— wc fieldsIf at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Quote Unqoute: W.C. Fields
Man Who Raped St. Martin's Student, Bragged To Her Friends And Family Gets 60+ Years
Updated: 5:57 pm PST November 17, 2010
LACEY, Wash. -- A man who raped a St. Martin's University student and then called her friends and family to brag about the attack was sentenced to at least 60 years in prison on Wednesday.
Richard Bunch, 51, tased the woman to subdue her and then raped her on a trail near the St. Martin's campus in April 2008.
Prosecutors described the attack in arguing for a high sentence for Bunch.
"Not only did he tase her in her face, neck and eyes, but he also punched her in the face repeatedly to get her to shut up and take off her clothes," Thurston County Deputy Prosecutor Dominique Jinhong said.
After raping the woman, Bunch stole her cell phone and used it to call the woman's father and friends to brag to them about the attack and how he left the woman lying in the dirt, prosecutors said.
"His only child, he learns, has just been brutally raped by some stranger who has her phone and he can't do anything about it," Jinhong said. "He can't do anything about it. He can't comfort his daughter; he doesn't know if she's alive or dead."
Judy Prochnau, a victim advocate, also read a letter from the victim's father about the pain that call inflicted.
"Imagine the terror when a stranger tells you he has just raped your daughter," said Prochnau said. "Richard Bunch wanted to spread the misery to as many people as he could."
Before being sentenced, Bunch spoke out about the rape, apologizing for calling the victim's father, but not her friends.
"What happened between (redacted) and I wasn't rape; she says it was," Bunch said. "Being a parent myself, I should have never called him. Calling her friends, I wanted to embarrass the holy hell out of her for what she did to me."
The judge in the case told Bunch she considered his statement in court and his other actions nothing but an attempt to continue inflicting pain on the victim and her family.
She then sentenced him to 60 years to life in prison.
Bunch, who was a truck driver, had previously been convicted of raping a 13 year old girl in Nevada. He will now be moved to Ellensburg, where he is facing additional charges for the rape of a 9-year-old girl.
From: http://www.kirotv.com/news/25830287/detail.html?cxntlid=cmg_cntnt_rss
Nazi spaceship film sparks UFO debate
A new sci-fi film about Nazis has reignited a debate in Germany about Hitler's development of UFOs.
By Allan Hall in Berlin 1:05PM GMT 17 Nov 2010
The Finnish sci-fi comedy 'Iron Sky' centres on real-life SS officer Hans Kammler who was said to have made a significant breakthrough in antigravity experiments towards the end of WW2.
The film relates how, from a secret base built in the Antarctic, the first Nazi spaceships were launched in late 1945 to found the military base Schwarze Sonne – Black Sun – on the dark side of the Moon.
This base was to to be used to build a powerful invasion fleet and return to take over the Earth once the time was right, in this case 2018.
But a new report out this week in Germany in the magazine PM purports that there is "strong evidence" that a Nazi UFO programme was well advanced.
Hitler ordered Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering to develop the super weapon that would change the war.
The PM report quotes eyewitnesses who believe they saw a flying saucer marked with the Iron Cross of the German military flying low over the Thames in 1944.
At the time the New York Times wrote about a "mysterious flying disc" with photos of the device seen travelling at extremely high speeds over the high-rise buildings.
The best known of the Nazi UFO projects was the Schriever-Habermohl scheme, named for Rudolf Schriever and Otto Habermohl.
Initially a Luftwaffe project, it fell under the auspices of armaments minister Albert Speer before being taken over once again in 1944 by Hans Kammler.
Eyewitnesses captured by the Allies after WW2 claimed to have seen the saucer produced in Prague fly on several occasions in early 1945.
Joseph Andreas Epp, an engineer who served as a consultant to the Schriever-Habermohl project, stated 15 prototypes were built in all.
He described how a central cockpit surrounded by rotating adjustable wing-vanes formed a circle.
The vanes were held together by a band at the outer edge of the wheel-like device. The pitch of the vanes could be adjusted so that during take off more lift was generated by increasing their angle from a more horizontal setting.
In level flight the angle would be adjusted to a smaller angle, similar to the way helicopter rotors operate. The wing-vanes were to be set in rotation by small rockets placed around the rim like a pinwheel.
Once rotational speed was sufficient, lift-off was achieved.
After the craft had risen to some height the horizontal jets or rockets were ignited. "After this the wing-blades would be allowed to rotate freely as the saucer moved forward as in an auto-gyrocopter. In all probability, the wing-blades speed, and so their lifting value, could also be increased by directing the adjustable horizontal jets slightly upwards to engage the blades, thus spinning them faster at the digression of the pilot," he said.
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/8139811/Nazi-spaceship-film-sparks-UFO-debate.html
By Allan Hall in Berlin 1:05PM GMT 17 Nov 2010
The Finnish sci-fi comedy 'Iron Sky' centres on real-life SS officer Hans Kammler who was said to have made a significant breakthrough in antigravity experiments towards the end of WW2.
The film relates how, from a secret base built in the Antarctic, the first Nazi spaceships were launched in late 1945 to found the military base Schwarze Sonne – Black Sun – on the dark side of the Moon.
This base was to to be used to build a powerful invasion fleet and return to take over the Earth once the time was right, in this case 2018.
But a new report out this week in Germany in the magazine PM purports that there is "strong evidence" that a Nazi UFO programme was well advanced.
Hitler ordered Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering to develop the super weapon that would change the war.
The PM report quotes eyewitnesses who believe they saw a flying saucer marked with the Iron Cross of the German military flying low over the Thames in 1944.
At the time the New York Times wrote about a "mysterious flying disc" with photos of the device seen travelling at extremely high speeds over the high-rise buildings.
The best known of the Nazi UFO projects was the Schriever-Habermohl scheme, named for Rudolf Schriever and Otto Habermohl.
Initially a Luftwaffe project, it fell under the auspices of armaments minister Albert Speer before being taken over once again in 1944 by Hans Kammler.
Eyewitnesses captured by the Allies after WW2 claimed to have seen the saucer produced in Prague fly on several occasions in early 1945.
Joseph Andreas Epp, an engineer who served as a consultant to the Schriever-Habermohl project, stated 15 prototypes were built in all.
He described how a central cockpit surrounded by rotating adjustable wing-vanes formed a circle.
The vanes were held together by a band at the outer edge of the wheel-like device. The pitch of the vanes could be adjusted so that during take off more lift was generated by increasing their angle from a more horizontal setting.
In level flight the angle would be adjusted to a smaller angle, similar to the way helicopter rotors operate. The wing-vanes were to be set in rotation by small rockets placed around the rim like a pinwheel.
Once rotational speed was sufficient, lift-off was achieved.
After the craft had risen to some height the horizontal jets or rockets were ignited. "After this the wing-blades would be allowed to rotate freely as the saucer moved forward as in an auto-gyrocopter. In all probability, the wing-blades speed, and so their lifting value, could also be increased by directing the adjustable horizontal jets slightly upwards to engage the blades, thus spinning them faster at the digression of the pilot," he said.
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/8139811/Nazi-spaceship-film-sparks-UFO-debate.html
Panic after ‘Devil attack’ at school
17 Moruga students in hospital
Radhica Sookraj
Published: 11 Nov 2010
Panic broke out at the Moruga Composite School yesterday as 17 female students fell mysteriously ill and began rolling on the ground, hissing and blabbering in a strange tongue, after suffering bouts of nausea and headaches. Two of the students reportedly tried to throw themselves off a railing and had to be physically restrained, triggering fears of a possible demon attack. The drama started during the lunch hour in the Form One block and quickly spread to other areas. Form Five student Kern Mollineau, who attends the Lighthouse Tabernacle Church, said he got worried when the girls’ eyes began rolling up in their heads and they began beating up on the ground.
With the assistance of several other students and teachers, the pupils were taken to the multi-purpose hall where some of them fell into a semi-conscious state. Mollineau recalled: “One girl was blabbering as if in a strange language. I could not understand what she was saying. “It was sounding like ‘shebbaberbebeb shhhhee.’ The girls were unusually strong. We had to hold them down so that they will not hurt themselves. “The teachers were right there. I get a kick in my face when one of the girls started beating up on the floor. Many of them had bruises.” Mollineau claimed he actually communicated with the “devil which had possessed the girl. “I asked the Devil what he wanted with the girls and the voice said he wanted a life. He kept saying to send the girls in the toilet and to leave them alone,” Mollineau claimed.
Roman Catholic priests, as well as pastors from nearby churches, including Josephine Charles, Deborah Charles and Pastor Gordon, visited the school and began showering the children with holy water and prayers. Two more students, Kriston Mollineau and Kishon Bethel, said they too were called by teachers to assist the ill girls. Kriston said the girls complained of headaches and some of them wanted to go to the toilet. Six ambulances arrived at the school accompanied by police teams from the Moruga and St Mary’s Police Post. A party of fire officers from the Princes Town Fire Station, led by acting Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Ramdeo Boodoo visited the school and began conducting several tests on the surroundings to determine the cause of the problem.
Boodoo said there was nothing in the environment to trigger fainting spells, nausea and headaches. A teacher, who requested anonymity, said two weeks ago an Orisha woman came to the school and had a dispute with a member of staff. He said following the dispute, the woman threatened to deal with the school administration. Another teacher said the school was built on a burial site, but neighbours who live around the school denied that was so. A source at the school confirmed that all 17 pupils were taken to the Princes Town Health Facility where they were medically examined. The other students were sent home at 2 pm.
Responding yesterday, Minister in the Ministry of Education Clifton de Coteau said he was aware that pupils had to be taken for medical attention. De Coteau said Student Support Service officials were sent to the school and students were expected to receive counselling. A statement from the Ministry of Education said the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) made maxi taxis available to the school to assist the Office for Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) which provided additional ambulances.
From: http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2010/11/11/panic-after-devil-attack-school
Radhica Sookraj
Published: 11 Nov 2010
Panic broke out at the Moruga Composite School yesterday as 17 female students fell mysteriously ill and began rolling on the ground, hissing and blabbering in a strange tongue, after suffering bouts of nausea and headaches. Two of the students reportedly tried to throw themselves off a railing and had to be physically restrained, triggering fears of a possible demon attack. The drama started during the lunch hour in the Form One block and quickly spread to other areas. Form Five student Kern Mollineau, who attends the Lighthouse Tabernacle Church, said he got worried when the girls’ eyes began rolling up in their heads and they began beating up on the ground.
With the assistance of several other students and teachers, the pupils were taken to the multi-purpose hall where some of them fell into a semi-conscious state. Mollineau recalled: “One girl was blabbering as if in a strange language. I could not understand what she was saying. “It was sounding like ‘shebbaberbebeb shhhhee.’ The girls were unusually strong. We had to hold them down so that they will not hurt themselves. “The teachers were right there. I get a kick in my face when one of the girls started beating up on the floor. Many of them had bruises.” Mollineau claimed he actually communicated with the “devil which had possessed the girl. “I asked the Devil what he wanted with the girls and the voice said he wanted a life. He kept saying to send the girls in the toilet and to leave them alone,” Mollineau claimed.
Roman Catholic priests, as well as pastors from nearby churches, including Josephine Charles, Deborah Charles and Pastor Gordon, visited the school and began showering the children with holy water and prayers. Two more students, Kriston Mollineau and Kishon Bethel, said they too were called by teachers to assist the ill girls. Kriston said the girls complained of headaches and some of them wanted to go to the toilet. Six ambulances arrived at the school accompanied by police teams from the Moruga and St Mary’s Police Post. A party of fire officers from the Princes Town Fire Station, led by acting Assistant Divisional Fire Officer Ramdeo Boodoo visited the school and began conducting several tests on the surroundings to determine the cause of the problem.
Boodoo said there was nothing in the environment to trigger fainting spells, nausea and headaches. A teacher, who requested anonymity, said two weeks ago an Orisha woman came to the school and had a dispute with a member of staff. He said following the dispute, the woman threatened to deal with the school administration. Another teacher said the school was built on a burial site, but neighbours who live around the school denied that was so. A source at the school confirmed that all 17 pupils were taken to the Princes Town Health Facility where they were medically examined. The other students were sent home at 2 pm.
Responding yesterday, Minister in the Ministry of Education Clifton de Coteau said he was aware that pupils had to be taken for medical attention. De Coteau said Student Support Service officials were sent to the school and students were expected to receive counselling. A statement from the Ministry of Education said the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) made maxi taxis available to the school to assist the Office for Disaster Preparedness and Management (ODPM) which provided additional ambulances.
From: http://guardian.co.tt/news/general/2010/11/11/panic-after-devil-attack-school
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Family Says Son Killed Dog Out Of Jealousy
Updated: Nov 15, 2010 2:40 PM
Jon Jordan, News 9
OKLAHOMA CITY -- A couple said they believe their son brutally killed the family's dog because he felt like he was being replaced.
Christopher Poston, 25, was arrested after police said he stabbed the family's 6-year-old Lab, Sammy, to death.
Christopher's mother, Susan Poston, said she was stunned over her son's actions, especially because she said Christopher rescued Sammy after finding him in a trash bag.
Susan said Sammy was a sweet and caring dog who loved everyone. She said they believe Christopher attacked the dog because he had become jealous and felt Sammy had replaced him.
Christopher's family said he has been arrested 18 times since turning 16. In 2003 and 2009 the family even sought protection orders against him. He was given a five year deferred sentence in 2009 for pointing a gun during a road rage incident. Now his parent said they want their son put in jail for good.
"This is psychotic. This is serial killer bad. Someone who can do this to an animal could very well do this to a person, and I don't think he should ever get out. I am sure he will, but I don't ever want to see him," Susan said.
From: http://www.news9.com/Global/story.asp?S=13501182
Tyler man allegedly killed friend over wife's kiss
Associated Press
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 9:19 AM
TYLER, Texas (AP) - A Tyler man is accused of fatally shooting a friend who allegedly was kissed on the cheek by the gunman's wife in a show of comfort.
Smith County Jail records showed 45-year-old Ricky Jay Reynolds was held Tuesday on charges of murder, unlawfully carrying a weapon and evading arrest. Bond was $230,000. Electronic jail records did not list a lawyer for Reynolds, who was captured following Sunday night's attack.
Sheriff's Lt. Tony Dana says the victim was 39-year-old Chad Otis Jones of Arlington.
Dana says the suspect's wife told officers that her brother had died and she was going through her sibling's home when she kissed Jones on the cheek, as a sign of encouragement. Jones allegedly needed a place to live and was staying at the residence.
Dana says Reynolds saw the kiss.
From: http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Tyler-man-allegedly-killed-friend-over-wifes-kiss-108423434.html
Posted on November 16, 2010 at 9:19 AM
TYLER, Texas (AP) - A Tyler man is accused of fatally shooting a friend who allegedly was kissed on the cheek by the gunman's wife in a show of comfort.
Smith County Jail records showed 45-year-old Ricky Jay Reynolds was held Tuesday on charges of murder, unlawfully carrying a weapon and evading arrest. Bond was $230,000. Electronic jail records did not list a lawyer for Reynolds, who was captured following Sunday night's attack.
Sheriff's Lt. Tony Dana says the victim was 39-year-old Chad Otis Jones of Arlington.
Dana says the suspect's wife told officers that her brother had died and she was going through her sibling's home when she kissed Jones on the cheek, as a sign of encouragement. Jones allegedly needed a place to live and was staying at the residence.
Dana says Reynolds saw the kiss.
From: http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Tyler-man-allegedly-killed-friend-over-wifes-kiss-108423434.html
More than 340 dead fetuses found in Thai temple
AFP November 16, 2010
BANGKOK - The bodies of more than 340 human fetuses, apparently from an illegal abortion clinic, were discovered inside a Buddhist temple in central Bangkok, Thai police said Tuesday.
A total of 348 corpses, wrapped in plastic bags and newspaper, were found by a member of temple staff in a mortuary storage area.
Police Colonel Metee Rakphan said plastic bags were found "with fetal corpses inside hidden in the storehouse of a temple".
"We assume that they were from illegal abortion clinics, and we are now investigating," he told AFP, adding that they were questioning the temple mortician.
One rescue worker with the Poh Teck Tung foundation, a charity that provides emergency rescue and body recovery services, said up to 500 fetuses could eventually be uncovered.
Buddhist temples in Thailand not only perform cremation ceremonies, but also store bodies in specially refrigerated areas.
Abortion is illegal in Thailand except when it is judged that delivery would harm the mother or when the pregnancy is the result of rape.
From: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/More+than+dead+fetuses+found+Thai+temple/3835362/story.html
BANGKOK - The bodies of more than 340 human fetuses, apparently from an illegal abortion clinic, were discovered inside a Buddhist temple in central Bangkok, Thai police said Tuesday.
A total of 348 corpses, wrapped in plastic bags and newspaper, were found by a member of temple staff in a mortuary storage area.
Police Colonel Metee Rakphan said plastic bags were found "with fetal corpses inside hidden in the storehouse of a temple".
"We assume that they were from illegal abortion clinics, and we are now investigating," he told AFP, adding that they were questioning the temple mortician.
One rescue worker with the Poh Teck Tung foundation, a charity that provides emergency rescue and body recovery services, said up to 500 fetuses could eventually be uncovered.
Buddhist temples in Thailand not only perform cremation ceremonies, but also store bodies in specially refrigerated areas.
Abortion is illegal in Thailand except when it is judged that delivery would harm the mother or when the pregnancy is the result of rape.
From: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/More+than+dead+fetuses+found+Thai+temple/3835362/story.html
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Nurse 'has eyes gouged out in horrific sex attack by her own son' after police visit home
By Ryan Kisiel and Sam Greenhill
Last updated at 11:11 PM on 15th November 2010
A man has been arrested for allegedly attempting to rape his mother and gouging out her eyes - moments after police had visited their home.
The 53-year-old victim, who cannot be named, was left blinded by the attack.
Her son, a 22-year-old former grammar school student, was arrested only after he ran naked from his home and started jumping into moving cars.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation as it emerged that police officers had visited the home two hours previously over a 'domestic incident', but left after 30 minutes.
The man lives with his mother, a nurse, and teenage sister at a detached four-bedroom home in Slough, Berkshire.
Neighbours say trouble started when he began shouting and throwing objects out of a first-floor window.
A computer and television set were hurled on to the front garden before neighbours called the police at 6.44pm on Friday.
Officers arrived at the house and spent half an hour with the pair before leaving. It is understood the daughter was not at home.
Two hours later, the man ran out of his home naked and jumped into the side of a neighbour's car while he was turning out of his drive.
He then stopped another car before jumping on the bonnet and hitting the windscreen.
Witnesses say he jumped off the car and ran into the path of another, which hit him, throwing him up on to the windscreen and hurling him to the side of the road.
Police and an ambulance arrived to treat him and were alerted to the mother in the house.
Officers found that she had severe eye injuries and feared that she may have been sexually assaulted.
A neighbour said: 'It was madness. He must have suddenly flipped as he is generally a quiet person and keeps himself to himself.
'He started shouting from his sister's bedroom and then throwing out huge objects. I saw a television, computer and small table smash on to the ground below.
'I thought he'd really flipped and the police quickly arrived. It all seemed to calm down then as the police left not long after arriving.
'I then went to pick my father up from the train station and the next thing I knew the man came running out of his house naked and jumped into the side of my car.
'I pulled over to call the police and then I saw him stop another car. When the police arrived we suddenly remembered the earlier outbursts and they went in to see if his mother was OK. Apparently the injuries were horrific and she was later rushed to hospital.'
The woman's condition is described as 'non-life threatening'.
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: 'A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted rape and GBH and has been transferred to a secure unit.'
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1329655/Nurse-eyes-gouged-horrific-sex-attack-son.html
Last updated at 11:11 PM on 15th November 2010
A man has been arrested for allegedly attempting to rape his mother and gouging out her eyes - moments after police had visited their home.
The 53-year-old victim, who cannot be named, was left blinded by the attack.
Her son, a 22-year-old former grammar school student, was arrested only after he ran naked from his home and started jumping into moving cars.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation as it emerged that police officers had visited the home two hours previously over a 'domestic incident', but left after 30 minutes.
The man lives with his mother, a nurse, and teenage sister at a detached four-bedroom home in Slough, Berkshire.
Neighbours say trouble started when he began shouting and throwing objects out of a first-floor window.
A computer and television set were hurled on to the front garden before neighbours called the police at 6.44pm on Friday.
Officers arrived at the house and spent half an hour with the pair before leaving. It is understood the daughter was not at home.
Two hours later, the man ran out of his home naked and jumped into the side of a neighbour's car while he was turning out of his drive.
He then stopped another car before jumping on the bonnet and hitting the windscreen.
Witnesses say he jumped off the car and ran into the path of another, which hit him, throwing him up on to the windscreen and hurling him to the side of the road.
Police and an ambulance arrived to treat him and were alerted to the mother in the house.
Officers found that she had severe eye injuries and feared that she may have been sexually assaulted.
A neighbour said: 'It was madness. He must have suddenly flipped as he is generally a quiet person and keeps himself to himself.
'He started shouting from his sister's bedroom and then throwing out huge objects. I saw a television, computer and small table smash on to the ground below.
'I thought he'd really flipped and the police quickly arrived. It all seemed to calm down then as the police left not long after arriving.
'I then went to pick my father up from the train station and the next thing I knew the man came running out of his house naked and jumped into the side of my car.
'I pulled over to call the police and then I saw him stop another car. When the police arrived we suddenly remembered the earlier outbursts and they went in to see if his mother was OK. Apparently the injuries were horrific and she was later rushed to hospital.'
The woman's condition is described as 'non-life threatening'.
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: 'A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted rape and GBH and has been transferred to a secure unit.'
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1329655/Nurse-eyes-gouged-horrific-sex-attack-son.html
Girl, 10, 'dismembered, body parts scattered'
By MSN NZ
Tuesday 16 november 2010 8:00:00
The stepmother of murdered Australian girl Zahra Baker told police the girl was dead, dismembered and that her body parts had been scattered across different sites, court documents show.
The documents ask for a reduction in bail for Elisa Baker, saying she helped investigators by leading them to the remains of 10-year-old Zahra.
Baker has been jailed since last month, accused of trying to throw off investigators by writing a fake ransom note for another child.
The court papers were reported by Charlotte-area TV stations and posted on the website of WCNC-TV on Monday.
Baker told police on October 24 that Zahra "was deceased, that her body had been dismembered and that it would be recovered at different sites", according to the documents.
Police took Baker to the areas she suggested and recovered Zahra's prosthetic leg, which the 10-year-old needed after battling bone cancer five years ago.
A bone later identified as Zahra's was discovered at the same site.
On October 26, police escorted Baker to the Caldwell County landfill where they recovered a mattress that Baker said she had thrown out.
Baker, who remains in custody on obstruction of justice charges, then told investigators where the rest of Zahra's remains could be found, the documents state.
Up until the filing of the documents, it was known Baker was assisting police in their investigation but it was not clear what information she was supplying them with.
The documents come after the release of prison letters allegedly written by Baker which point to Zahra's biological father Adam Baker as being involved in her disappearance.
The letters, which proclaim her innocence, were published on a US website which has a history of communicating with inmates.
"We really didn't kill her but what he did after the fact is kinda horrifying," the letter states.
"Makes me scared of him."
Hickory Police said the handwriting matched Baker's but they did not confirm the letters were authentic.
Adam Baker is currently free on bail after he was charges with offences unrelated to Zahra's disappearance.
From: http://news.msn.co.nz/article/8141667/ten-year-old-girl-was-dismembered-body-parts-scattered
Tuesday 16 november 2010 8:00:00
The stepmother of murdered Australian girl Zahra Baker told police the girl was dead, dismembered and that her body parts had been scattered across different sites, court documents show.
The documents ask for a reduction in bail for Elisa Baker, saying she helped investigators by leading them to the remains of 10-year-old Zahra.
Baker has been jailed since last month, accused of trying to throw off investigators by writing a fake ransom note for another child.
The court papers were reported by Charlotte-area TV stations and posted on the website of WCNC-TV on Monday.
Baker told police on October 24 that Zahra "was deceased, that her body had been dismembered and that it would be recovered at different sites", according to the documents.
Police took Baker to the areas she suggested and recovered Zahra's prosthetic leg, which the 10-year-old needed after battling bone cancer five years ago.
A bone later identified as Zahra's was discovered at the same site.
On October 26, police escorted Baker to the Caldwell County landfill where they recovered a mattress that Baker said she had thrown out.
Baker, who remains in custody on obstruction of justice charges, then told investigators where the rest of Zahra's remains could be found, the documents state.
Up until the filing of the documents, it was known Baker was assisting police in their investigation but it was not clear what information she was supplying them with.
The documents come after the release of prison letters allegedly written by Baker which point to Zahra's biological father Adam Baker as being involved in her disappearance.
The letters, which proclaim her innocence, were published on a US website which has a history of communicating with inmates.
"We really didn't kill her but what he did after the fact is kinda horrifying," the letter states.
"Makes me scared of him."
Hickory Police said the handwriting matched Baker's but they did not confirm the letters were authentic.
Adam Baker is currently free on bail after he was charges with offences unrelated to Zahra's disappearance.
From: http://news.msn.co.nz/article/8141667/ten-year-old-girl-was-dismembered-body-parts-scattered
Man 'cut off de-facto's tongue, sliced mouth'
By MSN NZ
tuesday 16 november 2010 9:00:00
An Australian man allegedly cut off his de-facto partner's tongue and sliced her mouth open during a vicious early-morning attack in her home.
Mohammed Tasleem Tahir appeared in Southport Magistrate's Court yesterday, charged with torture, acts intended to maim and disfigure and grievous bodily harm, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.
Court documents reveal the victim, Catherine Cameron, moved to the Gold Coast from South Australia six months ago after ending her relationship with Tahir.
The 20-year-old changed her name and telephone number, with the intent of starting "afresh".
But police allege Tahir confronted Ms Cameron in her unit around 1.30am on Saturday morning, telling her he wanted to "repair" their relationship.
Instead, he allegedly held her in a headlock while bashing her with an empty alcohol bottle.
He then pulled out a knife and cut her tongue and mouth. Ms Cameron was taken to hospital, suffering from a 4cm gash on the left side of her mouth and a 2cm gash on the right.
She also suffered a fractured eye socket and will need a metal plate to be inserted.
Tahir then allegedly tried to strangle Ms Cameron on her bed and only stopped when she feigned losing consciousness and went limp.
Neighbours called police when they heard commotion in Ms Cameron's apartment.
The case has been adjourned until November 27.
From: http://news.msn.co.nz/article/8141279/man-cut-off-de-factos-tongue-sliced-mouth
tuesday 16 november 2010 9:00:00
An Australian man allegedly cut off his de-facto partner's tongue and sliced her mouth open during a vicious early-morning attack in her home.
Mohammed Tasleem Tahir appeared in Southport Magistrate's Court yesterday, charged with torture, acts intended to maim and disfigure and grievous bodily harm, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.
Court documents reveal the victim, Catherine Cameron, moved to the Gold Coast from South Australia six months ago after ending her relationship with Tahir.
The 20-year-old changed her name and telephone number, with the intent of starting "afresh".
But police allege Tahir confronted Ms Cameron in her unit around 1.30am on Saturday morning, telling her he wanted to "repair" their relationship.
Instead, he allegedly held her in a headlock while bashing her with an empty alcohol bottle.
He then pulled out a knife and cut her tongue and mouth. Ms Cameron was taken to hospital, suffering from a 4cm gash on the left side of her mouth and a 2cm gash on the right.
She also suffered a fractured eye socket and will need a metal plate to be inserted.
Tahir then allegedly tried to strangle Ms Cameron on her bed and only stopped when she feigned losing consciousness and went limp.
Neighbours called police when they heard commotion in Ms Cameron's apartment.
The case has been adjourned until November 27.
From: http://news.msn.co.nz/article/8141279/man-cut-off-de-factos-tongue-sliced-mouth
Monday, November 15, 2010
East Texas man killed by pet deer
Posted: Nov 12, 2010 7:08 PM
Updated: Nov 15, 2010 3:49 AM
WASKOM, TX (KLTV) - A Harrison County man in his 60's has been killed by his pet deer.
Officials say 67-year-old Gerald Rushton was raising a European Red Stag on his property along with other animals.
As Rushton was entering the stag's pen to feed it, the 550 pound animal became aggressive, charged and pinned Rushton against a fence. Investigators say Rushton was gored several times and trampled.
The red stag was killed so rescuers could get to Rushton, but they say he was already dead.
From: http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=13492232
Updated: Nov 15, 2010 3:49 AM
WASKOM, TX (KLTV) - A Harrison County man in his 60's has been killed by his pet deer.
Officials say 67-year-old Gerald Rushton was raising a European Red Stag on his property along with other animals.
As Rushton was entering the stag's pen to feed it, the 550 pound animal became aggressive, charged and pinned Rushton against a fence. Investigators say Rushton was gored several times and trampled.
The red stag was killed so rescuers could get to Rushton, but they say he was already dead.
From: http://www.kltv.com/global/story.asp?s=13492232
Man beat wife over missing ricotta
By Ira Kantor and Laura Crimaldi
Thursday, November 11, 2010
A Chelsea man beat his wife over a missing ingredient for the lasagna he was making during “Monday Night Football” hours before she was found dead in their driveway, authorities said.
Frederick Wilkes, 54, lashed out at Theresa Kenna Wilkes, 50, after he discovered beans inside a ricotta cheese container in their fridge, said Jake Wark, spokesman for the Suffolk district attorney’s office.
“He threw the container of beans at her and they became involved in an altercation,” Wark said.
Wilkes — a father of two who had been married for 28 years — pleaded not guilty to three counts of assault and battery yesterday and is being held on $15,000 bail. He is not charged with murder.
The fight began around 8 p.m. when the couple and Fred Wilkes’ buddy, Mario Donnarumma, went to the kitchen to prepare dinner before the Steelers-Bengals game, according to court papers. All three had been drinking for hours, and when Wilkes found the leftover beans, the argument began, Donnarumma told cops.
Theresa Wilkes hit her husband several times, and he hit her “three times on the side of her head with either an open or closed fist,” said Donnarumma, a homeless man who had been staying with the couple.
Donnarumma said he offered to go to the store to purchase ricotta cheese but was unsuccessful, and returned only with beer and vodka. Wilkes became upset again, and his wife, who was sitting on a couch, suddenly found herself covered in beans, Donnarumma said.
The couple fought again, prompting Wilkes to say, “You’re done ... get out,” while grabbing his wife and dragging her out of the apartment, Donnarumma told police. He also pushed the bean-splattered couch outside.
Sometime later, Wilkes “engaged in a loud argument” with his wife outside, court papers indicate, before re-entering the apartment and locking the door.
Donnarumma told cops Wilkes opened the door once more to toss his wife’s purse outside, adding he did not see Wilkes leave the apartment again until both were woken by police the next morning.
The lifeless body of Theresa Wilkes was found barefoot in her driveway around 6 a.m. Tuesday, cops said, adding she appeared to have scrape marks and blood on her face.
Wilkes, who initially denied fighting with his wife, eventually “admitted to pouring beans over Theresa, grabbing her by the shirt and forcibly throwing her out of the apartment,” police said.
A cause of death has yet to be determined pending autopsy results.
Messages left for Wilkes’ attorney, Aviva Jeruchim, were not returned.
From: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20101111cops_man_beat_wife_over_missing_ricotta_spouse_later_found_dead_in_driveway/
More than 50 sheep commit mass suicide by jumping off cliff in Turkey
BY Jaime Uribarri
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, November 12th 2010, 2:34 PM
Maybe they knew what was coming.
More than 50 sheep on their way to slaughter in Turkey beat their executioners to the punch and jumped to their deaths in an unexplained and unprovoked mass suicide.
Herder Mejmet Gana saw his animals, and his money, vanish into thin air when one sheep suddenly leapt off a cliff, only to be followed by the rest of the flock.
A total of 52 carcasses were recovered at the bottom of the mountain range the herd was travelling on, Russian TV station RT reported.
Gana was taking the sheep to a local market, where they were to be sold for the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday that Muslims around the world celebrate by sacrificing an animal.
Back in 2005, Aksam newspaper reported that some 1,500 sheep jumped off a cliff, also in Turkey. Only the first 450 or so were killed, as the remaining animals' falls were cushioned by the dead bodies below.
From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/11/12/2010-11-12_more_than_50_sheep_commit_mass_suicide_in_turkey.html
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Friday, November 12th 2010, 2:34 PM
Maybe they knew what was coming.
More than 50 sheep on their way to slaughter in Turkey beat their executioners to the punch and jumped to their deaths in an unexplained and unprovoked mass suicide.
Herder Mejmet Gana saw his animals, and his money, vanish into thin air when one sheep suddenly leapt off a cliff, only to be followed by the rest of the flock.
A total of 52 carcasses were recovered at the bottom of the mountain range the herd was travelling on, Russian TV station RT reported.
Gana was taking the sheep to a local market, where they were to be sold for the upcoming Eid al-Adha holiday that Muslims around the world celebrate by sacrificing an animal.
Back in 2005, Aksam newspaper reported that some 1,500 sheep jumped off a cliff, also in Turkey. Only the first 450 or so were killed, as the remaining animals' falls were cushioned by the dead bodies below.
From: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/2010/11/12/2010-11-12_more_than_50_sheep_commit_mass_suicide_in_turkey.html
Westboro protesters face jeers and slashed tires
By MANNY GAMALLO World Staff Writer
Published: 11/14/2010 2:30 AM
Last Modified: 11/14/2010 8:12 AM
McALESTER - Members of a Kansas church that protests at military funerals may have found themselves in the wrong town Saturday.
Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army Sgt. Jason James McCluskey of McAlester, a half-dozen protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., headed to their minivan, only to discover that its front and rear passenger-side tires had been slashed.
To make matters worse, as their minivan slowly hobbled away on two flat tires, with a McAlester police car following behind, the protesters were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle, according to police.
The minivan finally pulled over several blocks away in a shopping center parking lot, where AAA was called. A flatbed service truck arrived and loaded up the minivan. Assistant Police Chief Darrell Miller said the minivan was taken to Walmart for repairs.
Even before the protesters discovered their damaged tires, they faced off with a massive crowd of jeering and taunting counterprotesters at Third Street and Washington Avenue, two blocks from the First Baptist Church, where the soldier's funeral was held.
Miller estimated that crowd to number nearly 1,000 people, and they not only drowned out the Westboro protesters with jeers, but with raucous chants of "USA, USA."
A few motorcyclists interspersed among the crowd also revved up their engines to muffle the protests.
More than two dozen law-enforcement officers - state troopers, sheriff's deputies and city police - formed a security cordon around the Westboro protesters.
"We're here to protect everyone," Miller said.
Westboro members picket military funerals across the country, spreading their message that "God hates America" because it tolerates homosexuality.
From: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101114_11_A12_CUTLIN105145
Published: 11/14/2010 2:30 AM
Last Modified: 11/14/2010 8:12 AM
McALESTER - Members of a Kansas church that protests at military funerals may have found themselves in the wrong town Saturday.
Shortly after finishing their protest at the funeral of Army Sgt. Jason James McCluskey of McAlester, a half-dozen protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., headed to their minivan, only to discover that its front and rear passenger-side tires had been slashed.
To make matters worse, as their minivan slowly hobbled away on two flat tires, with a McAlester police car following behind, the protesters were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle, according to police.
The minivan finally pulled over several blocks away in a shopping center parking lot, where AAA was called. A flatbed service truck arrived and loaded up the minivan. Assistant Police Chief Darrell Miller said the minivan was taken to Walmart for repairs.
Even before the protesters discovered their damaged tires, they faced off with a massive crowd of jeering and taunting counterprotesters at Third Street and Washington Avenue, two blocks from the First Baptist Church, where the soldier's funeral was held.
Miller estimated that crowd to number nearly 1,000 people, and they not only drowned out the Westboro protesters with jeers, but with raucous chants of "USA, USA."
A few motorcyclists interspersed among the crowd also revved up their engines to muffle the protests.
More than two dozen law-enforcement officers - state troopers, sheriff's deputies and city police - formed a security cordon around the Westboro protesters.
"We're here to protect everyone," Miller said.
Westboro members picket military funerals across the country, spreading their message that "God hates America" because it tolerates homosexuality.
From: http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20101114_11_A12_CUTLIN105145
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Boy, 13, hanged himself after being taunted about painful skin condition by school bullies
Last updated at 9:34 AM on 13th November 2010
A schoolboy whose life was made a misery by bullies who taunted him for his skin condition was found hanged in his bedroom by his mother.
Sam Riley, 13, had been targeted since he was at nursery as a result of his eczema, and had told a counsellor he had thought about killing himself.
The school was warned he had threatened suicide over his treatment by bullies but tragically staff were unable to prevent him taking his life.
Described by his family as 'handsome and popular', Sam had begun missing lessons but didn't want his parents to complain to the school in case it made it worse, an inquest was told.
Now a coroner has ruled that his distress had been caused by the name-calling and bullying but concluded that he hadn't meant to kill himself.
Sam attended Oulder Hill Community School in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, where he was described as a 'happy-go-lucky' boy and a passionate Liverpool FC fan.
But in the weeks leading up to his death in March last year, his parents, Steve and Deborah, said he was increasingly upset by the taunts prompted by his eczema, for which he required daily treatment.
'I know there was a lot of name calling,' Mrs Riley told the inquest.
'Sometimes he would not tell anyone and would keep it bottled up.
'He did not want me to go in and speak to the school about it because he said it would make it worse.
'I knew he kept being called names. He just used to say that he hated school.'
The inquest heard Mrs Riley discovered a noose in her son's room at the family home in Rochdale three months before the tragedy.
She made an appointment with the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMS) where Sam admitted to a counsellor he had thought about hanging himself.
In a statement to the inquest, the counsellor said: 'Sam said he felt helpless and there were issues to do with bullying at school and this appeared to affect his self-esteem.
'He said he never told teachers about it.'
The school was informed of what he had said, but Myra Burke, pastoral director of Sam's school, told the hearing in Rochdale it was not aware of any serious bullying.
'The school was aware of some name-calling that had taken place, but this was not persistent and was dealt with by the staff when it was reported,' she said.
'He did not express at any time that he was being bullied.'
At the time of his death, Sam's mother described him as the 'sunshine of her life'.
'He was my beautiful boy,' she added. 'So handsome and popular, he had so many friends. I just can’t take it in that he has gone.
'I don't think he realised just how loved he was.'
Coroner Simon Nelson said neither the school nor Pennine Care, which provided the mental health services, could have done any more to avoid Sam's death.
'What I have heard is of a young man who would have been extremely distressed by the conditions that had affected him,' he said.
'I have no doubt this had an effect on his behaviour. I accept that he had been name-called throughout the great part of his life.
'In my view this amounts to bullying.'
Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, Mr Nelson said he didn't believe Sam had intended to kill himself.
'My conclusion is that this was not a deliberate act on Sam's part but a consequence that was unintended,' he added.
However his verdict was met with anger by Mrs Riley, who shouted in court: 'How can a 13-year-old go upstairs and do that without intending it? It is not right, you are wrong.'
A spokeswoman for Pennine Care said: 'Information was passed directly to the school and to the school health practitioner in relation to risks identified in our assessment.'
The school refused to comment.
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1329175/Boy-13-hanged-taunted-painful-skin-condition-school-bullies.html
Teenagers jailed for 'ferocious' Mountain Ash murder
Two teenagers who murdered a man at his home in south Wales were caught after boasting to friends, Cardiff Crown Court heard.
Richard Shanahan and Adam Smith, both 18, were jailed for life for a "prolific and ferocious" attack on Richard "Dickie" Dyas.
They admitted murdering the ex-security guard, 47, who was found dead in bed at his home in Mountain Ash in March.
Imprints from Shanahan's trainers were visible on Mr Dyas' face and chest.
Mr Dyas choked on his own blood after the attack.
Shanahan and Smith, both of Mountain Ash, were given life sentences on Friday.
The court heard their 22-stone victim, who was described as "friendly, naive, kind and gentle", asked them to break into his home in Mountain Ash after it was repossessed by a building society.
Prosecutor Jeremy Jenkins said: "Shanahan popped the lock and he and Smith kicked down the door and they all went in.
"Mr Dyas gave them alcohol and electrical equipment to thank them for getting him back into his home - then the pair left."
But the pair returned in the early hours while an unsuspecting Mr Dyas was sleeping.
Mr Jenkins said: "We can't say exactly what happened that night - only three people know and one of them is dead.
"But Shanahan and Smith punched, stabbed and stamped on their victim as well as whipping him with a fishing rod.
'Boasted'
"The next day they boasted to friends about the attack and Shanahan said: "I stabbed him and kicked him and danced on his head."
Judge Mr Justice Lloyd Jones ordered Shanahan to serve a minimum of 18 years and Smith a minimum of 17 years.
The court was told Smith has since shown remorse by saying: "No one deserves what we did to him."
Mr Dyas suffered fractured facial bones and stab wounds to the chest and legs.
At sentencing the judge told the pair: "It was a prolific and ferocious attack by two fit young men on a man who couldn't defend himself.
"You inflicted considerable suffering before he died."
Det Ch Insp Dorian Lloyd said the success of the investigation was due to the "diligence of the investigation team and the considerable support we received from the community of Mountain Ash - particularly from the young people who live there".
"I would like to thank all of those residents of Mountain Ash who came forward with valuable witness statements which, combined with the overwhelming forensic evidence, resulted in the guilty pleas from both Smith and Shanahan," he said.
"Securing guilty pleas in a murder investigation is very unusual and it is as a result of the support and courage of many residents from Mountain Ash that we were able to achieve this result."
Senior District Crown Prosecutor for Cardiff and Merthyr, Catrin Evans, said: "This was a particularly brutal and senseless murder.
"The pain and suffering Richard Dyas had to endure in the course of his death is impossible to comprehend."
She said the community should be consoled that "these dangerous men will be off the streets for a very long time".
From: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-11745576
Grandfather guilty in infant's rape, murder
JOHN C. ENSSLIN
THE GAZETTE
A Widefield man will spend the rest of his life in prison after a jury Wednesday found him guilty of the rape and murder of his 8-month-old grandson.
A jury of nine-men and three women took about 9½ hours over two days to find Willie B. Allmon guilty on all charges, including first and second degree murder and sexual assault on a child by a person in a position of trust.
Allmon, a 52-year-old registered sex offender, will face a mandatory punishment of life in prison without parole when 4th Judicial District Judge Barney Iuppa sentences him on Dec. 2 for killing Isiah Melik Wilson.
While Allmon showed no emotion as Iuppa read the jury’s verdict, the child’s mother Felicia Allmon and her mother both bent over in their front row seats and began to weep.
Brenda Allmon, who had divorced her husband, later hugged her daughter and said, “I may be a hard mom. But I’m a good mom, a mom and a dad.”
They declined to talk after the verdict.
Felicia Allmon’s disagreements with her mother led her to stay at her father’s house in May 2009 after she and her father had been estranged for several years. On the morning of May 18, 2009, she left Isiah in his grandfather’s care. An hour later, he called to say the boy wasn’t breathing.
Doctors later determined that Isiah’s skull had been shattered and that he had been sexually assaulted. The child died the next day.
Jury foreman Zach Blea said the jury agreed to convict Allmon on the murder counts within 2 hours after the trial ended. It took them longer to reach consensus on the sex assault charge.
Blea said the jurors screened out the turmoil and drama of the Allmons family life and focused instead on the medical testimony.
“It really came down to the injuries and how they occurred,” he said.
The verdict came after the jury heard nine days of often graphic and emotional testimony.
They saw Felicia Allmon break down and cry several times on the witness stand, including when she was asked to identify her father in the courtroom.
Allmon’s public defenders suggested that Felicia Allmon could have inflicted the multiple blows that fractured her son’s skull.
They described the stressful, unsettled life she was leading after breaking up with Isiah’s father, an Army sergeant based at Fort Hood in Texas. They also cited her fears about losing Isiah to a custody battle with the father.
But prosecutors reminded the jurors of medical witnesses who testified that the fatal injuries probably occurred within an hour before Isiah was admitted to Memorial Hospital.
Jurors also watched a three-hour video in which Allmon struggled to provide an explanation for boy’s injuries. They also saw him grow angry and speak of himself in the third-person when El Paso County sheriff’s Detective Bill Otto confronted Allmon with the child sex assault allegation.
Allmon, a former Army sergeant, previously was convicted of a 1998 misdemeanor sex offense.
From: http://www.gazette.com/articles/murder-107811-trial-verdict.html
4-Year-Old Killed In Home Invasion
POSTED: 7:01 am PST November 11, 2010
UPDATED: 7:32 am PST November 11, 2010
MUSKOGEE, Okla. -- An Oklahoma community is in shock after a 4-year-old boy is stabbed with scissors 36 times and killed in a brutal home invasion.
Dakota Lane and his 6-year-old brother were sleeping when the attack took place Tuesday night, Muskogee police said. The 6-year-old was not injured.
Dakota Lane's mother, who is eight months pregnant, was injured trying to fend off the attacker, whom police identified as 18-year-old Aaron Laconsello. The boy later died at a hospital.
Prosecutors planned to charge Laconsello with first-degree murder Friday.
"It's just so senseless that a 4-year-old defenseless little boy, you know, would have to be brutally murdered like he was," said Jack Bumgartner, Dakota's grandfather.
Neighbors said Laconsello had been staying in a house nearby, and several people said they saw him drinking earlier that evening.
Drunk or not, neighbors said they can't explain the killing.
"There is no sense out of this at all," neighbor Deanna Gilbert said. "I mean, he's a 4-year-old, you know? They didn't even take anything. They just went in there and brutally killed him."
Meanwhile, police will continue an investigation they said is unprecedented.
"In my entire career, I've never seen anything like this," Muskogee police Cpl. Pedro Zardeneta said. "It's sad."
From: http://www.kptv.com/news/25757584/detail.html
Japanese man streams suicide live on the internet
A Japanese man has committed suicide live on the internet after being egged on by users of an online chat room.
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo 7:00AM GMT 11 Nov 2010
The 24-year-old man, who has not been named, was found dead in his apartment in the city of Sendai early on Tuesday morning. Police had been alerted by viewers of the Ustream web page and were able to locate the man's apartment.
By the time they arrived at 8am, however, the man was already dead.
The man had announced his intention to kill himself in online chat rooms last week, according to the Yomiuri newspaper, after complaining for some weeks about problems he had been experiencing at work.
Employed by a bank, the man had been suspended from his duties since August.
The man, who lived alone, started a live stream on Sunday evening, repeating his plans to commit suicide.
While some people posted messages attempting to talk him out of going through with his plans, others encouraged him to kill himself. Apparently believing they were watching a hoax, some viewers even suggested that he hurry up and get it over with.
Police told local media that the man initially tried to hang himself on the balcony of his flat shortly before 4am on Tuesday. When that attempt failed, the footage showed the man repeating the attempt elsewhere at 5:30am.
People watching online debated whether the footage was genuine until Ustream halted the broadcast and the police were informed.
Some 32,845 Japanese people killed themselves in 2009 and the rate is likely to remain above the 30,000 threshold for the 13th straight year when the statistics for 2010 are released.
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/8124944/Japanese-man-streams-suicide-live-on-the-internet.html
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo 7:00AM GMT 11 Nov 2010
The 24-year-old man, who has not been named, was found dead in his apartment in the city of Sendai early on Tuesday morning. Police had been alerted by viewers of the Ustream web page and were able to locate the man's apartment.
By the time they arrived at 8am, however, the man was already dead.
The man had announced his intention to kill himself in online chat rooms last week, according to the Yomiuri newspaper, after complaining for some weeks about problems he had been experiencing at work.
Employed by a bank, the man had been suspended from his duties since August.
The man, who lived alone, started a live stream on Sunday evening, repeating his plans to commit suicide.
While some people posted messages attempting to talk him out of going through with his plans, others encouraged him to kill himself. Apparently believing they were watching a hoax, some viewers even suggested that he hurry up and get it over with.
Police told local media that the man initially tried to hang himself on the balcony of his flat shortly before 4am on Tuesday. When that attempt failed, the footage showed the man repeating the attempt elsewhere at 5:30am.
People watching online debated whether the footage was genuine until Ustream halted the broadcast and the police were informed.
Some 32,845 Japanese people killed themselves in 2009 and the rate is likely to remain above the 30,000 threshold for the 13th straight year when the statistics for 2010 are released.
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/8124944/Japanese-man-streams-suicide-live-on-the-internet.html
Friday, November 12, 2010
Palestinian Authority seizes atheist after he criticizes Islam on Facebook and blog
By Diaa Hadid (CP) – 11/12/2010
QALQILYAH, Palestinian Territories — A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.
The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority — and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.
Residents of Qalqiliya say they had no idea that Walid Husayin — the 26-year-old son of a Muslim scholar — was leading a double life.
Known as a quiet man who prayed with his family each Friday and spent his evenings working in his father's barbershop, Husayin was secretly his anti-religious opinions on the Internet during his free time.
The media in the Palestinian Authority, as in the Arab world in general, are largely government-controlled, driving dissenting voices to the relative freedom of the Internet. The blogger's arrest showed a willingness on the part of the Palestinian government to clamp down on freedom of speech on the Web as well. He now faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for "insulting the divine essence."
Many in this conservative Muslim town say that isn't enough, and suggested he should be killed for renouncing Islam. Even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.
"He should be burned to death," said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqiliya resident. The execution should take place in public "to be an example to others," he added.
Few have come forward to defend him. One was Zainab Rashid, a liberal Palestinian commentator, who wrote in an online opinion piece that Husayin had made the important point that "criticizing religious texts for their (intellectual) weakness can only be combatted by ... oppression, prison and execution."
Over several years, Husayin is suspected of posting arguments in favour of atheism on English and Arabic blogs, where he described the God of Islam as having the attributes of a "primitive Bedouin." He called Islam a "blind faith that grows and takes over people's minds where there is irrationality and ignorance."
If that wasn't enough, he is also suspected of creating three Facebook groups in which he sarcastically declared himself God and ordered his followers, among other things, to smoke marijuana in verses that spoof the Muslim holy book, the Qur’an. At its peak, Husayin's Arabic-language blog had more than 70,000 visitors, overwhelmingly from Arab countries.
His Facebook groups elicited hundreds of angry comments, detailed death threats and the formation of more than a dozen Facebook groups against him, including once called "Fight the blasphemer who said 'I am God.'"
The outburst of anger reflects the feeling in the Muslim world that their faith is under mounting attack by the West. This sensitivity has periodically turned violent, such as the street protests that erupted in 2005 after cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad were published in Denmark or after Pope Benedict XVI suggested the Prophet Muhammad was evil the following year. The pope later retracted his comment.
Husayin used a fake name on his English and Arabic-language blogs and Facebook pages. After his mother discovered articles on atheism on his computer, she cancelled his Internet connection in hopes that he would change his mind.
Instead, he began going to an Internet cafe — a move that turned out to be a costly mistake. The owner, Ahmed Abu-Asal, said the blogger aroused suspicion by spending up to seven hours a day in a corner booth. After several months, a cafe worker supplied captured snapshots of his Facebook pages to Palestinian intelligence officials.
Officials monitored him for several weeks and then arrested him on Oct. 31 as he sat in the cafe, said Abu-Asal.
Husayin's family has been devastated by the arrest. On a recent day, his father stood sadly in the family barber shop, cluttered with colorful towels and posters of men in outdated haircuts. He requested that a reporter not write about his son to avoid being publicly shamed.
Two cousins attributed the writings to depression, saying Husayin was desperate to find better work. Requesting anonymity because of the shame the incident, they said Husayin's mother wants him to remain in prison for life — both to restore the family's honour and to protect him from vigilantes.
Husayin is the first to be arrested in the West Bank for his religious views, said Tayseer Tamimi, the former chief Islamic judge in the area.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is among the more religiously liberal Arab governments in the region. It is dominated by secular elites and has frequently cracked down on hardline Muslims and activists connected to its conservative Islamic rival, Hamas.
The case is the second high-profile arrest in the West Bank connected to Facebook activity. In late September, a reporter for a news station sympathetic to Hamas was arrested and detained for more than a month after he was tagged in a Facebook image that insulted the Palestinian president.
Gaza's Hamas rulers also stalk Facebook pages for suspected dissenters, said Palestinian rights activist Mustafa Ibrahim. He said Internet cafe owners are forced to monitor customers' online activity and alert intelligence officials if they see anything critical of the militant group or that violates Hamas' stern interpretation of Islam.
Both governments also create fake Facebook profiles to befriend and monitor known dissidents, activists said. In September, a young Gaza man was detained after publishing an article critical of Hamas on his Facebook feed.
Such "stalking" on Facebook and other social media sites has become increasingly common in the Arab world. In Lebanon, four people were arrested over the summer and accused of slandering President Michel Suleiman on Facebook. All have been released on bail.
In neighbouring Syria, Facebook is blocked altogether. And in Egypt, a blogger was charged with atheism in 2007 after intelligence officials monitored his posts.
Husayin has not been charged but remains in detention, said Palestinian security spokesman Adnan Damiri.
He could face a life sentence if he's found guilty, depending on how harshly the judge thinks he attacked Islam and how widely his views were broadcast, said Islamic scholar Tamimi.
From: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5holFuQ5esvt1f0wYB78HyNFpX7mA?docId=5104606
QALQILYAH, Palestinian Territories — A mysterious blogger who set off an uproar in the Arab world by claiming he was God and hurling insults at the Prophet Muhammad is now behind bars — caught in a sting that used Facebook to track him down.
The case of the unlikely apostate, a shy barber from this backwater West Bank town, is highlighting the limits of tolerance in the Western-backed Palestinian Authority — and illustrating a new trend by authorities in the Arab world to mine social media for evidence.
Residents of Qalqiliya say they had no idea that Walid Husayin — the 26-year-old son of a Muslim scholar — was leading a double life.
Known as a quiet man who prayed with his family each Friday and spent his evenings working in his father's barbershop, Husayin was secretly his anti-religious opinions on the Internet during his free time.
The media in the Palestinian Authority, as in the Arab world in general, are largely government-controlled, driving dissenting voices to the relative freedom of the Internet. The blogger's arrest showed a willingness on the part of the Palestinian government to clamp down on freedom of speech on the Web as well. He now faces a potential life prison sentence on heresy charges for "insulting the divine essence."
Many in this conservative Muslim town say that isn't enough, and suggested he should be killed for renouncing Islam. Even family members say he should remain behind bars for life.
"He should be burned to death," said Abdul-Latif Dahoud, a 35-year-old Qalqiliya resident. The execution should take place in public "to be an example to others," he added.
Few have come forward to defend him. One was Zainab Rashid, a liberal Palestinian commentator, who wrote in an online opinion piece that Husayin had made the important point that "criticizing religious texts for their (intellectual) weakness can only be combatted by ... oppression, prison and execution."
Over several years, Husayin is suspected of posting arguments in favour of atheism on English and Arabic blogs, where he described the God of Islam as having the attributes of a "primitive Bedouin." He called Islam a "blind faith that grows and takes over people's minds where there is irrationality and ignorance."
If that wasn't enough, he is also suspected of creating three Facebook groups in which he sarcastically declared himself God and ordered his followers, among other things, to smoke marijuana in verses that spoof the Muslim holy book, the Qur’an. At its peak, Husayin's Arabic-language blog had more than 70,000 visitors, overwhelmingly from Arab countries.
His Facebook groups elicited hundreds of angry comments, detailed death threats and the formation of more than a dozen Facebook groups against him, including once called "Fight the blasphemer who said 'I am God.'"
The outburst of anger reflects the feeling in the Muslim world that their faith is under mounting attack by the West. This sensitivity has periodically turned violent, such as the street protests that erupted in 2005 after cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad were published in Denmark or after Pope Benedict XVI suggested the Prophet Muhammad was evil the following year. The pope later retracted his comment.
Husayin used a fake name on his English and Arabic-language blogs and Facebook pages. After his mother discovered articles on atheism on his computer, she cancelled his Internet connection in hopes that he would change his mind.
Instead, he began going to an Internet cafe — a move that turned out to be a costly mistake. The owner, Ahmed Abu-Asal, said the blogger aroused suspicion by spending up to seven hours a day in a corner booth. After several months, a cafe worker supplied captured snapshots of his Facebook pages to Palestinian intelligence officials.
Officials monitored him for several weeks and then arrested him on Oct. 31 as he sat in the cafe, said Abu-Asal.
Husayin's family has been devastated by the arrest. On a recent day, his father stood sadly in the family barber shop, cluttered with colorful towels and posters of men in outdated haircuts. He requested that a reporter not write about his son to avoid being publicly shamed.
Two cousins attributed the writings to depression, saying Husayin was desperate to find better work. Requesting anonymity because of the shame the incident, they said Husayin's mother wants him to remain in prison for life — both to restore the family's honour and to protect him from vigilantes.
Husayin is the first to be arrested in the West Bank for his religious views, said Tayseer Tamimi, the former chief Islamic judge in the area.
The Western-backed Palestinian Authority is among the more religiously liberal Arab governments in the region. It is dominated by secular elites and has frequently cracked down on hardline Muslims and activists connected to its conservative Islamic rival, Hamas.
The case is the second high-profile arrest in the West Bank connected to Facebook activity. In late September, a reporter for a news station sympathetic to Hamas was arrested and detained for more than a month after he was tagged in a Facebook image that insulted the Palestinian president.
Gaza's Hamas rulers also stalk Facebook pages for suspected dissenters, said Palestinian rights activist Mustafa Ibrahim. He said Internet cafe owners are forced to monitor customers' online activity and alert intelligence officials if they see anything critical of the militant group or that violates Hamas' stern interpretation of Islam.
Both governments also create fake Facebook profiles to befriend and monitor known dissidents, activists said. In September, a young Gaza man was detained after publishing an article critical of Hamas on his Facebook feed.
Such "stalking" on Facebook and other social media sites has become increasingly common in the Arab world. In Lebanon, four people were arrested over the summer and accused of slandering President Michel Suleiman on Facebook. All have been released on bail.
In neighbouring Syria, Facebook is blocked altogether. And in Egypt, a blogger was charged with atheism in 2007 after intelligence officials monitored his posts.
Husayin has not been charged but remains in detention, said Palestinian security spokesman Adnan Damiri.
He could face a life sentence if he's found guilty, depending on how harshly the judge thinks he attacked Islam and how widely his views were broadcast, said Islamic scholar Tamimi.
From: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5holFuQ5esvt1f0wYB78HyNFpX7mA?docId=5104606
Quote Unquote: Anais Nin
We have reached a hastier and superficial rhythm now that we believe we are in touch with a greater amount of people, more people, more countries. This is the illusion which might cheat us of being in touch deeply with the one breathing right next to us. It is a dangerous time when mechanical voices, radios, telephone, take the place of human intimacies, and the concept of being in touch with millions brings a greater, and greater poverty in intimacy and human vision.— Anais Nin
Pagans are on the march - but are they harmless eccentrics or a dangerous cult?
Last updated at 7:31 AM on 12th November 2010
Dressed in long, hooded cloaks, the women stand in a circle around an iron cauldron.
The chief witch sweeps her broom around the coven, making their circle a sacred space.
A candle is lit, incense is burnt, and spells are mixed in the cauldron.
These are the witches of Weymouth, the latest foot soldiers in the march of paganism in Britain. And this ceremony marks the festival of Samhain — the turning of the year from light to dark.
The Dorset women were last week hailed by the BBC as figureheads of ‘a reinvented religion’, as the corporation’s news channel devoted considerable airtime to the festival.
At the same time, it emerged that the Metropolitan Police has produced a diversity handbook offering advice on handling witches and pagans.
Officers are advised not to panic if they encounter a blindfolded person in the nude with their hands tied together. The book reassures them: ‘This is in accordance with ritual and has the full consent of the participant.’
The police are also told to avoid touching a witch’s Book of Shadows, or spellbook, and not to handle the ceremonial dagger known as an athame.
But it’s not only the BBC and the police getting clued up. Druidism has just been given official recognition as a religion by the Charity Commission — with the tax exemptions and other ‘rights’ that follow.
Jailed druids are now allowed to take twigs, or ‘magic wands’, into their prison cells, and are being given official days off prison work to worship the sun.
Critics say that this growing acceptance of primitive beliefs as a new faith undermines our social values.
Mike Judge, spokesman for the Christian Institute, says: ‘The BBC down-plays Christianity and up-plays paganism which is unreflective of British society. It creates an atmosphere where it’s OK to marginalise Christians.’
He adds: ‘When it comes to granting pagans rights, this is surely a case of political correctness gone mad.
'Some people are more equal than others when it comes to the equality agenda, and it seems Christians are always at the back of the queue.
‘We are abandoning the values that make us who we are. You can’t chip away at the foundations without the whole structure coming down.
‘What have pagans ever done? Historically, they produce unstable, violent societies — is that what we want?’
So is paganism really on the march in Britain? And even if it is, why are the BBC and the liberal Left establishment suddenly suggesting that it should be taken seriously — even to the extent of putting it on an equal footing with Christianity and other religions?
For an answer I turned initially to those women in the Dorset field. The leader of the coven is Diane Narraway, who teaches courses in tarot and witchcraft.
One of her congregation, 35-year-old teaching assistant Anouska Ireland, explained what they do: ‘We sometimes use the cauldron to mix spells, perhaps for the purpose of healing.’
Meanwhile, Sarah Sanford, a mother-of-three, uses witchcraft to protect her children.
She says: ‘When they are going to school I’ll do a protection spell for them, so they get through the day all right.’
Another Weymouth witch is Holly Syme, who says her incantations serve very practical purposes.
‘You do a money spell, or you do a happiness spell, and it’s giving you the motivation to go out there and do what you want,’ she says. ‘And it makes you feel better.’
Some might be concerned that small children were in attendance at the Samhain ceremony — the footage showed a young girl clutching a teddy — but Ronald Hutton, professor of history at the University of Bristol and the acknowledged UK expert on paganism, witchery and druids, says that witchcraft is benign, adding: ‘Unless you believe in evil spirits, which I don’t.’
Paganism is a blanket term for the worship of multiple deities, along with their own mythologies and rituals.
Modern-day pagans draw on Celtic imagery, and often worship the occult.
There are a bewildering number of pagan strands, from druids — who believe themselves to be proponents of the ancient faith of pre-Christian Britain — to wiccans, modern witches who wear a five-pointed star, and shamans who engage with the spirits of the land.
Then there are heathens, worshipping the gods of the north European tribes, including Thor, and the neo-pagans — essentially new-age eco-warrior types.
Central to them all is the idea of a divine force inherent in nature. Prof Hutton says there are up to quarter of a million practising pagans in Britain.
Only 40,000 are registered on the official census, but in the mid-Nineties, he estimated that there were around 120,000 ‘active engagers’ in paganism, a number he believes could have doubled since.
To put that figure in perspective, there are 144,500 Buddhists, according to 2001 figures, and the registered Jewish population numbers 259,000.
The Pagan Federation, which aims to represent all ‘followers of a polytheistic or pantheistic nature-worshipping religion’, claims the number of adherents has reached the 300,000 mark — putting them on a par with the Sikhs.
Indeed, an increasing number of pagans are turning to Stonehenge as their spiritual home, with at least 30,000 celebrating the summer solstice there.
Astonishingly, around 100 members of the Armed Forces now classify themselves as pagans, and a further 30 as witches.
There are thought to be about 500 pagan police officers. A Pagan Police Association has even been set up to represent those who ‘worship nature and believe in many gods’.
To the consternation of many, they have been given the right to take days off to perform rituals, such as leaving food out for the dead, dressing up as ghosts and casting spells, or celebrating the sun god with what news reports have described as ‘unabashed sexuality and promiscuity’.
So why are Britons reaching out to ancient divinities? Is paganism filling a spiritual void left by the marginalisation of Christianity?
Certainly it seems so. There is even a new Pagan message community on the most middle-class of websites, Mumsnet.
One mother writes: ‘For the equinox I think I will do something in relation to having a white candle and a black candle. I’d also like to bid farewell to the light out of doors but I’m not sure if those lantern things that float up to the sky are eco or not.’
Each spring, more people join the Pagan Pride Parade in London, dressed in velvet robes and carrying broadswords and shields, their heads garlanded in wild flowers.
Prof Hutton says that paganism is growing in popularity because it addresses modern ills.
‘It is gives a sense of connectiveness to the land and to our remote ancestors, both of which we lack in modern life,’ he says.
It is also feminist, in that it gives women at least an equal role, unlike most other religions.
‘It is environmentally friendly, and regards the natural environment as sacred. It has a powerful personal ethic, which could be described as individualism. It suits the free spirited in that you don’t have to do much. It is a back-garden religion.’
Undemanding in a moral sense, and with no rigid sense of responsibility, values or right and wrong, it seems to be a perfect religious mish-mash for our times.
And what is the Church of England’s view? Asked whether the Church sees the rise of paganism as a good or bad thing, a spokesman says rather feebly: ‘We wouldn’t comment on that.’
Ian Haworth from the Cult Information Centre is more outspoken, however. He says: ‘Paganism does fit under the umbrella of the occult, and that brings concerns.
‘Many cults use the occult to brainwash people.
‘There are several pagan groups we are concerned by in Britain, they are operating as cults. Paganism is not necessarily harmless.’
Keen to find out more about the pagans in our midst, I post messages on several pagan social networking sites on the internet.
Several responses are defensive. Nicola Kerr, from Falkirk, Scotland says: ‘I will just say this. “Normal” pagans are everywhere. Living quiet and industrious lives well under the radar of the media.
‘We are soldiers, civil servants, teachers, housewives, accountants, university lecturers, farmers, bakers, child-minders, historians, policemen and women, forestry workers, sailors, gardeners, call centre workers, office clerks, dancers and shop workers.
‘We live our lives quietly, paying taxes, working hard, loving our families, donating to charities, being part of the fabric of society.
'Next time you are in a public place, consider that some of the people around you may well be Pagan.
'In 99.9 per cent of cases you’ll never know that they are because they look, and are, normal.’
Those living near ancient sites no longer believe paganism is harmless, however.
They complain of pagans ransacking sites for souvenirs, scrawling graffiti on ancient stones, and leaving clothing, beer cans and wiccan effigies littered behind them.
One critic, from Wiltshire, says of pagan activity at nearby Avebury, Silbury Hill and Stonehenge: ‘These people are entitled to their beliefs and pursuits, they are entitled to dress like Sixties hippy throwbacks, and make a lot of noise with drums.
'All I ask is that when they go they take with them their rubbish, tat, paraphernalia and imposed beliefs and leave our ancient sites tidy and tranquil once more.
‘Druids and pagans have no claim on these sites. Britain’s historic ancient monuments are for all.
‘I for one do not appreciate the arrogant minority shoving their beliefs in my face.’
For her part, Diane Narraway of the Weymouth coven will not be drawn into any discussion on the rise of paganism in Britain.
She explains that she is fed up with the attention given to her rituals as a witch.
Lea Jackopson, a pagan from Portland, Dorset, explains that most devotees practise their ‘faith’ without show, and are keen not to attract undue attention.
She says: ‘Paganism is very fragmented in Britain. There are lots of different groves, which are pagan groups or covens. They meet for a “moot” in a sacred place, in a field, or in someone’s living room.
‘You go to one about once a month, and share poems and call on the spirits.’
She adds: ‘I don’t cast spells or wear robes. I want to live in unity with nature.
‘It is a harmless religion with no secrets. The pagans who creep about in disused churches and woodland glades are giving paganism a bad name. The hat-wearing cauldron-stirrers are putting people off.’
Nevertheless, they exist. I spoke to one, who would not be named.
She says: ‘I belong to a coven in Cornwall. We do hold moots in graveyards. Paganism demands that we find the bones of our ancestors in order to commune with their spirits.
‘We drink the ancient honey beer mead, and carry out midnight vigils, dancing round the graves.
'Sometimes we’ll have the Stag Lord there, with his antlers, representing the Celtic divinity.
‘Believe me, paganism is going from strength to strength in Britain. It will take over as newer religions like Christianity die out.’
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1328968/Pagans-march--harmless-eccentrics-dangerous-cult.html
Florida man accused of cutting off elk legs with chain saw
Wildwood businessman James "Ike" Rainey, owner of the Rainey Construction Co.
By Arelis R. Hernández, Orlando Sentinel
5:54 p.m. EST, November 10, 2010
A Central Florida construction company owner cut off the legs of a dead elk with a chainsaw for a photo opportunity while hunting in Montana, new documents allege.
Wildwood businessman James "Ike" Rainey, owner of the Rainey Construction Co., is one of eight defendants who were charged with felony poaching violations in Montana last week.
Rainey and Mark Morse, president and chief operating officer of The Villages retirement community 60 miles northwest of Orlando, are facing charges for illegally killing and possessing animals on their Montana ranches.
Rainey is accused of leaving wounded animals he hunted in the forest to die, chopping off their heads without harvesting the meat and sawing off the legs of a dead elk to position it better for a photo, according to affidavits from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
Documents show Morse and Rainey told wildlife officials they had proper licenses to kill animals on their M Squared and Wolf Mountain ranches in Yellowstone and Big Horn counties.
Morse said he bought the land primarily for hunting.
But state officials found no licenses issued to the businessmen for the years the alleged violations took place.
The permits they did have, documents stated, were subject to restrictions and conditions Morse and Rainey failed to follow.
Rainey's Montana lawyer Mike Sherwood would not comment on the case but did say wildlife officials overstepped their boundaries.
"I consider it unethical for FWP to make those public statements. They are designed to influence the jury," he said. "I consider it a breach of ethics." A message for Morse was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Robert Gibson, a spokesman for the Montana wildlife agency, did not say what sparked the investigation but said people "involved with the family" divulged the information because they were uncomfortable with what was going on at the ranches.
But he would not provide details.
Former Florida Fish and Wildlife game warden Rick Staton, who was also charged with misdemeanor crimes relating to the case, was hired as the ranch manager in 2008 at Wolf Mountain Ranch — co-owned by Rainey and Morse.
Staton said he saw them overhunt dozens of bull elk and deer. He helped dispose of the animals after their heads were removed for mounting. Officials later found some of the body parts in the barn rafters.
In November 2008, Rainey shot a male elk and directed them to take it "up the hill with a four-wheeler," then cut the legs "with a chainsaw for better positioning of the elk for photographs," Staton said.
The elk meat was cleaned and chopped but later spoiled inside an unplugged freezer. Game wardens dug up holes on the ranches where the bones — specifically ribcages and spinal columns — had been buried.
"Most Montana hunters find it totally egregious to waste the meat," Gibson said. "Most people in Montana eat what they kill."
Hunters can bring game meat to local processing plants in Montana that will clean, cut, and freeze it for a nominal fee, he said. The meat is then donated to local food banks for the hungry.
Rainey is accused of breaking the law after leaving an animal he wounded to die in the woods, Gibson said. Witness statements also allege he chopped off the head and the left the carcass of another elk he killed with an arrow.
"You are supposed to make every attempt to find game that is wounded and humanely kill it to save the meat," Gibson said. "In addition to being illegal, it's really unethical. It's a really a big no-no for hunters."
Wolf Mountain ranch manager Toby Lee Griffith, who was also charged in the case, said he found the decomposing bodies eaten by animals after arguing with Rainey about the killings. He told officials he was "disgusted" with Rainey and supplied investigators with evidence of the incident including photographs and the bloody arrow.
Attorney Mark Parker said the agency is exaggerating the case beyond the facts.
"You get more press for a dead elk than you do a dead baby around here," Parker said, who is representing Griffith. "More animals were killed on the road during this conversation than on these ranches."
He said the Montana's hunting rules change so often from district to the district that "it's not hard to find yourself in a technical violation."
Investigators seized photographs, trophy mounts, rotting meat, and carcasses from the two properties as evidence in the case that could cost the Morse family and Rainey hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, possible prison time, and a loss of hunting and fishing privileges, officials said.
Morse alone faces 21.5 years in prison and $203,000 in fines if convicted. Rainey faces a fine of $53,000 and more than five years in prison.
Others charged include Lenard Lee Powell, president of LPI Curb Service, a concrete construction company that does work at The Villages and David Duncan, a hunting outfitter that sold licenses to the Morse family and friends.
From: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-mark-morse-villages-montana-20101110,0,2346627.story
By Arelis R. Hernández, Orlando Sentinel
5:54 p.m. EST, November 10, 2010
A Central Florida construction company owner cut off the legs of a dead elk with a chainsaw for a photo opportunity while hunting in Montana, new documents allege.
Wildwood businessman James "Ike" Rainey, owner of the Rainey Construction Co., is one of eight defendants who were charged with felony poaching violations in Montana last week.
Rainey and Mark Morse, president and chief operating officer of The Villages retirement community 60 miles northwest of Orlando, are facing charges for illegally killing and possessing animals on their Montana ranches.
Rainey is accused of leaving wounded animals he hunted in the forest to die, chopping off their heads without harvesting the meat and sawing off the legs of a dead elk to position it better for a photo, according to affidavits from Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks.
Documents show Morse and Rainey told wildlife officials they had proper licenses to kill animals on their M Squared and Wolf Mountain ranches in Yellowstone and Big Horn counties.
Morse said he bought the land primarily for hunting.
But state officials found no licenses issued to the businessmen for the years the alleged violations took place.
The permits they did have, documents stated, were subject to restrictions and conditions Morse and Rainey failed to follow.
Rainey's Montana lawyer Mike Sherwood would not comment on the case but did say wildlife officials overstepped their boundaries.
"I consider it unethical for FWP to make those public statements. They are designed to influence the jury," he said. "I consider it a breach of ethics." A message for Morse was not immediately returned Wednesday.
Robert Gibson, a spokesman for the Montana wildlife agency, did not say what sparked the investigation but said people "involved with the family" divulged the information because they were uncomfortable with what was going on at the ranches.
But he would not provide details.
Former Florida Fish and Wildlife game warden Rick Staton, who was also charged with misdemeanor crimes relating to the case, was hired as the ranch manager in 2008 at Wolf Mountain Ranch — co-owned by Rainey and Morse.
Staton said he saw them overhunt dozens of bull elk and deer. He helped dispose of the animals after their heads were removed for mounting. Officials later found some of the body parts in the barn rafters.
In November 2008, Rainey shot a male elk and directed them to take it "up the hill with a four-wheeler," then cut the legs "with a chainsaw for better positioning of the elk for photographs," Staton said.
The elk meat was cleaned and chopped but later spoiled inside an unplugged freezer. Game wardens dug up holes on the ranches where the bones — specifically ribcages and spinal columns — had been buried.
"Most Montana hunters find it totally egregious to waste the meat," Gibson said. "Most people in Montana eat what they kill."
Hunters can bring game meat to local processing plants in Montana that will clean, cut, and freeze it for a nominal fee, he said. The meat is then donated to local food banks for the hungry.
Rainey is accused of breaking the law after leaving an animal he wounded to die in the woods, Gibson said. Witness statements also allege he chopped off the head and the left the carcass of another elk he killed with an arrow.
"You are supposed to make every attempt to find game that is wounded and humanely kill it to save the meat," Gibson said. "In addition to being illegal, it's really unethical. It's a really a big no-no for hunters."
Wolf Mountain ranch manager Toby Lee Griffith, who was also charged in the case, said he found the decomposing bodies eaten by animals after arguing with Rainey about the killings. He told officials he was "disgusted" with Rainey and supplied investigators with evidence of the incident including photographs and the bloody arrow.
Attorney Mark Parker said the agency is exaggerating the case beyond the facts.
"You get more press for a dead elk than you do a dead baby around here," Parker said, who is representing Griffith. "More animals were killed on the road during this conversation than on these ranches."
He said the Montana's hunting rules change so often from district to the district that "it's not hard to find yourself in a technical violation."
Investigators seized photographs, trophy mounts, rotting meat, and carcasses from the two properties as evidence in the case that could cost the Morse family and Rainey hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines, possible prison time, and a loss of hunting and fishing privileges, officials said.
Morse alone faces 21.5 years in prison and $203,000 in fines if convicted. Rainey faces a fine of $53,000 and more than five years in prison.
Others charged include Lenard Lee Powell, president of LPI Curb Service, a concrete construction company that does work at The Villages and David Duncan, a hunting outfitter that sold licenses to the Morse family and friends.
From: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-mark-morse-villages-montana-20101110,0,2346627.story
Alleged rape victim, 14, taunted, kills self
Doug Guthrie and George Hunter / The Detroit News
Huron Township— High school freshman Samantha Kelly endured taunts and isolation during her last month in school, classmates said, after news surfaced that she had accused a popular senior of raping her.
On Monday, the 14-year-old girl committed suicide by hanging herself inside her mobile home in Huron Estates, off Inkster, south of King. Friends and family gathered at her home Tuesday, trying to find ways to cope with the pain and anger.
One relative who was not at the trailer was Samantha's mother, June Justice. She said it would be too painful to return to the site where her daughter killed herself.
Samantha's classmates at Huron High School said the school became divided over the rape allegations, with many students calling her a liar in the halls and on the school bus.
"They all took sides," said 17-year-old senior Sheila Little. "Her friends left her because they said she was lying. It's obvious this pressure had a real impact on her."
Sheila said Samantha confided in her that she had tried to commit suicide three weeks ago by overdosing on pills. "She said, 'I'm tired of people talking about me, so here you go. I might try it again,' " she said.
When news of Samantha's suicide reached the school, Sheila said, many students were unrelenting.
"People were saying, 'She was only doing it for the attention,' " Sheila said. "What kind of attention is that? She didn't ask for this."
Prosecutors plan to drop sexual assault charges against Joseph Tarnopolski, the 18-year-old who was accused of having sex with Samantha. A preliminary court examination was scheduled for today, and Samantha had been subpoenaed to testify.
Because the only witness against Tarnopolski is now dead, the charges will be dropped, said Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.
"Without the victim, we're unable to go forward with the case," Miller said.
Samantha's aunt, Charlie Justice, was upset at the prosecutor's decision.
"No victim, no case — are you kidding? Where's the justice in that? She didn't ask for this," Justice said.
The girl's mother last month reported to police that Tarnopolski had sex with her daughter. Tarnopolski was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct and was released on bond, with a condition that he have no contact with the alleged victim.
After his release on 10 percent of a $10,000 bond on Oct. 12, Tarnopolski returned to Huron High.
Tarnopolski lives eight doors down the street from Samantha's mobile home. A vehicle was parked in the driveway of the Tarnopolski trailer Tuesday afternoon, although no one answered the door.
Tarnopolski Tweeted several times, apparently about the case. On Sept. 28, he Tweeted, "All girls are, are liars and backstabbers! I hate you all. Way to ruin my life. Seriously, now this will be on my record for life!"
Miller said her office did not know the girl was being teased by classmates until after a Fox 2 (WJBK) news broadcast on Oct. 20 identifying the girl's mother.
"Although the child's face was not seen, when the mother was interviewed, essentially the child's identity was revealed," Miller said.
"After the broadcast, it is our understanding that the child was harassed at school. We had no reports of harassment prior to the airing of the piece."
Alicia Skillman, executive director of Equality Michigan, a Detroit-based organization that has tried to get anti-bullying legislation passed, said taunting takes a toll on children.
"This affects everyone; that's something some people don't seem to get," Skillman said. "You can be an average, middle-of-the road youth, and you can be bullied."
An estimated 160,000 U.S. children miss school every day because they fear being attacked or intimidated by others, according to the National Education Association.
From: http://www.detnews.com/article/20101110/METRO/11100371/1409/Alleged-rape-victim--14--taunted--kills-self
Woman in antifreeze margarita death jailed
AAP
November 11, 2010, 7:51 am
A woman drew a 23-year prison sentence on Wednesday for killing her alcoholic boyfriend by lacing a jug of margarita cocktails with antifreeze at her apartment.
"It's not as if you were captive in this house," Judge William Kocher said in imposing a near-maximum penalty on Cynthia Galens, who maintained that victim Thomas Stack was emotionally and physically abusive.
"It's just senseless what you did."
Galens, 52, was convicted of manslaughter in September and faced anywhere from five years to 25 years in state prison.
"I accept the consequences of my actions," she said. "I am sorry for all the pain I caused everyone. I'm really sorry."
Galens was charged with murder in January, three months after Stack, a 48-year-old Air Force veteran, died from complications of ethylene glycol poisoning. A grand jury later opted for a first-degree manslaughter charge and Galens turned down an offer to plead guilty in exchange for an 18-year sentence.
State police say Galens insisted she wanted to make Stack sick, not kill him, by mixing the toxic automotive chemical into a store-bought container of margarita mix. She said she placed the cocktail in the refrigerator and went to bed early on Oct. 2, 2009, predicting he would drink it. She said Stack drank most of the 1-gallon (nearly 4-litre) jug.
Stark was "feeling poorly" the next morning, she said, but she left at noon to visit the grave of her teenage son, who died of a drug overdose in 2005. When she returned at 4 pm, she found him unresponsive, foaming from the mouth and breathing loudly.
She said she first called David Galens, her ex-husband, and when he showed up some 20 minutes later, they agreed to call an ambulance. Galens didn't tell paramedics about the antifreeze.
The judge said Galens had "many opportunities to undo what she had done" over a 30-hour period.
Instead, prosecutor R. Michael Tantillo noted, she chose for Stack "a slow and agonising and horrific death" by telling doctors she had "no idea what he may have ingested".
Galens worked for 30 years at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Canandaigua and met Stack there while he was being treated for alcohol abuse in 2007. They lived on and off at her home in nearly Farmington, about 40 kilometres southeast of Rochester.
Based on his history of alcoholism, bipolar disorder and depression, state police deemed his death an accident or possibly a suicide. But during a trip to Clearwater, Florida, in early January, authorities say Galens told a friend what she had done - and her friend went to the police.
From: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/8297896/woman-in-antifreeze-margarita-death-jailed/
November 11, 2010, 7:51 am
A woman drew a 23-year prison sentence on Wednesday for killing her alcoholic boyfriend by lacing a jug of margarita cocktails with antifreeze at her apartment.
"It's not as if you were captive in this house," Judge William Kocher said in imposing a near-maximum penalty on Cynthia Galens, who maintained that victim Thomas Stack was emotionally and physically abusive.
"It's just senseless what you did."
Galens, 52, was convicted of manslaughter in September and faced anywhere from five years to 25 years in state prison.
"I accept the consequences of my actions," she said. "I am sorry for all the pain I caused everyone. I'm really sorry."
Galens was charged with murder in January, three months after Stack, a 48-year-old Air Force veteran, died from complications of ethylene glycol poisoning. A grand jury later opted for a first-degree manslaughter charge and Galens turned down an offer to plead guilty in exchange for an 18-year sentence.
State police say Galens insisted she wanted to make Stack sick, not kill him, by mixing the toxic automotive chemical into a store-bought container of margarita mix. She said she placed the cocktail in the refrigerator and went to bed early on Oct. 2, 2009, predicting he would drink it. She said Stack drank most of the 1-gallon (nearly 4-litre) jug.
Stark was "feeling poorly" the next morning, she said, but she left at noon to visit the grave of her teenage son, who died of a drug overdose in 2005. When she returned at 4 pm, she found him unresponsive, foaming from the mouth and breathing loudly.
She said she first called David Galens, her ex-husband, and when he showed up some 20 minutes later, they agreed to call an ambulance. Galens didn't tell paramedics about the antifreeze.
The judge said Galens had "many opportunities to undo what she had done" over a 30-hour period.
Instead, prosecutor R. Michael Tantillo noted, she chose for Stack "a slow and agonising and horrific death" by telling doctors she had "no idea what he may have ingested".
Galens worked for 30 years at a Veterans Affairs hospital in Canandaigua and met Stack there while he was being treated for alcohol abuse in 2007. They lived on and off at her home in nearly Farmington, about 40 kilometres southeast of Rochester.
Based on his history of alcoholism, bipolar disorder and depression, state police deemed his death an accident or possibly a suicide. But during a trip to Clearwater, Florida, in early January, authorities say Galens told a friend what she had done - and her friend went to the police.
From: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/8297896/woman-in-antifreeze-margarita-death-jailed/
Milwaukie Police Link Man To Crime Spree
UPDATED: 6:52 pm PST November 11, 2010
MILWAUKIE, Ore. -- Milwaukie police say a 46-year-old Portland man is behind a one-man crime spree that happened last month.
Officers tracked down Mark Siebenmorgen, 46, at his home in Portland last week and took him into custody.
Police said Siebenmorgen assaulted a man at a Milwaukie TriMet bus mall on Oct. 21 and minutes later was spotted jumping on the hood of a parked car with a driver inside.
Less than an hour later, police say Siebenmorgen began throwing rocks at a woman near Milwaukie Market Place on Oak Street. That woman suffered minor injuries.
When officers searched for the suspect, they weren’t able to find him, but they eventually learned he was living in an apartment on Southeast Stark Street in Portalnd.
Siebenmorgen was arrested last Thursday and booked into the Clackamas County Jail on charges of criminal mischief, assault and menacing.
From: http://www.kptv.com/news/25757463/detail.html
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Choking game steals life of 9-year-old
written by: Jeffrey Wolf Matt Flener 11/10/2010
ARVADA - If you have a child, you may have heard of a deadly practice called "the choking game." But at least one survey shows at least 75 percent of parents have not.
Studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show many middle school kids, mostly boys, are playing the potentially deadly game at parties or on dares. There is evidence younger kids are playing the game as well.
Sheila and Dexter Brown say their son, Luke Spencer of Arvada, died from the choking game.
"He spent a lot of time evangelizing people in the street and in the stores," his mom Sheila Brown said. "One of the things he knew, as a Christian, he was going to be with God forever."
His parents say the choking game took the life the 9-year-old could have led.
"I don't think he feared death," Sheila Brown said. "I don't think he feared this thing he was doing could lead to death."
What the 9-year-old was doing, his parents say, was playing the choking game which he had learned from friends.
YouTube videos show kids playing the choking game, looking for a euphoric high by asphyxiating themselves.
They will hit the floor, laugh about it, and if they live, doctors say, they will show warning signs, since the blood flow is cut off from the brain.
"We saw red bloodshot eyes on him a couple of times," Sheila Brown said, "really red bloodshot eyes."
They saw headaches as well.
"I would tell him to take one Tylenol," Dexter Brown, Luke's father, said.
But parents may not know why the symptoms are happening until after the day a child dies.
It was Oct. 29, 2009 for the Browns.
"I was downstairs reading and had no idea," Sheila Brown said.
That day, his mom found him in his bathroom with a belt around his neck.
"As soon as I saw him," she said, "I screamed, and I immediately took him down and put him in the hallway and started to do CPR."
It was too late.
"We just didn't understand how something like this could happen with us," Sheila Brown said.
Many parents say they don't understand why kids play the choking game.
A survey by the Dangerous Behaviors Foundation found, when asked, 75 percent of parents did not know about the game.
"Seventy percent [of children are playing the game] alone," psychologist Dr. Jeff Dolgan, with The Children's Hospital, said. "Thirty percent - their buddies are helping them."
Child psychologists say parents need to bring up the choking game at home, just like any other talk about drugs or alcohol.
"The best that we can do is to get out information to pediatricians and to parents to be alert about this," Dolgan said.
"You teach a kid not to drive fast, speeding will kill you, why not this?" Dexter Brown said.
"It's deadly if they're alone," Sheila Brown said. "Once they cross that line, there's no one there to revive them and that's what happened to Luke."
The Browns they hope no other child dies the same way.
"My only reason for doing this is to avoid anyone else going through this," Sheila Brown said. "We take comfort knowing that he's with God now."
The CDC can say definitively 82 that kids have died from the game since 1995, but many more are paralyzed or brain dead.
For more information on how you can talk to your kids about the game, the Dangerous Behaviors Foundation (www.chokinggame.net) has extensive resources to help parents talk to their children about the dangers of the game.
From: http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=162617&catid=339
Studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show many middle school kids, mostly boys, are playing the potentially deadly game at parties or on dares. There is evidence younger kids are playing the game as well.
Sheila and Dexter Brown say their son, Luke Spencer of Arvada, died from the choking game.
"He spent a lot of time evangelizing people in the street and in the stores," his mom Sheila Brown said. "One of the things he knew, as a Christian, he was going to be with God forever."
His parents say the choking game took the life the 9-year-old could have led.
"I don't think he feared death," Sheila Brown said. "I don't think he feared this thing he was doing could lead to death."
What the 9-year-old was doing, his parents say, was playing the choking game which he had learned from friends.
YouTube videos show kids playing the choking game, looking for a euphoric high by asphyxiating themselves.
They will hit the floor, laugh about it, and if they live, doctors say, they will show warning signs, since the blood flow is cut off from the brain.
"We saw red bloodshot eyes on him a couple of times," Sheila Brown said, "really red bloodshot eyes."
They saw headaches as well.
"I would tell him to take one Tylenol," Dexter Brown, Luke's father, said.
But parents may not know why the symptoms are happening until after the day a child dies.
It was Oct. 29, 2009 for the Browns.
"I was downstairs reading and had no idea," Sheila Brown said.
That day, his mom found him in his bathroom with a belt around his neck.
"As soon as I saw him," she said, "I screamed, and I immediately took him down and put him in the hallway and started to do CPR."
It was too late.
"We just didn't understand how something like this could happen with us," Sheila Brown said.
Many parents say they don't understand why kids play the choking game.
A survey by the Dangerous Behaviors Foundation found, when asked, 75 percent of parents did not know about the game.
"Seventy percent [of children are playing the game] alone," psychologist Dr. Jeff Dolgan, with The Children's Hospital, said. "Thirty percent - their buddies are helping them."
Child psychologists say parents need to bring up the choking game at home, just like any other talk about drugs or alcohol.
"The best that we can do is to get out information to pediatricians and to parents to be alert about this," Dolgan said.
"You teach a kid not to drive fast, speeding will kill you, why not this?" Dexter Brown said.
"It's deadly if they're alone," Sheila Brown said. "Once they cross that line, there's no one there to revive them and that's what happened to Luke."
The Browns they hope no other child dies the same way.
"My only reason for doing this is to avoid anyone else going through this," Sheila Brown said. "We take comfort knowing that he's with God now."
The CDC can say definitively 82 that kids have died from the game since 1995, but many more are paralyzed or brain dead.
For more information on how you can talk to your kids about the game, the Dangerous Behaviors Foundation (www.chokinggame.net) has extensive resources to help parents talk to their children about the dangers of the game.
From: http://www.9news.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=162617&catid=339
Atheism’s Poster Boy Sam Harris on the Science of Morality
If there is a hell, Sam Harris—author of The End of Faith and atheism’s poster boy—is going there. But while the faithful may argue that godless scientists are doomed to soul-destroying nihilism, Harris’ new book, The Moral Landscape, attempts to redeem the science-based worldview, arguing that it offers a clearer path to morality. Wired called Harris—from out of lightning-bolt range—to discuss his argument.
What do you mean by “moral landscape”? It’s a framework in which we can talk about the most important questions in scientific terms—questions that relate to human and animal well-being. For instance, we in the developed world have a different notion about how to live a long and healthy life. That’s because we have a science of medicine, which gives us an understanding of the mechanics of disease processes and how to address them.
How can you scientifically determine whether something is good or bad? The science of morality is about maximizing psychological and social health. It’s really no more inflammatory than that. Obviously it would be a good thing to stop nuclear proliferation and genocide and climate change, and to better educate our children. These are things that would be good for everybody and bad for nobody. People seem to believe that there’s no ground for truth-claims about human values—that these are not the sort of facts that science can ever deal with. But there is a place for science to argue, for instance, that the Taliban is really wrong. Its beliefs lead to unnecessary human suffering. Any conception of human well-being you could plausibly have, the Taliban patently fails to maximize it.
Religion makes those sort of truth-claims all the time. But religion is precisely the wrong software for analyzing human well-being. It’s the one area of our lives where people win points for saying, “I’m not going to change my mind no matter what happens.”
But hasn’t religion made some people behave more morally? The problem is that religion tends to give people bad reasons to be good. Is it better to alleviate famine in Africa because you think Jesus Christ is watching and deciding whether to reward you with an eternity of happiness after death? Or is it better to do that because you actually care about the suffering of your fellow human beings?
Why is science a better alternative? Science is the most durable and nondivisive way of thinking about the human circumstance. It transcends cultural, national, and political boundaries. You don’t have American science versus Canadian science versus Japanese science.
Science has suffered when it’s seen as the enemy of religion. But in your book you criticize scientists who have tried to build bridges. A religious scientist is someone who has decided he can behave rigorously in his scientific profession but has no obligation to connect that way of thinking to his larger worldview. If he did, he would notice contradictions between his science and his religion. Besides, the point is not to get religious people to accept evolution—it’s to get everyone thinking honestly about the nature of the world.
A lot of people must hate what you’re saying. Do you worry about your personal safety? I take security seriously, and I’ve gotten my share of weird emails. I don’t tell people where I live.
From: http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/pl_print_harris/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+wired/index+(Wired:+Index+3+(Top+Stories+2))#
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Yours for £18,000: Mother charged with attempting to sell her eight-week-old son... so she could buy a new car
Last updated at 2:22 PM on 10th November 2010
A mother has been charged with attempting to sell her eight-week-old son to pay for a new car.
The baby's grandmother brokered the deal and initially demanded $75,000 (£46,000) but agreed to drop the price to $30,000 (£18,000) when told the prospective buyer could not get a bank loan.
Stephanie Bigbee Fleming, 22, of Bradenton, Florida, would have received $9,000 (£5,500) of the proceeds, according to police.
A spokesman said: 'Fleming planned to purchase a new vehicle from the money received.'
Arrest documents also revealed the woman also needed the money to pay court costs for an unrelated probation violation.
She was arrested yesterday and her mother - Patty Bigbee, 45 - was held last week with her boyfriend Lawrence Works, 42.
All three have been charged with the illegal sale of a child, and Bigbee was also charged with communications fraud.
The Daytona Beach News Journal has reported that the buyer-turned-informant was in fact another daughter who Patty Bigbee had given up for adoption but had recently got back in touch with.
When the daughter mentioned she wanted a baby, Bigbee offered her grandson for sale explaining she had been caring for her him but 'was not mother material'.
Her daughter then notified authorities and worked with them during the ensuing 'negotiations'.
Bigbee and Works were arrested when they collected a $30,000 (£18,000) cheque and handed over the baby to an undercover agent in a Daytona Beach car park.
Detectives moved in once the baby was put safely in the back seat of the 'buyer's' car.
'This transaction today was absolutely "take this baby, give us our money and go",' said Florida Department of Law Enforcement Agent Wayne Ivey.
'Not only were they attempting to go this route with the transaction, but who else would've been willing to buy that child?'
The baby boy is in the care of social services.
From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1328338/Stephanie-Bigbee-Fleming-charged-attempting-sell-son-pay-car.html
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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."
