melbourne railway station, after he glared at them for smoking on the train - despite the presence of four Metro officers.
Acting Supt Nigel Howard from the police transit division described the unprovoked attack on a man, 38, as callous and cowardly, but said it could have been worse.
"Luck would have it there were four Metro officers on the train, which prevented further serious injuries because when they came to the aid of the victim these six offenders ran off," Supt Howard said.
But he conceded Metro officers can't always act on transit crime.
Police were told the man glared at two of the youths smoking in the second carriage of a Frankston-bound train as he got off at Malvern station about 9.40pm.
Once off the train the duo signalled to about four other boys and yelled for them to bash the Caulfield North man.
The victim, who was standing on platform two, ran at the group and tried to knock them over after he heard the youths urging each other to attack him.
The remaining three attackers dragged the man to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him to the face, head and body.
"Callous is one word that comes to mind. Our victim has obviously taken offence - and rightfully so - that two youths, as we understand it, (were) smoking on trains and he has suffered as a result of it," Supt Howard said.
"The disturbing thing is that the youth of today put the boot in and it's not something we should have happen in society."
Supt Howard was adamant police will find the offenders, and urged them to come forward.
"I would like to think they have the courage to turn themselves into police, because we will find you, we will arrest you and you will appear in court.
"What are their parents doing about this?"
Multimedia designer Jordan Marquez said he was on the packed train when he saw two youths arguing with the man as he got off the train.
"He ran away from them and then a group of them just started bashing him," Mr Marquez, 24, said.
"It was despicable."
Mr Marquez said onlookers watched in horror.
"They pulled out their camera phones, took pictures, took video and called for help," he said.
From: http://www.news.com.au/national/group-of-teens-bash-man-at-station-after-he-glared-at-them-for-smoking/story-e6frfkvr-1225913708812
Man replaces ex-girlfriend with custom-made sex doll
By staff writers
From: NewsCore
September 01, 2010 9:40AM
A SEX-starved businessman was so hung up on his ex-girlfriend after she dumped him that he paid $18,000 to recreate her as a life-sized sex doll.
The 50-year-old man put together a collection of photos of his ex and told Italian adult toymaker Diego Bortolin: "I want it just like her but with bigger boobs", Italy's Il Messaggero newspaper said.
Mr Bortolin, who hasn't named the man, creates extremely realistic sex dolls at the factory behind his shop, named "Temptations" in English, in Treviso, Italy.
"She was a smiling blonde girl but he wanted bigger boobs and a curvier backside," Mr Bortolin said. "Our normal dolls are very realistic and everything works just like the real thing.
Mr Bortolin said he usually charges around $US5000 for the dolls, but that this particular project was more expensive "because we had to replicate everything, right down to the shape of her nails and teeth".
The doll weighs 58kg and is about 1.6m tall. Mr Bortolin said the doll is fully flexible and can take on any movement or position a human can.
"She is now the perfect girlfriend as far as I can see," Mr Bortolin said.
From: http://www.news.com.au/weird-true-freaky/man-replaces-ex-girlfriend-with-custom-made-sex-doll/story-e6frflri-1225912671577
From: NewsCore
September 01, 2010 9:40AM
A SEX-starved businessman was so hung up on his ex-girlfriend after she dumped him that he paid $18,000 to recreate her as a life-sized sex doll.
The 50-year-old man put together a collection of photos of his ex and told Italian adult toymaker Diego Bortolin: "I want it just like her but with bigger boobs", Italy's Il Messaggero newspaper said.
Mr Bortolin, who hasn't named the man, creates extremely realistic sex dolls at the factory behind his shop, named "Temptations" in English, in Treviso, Italy.
"She was a smiling blonde girl but he wanted bigger boobs and a curvier backside," Mr Bortolin said. "Our normal dolls are very realistic and everything works just like the real thing.
Mr Bortolin said he usually charges around $US5000 for the dolls, but that this particular project was more expensive "because we had to replicate everything, right down to the shape of her nails and teeth".
The doll weighs 58kg and is about 1.6m tall. Mr Bortolin said the doll is fully flexible and can take on any movement or position a human can.
"She is now the perfect girlfriend as far as I can see," Mr Bortolin said.
From: http://www.news.com.au/weird-true-freaky/man-replaces-ex-girlfriend-with-custom-made-sex-doll/story-e6frflri-1225912671577
Woman Shot and Killed After Changing Facebook Status
3:24 p.m. PDT, September 1, 2010
JACKSONVILLE -- Sheriff's officials in North Carolina say a woman was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend after she changed her Facebook status to "engaged."
The Daily News of Jacksonville reported on Tuesday that Onslow County Sheriff's Maj. Donnie Worrell said 63-year-old Karen Ann Rooney was shot twice in the torso in her home.
Worrell said 62-year-old Peter Terrance Moonan then killed himself with the same .357-caliber handgun.
Worrell said their bodies were discovered last Saturday by a neighbor who wanted to introduce his wife to Rooney.
The neighbor also said Rooney had begun dating another man.
Rooney and Moonan dated for 16 years, and tax records show they bought a home together in 2002 before breaking up last February.
Worrell said the couple didn't have a history of domestic violence.
From: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-facebook-murder,0,1577671.story
Marcial Anguiano Slits Throat In Court After Sentencing For Assault Charge
DALLAS — A suburban Dallas man used a thin blade from a safety razor to slit his throat in an apparent suicide attempt Tuesday in the courtroom where a judge had just sentenced him to 40 years in prison.
Marcial Anguiano, 47, of Duncanville, was taken from the Dallas County courthouse on a stretcher with his neck covered in bandages, state District Judge Larry Mitchell said.
Anguiano, who was talking as he was carried out, was hospitalized in stable condition, Dallas County sheriff's spokeswoman Kim Leach said. The blade cut into muscle but did not strike an artery.
Anguiano took the stand Tuesday and said he hoped to be sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to aggravated assault for cutting his niece with a butcher knife. But the judge, influenced by the defendant's five previous prison stints, instead sentenced him to 40 years.
"He looked up at me kind of quizzically and said, '40 years?'" Mitchell told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "And I said, 'Yes, 40 years.'"
Anguiano immediately pulled out the razor blade and "put it to his throat hard, and blood started gushing out," Mitchell said.
The courtroom bailiffs rushed the defendant, handcuffed him and led him to the holding cell adjacent to the courtroom, where he waited until paramedics arrived.
No one else was injured.
"If the bailiffs hadn't intervened, he was certainly capable of causing his own death," Mitchell said.
From: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/31/marcial-anguiano-slits-throat-in-court_n_701165.html
Logan County Teens Arrested for Allegedly Beating Baby
10:41 PM CDT, September 2, 2010
Two Logan County parents have been arrested after their five week old baby boy was admitted to a hospital with multiple skull fractures and broken bones.
17-year-old Matthew Hice and 18-year-old Jessica Taylor were taken into police custody. Hice is being charged as an adult for first degree battery, while Taylor is charged with permitting the abuse of a minor and hindering apprehension.
According to investigators, the baby suffered multiple skull fractures, broken bibs, and other broken bones. He's listed in serious but stable condition tonight at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock.
From: http://www.kfsm.com/news/kfsm-news-logan-county-baby-battery-case,0,2351747.story
Faith-Healing Couple Facing Criminal Charges
Trial Begins In September
POSTED: 6:01 pm PDT August 30, 2010
UPDATED: 7:57 pm PDT August 30, 2010
OREGON CITY, Ore. -- A couple belonging to a Clackamas County faith-healing church is facing charges in the death of their baby.
Dale and Shannon Hickman were arraigned Monday on charges of second-degree manslaughter. Their trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 19 at the Clackamas County Courthouse.
The Hickmans are the third couple identified as members of the Followers of Christ Church to face criminal charges in the death of a child during the past two years. The church shuns professional medical help in favor of prayer and anointing the sick with oil.
The Hickman's son was born prematurely and lived less than a day after his birth last September. The baby died from pneumonia and underdeveloped lungs, according to the medical examiner.
About two dozen church members accompanied the Hickmans into the courthouse. The couple's attorneys entered a not guilty plea and requested a jury trial.
The Hickmans, who were released on $250,000 bail earlier this summer, didn't speak in court or comment after the hearing.
The state medical examiner's office has estimated that in the past 30 years, more than 20 children of church members have died of preventable or curable conditions.
In 1999, after debate, the Legislature ended a spiritual healing defense, allowing parents to be prosecuted. Since then, Clackamas County officials have investigated a few deaths of newborns.
The deaths of two relatives in 2008 led to prosecutions.
In March 2008, 15-month-old Ava Worthington died of pneumonia and a blood infection that doctors said could have been treated. Her parents, Raylene and Brent, were acquitted last summer of manslaughter charges. Brent Worthington was convicted of criminal mistreatment and served two months in jail.
In June 2008, 16-year-old Neil Beagley died of complications from a congenital urinary tract blockage, treatable up to the day he died, in the opinion of doctors. His parents, Jeff and Marci, were convicted of criminally negligent homicide and are serving 16-month sentences. They are the parents of Raylene Worthington.
From: http://www.kptv.com/news/24819590/detail.html
POSTED: 6:01 pm PDT August 30, 2010
UPDATED: 7:57 pm PDT August 30, 2010
OREGON CITY, Ore. -- A couple belonging to a Clackamas County faith-healing church is facing charges in the death of their baby.
Dale and Shannon Hickman were arraigned Monday on charges of second-degree manslaughter. Their trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 19 at the Clackamas County Courthouse.
The Hickmans are the third couple identified as members of the Followers of Christ Church to face criminal charges in the death of a child during the past two years. The church shuns professional medical help in favor of prayer and anointing the sick with oil.
The Hickman's son was born prematurely and lived less than a day after his birth last September. The baby died from pneumonia and underdeveloped lungs, according to the medical examiner.
About two dozen church members accompanied the Hickmans into the courthouse. The couple's attorneys entered a not guilty plea and requested a jury trial.
The Hickmans, who were released on $250,000 bail earlier this summer, didn't speak in court or comment after the hearing.
The state medical examiner's office has estimated that in the past 30 years, more than 20 children of church members have died of preventable or curable conditions.
In 1999, after debate, the Legislature ended a spiritual healing defense, allowing parents to be prosecuted. Since then, Clackamas County officials have investigated a few deaths of newborns.
The deaths of two relatives in 2008 led to prosecutions.
In March 2008, 15-month-old Ava Worthington died of pneumonia and a blood infection that doctors said could have been treated. Her parents, Raylene and Brent, were acquitted last summer of manslaughter charges. Brent Worthington was convicted of criminal mistreatment and served two months in jail.
In June 2008, 16-year-old Neil Beagley died of complications from a congenital urinary tract blockage, treatable up to the day he died, in the opinion of doctors. His parents, Jeff and Marci, were convicted of criminally negligent homicide and are serving 16-month sentences. They are the parents of Raylene Worthington.
From: http://www.kptv.com/news/24819590/detail.html
Newlywed 'murdered his wife of just five months after she discovered his affairs on Facebook'
Last updated at 8:21 AM on 3rd September 2010
A man strangled his new bride after she discovered he was having an affair, a court has heard.
Michael Roberts, 27, is then said to have concocted an elaborate charade to make it appear that Vicky, 25, his wife of five months, was still alive.
He sent text messages from her phone to her concerned family and friends, saying she had left him for another man.
Roberts even had a tearful dinner with her parents while her dead body lay in their two-bedroom apartment, it is alleged.
Police were called in to investigate, only for him to escape from under their noses. He slipped away when an officer began searching the garage in which he had dumped his wife's body in a duvet.
Roberts evaded capture for four days - staying in hotels under a false name - but then was spotted by a friend who alerted police.
Under questioning, he admitted killing Mrs Roberts, an accounts manager for a chemical company, but denied murder.
He claimed he had accidentally strangled her when a sex game went wrong.
Yesterday Roberts, who was described as devious and clever, went on trial for his wife's murder at Liverpool Crown Court.
David Steer, QC, prosecuting, told the jury that although Roberts and his wife, who had been together for less than three years, appeared to be the perfect couple the reality was different.
Roberts had cheated on his wife with two women before and after their wedding, in June last year and told friends he wanted a divorce.
He had a 13-month affair with Kerrie Hall, an administration boss at Phones4U, for whom Roberts was an assistant store manager.
She told police that Roberts liked rough sex and had twice tried to throttle her during intercourse, claiming it would make it more enjoyable.
Roberts had a second lover in Karen Wilson, who he met two months before his marriage and while still seeing Miss hall.
A month before she died - on November 29 last year - Mrs Roberts confronted her husband after becoming suspicious about his text messages and entries on Facebook.
He promised to be faithful but instead continued the relationship with Miss Wilson, telling her he had ended his marriage and moved in with his parents.
Phone records obtained by police, the court heard, revealed that the pair contacted each other more than 5,000 times.
On the night of Mrs Roberts's death the couple had dinner before returning to their £125,000 flat in runcorn, Cheshire.
Roberts claimed they had sex, during which his wife asked him to tie the cord of a bath robe around her neck. He told police she went limp, fell on to her side and died.
Instead of dialling 999, Roberts, the court heard, embarked on an elaborate cover-up.
'What happened to Vicky was no accident during intercourse but a deliberate and determined strangulation with a ligature,' Mr Steer said.
'Because on previous occasions he had behaved in the way described by Kerrie Hall, he has decided to use that as part of his story ... and to pretend this was all a terrible accident.'
Within minutes of his wife's death Roberts called Miss Wilson and acted as if nothing had happened.
The couple spent the following day shopping and had sex in a hotel in Bangor, north Wales.
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1308383/Cheating-newlywed-murdered-wife-just-months-married.html
Abusing priest Fr Eugene Lewis jailed for four years
2 September 2010 Last updated at 11:16 GMT
A Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing three young sisters has been jailed for four years.
Father Eugene Lewis, 76, was found guilty of 11 charges of assault between 1963 and 1973. The sisters said the abuse began when they were as young as seven. He had denied the charges.
The abuse took place at their County Fermanagh home.
In May, a jury in Omagh unanimously convicted Lewis, who lived in Dublin before his six-week trial.
The former provincial superior of the Society of Missionaries of Africa was also accused of raping one of the sisters, but since the alleged incident happened in Dublin he could not be tried for the offence in Northern Ireland.
'Miscarriage of justice'
In a statement issued through his solicitor outside court in Belfast on Thursday, the priest maintained his innocence and claimed his conviction was a "miscarriage of justice".
His solicitor Joe McVeigh said the priest intended to "fight to the last drop of his blood to establish his innocence completely".
He added that "many people from all over the world have expressed their outrage at his conviction and that he took great comfort from knowing that he has their support".
During the trial, the jury heard that Lewis had befriended the girls' parents nearly 50 years ago.
Prosecuting QC Ken McMahon said the priest had "wormed his way" into the family through a fellow, but innocent cleric.
Mr McMahon told the jury that although welcomed into their home at anytime, he often chose to call at bedtime or on Saturday bath night.
Lewis, who lived in Dublin, was ordained in 1958.
After his time in a seminary between 1960 and 1970, he went to Dublin and then served on missions overseas.
More recently he has worked in west Belfast.
From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11165242
A Catholic priest convicted of sexually abusing three young sisters has been jailed for four years.
Father Eugene Lewis, 76, was found guilty of 11 charges of assault between 1963 and 1973. The sisters said the abuse began when they were as young as seven. He had denied the charges.
The abuse took place at their County Fermanagh home.
In May, a jury in Omagh unanimously convicted Lewis, who lived in Dublin before his six-week trial.
The former provincial superior of the Society of Missionaries of Africa was also accused of raping one of the sisters, but since the alleged incident happened in Dublin he could not be tried for the offence in Northern Ireland.
'Miscarriage of justice'
In a statement issued through his solicitor outside court in Belfast on Thursday, the priest maintained his innocence and claimed his conviction was a "miscarriage of justice".
His solicitor Joe McVeigh said the priest intended to "fight to the last drop of his blood to establish his innocence completely".
He added that "many people from all over the world have expressed their outrage at his conviction and that he took great comfort from knowing that he has their support".
During the trial, the jury heard that Lewis had befriended the girls' parents nearly 50 years ago.
Prosecuting QC Ken McMahon said the priest had "wormed his way" into the family through a fellow, but innocent cleric.
Mr McMahon told the jury that although welcomed into their home at anytime, he often chose to call at bedtime or on Saturday bath night.
Lewis, who lived in Dublin, was ordained in 1958.
After his time in a seminary between 1960 and 1970, he went to Dublin and then served on missions overseas.
More recently he has worked in west Belfast.
From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11165242
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Series of slayings prompted by jealous rage?
Thursday, September 2, 2010
(09-01) 19:18 PDT VALLEJO -- A string of crimes that left five people dead and one of the victims' sons missing may have been prompted in part by jealousy, investigators said Wednesday as they tried to untangle a web of violence that ended with officers fatally shooting the main suspect.
The suspect, 38-year-old Efren Valdemoro, beat a 73-year-old man to death in Hercules because he thought there was "something going on" romantically between the man or his son - who is still missing - and Valdemoro's girlfriend, said Hercules police spokeswoman Michelle Harrington.
The body of Valdemoro's strangled girlfriend - Cindy Tran, 46 - was in the passenger seat as he led police on a high-speed freeway chase across the East Bay on Tuesday night that ended at a Richmond mall. There, two California Highway Patrol officers shot him to death when he waved a cleaver at them, authorities said.
Hours earlier, police found the bodies of two missing Vallejo women, longtime friends, at a home where one of them lived. The husband of one of the women said Valdemoro was a stalker who had plagued his wife's friend and her husband since they rented a room to him sometime in the past.
Still a mystery, police said, is what the connection was, if any, between the Hercules case and the Vallejo discovery.
Husband's odd role
Perhaps the most bizarre aspect of the story that emerged Wednesday involved the husband of one of the Vallejo women, Charles Rittenhouse, 72.
His wife, Segundina Allen, 63, and her friend Marcaria Smart, 60, disappeared Aug. 25, Smart's husband said. The two friends had been dead for some time when police found them Tuesday in the home where Allen lived with Rittenhouse, authorities said.
One body was inside the yellow, one-story house on Upland Court, police said. The other was in a shallow grave in the backyard.
Rittenhouse had reported his wife missing Sunday and was still living in the home, which police said was buzzing with flies.
When Rittenhouse, a chemical engineer in Fairfield, came home from work Tuesday, police who met him there found not only the bodies but an array of what authorities described as "precursors" for making explosives. They said he had brought the chemicals home from his job.
Rittenhouse was arrested on suspicion of possession of an explosive device and manufacturing an explosive device without a permit. He was being held at the Solano County jail in lieu of $2 million bail. Police said he had not been booked in the deaths.
It wasn't clear how the women died. The Solano County coroner's office plans to conduct autopsies today.
'Fishing buddies'
Smart's husband, Joe Smart, 63, said his wife and Allen were "fishing buddies."
"My wife was loyal to her friends," Smart said. "If she thought there was danger there, she wouldn't have hesitated to help her friend."
The investigation is continuing to determine whether Rittenhouse was involved in the deaths of the two women, said Vallejo police Lt. Abel Tenorio.
"It's very chaotic," Tenorio said. "We're trying to put this puzzle together. Sometimes when you put a puzzle together, all the pieces aren't there, so you keep working on it."
Tenorio said Rittenhouse "didn't react in a way that we felt a normal person would react" when told of the bodies at his home.
Smart said he last saw his wife Aug. 25 as she left to visit Allen, who had called saying she was feeling ill. He said he reported his wife missing Saturday.
Mysterious 'stalker'
Investigators are trying to determine how Valdemoro, a former security guard whose state license lapsed last year, could be linked to the deaths.
Smart said Valdemoro had rented a room from Rittenhouse and Allen at a different house in the past, and had "kept showing up as they moved to new houses."
Allen, he said, "expressed fear of this guy."
"This guy would sneak into the house, almost like a ghost," Smart said. "Somehow he had duplicated keys of their cars and would take them for two to three days. They felt powerless to do anything."
Smart said Rittenhouse and Allen had asked him twice in recent weeks to change the locks of the Upland Court home in an effort to keep Valdemoro out.
A couple of weeks ago, Smart said, Allen called to say Valdemoro had dropped in and she had locked herself in her room. Smart said he drove over, grabbed Valdemoro and forced him to leave.
A flyer that Smart distributed after his wife vanished had a picture of Valdemoro with the word "Stalker" hand written above.
Smart said Rittenhouse had helped him in his search for the women. Smart said he visited the Upland Court home on Saturday, and again on either Sunday or Monday, but did not notice anything wrong.
Valdemoro stayed "off and on" at the Vallejo home over the past decade, said Tenorio, the police lieutenant. Officers had been to the house 10 times to investigate arguments involving Valdemoro, Allen and Rittenhouse, Tenorio said.
Valdemoro had no arrests that involved violence, police said. Solano County court records show that he was arrested for allegedly being drunk in public May 22, but prosecutors declined to file charges.
Hercules killing
Valdemoro was named Tuesday as the suspect in the beating death of 73-year-old Ricardo Sales in Hercules, and police there said he had been seen driving Allen's Cadillac Escalade. The SUV was found abandoned Wednesday at a Hercules business park not far from Bio-Rad Laboratories, where Valdemoro worked as a contract security guard with Allied Barton Security Services until 2008, said Bio-Rad spokesman Ron Hutton.
The Hercules home where Sales and his 35-year-old son, Frederick Sales, lived on Crepe Myrtle Drive was owned by Tran, Valdemoro's girlfriend. Tran also had been living there, but whether there was anything romantic involving her and either of the men is not clear, said Harrington, the Hercules police spokeswoman.
Police believe the elder Sales was beaten to death Friday. Five days before, Valdemoro had a fight with Sales and his son at the home, Harrington said.
A neighbor, Fred Ballesteros, said he had seen Valdemoro several times over the past month, working on a white Corvette in the driveway of the home. Residents of the quiet, well-manicured subdivision don't usually work on their cars outside, and Ballesteros said that made him suspicious.
"I saw this guy and smelled trouble," Ballesteros said.
At about 9 a.m. Friday, there was loud rap music playing from the home, which was another anomaly, Ballesteros said. Police said the noise may have been used to cover the sound of the elder Sales being beaten to death.
Where is son?
Frederick Sales has not been seen since before his father's body was found Saturday afternoon. "We are very concerned about his welfare," Harrington said.
Tenorio, the Vallejo police lieutenant, said of Frederick Sales, "Is he a victim? Is he an accomplice? We don't know."
At 8 p.m. Tuesday, a few hours after he was named as a suspect in the killing of Ricardo Sales, Valdemoro was spotted by police in Pleasant Hill, driving an Acura. An officer fired one shot from a shotgun that hit the car's left rear tire, but Valdemoro got away and led officers along freeways on a chase that reached speeds of 100 mph before he exited Interstate 80 and drove to the Pacific East Mall in Richmond.
There, he abandoned the car and ran into the 99 Ranch Market, where two CHP officers shot him to death after he refused to drop a large cleaver, authorities said.
Tran's body was found in the Acura's front seat, police said. She had apparently been kidnapped Tuesday from outside the Vallejo hair and nail salon where she worked, strangled to death and beaten, authorities said.
Before she was killed, Tran managed to call a relative to report the kidnapping, police said.
From: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/09/02/MNOQ1F6S5P.DTL
Man Attacked With Ax In Road Rage Incident
Police: Attackers Upset Man Wasn't Driving Fast Enough
Posted: 10:03 am EDT September 2, 2010
Updated: 10:19 am EDT September 2, 2010
WARWICK, R.I. -- Police in Rhode Island said a man was attacked with an ax in what they're calling a road rage incident.
The attackers were apparently upset that the victim wasn't driving fast enough, police said.
The man, identified by family as father of three Joe Gallagher, pulled up to his home Tuesday after taking blows to the head, thigh and knee and ran screaming, neighbors said.
Neighbors laid Gallagher down and applied pressure to his head with towels.
"He was totally full of blood," neighbor Douglas Fletcher said. "Full of blood."
"I was at my house, and my sister called me up, like, really, you know, upset," said Jennifer McWeeney, Gallagher's sister-in-law. "So I rushed here as quick as I could. And when I got here, they were just taking him away in the ambulance. I saw the blood, and there's a lot, a lot of blood."
Police said it started as a road rage incident. The attackers were apparently upset that Gallagher was driving too slowly.
After landing the blows, Gallagher's two attackers sped off, leaving him to call 911 and drive back home, police said.
"He's a good guy, family guy," McWeeney said. "He's got three kids. He's a good guy. I don't know why somebody would ever do something like that to him."
Gallagher was hospitalized in critical condition.
Investigators said they know the attackers' car and license plate number, and were searching for the suspects.
From: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/24853450/detail.html
Posted: 10:03 am EDT September 2, 2010
Updated: 10:19 am EDT September 2, 2010
WARWICK, R.I. -- Police in Rhode Island said a man was attacked with an ax in what they're calling a road rage incident.
The attackers were apparently upset that the victim wasn't driving fast enough, police said.
The man, identified by family as father of three Joe Gallagher, pulled up to his home Tuesday after taking blows to the head, thigh and knee and ran screaming, neighbors said.
Neighbors laid Gallagher down and applied pressure to his head with towels.
"He was totally full of blood," neighbor Douglas Fletcher said. "Full of blood."
"I was at my house, and my sister called me up, like, really, you know, upset," said Jennifer McWeeney, Gallagher's sister-in-law. "So I rushed here as quick as I could. And when I got here, they were just taking him away in the ambulance. I saw the blood, and there's a lot, a lot of blood."
Police said it started as a road rage incident. The attackers were apparently upset that Gallagher was driving too slowly.
After landing the blows, Gallagher's two attackers sped off, leaving him to call 911 and drive back home, police said.
"He's a good guy, family guy," McWeeney said. "He's got three kids. He's a good guy. I don't know why somebody would ever do something like that to him."
Gallagher was hospitalized in critical condition.
Investigators said they know the attackers' car and license plate number, and were searching for the suspects.
From: http://www.wsbtv.com/news/24853450/detail.html
Hawking Says God Not Needed For Creation
Physicist Says Spontaneous Creation Is Reason There Is Something
Posted: 4:32 am PDT September 2, 2010
Updated: 6:42 am PDT September 2, 2010
LONDON -- Physicist Stephen Hawking says God wasn't necessary for the creation of the universe.
In his new book, "The Grand Design," the British scientist says unraveling a complex series of theories will explain the universe. The book, written with American physicist and author Leonard Mlodinow, will be published Sept. 9.
In an extract published Thursday in The Times, Hawking wrote that it was "not necessary to invoke God."
"The Universe can and will create itself from nothing," Hawking wrote. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist."
In "A Brief History of Time," Hawking had appeared to accept the possibility of a creator, saying the discovery of a complete theory would allow humans to "know the mind of God."
From: http://www.ktvu.com/news/24852350/detail.html
Posted: 4:32 am PDT September 2, 2010
Updated: 6:42 am PDT September 2, 2010
LONDON -- Physicist Stephen Hawking says God wasn't necessary for the creation of the universe.
In his new book, "The Grand Design," the British scientist says unraveling a complex series of theories will explain the universe. The book, written with American physicist and author Leonard Mlodinow, will be published Sept. 9.
In an extract published Thursday in The Times, Hawking wrote that it was "not necessary to invoke God."
"The Universe can and will create itself from nothing," Hawking wrote. "Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist."
In "A Brief History of Time," Hawking had appeared to accept the possibility of a creator, saying the discovery of a complete theory would allow humans to "know the mind of God."
From: http://www.ktvu.com/news/24852350/detail.html
Police Sergeant Had Secret Life as Serial Rapist
Decorated Cop and Devoted Husband, Jeffrey Pelo, Sentenced to Over 400 Years in Prison; Pelo Will Appeal
By JIM AVILA, ALISON LYNN and LAUREN PEARLE
Aug. 30, 2010
It was nothing short of a nightmare -- a man obsessively tracking women, sneaking into their homes, assaulting them, and forcing them to perform a bizarre "cleansing" ritual that washed away any hint of evidence from their bodies.
Bloomington, Ill., Police Detective Clay Wheeler spent two years pursuing the first serial rapist in his town's memory.
"I've seen more brutal things, more violent things, but some of the things that happened and what he would say and tell these girls as he's assaulting them, and I mean, I get chills. It just disgusts me," he said.
Hot on the rapist's trail, Wheeler and his colleagues soon uncovered clues suggesting the perpetrator was closer to home than they had ever imagined.
Rapist's Victims Awakened by Masked Intruder
The rapist's first victim was then 25-year-old Kristi Mills, who awoke to a masked intruder standing in her doorway in April 2003.
"I was in shock, absolute shock. I looked at the door and saw the light there, and something just didn't seem right. And that's when I saw him," she said. "The next thing I remember is he was on top of me in the bed."
Mills said the intruder told her he was there to burglarize her, and that he didn't want to hurt her, but if she made noise, he would shoot her.
Wearing a ski mask and gloves, he seemed oddly calm and methodical as he bound her with zip ties and duct tape, she said. Then he slipped a pillowcase over her head and sexually assaulted Mills for 45 minutes.
"He seemed very assertive when he talked and not like somebody who's, you know, panicking. He seemed like he knew what he was doing," Mills said.
Still blindfolded, he forced her into the bathroom where she heard water running. "I started to panic and I thought he was going to shoot me in the bathtub," she said. "Just over a month from my 26th birthday, and I was going to die."
Mills was forced to take a long bath and told to wash carefully, while her rapist calmly walked about her apartment cleaning up after himself.
Then he was gone, taking with him all the evidence, including the bed sheets.
She was so upset and scared that when she got out of the bathtub, removed the pillowcase, and ripped the tape from off her eyes, she actually tore out chunks of hair. Though she said she wanted to run and hide, she decided to call 911 and report it.
Page 2 , 3 , 4
From: http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/illinois-police-sergeant-jeffrey-pelo-doubled-serial-rapist/story?id=11497530&page=1
By JIM AVILA, ALISON LYNN and LAUREN PEARLE
Aug. 30, 2010
It was nothing short of a nightmare -- a man obsessively tracking women, sneaking into their homes, assaulting them, and forcing them to perform a bizarre "cleansing" ritual that washed away any hint of evidence from their bodies.
Bloomington, Ill., Police Detective Clay Wheeler spent two years pursuing the first serial rapist in his town's memory.
"I've seen more brutal things, more violent things, but some of the things that happened and what he would say and tell these girls as he's assaulting them, and I mean, I get chills. It just disgusts me," he said.
Hot on the rapist's trail, Wheeler and his colleagues soon uncovered clues suggesting the perpetrator was closer to home than they had ever imagined.
Rapist's Victims Awakened by Masked Intruder
The rapist's first victim was then 25-year-old Kristi Mills, who awoke to a masked intruder standing in her doorway in April 2003.
"I was in shock, absolute shock. I looked at the door and saw the light there, and something just didn't seem right. And that's when I saw him," she said. "The next thing I remember is he was on top of me in the bed."
Mills said the intruder told her he was there to burglarize her, and that he didn't want to hurt her, but if she made noise, he would shoot her.
Wearing a ski mask and gloves, he seemed oddly calm and methodical as he bound her with zip ties and duct tape, she said. Then he slipped a pillowcase over her head and sexually assaulted Mills for 45 minutes.
"He seemed very assertive when he talked and not like somebody who's, you know, panicking. He seemed like he knew what he was doing," Mills said.
Still blindfolded, he forced her into the bathroom where she heard water running. "I started to panic and I thought he was going to shoot me in the bathtub," she said. "Just over a month from my 26th birthday, and I was going to die."
Mills was forced to take a long bath and told to wash carefully, while her rapist calmly walked about her apartment cleaning up after himself.
Then he was gone, taking with him all the evidence, including the bed sheets.
She was so upset and scared that when she got out of the bathtub, removed the pillowcase, and ripped the tape from off her eyes, she actually tore out chunks of hair. Though she said she wanted to run and hide, she decided to call 911 and report it.
Page 2 , 3 , 4
From: http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/illinois-police-sergeant-jeffrey-pelo-doubled-serial-rapist/story?id=11497530&page=1
'I hope I rot in Hell': Suicide plea of father who bludgeoned his wife and daughter to death after his business floundered
Last updated at 4:51 PM on 2nd September 2010
A killer father who bludgeoned his wife and daughter to death before hanging himself left a suicide note which declared: ' I hope I rot in hell.'
Hugh McFall battered his wife Susan, 56, and 18-year-old daughter Francesca with a rubber mallet in their home in Oswestry, Shropshire, the day after he discovered his business was in turmoil.
McFall, 48, then hanged himself in his wholesale florist premises on a nearby industrial estate on February 5.
An inquest at Shrewsbury Magistrates Court today heard McFall had left a hand-written suicide note and also put a message on the gate at the family home, intended for Hugh's brother-in-law, Neil, which warned: 'Do not come in.'
The suicide note read: 'My world (Frankie and Susan) just ended. I love them so much, nobody can understand. Part of me wants to stay alive just so I can keep thinking about them. The pain is too much.
'Please say sorry to mum and Claire and tell them I love them,' he said, referring to Mrs McFall's children from a previous marriage.
The note continued: 'What I have done to Dan and Nick is beyond belief. Please try to understand mum. I could never cope with the situation.
'It's all over now. I hope I rot in hell.'
The two-day inquest into the three deaths was told Mr McFall faced financial ruin and a police investigation after his main customer, Stan's Superstore in Oswestry, suspended business with him amid allegations of invoice discrepancies.
The store provided Mr McFall with 95 per cent of his income, but he was confronted by company bosses in a meeting the day before his death about the irregularities.
Business-partner Peter Faulks told the court their relationship was based on 'mutual trust' and that he did not check the invoices Mr McFall provided.
But the store had lost more than £306,000 over seven years in the plants and flowers area of the business.
Summing up, Coroner John Ellery told the court: 'His financial world had collapsed. His source of business income, or at least 90-95 per cent of it had disappeared in a moment.'
The bloodied bodies of Francesca and her mother were found next to each other in the couple's bed at their home.
A post mortem showed Mrs McFall suffered one significant blow to the head and was possibly asleep when her husband of 20-years attacked her, while Francesa was struck five times in the head and had been dragged while still alive into the master bedroom.
A note was left by Francesca's pillow, which read: 'I love you more than anything I have ever loved. I could not let you suffer.'
It was signed, 'Daddy.'
The inquest was told McFall called 999 at 5am on the day and confessed to the murders.
Family members consoled each other as a tape recording was played to the court.
'Please get to my house. I have killed my wife and daughter. I love them so much,' it said.
McFall stamped on his mobile phone after making the desperate call.
Seedy details of McFall's private life emerged after police examined two computers from the family home and the business.
Internet history revealed he had a 'fascination' with pornography and prostitute websites.
Records showed evidence of searching for massage parlours and escort girls as well as HIV testing.
Mr Ellery said: 'It becomes related because of Mr McFall's interest and concerns over HIV and quite possibly whether he thought he may or my not have HIV or Aids.
'Were all these things going through his mind? We will never know.'
Mr McFall - whose business and personal debts combined were nearly £200,000 - had been probed by the Inland Revenue in 2003 for undisclosed cash transactions but the outcome found no discrepancies, his accountant Jonathan Hughes told the court.
The court heard the couple earned around £60,000 a year and were living within their means.
Giving evidence, Detective Sergeant Niall Parker, of West Mercia Police, said the allegations put to Mr McFall by Stan's Superstore would not have gone to court.
'If we were to present this to the Crown Prosecution Service I would suggest there would be insufficient evidence to proceed to court,' he said.
Mr Ellery recorded verdicts of unlawful killing in relation to Mrs McFall and Francesca and suicide for Mr McFall.
A statement was read by PC Lynn Downes outside the court after the proceedings while the family gathered behind.
It read: 'We are so deeply deeply sad over what happened to a happy, loving family and we continue to struggle to understand the circumstances. We cannot adequately put our loss into words. We loved them all so much.
'The loss of these wonderful people has left us devastated. There is now a huge void in our families which we continue to struggle to come to terms with. They will remain forever in our hearts.'
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1308375/Hugh-McFall-Father-bludgeoned-wife-daughter-death-wrote-I-hope-I-rot-Hell-suicide-note.html
Russians urged to smoke and drink more
By REUTERS
Last Updated: September 2, 2010 11:14am
MOSCOW — Smoke and drink more, Russia’s finance minister Alexei Kudrin said to citizens on Wednesday, explaining that higher consumption would help lift tax revenues for spending on social services.
“If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, that means you are giving more to help solve social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other social services and upholding birth rates,” Kudrin said, quoted by the Interfax news agency.
“People should understand: Those who drink, those who smoke are doing more to help the state,” he said, offering unconventional advice as the Russian government announced plans to raise excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes.
Alcohol and cigarette consumption are already extremely high in Russia, where 65 percent of men smoke and the average Russian consumes 18 litres of alcoholic beverages per year, mainly vodka, according to official statistics.
Russian duties on cigarettes are among the lowest in Europe, with most brands priced at around 40 rubles ($1.30) per pack and unfiltered cigarettes selling for much less.
The finance ministry in June announced plans to more than double excise duty on cigarettes over the next three years from 250 roubles per 1,000 filtered cigarettes to 590 roubles in 2013.
The move is likely to be unpopular in the nicotine-addicted nation where a cigarette shortage in the late 1980s and early 1990s incited protests and led then-president Mikhail Gorbachev to appeal for emergency outside shipments.
The state recently imposed a new minimum legal price for vodka, implemented a zero tolerance ban on drink-driving and banned night-time sales of alcohol to curb abuse blamed for the deaths of thousands of Russians every year.
Alcohol abuse kills around 500,000 Russians annually and greatly impacts male life expectancy, which is lower than in such developing countries as Bangladesh and Honduras, according to official figures.
From: http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/09/02/15222686.html
Last Updated: September 2, 2010 11:14am
MOSCOW — Smoke and drink more, Russia’s finance minister Alexei Kudrin said to citizens on Wednesday, explaining that higher consumption would help lift tax revenues for spending on social services.
“If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, that means you are giving more to help solve social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other social services and upholding birth rates,” Kudrin said, quoted by the Interfax news agency.
“People should understand: Those who drink, those who smoke are doing more to help the state,” he said, offering unconventional advice as the Russian government announced plans to raise excise duty on alcohol and cigarettes.
Alcohol and cigarette consumption are already extremely high in Russia, where 65 percent of men smoke and the average Russian consumes 18 litres of alcoholic beverages per year, mainly vodka, according to official statistics.
Russian duties on cigarettes are among the lowest in Europe, with most brands priced at around 40 rubles ($1.30) per pack and unfiltered cigarettes selling for much less.
The finance ministry in June announced plans to more than double excise duty on cigarettes over the next three years from 250 roubles per 1,000 filtered cigarettes to 590 roubles in 2013.
The move is likely to be unpopular in the nicotine-addicted nation where a cigarette shortage in the late 1980s and early 1990s incited protests and led then-president Mikhail Gorbachev to appeal for emergency outside shipments.
The state recently imposed a new minimum legal price for vodka, implemented a zero tolerance ban on drink-driving and banned night-time sales of alcohol to curb abuse blamed for the deaths of thousands of Russians every year.
Alcohol abuse kills around 500,000 Russians annually and greatly impacts male life expectancy, which is lower than in such developing countries as Bangladesh and Honduras, according to official figures.
From: http://www.torontosun.com/news/world/2010/09/02/15222686.html
Accident witness saw body parts
By CHRIS DOUCETTE, Toronto Sun
Last Updated: August 31, 2010 11:00am
Two days after witnessing the aftermath of a horrific accident on Hwy. 401 in Whitby, Jennifer Howey still felt nauseous as she recalled seeing body parts strewn across the highway.
The sickening sight of the dead motorcycle passenger is something the 38-year-old Toronto woman says she will never forget.
Howey was driving her Nissan Xterra through Durham Region Friday night around 11:30 p.m. with her boyfriend in the passenger seat.
The physiotherapist was in the centre lane when the racing-style motorcycle came “from out of nowhere” and zoomed by on her left side.
“He must have been going 180 or 190, it was unbelievable,” Howie told the Toronto Sun on Sunday. “He was weaving in and out of traffic, it was just insane.” Based on their stature, and their hands, she believes the driver was male and the passenger clinging tightly to his waist was a female.
Howey and her boyfriend immediately began talking about “what an idiot” the motorcyclist was, especially considering there was a passenger on the back, when a police cruiser suddenly passed them with its lights flashing.
Farther along the highway, she saw the flashing lights again and slowed down expecting to see the motorcyclist stopped at the side of the road and a police officer writing a slew of tickets.
Little did she know, the passenger had fallen off and the driver fled the scene of the mishap.
“I suddenly saw body parts on the road,” Howey recalled. “I had to try to avoid them while not causing an accident,” she explained. “There was a head in a helmet on one side of me and part of a body on the other.” She thinks she may have run over an arm in her SUV.
After travelling a little farther, she saw some vehicles stopped and more police cruisers, so she assumed the bike had crashed.
“We didn’t see anything actually happen or we would have stopped,” she said. “I really didn’t know what to do.”
It wasn’t until she watched the news the next morning that she realized the driver of the bike was alive and that he had fled. That’s when she called police to report what she had seen.
“I can’t fathom how this guy managed to stay in control of the motorcycle,” Howey said. “And she would have flown off at such a velocity that she would have been broken in two by the time she hit the ground.”
The province’s Special Investigations Unit, called in any time there is a serious injury or death involving police, is probing the incident.
In a statement released Saturday, the SIU reported a Durham police officer had attempted to pull over the motorcyclist around Brock St. and he took off.
As the driver accelerated, the passenger tumbled off the back and was struck by “one or more cars,” they said. Police continue their hunt for the driver.
From: http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/08/29/15181051.html
Last Updated: August 31, 2010 11:00am
Two days after witnessing the aftermath of a horrific accident on Hwy. 401 in Whitby, Jennifer Howey still felt nauseous as she recalled seeing body parts strewn across the highway.
The sickening sight of the dead motorcycle passenger is something the 38-year-old Toronto woman says she will never forget.
Howey was driving her Nissan Xterra through Durham Region Friday night around 11:30 p.m. with her boyfriend in the passenger seat.
The physiotherapist was in the centre lane when the racing-style motorcycle came “from out of nowhere” and zoomed by on her left side.
“He must have been going 180 or 190, it was unbelievable,” Howie told the Toronto Sun on Sunday. “He was weaving in and out of traffic, it was just insane.” Based on their stature, and their hands, she believes the driver was male and the passenger clinging tightly to his waist was a female.
Howey and her boyfriend immediately began talking about “what an idiot” the motorcyclist was, especially considering there was a passenger on the back, when a police cruiser suddenly passed them with its lights flashing.
Farther along the highway, she saw the flashing lights again and slowed down expecting to see the motorcyclist stopped at the side of the road and a police officer writing a slew of tickets.
Little did she know, the passenger had fallen off and the driver fled the scene of the mishap.
“I suddenly saw body parts on the road,” Howey recalled. “I had to try to avoid them while not causing an accident,” she explained. “There was a head in a helmet on one side of me and part of a body on the other.” She thinks she may have run over an arm in her SUV.
After travelling a little farther, she saw some vehicles stopped and more police cruisers, so she assumed the bike had crashed.
“We didn’t see anything actually happen or we would have stopped,” she said. “I really didn’t know what to do.”
It wasn’t until she watched the news the next morning that she realized the driver of the bike was alive and that he had fled. That’s when she called police to report what she had seen.
“I can’t fathom how this guy managed to stay in control of the motorcycle,” Howey said. “And she would have flown off at such a velocity that she would have been broken in two by the time she hit the ground.”
The province’s Special Investigations Unit, called in any time there is a serious injury or death involving police, is probing the incident.
In a statement released Saturday, the SIU reported a Durham police officer had attempted to pull over the motorcyclist around Brock St. and he took off.
As the driver accelerated, the passenger tumbled off the back and was struck by “one or more cars,” they said. Police continue their hunt for the driver.
From: http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/08/29/15181051.html
Woman Burned While Playing With Magnifying Glass
34-Year-Old Has Burns On 50 Percent Of Body
POSTED: 7:44 am EDT August 30, 2010
UPDATED: 7:53 am EDT August 30, 2010
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. -- A Cumberland County woman was severely burned in what police are calling a freak accident.
Robyn Foose, 34, was playing with a child's magnifying glass when it started a fire on her clothes, investigators said.
She was burned Friday evening at Keystone Service of Central Pa., which is a group home in Mechanicsburg.
"This is what happens, the intensity goes above 212 degrees it can be generated, and at that point combustion can happen," said Gary Neff, Harrisburg's deputy fire chief.
Foose is in critical condition with burns covering 50 percent of her body.
From: http://www.wgal.com/news/24809574/detail.html
POSTED: 7:44 am EDT August 30, 2010
UPDATED: 7:53 am EDT August 30, 2010
CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. -- A Cumberland County woman was severely burned in what police are calling a freak accident.
Robyn Foose, 34, was playing with a child's magnifying glass when it started a fire on her clothes, investigators said.
She was burned Friday evening at Keystone Service of Central Pa., which is a group home in Mechanicsburg.
"This is what happens, the intensity goes above 212 degrees it can be generated, and at that point combustion can happen," said Gary Neff, Harrisburg's deputy fire chief.
Foose is in critical condition with burns covering 50 percent of her body.
From: http://www.wgal.com/news/24809574/detail.html
Woman forcing her way into boyfriend's house gets stuck in chimney, dies
Posted: 08/31/2010 05:50:43 PM PDTUpdated: 09/01/2010 07:30:21 AM PDT
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (AP)- A doctor involved in an "on-again, off-again" relationship apparently tried to force her way into her boyfriend's home by sliding down the chimney, police said Tuesday. Her decomposing body was found there three days later.
Dr. Jacquelyn Kotarac, 49, first tried to get into the house with a shovel, then climbed a ladder to the roof last Wednesday night, removed the chimney cap and slid feet first down the flue, Bakersfield police Sgt. Mary DeGeare said.
While she was trying to break in, the man she was pursuing escaped unnoticed from another exit "to avoid a confrontation," authorities said.
DeGeare said the two were in an "on-again, off-again" relationship.
The man's identity was not revealed by police, but the man who resides in the home is William Moodie, 58.
"She made an unbelievable error in judgment and nobody understands why, and unfortunately she's passed away," Moodie told The Associated Press. "She had her issues - she had her demons - but I never lost my respect for her."
Reached by telephone, Moodie did not dispute the police's characterization of his relationship with Kotarac. He would not comment on the circumstances that led to her death, saying it was more important to focus on the good she did in life.
Moodie, who runs an engineering consulting firm, said Kotarac was a superb internist who often provided service and medication free of charge to her patients.
Kotarac apparently died in the chimney, but her body was not discovered until a house-sitter noticed a stench and fluids coming from the fireplace Saturday, according to a police statement. The house-sitter and her son investigated with a flashlight and found Kotarac dead, wedged about two feet above the top of the interior fireplace opening.
Firefighters spent five hours late Saturday dismantling the chimney and flue from outside the home to extract Kotarac's body, DeGeare said.
Officials said Kotarac's office staff reported her missing two days prior when she failed to show for work. Her car and belongings remained near the man's house.
A cause of death has not been determined, and an autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday. Foul play is not suspected, though investigators have been looking into the incident as suspicious.
From: http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_15955005?source=rss_viewed
Transient gets 400 years and 21 life sentences for crime spree
Charles Juan Proctor dubbed "the box cutter" for his attacks on women working alone in Downtown and East Village businesses.
By Tracy Manzer, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/30/2010 12:44:30 PM PDTUpdated: 08/30/2010 09:55:10 PM PDT
LONG BEACH - Every time Saida Uriarte looks in a mirror, she's transported to April 28, 2008.
That's the day Uriarte was nearly killed when 45-year-old transient Charles Juan Proctor slit her throat twice during a robbery at her downtown Long Beach bridal shop.
"Every time I look into the mirror I'm reminded of this awful event," Uriarte said in her victim impact statement read Monday by Deputy District Attorney Carol Rose.
Uriarte and Jennifer Wrenn, who had her throat slashed by Proctor during a botched robbery in her downtown Long Beach artist's loft, told Long Beach Superior Court Judge Gary Ferrari they struggle to this day with the traumatic aftermath of those attacks.
For Wrenn, "daymares" and flashbacks are common and it's hard for her focus and concentrate at her job as a children's librarian.
When Proctor attacked Wrenn, he dug the razor into her neck and cheek, twisting the blade to drive it deeper, she testified in the trial.
"I feel guilty about the victim after me ... had I done something differently she may not have had her throat slashed as I had my throat slashed," Wrenn told the court.
For their suffering and that of four other women - who were kidnapped at knifepoint in attacks at Long Beach and Hawaiian Gardens businesses from February through May of 2008 - Wrenn and Uriarte implored the court to give Proctor the maximum sentence allowed by law.
Ferrari heard their pleas and responded with 21 life sentences, 10 of which were stayed or ordered to be served concurrently, and a base term of 433 years and four months in prison.
That means Proctor must serve the 433-year base term before he begins serving the 11 consecutive life terms, Rose said.
"Mr. Proctor, I can say absolutely ... you deserve each of these 433 years," Ferrari said.
Rose had asked that Proctor receive more than 530 years, arguing his prior convictions for attempted sexual assault and attempted kidnapping, the latter occurring on Aug. 10, 2007, in Nevada, made Proctor a prime candidate for the state's three-strikes law.
Public defender Thomas Tyler countered that his client's conviction for the attempted kidnapping didn't occur until after he had committed the local crime spree and therefore shouldn't be factored as a prior.
Rose said that the crime was committed before the local attacks. The only reason the conviction came after the Long Beach and Hawaiian Gardens attacks was because Proctor fled back to Nevada following the last local attack.
Nevada authorities caught up with Proctor on May 4, 2008, almost immediately upon his return to that state, and he subsequently pleaded guilty to the 2007 crime.
"The focus of the three-strikes law is conduct," Rose insisted, citing case law. "Regardless of whether judgment and sentence have been pronounced."
Ferrari agreed, telling Proctor his conduct toward his victims was despicable and his crimes showed not only an escalation in violence but a disturbing criminal sophistication.
Proctor's crime spree terrorized women living and working in the downtown and East Village neighborhoods as word spread of a violent robber dubbed "the box cutter" for his use of a razor blade.
"You sir are a violent ... and dangerous human being," Ferrari said Monday. "It's unconscionable what you did to these women."
In addition to the lengthy sentence, the judge also ordered Proctor pay more than $56,000 in victim restitution fines and court fees.
As Ferrari talked about possible parole violations and release, part of the sentencing procedure, the judge noted that he hoped the issue of parole would never apply to Proctor.
"You shouldn't be on any street in Long Beach and Hawaiian Gardens and, in fact, you ought not be on any street in this country."
From: http://www.presstelegram.com/rss/ci_15941811?source=rss
By Tracy Manzer, Staff Writer
Posted: 08/30/2010 12:44:30 PM PDTUpdated: 08/30/2010 09:55:10 PM PDT
LONG BEACH - Every time Saida Uriarte looks in a mirror, she's transported to April 28, 2008.
That's the day Uriarte was nearly killed when 45-year-old transient Charles Juan Proctor slit her throat twice during a robbery at her downtown Long Beach bridal shop.
"Every time I look into the mirror I'm reminded of this awful event," Uriarte said in her victim impact statement read Monday by Deputy District Attorney Carol Rose.
Uriarte and Jennifer Wrenn, who had her throat slashed by Proctor during a botched robbery in her downtown Long Beach artist's loft, told Long Beach Superior Court Judge Gary Ferrari they struggle to this day with the traumatic aftermath of those attacks.
For Wrenn, "daymares" and flashbacks are common and it's hard for her focus and concentrate at her job as a children's librarian.
When Proctor attacked Wrenn, he dug the razor into her neck and cheek, twisting the blade to drive it deeper, she testified in the trial.
"I feel guilty about the victim after me ... had I done something differently she may not have had her throat slashed as I had my throat slashed," Wrenn told the court.
For their suffering and that of four other women - who were kidnapped at knifepoint in attacks at Long Beach and Hawaiian Gardens businesses from February through May of 2008 - Wrenn and Uriarte implored the court to give Proctor the maximum sentence allowed by law.
Ferrari heard their pleas and responded with 21 life sentences, 10 of which were stayed or ordered to be served concurrently, and a base term of 433 years and four months in prison.
That means Proctor must serve the 433-year base term before he begins serving the 11 consecutive life terms, Rose said.
"Mr. Proctor, I can say absolutely ... you deserve each of these 433 years," Ferrari said.
Rose had asked that Proctor receive more than 530 years, arguing his prior convictions for attempted sexual assault and attempted kidnapping, the latter occurring on Aug. 10, 2007, in Nevada, made Proctor a prime candidate for the state's three-strikes law.
Public defender Thomas Tyler countered that his client's conviction for the attempted kidnapping didn't occur until after he had committed the local crime spree and therefore shouldn't be factored as a prior.
Rose said that the crime was committed before the local attacks. The only reason the conviction came after the Long Beach and Hawaiian Gardens attacks was because Proctor fled back to Nevada following the last local attack.
Nevada authorities caught up with Proctor on May 4, 2008, almost immediately upon his return to that state, and he subsequently pleaded guilty to the 2007 crime.
"The focus of the three-strikes law is conduct," Rose insisted, citing case law. "Regardless of whether judgment and sentence have been pronounced."
Ferrari agreed, telling Proctor his conduct toward his victims was despicable and his crimes showed not only an escalation in violence but a disturbing criminal sophistication.
Proctor's crime spree terrorized women living and working in the downtown and East Village neighborhoods as word spread of a violent robber dubbed "the box cutter" for his use of a razor blade.
"You sir are a violent ... and dangerous human being," Ferrari said Monday. "It's unconscionable what you did to these women."
In addition to the lengthy sentence, the judge also ordered Proctor pay more than $56,000 in victim restitution fines and court fees.
As Ferrari talked about possible parole violations and release, part of the sentencing procedure, the judge noted that he hoped the issue of parole would never apply to Proctor.
"You shouldn't be on any street in Long Beach and Hawaiian Gardens and, in fact, you ought not be on any street in this country."
From: http://www.presstelegram.com/rss/ci_15941811?source=rss
Man survives suicide attempt after 39-storey fall in New York
07:26 02/09/2010
A man survived a suicide attempt after a 39-storey fall from an apartment block and landing on a parked car in New York's Manhattan, U.S. media reported.
Thomas Magill, a 22-year-old student, crashed through the roof a Dodge Charger and landed in the backseat of the car. The speed of his falling at the moment of the impact with the car was almost 140 kmp (87 mph).
Miraculously, Magill survived the fall although he sustained multiple injuries including fractured legs. He has already undergone surgery on his legs.
"He's stable now. We can only hope he'll be OK," UPI.com quoted Magill's father as saying.
Witnesses say that after the fall Magill kept screaming about his legs before losing consciousness.
In July, a 15-year-old teenager miraculously survived after he fell 16 floors from an apartment block in Auckland, New Zealand. He crashed through the roof of a parking lot and hit a concrete floor suffering a broken wrist, a broken rib and a gouged leg.
From: http://en.rian.ru/strange/20100902/160432960.html
A man survived a suicide attempt after a 39-storey fall from an apartment block and landing on a parked car in New York's Manhattan, U.S. media reported.
Thomas Magill, a 22-year-old student, crashed through the roof a Dodge Charger and landed in the backseat of the car. The speed of his falling at the moment of the impact with the car was almost 140 kmp (87 mph).
Miraculously, Magill survived the fall although he sustained multiple injuries including fractured legs. He has already undergone surgery on his legs.
"He's stable now. We can only hope he'll be OK," UPI.com quoted Magill's father as saying.
Witnesses say that after the fall Magill kept screaming about his legs before losing consciousness.
In July, a 15-year-old teenager miraculously survived after he fell 16 floors from an apartment block in Auckland, New Zealand. He crashed through the roof of a parking lot and hit a concrete floor suffering a broken wrist, a broken rib and a gouged leg.
From: http://en.rian.ru/strange/20100902/160432960.html
Dutch mother held, suspected of killing three babies
Updated 9/2/2010 3:18:28 AM ET
AMSTERDAM — Dutch authorities have found two babies' bodies in the garden of a women arrested last week for killing another child, the prosecution service said on Thursday.
The corpses of the newborns were found in Geleen, a village about 200 km southeast of Amsterdam.
Police arrested the 41-year-old woman on August 27 following the discovery of the first corpse, the prosecutors said in a statement. Two other bodies were found in the garden later.
Forensics investigators are probing whether the three babies are related as well as how and when they died.
It is the second case in less than a month of a Dutch mother being suspected of killing multiple babies.
On August 6 police arrested a woman in the village of Nij Beets, about 140 km northeast of Amsterdam, after finding four suitcases in her attic, each with a baby's body. She is suspected of killing them over eight years.
From: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38594077/ns/world_news
AMSTERDAM — Dutch authorities have found two babies' bodies in the garden of a women arrested last week for killing another child, the prosecution service said on Thursday.
The corpses of the newborns were found in Geleen, a village about 200 km southeast of Amsterdam.
Police arrested the 41-year-old woman on August 27 following the discovery of the first corpse, the prosecutors said in a statement. Two other bodies were found in the garden later.
Forensics investigators are probing whether the three babies are related as well as how and when they died.
It is the second case in less than a month of a Dutch mother being suspected of killing multiple babies.
On August 6 police arrested a woman in the village of Nij Beets, about 140 km northeast of Amsterdam, after finding four suitcases in her attic, each with a baby's body. She is suspected of killing them over eight years.
From: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38594077/ns/world_news
Older people enjoy reading negative stories about young
Bernd Debusmann, Reuters
September 1, 2010, 5:48 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Older people like reading negative news stories about their younger counterparts because it boosts their own self-esteem, according to a new study.
German researchers said older people tend to be portrayed negatively in society. Although they are often described as wise, they are also be shown as being slow and forgetful.
"Living in a youth centered culture, they may appreciate a boost in self-esteem. That's why they prefer the negative stories about younger people, who are seen as having a higher status in our society," said Dr. Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, of Ohio State University.
Knoblock-Westerwick and her co-author Matthias Hastall, of Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen, Germany, studied 276 German adults, including 178 aged 18 to 30 and 98 between 55 and 60. Their findings are published in the Journal of Communication.
All the adults in the study were shown what they were led to believe was a test version of a new online news magazine. They were also given a limited time to look over either a negative and positive version of 10 pre-selected articles.
Each story was also paired with a photograph depicting someone of either the younger or the older age group.
The researchers found that older people were more likely to choose to read negative articles about those younger than themselves. They also tended to show less interest in articles about older people, whether negative or positive.
But younger people preferred to read positive articles about other young people.
According to Knobloch-Westerwick, older people's preference for negative news about their younger counterparts can be explained by their place in society.
"Everybody likes a self-esteem boost. For young people though, it's almost automatic. Youth is considered important in society," she said.
After perusing the articles, the participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure levels of self-esteem. Unlike their younger counterparts, the self-esteem of older people rose after they read a negative article about younger people.
Although the study was done in Germany, Knobloch-Westerwick believe nationality and the national characteristics are not important.
"I believe that much the same would hold true for Americans" if a similar study were undertaken in the US," she said in an interview.
From: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/odd/7859173/older-people-enjoy-reading-negative-stories-about-young/
September 1, 2010, 5:48 am
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Older people like reading negative news stories about their younger counterparts because it boosts their own self-esteem, according to a new study.
German researchers said older people tend to be portrayed negatively in society. Although they are often described as wise, they are also be shown as being slow and forgetful.
"Living in a youth centered culture, they may appreciate a boost in self-esteem. That's why they prefer the negative stories about younger people, who are seen as having a higher status in our society," said Dr. Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick, of Ohio State University.
Knoblock-Westerwick and her co-author Matthias Hastall, of Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen, Germany, studied 276 German adults, including 178 aged 18 to 30 and 98 between 55 and 60. Their findings are published in the Journal of Communication.
All the adults in the study were shown what they were led to believe was a test version of a new online news magazine. They were also given a limited time to look over either a negative and positive version of 10 pre-selected articles.
Each story was also paired with a photograph depicting someone of either the younger or the older age group.
The researchers found that older people were more likely to choose to read negative articles about those younger than themselves. They also tended to show less interest in articles about older people, whether negative or positive.
But younger people preferred to read positive articles about other young people.
According to Knobloch-Westerwick, older people's preference for negative news about their younger counterparts can be explained by their place in society.
"Everybody likes a self-esteem boost. For young people though, it's almost automatic. Youth is considered important in society," she said.
After perusing the articles, the participants completed a questionnaire designed to measure levels of self-esteem. Unlike their younger counterparts, the self-esteem of older people rose after they read a negative article about younger people.
Although the study was done in Germany, Knobloch-Westerwick believe nationality and the national characteristics are not important.
"I believe that much the same would hold true for Americans" if a similar study were undertaken in the US," she said in an interview.
From: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/odd/7859173/older-people-enjoy-reading-negative-stories-about-young/
Teens beat puppy and throw it through basketball hoop
NZPA
August 30, 2010, 8:00 pm
A two month-old labrador puppy was kicked, punched and thrown through a basketball hoop by four teenage boys in an Auckland park on Sunday.
Police said they were called to Wilson Place, Papakura, after witnesses reported seeing the dog being repeatedly kicked and then thrown up a tree.
It fell and as it lay motionless, one of the boys held it by its front legs while another boy kicked it in the stomach.
They continued punching and kicking the puppy and then threw it through a basketball hoop.
The puppy suffered extremely bad bruising and was barely able to stand but did not sustain any broken bones.
It was taken to the SPCA where it is receiving medical attention.
The four boys were apprehended by police and referred to Youth Aid.
From: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/7850123/teens-beat-puppy-and-throw-it-through-basketball-hoop/
August 30, 2010, 8:00 pm
A two month-old labrador puppy was kicked, punched and thrown through a basketball hoop by four teenage boys in an Auckland park on Sunday.
Police said they were called to Wilson Place, Papakura, after witnesses reported seeing the dog being repeatedly kicked and then thrown up a tree.
It fell and as it lay motionless, one of the boys held it by its front legs while another boy kicked it in the stomach.
They continued punching and kicking the puppy and then threw it through a basketball hoop.
The puppy suffered extremely bad bruising and was barely able to stand but did not sustain any broken bones.
It was taken to the SPCA where it is receiving medical attention.
The four boys were apprehended by police and referred to Youth Aid.
From: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/7850123/teens-beat-puppy-and-throw-it-through-basketball-hoop/
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"He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches."
"Being is substance and life; life manifests by movement; movement is perpetuated by equilibrium; equilibrium is therefore the law of immortality.
"The doctrine of equality!... But there exists no more poisonous poison: for it seems to be preached by justice itself, while it is the end of justice.... "Equality for equals, inequality for unequals" that would be the true voice of justice: and, what follows from it, "Never make equal what is unequal."
