Journalist Dith Pran Dead At 65 From Cancer

Cambodian-born journalist Dith Pran died Sunday morning of pancreatic cancer according to his close friend and associate Sydney Schanberg. The two were colleagues at The New York Times since 1975 when their lives became the basis of “The Killing Fields.”

In 1975 Dith was working as an interpreter and assistant to Sydney Schanberg in Phnom Penh. All outside journalists were forced to leave in April of that year. Schanberg was able to get passage for Dith’s family but his friend was forced to stay behind the lines.

Dith Pran was captured by the Khmer Rouge in enslaved in the ‘killing fields.” Dith is the one who coined the term that is now considered the name of the fields where the Khmer Rouge killed nearly 2 million of the 7 million Cambodian people.

Dith escaped certain death by running away from the fields. In 1979 the colleagues had their reunion when Dith made it to a refugee settlement. Form there Schanberg worked hard to make sure his friend would be able to come to the U.S. to join his family.

“That was the phrase he used from the very first day, during our wondrous reunion in the refugee camp,” Schanberg said later.

During his captivity Dith posed as an uneducated peasant surviving on at times just a mouthful of rice.

Dith relocated to the United States and worked as a photographer for the Times. He also was a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and founded the Dith Pran Holocaust Awareness Project. His project was dedicated to educating people on the history of the horrible regime he survived, the Khmer Rouge.

Three months ago he found out that another life or death fight was looming before him. This time it was cancer. The cancer may have taken his life but the spirit of the man will live on.

“Pran was a true reporter, a fighter for the truth and for his people,” Schanberg said. “When cancer struck, he fought for his life again. And he did it with the same Buddhist calm and courage and positive spirit that made my brother so special.”

Dith’s family include his companion Bette Parslow, his first wife Meoun Ser Dith, sister Samproeuth Dith Nop. His children that were able to escape the tortures of the Killing Fields are sons Titony, Titonath and Titonel and daughter Hemkarey Dith Tan. There are six grandchildren and two step-grandchildren.

Dith’s three brothers were killed by the Khmer Rouge.

Actor Unions Part Ways

On Saturday the unions representing film and television actors voted to sever ties with each other. The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists is now a separate entity of the Screen Actors Guild.

For 27 years the unions have been together and had hoped that they could make peace as they prepared for upcoming talks but instead of strategy planning on Saturday the two groups fired accusations back and forth.

As AP reports: “For the past year SAG leadership in Hollywood has engaged in a relentless campaign of disinformation and disparagement,” AFTRA president Roberta Reardon said in a written statement.

SAG President Alan Rosenberg’s written response: “AFTRA’s refusal now to bargain together with us and their last-second abandonment of the joint process is calculated, cynical and may serve the interests of their institution, but not its members.”

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will begin bargaining with AFTRA soon. That union did not mention SAG.

SAG represents actors in movies, TV and other media with 120,000 members. AFTRA has a smaller member count with 70,000 and is represented by TV and radio federations that include actors, singers, announcers and journalists.

Op-Ed: Plastic Bags, The Bane Of Society?

The evil of plastic bags is making the news again. More and more communities are banning the use of the easy sacks in favor of reusable bags. It’s a great idea but how bad are those plastic jewels of the dump to begin with?

Compared to cloth or paper the bags don’t stand up the test of time. Stores have to use more bags to pack less product. The result is an overflow of bags threatening to take over storage space at your home. It’s the landfills and the oil that is used to make these bags that see more cities banning their use.

It was thought that these bags would make an impact when they first started showing up. Spare the trees and all that jazz. They spread through the towns like kudzu on Red Bull. Bags tossed like common litter showed up in roadside drains flooding streets and suffocating wildlife.

The plastic bag will survive. For thousands of years the plastic will remain as strong as it is today. Good news for those in the future researching their idea of early man.

The “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in the North Pacific Gyre contains six times as much plastic as it does plankton. Some of those uneducated sea creatures think that the plastic bags that float in the ocean are jellyfish, food, yum, death. Cool, huh?

You think your kitchen bag area is a mess? Consider the seafloor in the North-Western Mediterranean. The seafloor has a high mean concentration of debris, 77% of that debris is plastic and 92.8% of the plastic is in the form of bags.

The good news is that plastic bags can by recycled. The bad news is that only 1% are.

There are some decent uses for spare plastic bags. They makes a great pet pooper scooper.

On the other hand there are cloth bags on the market that can carry more product, be used on a continual basic and look pretty snazzy to boot.

Maybe the future will see stores giving a discount to those who supply their own cloth bags. Now that would make an impact. If people are paid to be good to the environment it just may make a difference.

The HPV Vaccine Is Being Considered For Boys

Should boys be getting the new HPV vaccine to protect themselves and their future partners from the virus that cause cervical cancer? That’s a question the FDA is deciding on.

At the moment girls from ages 9 to 26 are being given the Gardisil vaccine in hopes to cut down on future cases of cancer. The vaccine started being marketed to teen girls last year but now the drug maker would like young males to have it as well. Well it is true men don’t get cervical cancer they do spread the HPV virus. By vaccinating young boys it is thought that the spread of the virus would be even more derailed.

The HPV virus though doesn’t simply cause cervical cancer. It has been proven that it’s a major cause of both anal cancer and throat cancer. The virus also causes genital warts that affect both men and women.

Most throat cancers are associated with alcohol and heavy smoking.

Merck, the manufacturer of Gardasil will be submitting data to the FDA later this year for approval to give the vaccine to boys. Mexico, Australia and some countries in Europe have already approved the shot for males.

“I don’t think the research will bear out that we have a proven benefit from wither the transmission or a reduction in throat cancers related to any possible connection to the virus. I wouldn’t be the first to run out and have the HPV vaccine for boys,” said Otolaryngologist Michael Haben, a head and neck cancer expert with the Wilmot Cancer Center.

Are You Planning On Being In The Dark On Saturday?

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Earth Hour is rapidly approaching. At 8 p.m. on March 29 lights across the globe are expected to be turned off for an hour. Are you planning to be on the go green global bandwagon?

The event was created by the World Wildlife Fund to make a statement about climate change. The first Earth Hour happened in 2007 in Sydney, Australia. In just one year the grassroots movement has spread throughout the globe. Millions are expected to turn out their lights for one hour.

In North America there are over 100 cities planning event to highlight the 8 p.m. dimming. The ‘flagships’ for the event in North America are Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

So what difference does an hour make? In 2007 the hour that Sydney went in the dark if sustained for a year would equal taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year. That’s almost impressive. One night may not in the long run make a bit of difference but changing thought patterns about our planet’s resources and greenhouse gases will make a difference.

To make the hour truly meaningful people have to make real changes in their lives. It takes some getting used to but little steps can easily be made to help take care of our globe. It’s our home after all and just like our houses it needs tending to.

Little things that make a difference also help your pocketbook. Turn off your appliances that you’re not using. Unplug those cell phone chargers when not in use, microwaves don’t have to be plugged in when standing by idle.

If you’re not watching or listening to something turn it off.

A 5 minute shower gets you as clean as a 10 minute shower. That’s something the teens of the world may not understand though.

Say no to plastic bags. Say no to excessive packaging. Carry your own bag with you for shopping. Walk more than you drive. Travel by public transit. Tell your kids no when they want you to drive them a block to a friend’s house, let them run on over.

We wouldn’t let our houses fill up with trash so why do we allow the Earth to have to do the same?

So are you going to be in the dark?

Political Asylum Seekers In Britain Will Be Returning To Zimbabwe

President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe has stated that Zimbabwean asylum seekers in Britain will be arrested and imprisoned when they are sent home from Britain. Some of those in the U.K. are criminals that were fleeing the law.

Not all of those sent home will go to prison but they will have to pay fines.

Mugabe had “castigated those who tried to tarnish his name alleging political persecution when they were mere criminals fleeing the law, saying they should come back to atone for their ruinous actions”

Mugabe spoke out on the asylum seekers at a Hama High School in Chirumhanzu rural district of his nation. Britain has refused their applications for political asylum. The Zimbabwean asylum seekers have exhausted their rights of appeal and now must make plans to return to their homeland.

“Your claim for asylum has been refused,” the letters say. “I am now writing to make sure that you know that the Border & Immigration Agency is expecting shortly to be able to enforce returns to Zimbabwe. The Asylum and Immigration Tribunal has now found that there is no general risk on return for failed asylum-seekers.”

Lawyers for those still in the U.K. argue that since 2000 those who oppose the political party experience intimidation and attacks before and just after political elections.

There are more than 1,000 Zimbabweans in Britain who have sought refuge. They are all part of a mass removal program that the British government is planning.

The first phase of the new asylum removal drive will target 500 failed asylum-seekers from Zimbabwe living in the northwest of England. In all, more than 1,000 people are likely to be affected in the near future, out of some 7,000 Zimbabwean asylum-seekers in the U.K.,” the paper said.

Refugee Council executive Donna Covey says that it is unacceptable that the British government is about to force those seeking asylum to return to their homeland.

There has been no improvement in the human rights situation there, which remains dire,” she said. “We know most Zimbabweans want to return when it is safe and to contribute to rebuilding their country. We should be offering them a form of temporary status here allowing them to work and retain their skills so they’re fully equipped when the situation has improved.”

TSA Forced Mandi Hamlin To Remove Nipple Ring To Board Plane

TSA demanded that Mandi Hamlin, 37, of Texas remove her nipple rings in order to board a plane. The woman is demanding an apology by federal security agents and a civil rights investigation.

The incident happened on February 24 when Hamlin was trying to board a flight in Lubbock to Dallas. A female Transportation Security Administration agent scanned the woman after she had passed through the larger metal detector without a problem. The smaller, handheld scanner though went beep when running over Hamlin’s chest. It made perfect sense as Harlin has pierced nipples and was wearing body jewelry at the time. The agent called over her male colleagues who said that the Dallas woman would have to remove the jewelry in order to board her flight.

Hamlin could not easily remove the rings and asked if instead she could privately display her breast to the female agent. Several of the male agents refused that request. She was taken behind a privacy curtain where one of the piercings was easily removed. The other though proved more difficult.

“Still crying, she informed the TSA officer that she could not remove it without the help of pliers, and the officer gave a pair to her,” said Hamlin’s attorney, Gloria Allred, reading from a letter she sent Thursday to the director of the TSA’s Office of Civil Rights and Liberties. Allred is a Los Angeles lawyer who often represents high-profile claims.

She heard the agents snickering as she removed the final ring. After a second scan she was allowed to board the plane. Neither scan discovered that Hamlin also was wearing a navel ring.

Our security officers are well-trained to screen individuals with body piercings in sensitive areas with dignity and respect while ensuring a high level of security,” the agency said in a statement.

On its Web site, the TSA warns that passengers “may be additionally screened because of hidden items such as body piercings, which alarmed the metal detector.”

“If you are selected for additional screening, you may ask to remove your body piercing in private as an alternative to a pat-down search,” the site says.

Hamlin would have accepted a “pat-down” had it been offered, Hamlin’s attorney, Gloria Allred said.

Generally the metal in jewelry does not set off the scanners.

Hamlin wants an apology for the way she was treated. If she doesn’t get it the woman is considering legal action.

“The conduct of TSA was cruel and unnecessary,” Allred wrote. “The last time that I checked, a nipple was not a dangerous weapon.”

Angry Mob Attacks Woman Accused Of Being A Witch In India

A woman in India was tied to a tree and beaten by a mob after being accused of being a witch. A journalist in the area who filmed the mob beating reported the incident to the police.

When Nishant Tiwari, a police official in northeastern India arrived at the scene he found the woman with her hair partially cut and her face reddened by the slaps of the mob. Thankfully her injuries were not serious.

Six people were arrested including a man who had hired her for her services as a witch. They are due to appear before a magistate on Friday.

Ram Ayodhya had hired the woman to improve his ailing wife’s health. When his wife’s condition worsened he accused her of black magic.

The police were disturbed that the journalist called only after filming the incident instead of before.

Man Holding Woman and Baby Hostage On Walt Whitman Bridge

The Walt Whitman Bridge has been closed while a man with a gun is threatening to harm an infant. Police are at the scene trying to reason with the man. The man is in a white Cadillac Escalade.

UPDATE
The man was safely taken into custody. Child is safe.

At this time the man remains inside his vehicle with the police a short distance away. Further reports say that a woman is also in the SUV. It is on the New Jersey side of the bridge. The driver has both a gun and a baseball bat.

The police had tried to stop the man for a traffic violation. The man has threatened to jump off the bridge with the baby.

There is a large line of traffic being held back while the situation is being taken care of.

Traffic in both directions has been blocked.

It appears that the police are negotiating with the man.

“We called off the pursuit after a few minutes because he was driving erratically, and we didn’t want anyone to get hurt,” Della Fave said.

As news comes forth updates will appear. People are being directed to take the Ben Franklin Bridge.

UPDATE

Homeland Security from New Jersey has been brought in as well as SWAT and other law enforcement agencies.

A gun has been recovered by the police.

Judge Tells Three To Learn English To Stay Out Of Jail

Luzerne County Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr. of Pennsylvania is a creative guy when it comes to sentencing people. His latest endeavor was on Tuesday when he sentenced four men to learn English or face a jail cell.

Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo, plus a fourth defendant, Kelvin Reyes-Rosario showed up to their trial on Tuesday with a translator ready to plead guilty for criminal conspiracy to commit robbery.

The judge ordered three of the men, Luis Reyes, Ricardo Dominguez and Rafael Guzman-Mateo to learn English within a year or they will be sent to jail for two years. The three were also told to have full time jobs and get their GEDs by the year check in. They will be on parole until that time.

“Do you think we are going to supply you with a translator all of your life?” the judge asked them.

The four claim that they were out when met up with two men asking them if they had marijuana. They then told the men to empty their pockets and hit them on the head. Finally they threatened them with a gun and told the two that they had been giving the shake down to stay off their block.

While the attorneys for the men were checking out the sentence for the legalities they admitted it was a good ruling for their clients. There will be no appeal for the sentence.

The judge sentenced all four of the men to four to 24 month prison terms. The three men had served four months when they came before the judge who granted them immediate parole. Reyes-Rosario wasn’t quite as lucky as the other three. He is still in jail on another unrelated drug charge.

Olszewski ordered the three to return with their parole officers in a year and take an English test. “If they don’t pass, they’re going in for the 24 (months),” he said.

The judge often orders those standing before him to finish school and to get full time employment. He and his staff though also go the extra mile by helping those ordered to work find employment.

Dengue Epidemic In Brazil Claims At Least 54 Lives

Dengue Fever has claimed 54 lives in Brazil since January according to health officials. Hospitals have reported a total of 114 deaths but 60 are still being investigated. Dengue Fever comes from mosquitoes.

Rio has been hit hard by the outbreak with 31 of the deaths. The nation’s largest tourist city has seen a sharp decline of visitors since the epidemic hit by 25 percent.

There have been 43,000 people in Rio de Janeiro that have come down with the disease since January. In 2007 a total of 25,107 cases were reported.

Jose Noronha, the Brazilian Heath Care Secretary said that next week will see a deployment of 1,200 soldiers setting up three field hospitals. 500 more soldiers will be spraying insecticide and placing poisons where mosquitoes breed in standing puddles of water.

“The intensity of the epidemic has brought intolerable death tolls,” Noronha told reporters after a meeting with armed forces commanders.

Extra health care workers have been sent to Rio to help care for the masses of sick. While the disease is not generally fatal it can sicken humans for more than a week with joint pain and a severe headache. There is no vaccine for Dengue.

Makeup And Neanderthals

Maybe Neanderthals weren’t so different from modern man. New discoveries point to towards early man and makeup. Francesco d’Errico from the University of Bordeaux has found lumps of pigments left behind Neanderthals across Europe.

These pigments could very well have been makeup that Neanderthals used to mark their own with along with animal skins. It leads to reason according to d’Errico that perhaps these early men were capable of speech also.

Marie Soressi of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and d’Errico have found black manganese pigment from two sites at Pech de l’Azé in France. These sites plus 39 other sites that have had evidence of pigments were all occupied by Neanderthals. These pigments were shaped into crayon like drawing tools.

“The flat, elongated surfaces on the archaeological specimens are consistent, as confirmed experimentally, with producing clearly visible straight black lines, perhaps arranged to produce abstract designs,” says d’Errico, who presented his work on 15 March at the Seventh Evolution of Language Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

Body drawing is a form of communication insists d’Errico. By having these ‘crayons’ they would have been able to draw symbols on one another. There have also been necklaces found in these sites made from shell beads.

“Some archaeologists are happy to associate these same features with language if they occur with modern humans, but are not willing to associate them with language among the Neanderthals,” says anthropologist Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in St Louis, US.

“The double standard doesn’t work – if they reflect language in one, they must reflect in it both.”

Although it is possible that early man had the ability of speech it does not mean that they spoke in the same way that modern man does.

“The archaeological record does not show that they ever attained the cultural level of the humans who could talk as we do,” says Phillip Lieberman, a linguist at Brown University, Rhode Island, US.

“Neanderthals possessed language, but their linguistic and cognitive ability was inferior to the humans who replaced them,” he says.

AT&T Park Removes Bond’s Image

Barry Bonds may have made a name for himself playing at AT&T Park in San Francisco but his image no longer is anywhere to be seen. Gone are the ‘756′ signs that signaled the race for Bonds to break Hank Aaron’s home run record.

As perjury and steroid allegations follow Barry Bonds the ballpark where he made history is carefully distancing itself from the famed ball player.

In 2007 Bonds broke the Aaron home run record packing in fans each night the Giants played at home. He ended the 2007 season with a career 762 home run record. It’s not enough to clear his name now though as allegations of steroid use are bantered across network news stations.

Although Bonds wants to play this season it’s not going to happen with the Giants.
Team president Peter Magowan said that even at a reduced price Bonds will not return to his team.

“No, not this team,” he said, standing along the first-base line of a ballpark where images of Bonds have been removed. “We’re going in a new direction; that would not be going in a new direction. The time has come to turn the page.

“We’re very respectful, at least I am, appreciative of all the contributions he made to the Giants over all that long period of time, but the time came when we needed to go in a new direction.”

TorrentSpy Shuts Down

TorrentSpy is the latest BitTorrent search engine to shut down. A prolonged legal battle proved to be the undoing of the popular search engine. In 2006 film studios in Hollywood brought forth a lawsuit saying that the site encouraged movie piracy.

TorrentSpy was often used by file sharers to find bootleg copies of films. It tried to maneuver legally to protect the anonymity of its visitors. In August the company cut off access to residents of the United States. It is thought that this move was to avoid complying with the court order that last June demanded that the company provide studios with user information found on its computer RAM.

In December the judge presiding the case found that the operators of TorrentSpy had intentionally destroyed evidence in the case. This action made it impossible for the Motion Picture Association of America to get a fair trial. It was fined $30,000 for violating discovery orders and warned of sanctions if it continued to ignore those orders.

Since that time it was only a waiting period for the search engine to close up shop. The shop is now closed.

Man Due To Give Birth In July

A man in the United States is pregnant. Thomas Beatie, a transgender male is due to give birth on July 3, 2008. He and his partner Nancy wanted children but Nancy couldn’t carry a baby.

Mr. Beatie has had chest reconstruction and testosterone therapy but hasn’t have changes made to the reproductive organs he was born with. He and wife Nancy live in Bend, Oregon. The couple have been together for ten years.

After Nancy Beatie was unable to conceive Thomas stopped the hormone injections he was on. His periods resumed and he was able to conceive twice. The first pregnancy though was ectopic and required surgery. The second pregnancy though is going well.

Mr. Beatie has experienced some discrimination by health care workers.

Mr Beatie said: “How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am.

“To Nancy, I am her husband carrying our child. I will be my daughter’s father, and Nancy will be her mother. We will be a family.”

Op-Ed: Did KBR Know They Were Putting Employees In Danger With Sodium Dichromate?

Halliburton’s KBR is back in the news for allowing workers in Iraq to be exposed to a “mild irritant.” That irritant is sodium dichromate and it’s a little more than an irritant. It’s a highly toxic chemical that causes cancer.

Nine American contractors are suing KBR according to a report from the Boston Globe. For 2 1/2 months they were covered by a substance that turned out to be sodium dichromate as they rushed to finish Qarmat Ali water injection plant that is a key component for the Iraq oil infrastructure in 2003.

The chemical was on their hands and clothes for each day that they were racing the clock to get the plant up and running. There were 22 Americans working on the project in addition to the more than 100 Iraqis. By the end of that 2 1/2 month period as many as 60 percent of those were dealing with nosebleeds, ulcers and shortness of breath.

“You cannot be exposed,” Max Costa, an expert witness in the Hinkley case who is chairman of the Department of Environmental Medicine at New York University Medical Center said. “It gets into your cells, damages your DNA, depresses your immune system, and down the road, it causes cancer.”

The chemical causes skin burns. It also damages the liver and kidneys. It causes chemical burns to the respiratory tract. Prolonged exposure can cause a lifetime sentence of asthma. It may impair fertility and if a pregnancy does occur it and alter genetic material. In other words it’s not a chemical that should come in contact with human beings.

Safety goggles and protective gloves are required to be used around this chemical. Protective clothing is another key safety measure.

Questions about the chemical can be answered by calling 800-424-9300.

There’s a problem though with the lawsuit and it’s called the Defense Base Act. Back during the Second World War federal employees are protected from employee lawsuits unless the employees suing can prove the company committed outright fraud.

The coast seems to be looking clear for KBR. Well almost clear. It seems that they may have screwed up more than just some employees healths. The company did some shifty hiring of those Americans to avoid paying payroll taxes. They hired their workers through two subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands. Oops, by going around the edges to not pay the government hundreds of millions of dollars for Social Security and Medicare taxes on their employees they shot that Defense Base Act in the foot. They are no longer an employer that is protected by the federal law. They are just some third party company that really screwed up and is liable for paying out millions when this lawsuit reaches the courts.

“What was done to us, I believe, it’s criminal,” said Danny Langford , a motor specialist from Texas who worked in the most contaminated room in the facility. “I think it was deliberate. They wanted this six month job – get you in, get you out, and send you on your way, and 10 years later you start dying of cancer.”

In the run up to the war in Iraq KBR signed a secret no bid contract to revive the oil wells after the proposed tumble of Saddam Hussein.

In relation to this chemical KBR knew that it was toxic. They knew that even a small exposure was taking a huge risk. They knew that and yet told employees that they were safe.

“We didn’t know what it was,” Langford said. “I kept going to the [Human Resources] department when we went back to Kuwait. They kept giving me pills. They said that maybe we were allergic to the sand. I said, ‘I have been around sand all my life, and I have never been allergic to it.’ “

The chances that KBR will step up to the plate though are slim to admit it’s wrongdoing. Did they play their ‘we’ve got buds in the White House’ card one to many times? Only the results from this lawsuit will give that answer.

“I wouldn’t be doing this if at the end of the day I didn’t think I could do something for the people I’m representing,” said Doyle. “But the reality is, so far, they have pretty much been able to escape scot-free.”

The BBC Is Appearing On Chinese Computers

The BBC is now appearing on Chinese computers. Chinese authorities often block news sites but the BBC has worked a deal with China to allow citizens of Beijing read international news.

A huge firewall still remains in effect though for Chinese language services on the website and any links in Chinese.

Beijing has never admitted to actually blocking the BBC. There is still no confirmation that the site is actually unblocked in the communist country.

When Chinese users in the past have tried to access the BBC site they get an error message saying that the connection has been reset.

We want BBC News to be as accessible in China as anywhere else in the world,” he said.

“We will endeavour to continue working with the Chinese authorities to improve our access in other areas.”

Stats have shown that the site is being viewed heavily on Tuesday. The average Chinese hits for the BBC is under 100 a day but on Tuesday it reached to more than 16,000.

The largest indiciator though that the Chinese people have been reading the news is the comments flooding the BBC forum from all over China.

Ross Brown in Qingdao, Shandong province, wrote: “We were just discussing with some of our Chinese colleagues about the fact BBC website was blocked, went on to show them and we see this latest news. Excellent news.”

This is good news for outside media when it comes to China. The nation has promised foreign journalists more freedom during the upcoming Olympic Games this summer.

The unrest in Tibet though has made many skeptical if China will honestly allow journalists to report the truth while covering the Games.

This week the Chinese government arranged for foreign media to tour Tibet but the BBC was denied their request to attend.

Shane Davis Is Dead Because A Judge Modified A Restraining Order

Shane’s mom tried to protect her little boy from his father. Shannon Davis filed a restraining order with the court on January 17. It didn’t work as a judge modified the order on the 22 of that month. Today students at Shane’s school mourn his passing. Shane Davis was only 10 years old. His father who had court ordered visitation rights with him failed to return Shane to his mother. On March 17 a warrant was issued for Rockland Stephens. It was too late. Stephens killed himself and his son during a “short” camping trip by using his van and carbon dioxide to put them both on a forever sleep.

On Jan. 17, Davis filed a restraining order with the court. In part, it said: “He [Rockland Stephens] is getting bolder and bolder with his actions. I feel like his behavior is escalating. He is a very unstable person.”

The judge granted the order while still allowing for the man to have “parenting time” with his son every other weekend.

Shane’s memorial was Monday night at United Methodist Church in St. Helens. On Friday his classmates will partake in a candlelight vigil at Lewis and Clark Elementary School.

School principal Kathy Carson said “it’s a time to reflect on the meaning of life and our family connections and just take time to process what we’re feeling and thinking through it all.” Meantime, Shane’s classmates posted huge banners with words of sorrow in the school cafeteria Thursday.

Stephens had a long list of restraining orders filed against him from both Davis and other women he had been involved with.

Norovirus Outbreak Stems From New York Indoor Water Park

More than 380 cases of the norovirus has been reported by health officials. The Six Flags Great Escape Lodge and Indoor Water Park is located in upper New York State. More common to tropical vacations, the virus has made for a lot of bathroom trips.

The infection that is approaching 400 happened earlier this month at the park.

Two people have had to be hospitalized because of the virus. They both recovered and were released from hospital.

The virus is generally not life threatening. The main symptoms are stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. The virus usually runs its course within two to three days.

Four of those who have had the bug have filed a lawsuit against the water park.

Chunk Of Ice Nine Times Larger Than Manhattan Breaks From Ice Shelf

Is global warming, or excessive ice build up, the cause for ice breaking off the Antartic shelf?

A huge chunk of Antarctic ice just collapsed into the sea. A larger glacial area is at risk to do likewise. The ice that collapsed was nine times the size of Manhattan in New York.

While some say that global warming is a myth the fact that ice blocks are collapsing challenges that idea.

The rest of the ice shelf that is in danger of collapsing is the size of Connecticut. There have been larger collapses in 2002 and 1995.

Op-Ed: Where Are The Marshals And More Important Where Is The Money Going To?

After 9/11 there was a big fuss about putting air marshals on many flights. Where are they and which flights are getting the special treatment? Has the threat of terrorism gone away to a point that airplanes no longer need to be covered?

It appears that air marshals are on very few flights within the United States. Only 1 percent of the 28,000 airline flights that fly over the nation has a trained air marshal aboard. That percentage means that its if a terrorist wanted to take over a plane chances are pretty good he’d encounter no one who was trained to take him out.

More shocking is the fact that the Transportation Security Administration has been able to smuggle guns and bomb making materials right past airline screens in recent months.

The air marshal program begin in 1970 during a wave of hijackings. The program was expanded significantly after the attacks on September 11, 2001.

One pilot who flies across the country and internationally told CNN he hadn’t known of an air marshal aboard one of his flights for the last six months. Another pilot who carries his own weapon with him on flights said that he almost never has a flight that is protected by an air marshal.

“I would have to guess it’s fewer than 1 percent of all my flights,” the pilot said. “I’m guessing by the coverage of when I go to those cities, fewer than 1 percent.”

Air marshals who talked to CNN anonymously to protest their jobs are troubled by the lack of coverage on flights in and out of Washington D.C. and New York City.

“Since the Federal Air Marshal Service post-September 11, 2001, expansion, the volume of risk-based deployments has consistently remained at, near or exceeded target levels,” Greg Alter, assistant special agent in charge of the federal air marshal program wrote in an e-mail to CNN. He added, “Today, many thousands of dedicated and highly trained Federal Air Marshal Service [sic] work diligently around the globe to make air travel safer than it’s ever been.”

The air marshal budget this year is $720 million dollars. Where is that money going?

If you listen to the words of doom coming from the government about how terrorists are always a threat the fact that the airways are not being protected are worrisome.

“This is an agency or department that is critical for the U.S. long-term security needs,” Former Rep. Tim Roemer, D-Indiana who voted against the creation of the Department of Homeland Security said. “So the basic building blocks, the front line of defense are air marshals. If you’re not providing that safety for our people on a pretty basic program seven years after 9/11, we’ve got a lot of work to do at the department, and probably Congress has a lot more work to do on its oversight.”

Even air marshals are concerned that the skies are becoming a house of cards that could topple at any moment.

So what is your take on this? Does the lack of marshals patrolling the skies mean that maybe the threat of terrorism isn’t as scary as the government says or perhaps it is just as scary but it’s not worth American citizens lives to be protected?

Furthermore where is the money going to if the skies aren’t being covered?

This is one time when the American public needs to stand up and scream; “Show me where that money is going to!”

Rod Stewart Launches Clothing Line

Rod Stewart has jumped on the celeb clothing line biz like Madonna, Kate Moss and Lily Allen. You can get a pair of “official Rod Stewart panties” are a mere 2.50 pounds if you want to wear the star close to you.

Most of the line bears the image of the rock star. The clothing isn’t as flashy as Stewart’s own personal style though. Mostly consisting of T-shirts and tracksuits the line is for both men and women.

If you do want to have something a bit more racy though from his line the panties are shiny black with red hearts and include the text “Isn’t it Romantic.”

The line is being sold online at Stewart’s official store. Most of the products are fairly inexpensive. If you’re not into his clothes you could get a key chain instead.

Toronto Begins Hunger Strike For Tibet

A sign calling for a free Tibet was draped over the Great Wall of China, prompting authorities to arrest the protestors. – File photo

A hunger strike is starting today in Toronto outside the Chinese consulate. Members of the Tibetan community in the Canadian city plan to have a daily hunger strike from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the foreseen future.

There are more than 1,000 Tibetan expatriates in Toronto who went to a support rally last Sunday. They have been vocal about the violent relationship that China has in Tibet. There is a media blackout in Tibet as the Chinese crackdown on the protesters in that nation.

Organizers are hopeful that the rally and the hunger strike will encourage the government in Canada to take a stronger stand against China.

If you plan on attending the location for the consulate is 240 St. George Street.

Man Bitten By Rattlesnake That Went Along For A Ride

Andy Bacas was unpacking his luggage after a team trip to South Carolina when he felt a sharp bite to his hand. The coach was bitten by a baby caneback rattler who appears to have wanted to get warm . That ‘baby snake’ was almost a foot long.

Bacas, a high school coach had been away for the weekend with his team. While in South Carolina his luggage was left open on a porch making it easy for a stowaway to slither in.

Canesnake rattlers have a strong venom but the young are not generally large enough to have enough toxin to kill an adult human. Full grown they can be six feet.

There’s an old wives’ tale that says a baby rattlesnake bite is worse than an adult bite, but that’s just not true,” Bob Myers, director of the American International Rattlesnake Museum in New Mexico said.

When fire and rescue arrived at the Bacas’ house they took the snake out with a carbon dioxide fire extinguisher. The chemical in the extinguisher froze the snake to death.

Bacas, a rowing coach at Yorktown High School is recovering at Inova Fairfax Hospital in stable condition.

Every year about 8,000 people are bitten by rattlesnakes in the United States. Three to four of those will die from those bites.

Horsey Friend Makes Hospital Rethink Pet Rules

When one man’s friend decided to bring in his pet to visit him at Wilcox Memorial Hospital in Hawaii the hospital had to restate their pet visiting policies. They thought everyone would understand horses weren’t allowed without having to spell it out.

The patient’s pet was a horse that his friend loaded up on an elevator for visiting hours. Security guard stopped the visitors at the third floor after there had been no challenge in the lobby.

The hospital has now made sure that the public knows visiting pets can only be of the dog and cat variety, horses aren’t allowed.

“We just hope people understand this is not a place for a horse,” said Lani Yukimura at Wilcox Memorial Hospital.

“It’s a very dangerous thing. Our greatest concern is patient care.”

The patient was allowed to visit with his friend and the steed but it turned out that it wasn’t even the right horse.

After the visit friend and horse went to a trailer in the parking area and left.

Netflix Site Is Down, Movie Rentals May Be Late

If you rely on Netflix for your viewing entertainment, you may have to wait a day for your next fix. The online-DVD rental company is suffering from a technology breakdown that’s given its web site a TKO.

More than 7.5 million subscribers may be going into movie shock as they try to get to the Netflix website. The site was down at 7 a.m. on Monday morning and still AWOL by Monday afternoon.

The website reads: “Our site is temporarily down. We’re working hard to get the site up as soon as possible. Sorry for any inconvenience and thank you for your patience.”

The company, based in Los Gatos, may be at least a day behind on mailings because of the tech problems. The tech problems have filtered down to some of the distribution centers.

Kathryn Canty Has Been Barred From Work

Kathryn Canty should be allowed to be in a work release program. The Alabama inmate has less than three years to serve on her sentence, good behavior and a degree in accounting. She also have a virus that bars her from the program. HIV.

In Alabama inmates with HIV are not allowed to work outside of the prison system. Part of that ruling has to do with a 2004 settlement that requires the prison to visibly watch prisoners take their AIDS pills. Another reason according to Ruth Naglich, the department’s associate commissioner of health services, is that allowing the prisoners to work outside the prison walls would expose them to illnesses and spread the AIDS virus.

In Alabama there are 15 people in the women’s prison system with HIV and 278 in the men’s medical ward. Only a few of those are otherwise eligible for work release programs.

Work release ultimately “means less crime, fewer people returning to prison and ultimately it means a safer society for everybody,” said David Fathi, director of the U.S. Program of Human Rights Watch. “So by denying work release to inmates with HIV who would otherwise be eligible, Alabama is shooting itself in the foot.”

Canty has completed courses on anger management, professional development and commercial interior design. She has three times, once each year from 2005 for the work release program only to be turned down each time.

In Alabama work release allows prisoners to work and earn money while returning to their cells at night. They are allowed to wear street clothes during the day.

“I’m a worker,” said Canty, who finishes her 4 1/2-year sentence for forgery and theft next month. “Work release would have been a great help for me to catch up with technology as well as saving money to get back on my feet.”

Coral Litters Barbados, High Waves Blamed

A strong Atlantic storm system has produced waves that are breaking up coral in Barbados. Beaches are being littered with coral that could be a sign of reef damage across the region.

Some of the waves reached up to 30 feet from Guyana to the Dominican Republic last week. A large low pressure system idling off the northeastern United States has been blamed.

Some of the chunks of white coral washing a shore in Barbados weighed as much as seven pounds. The coral appeared healthy except for their polyps being rubbed away by the rough surf.

Coral is used by the ocean environment to form reefs. The reefs provide a habitat for thousands of marine creatures but have been dying out in recent years. The rising sea temperatures have caused diseases among the coral as well as coastal pollution and overfishing.

Just north of the U.S. Virgin Islands swells of 15 feet were recorded. It is the highest swells in that area since 1991.

Iraq, Another Bloody Day

Tension escalates in Iraq. – Photo DOD Related Articles Death of US Troops In Iraq Finally Reaches The 4,000 Mark Fighting For The U.S. Without Status 4 comments US Senators To Launch Congressional Inquiry Into Iraq’s Oil Revenues 1 comment

The remains of two U.S. contractors who were kidnapped in Iraq have been found according to the F.B.I. on Monday. The two had been held by their kidnappers for over a year. Their families have been notified by the F.B.I.

They have been identified as Ronald Withrow of Roaring Springs, Texas, abducted on January 5, 2007, and John Roy Young of Kansas City, Missouri, who was captured on November 16, 2006.

Young worked for Crescent Security Group and Withrow worked for JPI Worldwide Inc. based out of Las Vegas.

Four U.S. soldiers were killed on Sunday night in a roadside bombing. Those deaths have taken the death toll of U.S. military over 4,000 since the start of the Iraqi War.

President Bush made remarks about lives lost in Iraq at the State Department on Monday.

“One day, people will look back at this moment in history and say, ‘Thank God there were courageous people willing to serve, because they laid the foundations for peace for generations to come,’ ” he said. “I have vowed in the past and I will vow so long as I’m president to make sure that those lives were not lost in vain; that, in fact, there’s an outcome that will merit the sacrifice that civilian and military alike have made.”

At least 35 Iraqi civilians also died on Sunday as the result of suicide bombings, mortar fire and gunmen who opened fire on a outdoor market.

Op-Ed: The Olympic Torch Prepares For Stormy Weather

Are the skies reflecting their displeasure with the way its going in China? As the ceremony draws near in Athens to light the torch for the Olympic Games on Monday cloudy skies may mean this time around the Sun will need help to light the flame.

A back-up flame will be used during the ceremony on Monday if the Sun doesn’t provide the torch with fire. Security for the event has been stepped up as global protests are heated over the issue of Tibet.

The Chinese government has not been able to quell the anger of the world about it’s treatment of the Tibetan people even with a media blackout.

According to the Tibetan government-in-exile at least 99 people have been killed during the protests by Chinese troops. The Chinese government gives the figure of only 19 rioted being slain in light of the protests in Lhasa.

“We believe that China will change by opening the country to the scrutiny of the world through the 25,000 media who will attend the games,” International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge said in a statement.

“Awarding the Olympic Games to the most populous country in the world will open up one fifth of mankind to Olympism.”

Storms are in the forecast for Greece on Monday. Because of that the flame lighting ceremony has been backed up an hour to hopefully escape the downfall.

It’s not the first time that rain has ruined a lighting ceremony. The 2000 Sydney Games and the last three Winter Olympics have had to deal with lighting issues.

Tibet will be one of the 20 countries that the torch will pass through on the way to Beijing. On August 8 the torch will light the Olympic flame to start the Games.

Op-Ed: Thanks To The Iraqi War Syria Has A Booming Sex Trade

Wealthy Middle Easterners looking for sex now travel to Syria for a cheap thrill. They have their choice of girls, some as young as 13 thanks to the Iraqi War. Syria has taken in 1.2 million refugees since George Bush ordered the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

With no legal work available an estimated 50,000 female Iraqi refugees are now prostitutes in Syria.

“70 percent to 80 percent of the girls working this business in Damascus today are Iraqis,” 23-year-old Abeer told the New York Times. “The rents here in Syria are too expensive for their families. If they go back to Iraq they’ll be slaughtered, and this is the only work available.”

Because the United States invaded a country that posed no threat to the United States could George Bush and the country as a whole be blamed for these women’s new jobs? Many citizen tribunals have already convicted President Bush for war crimes. What’s one more crime on the list?

These women fled to Syria as United States troops invaded their homeland. The war was too dangerous for them to stay in Iraq with husbands and fathers were dead. There was no protection in their homeland. The reality though in Syria was thousands of refugees and very little jobs for single women. Except for one.

50,000 Iraqi refugees have been forced into prostitution to survive. Legal work has been banned for those who became refugees as the war in Iraq forced them out. For many sex work is the only possible way to feed their families. It’s a job where in one night they can earn about $60, the same as working in a factory……for a month.

Some of the women working these clubs are as young as 13. Do they have a choice? It is often a trade off of morals and dignity to feed and house a family.

Five years ago the war started. Not all the victims of this war live in Iraq. Not all the mourners live in the United States. Millions have no home. Millions have lost their dignity. And about 50,000 women now provide for their families on their back.

Soldiers Dying By Electrocution In Iraq

At least 12 soldiers in Iraq have been killed by electrocution. One of those was a soldier from Pittsburgh who died by a jolt of electricity while taking a shower. A U.S. House committee chairman has started an investigation into the deaths.

Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform says that Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked to turn over documents relating to the management of electrical systems at military facilities in Iraq.

On January 2 Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, 24 died while taking a shower at his barracks in Baghdad. His parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit on this past Wednesday against KBR Inc., the Houston company that is a contractor that maintains the barracks in Iraq.

The lawsuit against KBR alleges that the company continued to use electrical systems “which KBR knew to be dangerous and knew had caused prior instances of electrocution.”

“I expected that if I lost one of my sons (in the war), it would be due to an IED or firefight,” Maseth’s mother, Cheryl Harris, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I never expected to hear he would be electrocuted, that something so senseless happened to him.”

Since 2003 there have been at least 12 service men killed because of faulty electrical systems resulting in electrocutions.

In 2004 the Army issued a safety alert that noted that five soldiers had died because of improper grounding. Waxman has requested reports on all of the victims.

The Maseth family received a memo on Jan. 21 that stated the Chinese-made pump was acquired before KBR took over maintenance of the building and did not meet U.S. safety standards.

KBR has not comments on the lawsuit but is cooperating with the agencies investigating the soldier’s death.

KBR once was owned by Halliburton Co. the oil service that at one time was led by Vice President Cheney.

Legit News Photos Offered to Bloggers, Free of Charge

PicApp, a company based in San Francisco is offering Bloggers copyright news and stock photos for free. The company announced the availability of its public beta service on Friday.

Reports say the site quietly launched on Friday giving online publishers legal free stock photo for their sites. The company recognizes that bloggers are the new journalists of the world and needed free legal photos for their sites.

PicApp is still in it’s early stages. The site makes sure new users understand that it is a Beta service and there are sure to be a few bugs in the beginning. The service is incredibly easy to sign up for. You do need to have a Blog and address. I have yet to use the service but the photo quality was first rate on a look through.

Being able to easily find professional quality photos to highlight articles on Blogs make this site one that Bloggers should put on their must check out list.

Australian Man, 81, Kills Himself With Handmade Suicide Machine

An 81-year-old Australian man, upset with his family, killed himself using a suicide robot that he made himself. The man, who lived alone in Burleigh Heads, had been at odds with family members wanting him to reside in a nursing home.

The elderly gentleman had scoured the Internet for different ways to do himself in reportedly. In the end he choose a murder machine that he built himself. The device was armed with a .22 caliber gun and held four bullets.

According to reports the man set the device up in his driveway and set the controls to up yours, Asimov. He left notes detailing why he choose to commit suicide and why he picked his driveway for the location of his last act.

Workers nearby were alerted by gunfire as the man used the machine to die. The machine fulfilled its design killing the 81 year old instantly.

The Last Reporters Have Been Forced From Tibet

The last reporters in Tibet have been forced to leave the powder keg country by the Chinese. With the dismissal of the last remaining journalists the only news leaving the region will be that is provided by the Chinese government.

The Tibetans use of the Internet is now heavily restricted and the radio reports in the nation are as well. Are the Chinese hoping that silence will make the issues of these people go away?

Two German journalists that had remained in the nation, Georg Blume, a correspondent for German newspapers Die Zeit and taz, and Kristin Kupfer of the German EPD news agency were forced to leave by an official who threatened to cancel their Chinese visas according to Reporters Without Borders.

Earlier in the week a group of 15 Hong Kong reporters were forced to leave along with Economist James Miles.

“If they don’t have anything to hide, then why are they making foreign journalists leave? It’s clear that they don’t want any witnesses,” said Vincent Brossel, who heads Reporters Without Borders’ Asia desk.

With foreign tourists and reporters out of the area there will be no word on what is really happening with the protests against the government in the nation of Tibet. Buddhist monks started the peaceful protests weeks ago to show the world human rights issues within the country that is under the rule of the Chinese. Those protests though have taken violent steps in recent days and a large number of citizens have been reported slain in the aftermath.

China has been trying to project a better human rights view as the Beijing Olympics approaches in August.

“Apparently the Chinese government cannot tolerate any further Western witnesses in Tibet. That is, for us, no real surprise _ the position of the People’s Republic on press freedom is well known,” wrote Reiner Metzger, the newspaper’s deputy editor.

The government has asked Internet cafes to be a fly on the wall with their clients. Authorities are also using “jamming stations” to block broadcasts attempting to leave Tibet.

A government message has been sent to Tibetans living outside of that nation:“Internet Surveillance Bureau,” which said: “It is forbidden to post news about Tibetan events … anyone infringing on this ban will have their IP address sent to the police who will take the necessary steps.”

___

Reporter Ilyas Shurpayev Murdered In Moscow

A reporter for state run Channel One, Ilyas Shurpayev was found with stab wounds and a belt around his neck in his Moscow apartment. A fire had been started in the unit to possibly cover up the murder scene.

Russian prosecutors have opened a murder investigation for this case. There is no motive for the killing at this time.

Russia is not a safe place to be a reporter. In recent years there have been more than a dozen contract style killings of reporters in the nation. The police have yet to get a conviction for one of these crimes.

Ilyas Shurpayev was a native of Dagestan province. His work took him throughout the North Caucasus region where violence is commonplace. He was 32 years old.

Kathleen Soliah Released From Prison After 7 Years

In 1975 Kathleen Soliah, a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army attempted to bomb a police car. For 24 years she posed as Sara Jane Olson, housewife, until the police found her in 1999.

In 2001 she was convicted and sentenced to 14 years for the bombings and six years second degree murder of a woman killed during a bank robbery. Today 7 years since she entered prison she walks away.

The Los Angeles Police Protective League wants her to serve the entire 14 year sentence that a judge handed down in 2001.

“She needs to serve her full time in prison for these crimes and does not deserve time-off for working in prison,” said Los Angeles Police Protective League President Tim Sands.

Her lawyer says she earn her time off for good behaviour just like everyone else released early from behind bars.

During the 1970s the Symbionese Liberation Army was a urban guerrilla warfare group formed in Berkley. They robbed banks and committed other acts of violence between 1973 to 1975. The group was most famous though for the kidnapping of Patty Hearst a media heiress. Later tapes were sent to the regional news where Hearst denounced her parents and stated she was now part of the group that had taken her. Hearst joined in on the groups illegal activities. Other she alleged she had been held in close confinement, sexually assaulted and brainwashed

Woman Killed While On The Phone With 911

A frantic call to the West Covina, California 911 call centre was silenced by gunfire Wednesday morning. A woman was on the phone reporting a break in when shots were heard and then there was silence.

The woman, whose name has not been released was shot to death.

“Deputies heard gunshots followed by silence and an open phone line,” he said.

Deputies arrived at the home within minutes of the frantic 911 call. It was to late as a woman laid on the floor with several gunshot wounds. Police at this point believe the crime was a burglary gone awry.

Investigators are still checking to see if the shooter was able to take anything. While the investigation was underway the woman’s husband arrived asking about his wife.

When he heard that the woman had been shot and killed, he collapsed and started to cry, saying “No! She just called me. You lie.”

Witnesses report that there were one or two men seen running from the house. Bloodhounds were used to conduct a yard to yard search.

By Thursday morning there had been no arrests in the case. As a precautionary action the local high school and an elementary school were locked down for several hours.

Passport Privacy Breaches Hit All Three Presidential Candidates

On Friday it was revealed that all three of the presidential candidates still running have had their passport files breached. One of those who had viewed Obama’s files had also looked into McCain’s records.

Clinton’s office said that she had been notified in 2007 about a breach of security concerning her passport files.

Obama has received an apology from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. It is unclear if she has also extended that sentiment to the other two candidates.

Two contractors were fired from the security breach concerning Obama and a third was disciplined. All of the breaches will be investigated.

“We are going to do an investigation through the inspector general,” she said. “None of us want us to have a situation where any American’s passport file is accessed in an unauthorized way.”

Rice said “it appears that the system worked” because the unauthorized viewing was flagged, but “it should have been known to senior management.”

The State Department says that they believe the privacy violations took place because of curious contractors. The department has not speculated if the private information was shared with anyone other than those who viewed it.

“That obviously is something we are investigating,” said Under Secretary of State Pat Kennedy. “I have no reason to believe they did, but I certainly am not going to be dismissive of what is a serious and valid question.”

Kennedy said he will brief Obama’s senior staff on Friday.

During the 1992 presidential campaign a breach of the passport information for then candidate Bill Clinton occurred. In his case someone ripped out pages from his files from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“That obviously is something we are investigating,” Kennedy said. “I have no reason to believe they did, but I certainly am not going to be dismissive of what is a serious and valid question.”

Obama’s Passport Records Breached Three Times This Year

An outrageous breach of security occurred three times this year as Senator Barack Obama’s passport records were improperly looked at. It has taken over three months for the first breach to be reported.

On three separate occasions three United States State Department contract workers were able to access Obama’s passport records. January 9, February 21 and March 14 have had three different workers breaching privacy and security to view those records.

“At this point in time, it’s our initial view that this was imprudent curiosity on the part of these three, separate individuals,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Bill Burton a spokesman for the Obama campaign is demanding to know who was able to access the passport file and for what purpose. Also in question is why it took so long for the State Department to admit out what was going on.

Hillary Clinton was as appalled.

“If it’s true, it’s reprehensible, and the Bush administration has a responsibility to get to the bottom of it.”

In 1992 the same thing happened with Bill Clinton while he was on the campaign trail. At the time the Republicans were attacking his Vietnam anti-war role. He had been a student at Oxford University in 1969. Also revealed during that breach was a 1969 trip to Moscrow.

Urinal Bags Offered To Qwest Workers

A Qwest supervisor told workers to use urine bags to cut down on time consuming bathroom breaks according to union officials in Colorado. Finding proper bathrooms in a remote area was taking the workers a little too long.

A manager distributed the bags to 25 male field techs telling them to use the bags instead of leaving the job site to search for a public bathroom.

“We deal with a lot of silliness in corporate America, but you’ve got to admit, it takes the freakin’ cake,” Reed Roberts, an administrative director at the Communications Workers of America District 7, told the newspaper.

Qwest does not deny that their employees had access to the bags but is saying that their workers requested them. The communications company has field workers near Montrose.

Qwest spokeswoman Jennifer Barton said, “There’s no policy whatsoever” requiring field technicians to use the bags.

“They are there for convenience, and they are there because employees asked for them,” she said.

Roberts has issued a complaint to Qwest’s labor relations department. A supervisor had taken issue with the amount of time being wasted when his crew had to take long periods to find bathrooms to relieve themselves.

Qwest isn’t the only company to offer the urine bags to employees working in remote areas. The portable urinal bags are made by American Innotek. The company says it supplies several industrial companies with the bags for their employees.

Even FEMA uses the bags. After Hurricane Katrina the government agency ordered 2.5 million of the portal urinals according to Ryan Hiott of Innotek.

Fighting For The U.S. Without Status

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Mario Ramos-Villalta has served in Iraq twice. He survived an attack on his Humvee in 2005. He will be deployed soon to Afghanistan. He is not an American. He is a citizen of El Salvador.

A lot of the papers I get [say], ‘You’re a great American,’” the 22-year-old Purple Heart recipient says. “I am not an American citizen yet, but I still fight for it.”

He adds, “Sometimes, I do get depressed about still not being a U.S. citizen and going over there

He is one of an estimated 20,500 “green card warriors” fighting for the American way.

The first ‘American’ to die in the land of combat in the war of Iraq was Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, a resident of Guatemala. He too was a green card warrior.

The U.S. has tried to make it easier for those who serve in the military to become citizens. President Bush signed a law into measure after the September 11, 2001 attacks allowing active-duty non citizens who had served honorably in war on or after 9/11/01 to file for immediate citizenship. Almost 37,000 have been able granted citizenship since the war begin in October 2001. 109 were dead when that happened.

Still there are another 7,300 requests pending. Each application takes 7 to 10 months to process.

“These service members have made extraordinary sacrifices for our nation and we’re going to do everything possible to ensure that qualified immigrants who serve in our military and who wish to receive U.S. citizenship receive that at the absolute earliest opportunity,” Chris Rhatigan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says.

She adds, “We have had immigrant members of the military going back to the Revolutionary War.”

For someone like Ramos-Villalta the process is time consuming and he is not able to deal with the paperwork and lawyers while he is in the field.

“It’s frustrating and sometimes I get real sad about it,” he says. “There is nothing I can do about it. I mean it’s not up to the military. It’s up to Immigration Services.”

Rhatigan says that her agency is doing its best to make sure military members know where to get help. There is a hotline (1-877-247-4645) and website to better inform these brave green card warriors.

Op-Ed: When Can We Leave Iraq?

Much of the current election has focused on the war in Iraq and how quickly the United States can get the troops back home. But is that possible? If the troops leave will they be considered winners?

In war there generally is a side that can claim victory. In modern wars though at times there are no clear victors. In wars that the process is to clear an ‘evil’ regime out of office is the victor the one that does that or the people left to pick up the pieces?

In Iraq can a victory be claimed at any point? Yes Hussein is gone and buried but peace is far from the scope of the everyday life of those left in that nation. The United States troops have seen multiple causalities.

When the war started close on the heels of the 9/11 tragedy most Americans wanted to rid the world of the evil that was Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction. Those weapons though were a smoke screen. Asked five years later and the average American is mixed on whether or not the troops should be in the Middle East fighting a battle that’s perhaps not ours to fight.

Only 28 percent of Americans know the actual body count of the troops. It may just be a sign of the times that the American people are starting to block out Iraq from their general mindset.

“It’s just become a mess, and I don’t think there’s an easy end to it, so we’re going to end up in a quagmire,” says Ben Lem, a Boston-area cafe owner.

While citizen support of the war was high in the beginning now the bottom line is a nation that may just well be questioning if the US invasion was the right choice. As the United States image becomes more and more tarnished overseas is there any way that the US can come out of Iraq with their heads held high and looking like the victors?

We are in a period of rising isolationism, just as we saw a bump in isolationism after the war in Vietnam in the ’70s,” said Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, at a Center for Strategic and International Studies seminar in Washington on March 12.

With the war now in the fifth war it is clear that not only has Iraq changed during that time but also the United States along with it.

I sometimes wish we could bring [the troops] home and put them on our border to solve our own problems here,” Sharon Howden of Mesa, Ariz. says. “But then sometimes it’s necessary to help other people.”

The question now that many ask is can the troops leave an unstable region or should they stay until stability has been obtained.

The US has spent billions of dollars bombing Iraq and then attempting to repair it, adds Brett Smith, a Mesa jewelry retailer. Yet major US cities are themselves wrecks, he says, and homelessness is chronic.

“I just think America tries to govern the world, and it seems like other countries don’t do that…. We’ve just got our noses in too many other people’s business,” Mr. Smith says.

That sentiment is heard often in the United States. The candidates have been responding to thoughts like that as they pound the election trail. Promises are being made right and left as to when the troops will be coming home. The collective answer appears to be ‘not soon’ if you read between the lines.

John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton all have a shot at sitting in the Oval Office. They all will face the crisis in Iraq. The three each have plans to bring the troops home at some point but each of those plans will take time.

Obama wants the troops gone by the end of 2009. His plan is to remove one or two combat brigades a month. Soldiers would remain a presence though by protecting the American embassy, to fight al-Qaeda if need be and he wants to “reserve” the right” to re-enter Iraq if a genocide were to begin.

Clinton’s plan is much of the same. One or two brigades home per month but leave behind “small, elite strike forces” to fight off the terrorists. Her plan leaves a presence of troops behind for a longer period of time than Obama’s.

Both of the Democrats though promise a diplomatic push to have the United Nations and Middle Eastern neighbours of Iraq to help with the withdraw of troops. Considering that European allies have not been willing in the past to help on this may make their plans a failure before they even begin.

McCain visited Iraq just this week to show his interest in foreign affairs. If he is elected don’t plan on welcoming masses of the troops home. He has said that America may have bases in Iraq for 100 years while it finishes the job up.

How may more soldiers will have their lives blood stain the soil before a decision has been made? When the next president takes office it will be approaching the sixth year mark. That’s a lot of blood stains in the wait of an answer.

Is there a victor in this war or will the blood on the streets cry out of deaths taken in vain?

Native Americans And The Fence

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East of San Diego many Native American families have bypassed checkpoints and hopped over a cattle fence to visit with their families for centuries. Now the proposed Mexican/United States fence poses a problem with that closeness.

Border police and steel barriers along the line in San Diego have cut down on the ease of Native Americans whose families reside on one or the other side of the fence since the 1990s. The Kumeyaay tribe had to take decisive action if they were to be able to remain close and stay together.

“The Kumeyaay were like a broken vase, and we needed the pieces back together again,” said Louie Guassac, executive director of the Kumeyaay Border Task Force.

In 1998 the tribe formed the Kumeyaay Border Task Force knowing that without some sort of action on their part would change the closeness of the kin.

“We thought, let’s get these people over here who can help rebuild our nation as a whole nation, instead of having pieces on both sides of the border,” said Guassac.

The first step was to take a census of the members who dot along Baja California. Many of the tribe live in small remote villages or on large communal farms called ejidos. The process in Mexico was carried out under eyes of Mexican authorities. In the end 1,300 tribal members had Mexican passports to get their the mobility to travel back and forth.

The next step was to negotiate with the U.S. immigration authorities in San Diego. The task force were able to obtain U.S. laser visas for the Mexican passport holders which allow members to cross to and from California legally though the Tecate port of entry and stay for periods up to six months.

We wanted to get the artisans and the knowledge keepers to go back forth, and that’s how we got this ball rolling,” said Guassac.

There earlier actions have made possible the tribe to remain close. The members easily and frequently visit either side of the border. Knowledge is being shared between communities.

“We don’t know our relatives there as well as we should … I think it helped reconnecting with our people down there” in Mexico, said Paul Cuero Jr., the chairman of the Campo Band of the Kumeyaay, east of San Diego.

Northern tribal members have taught their Mexican family the traditional gambling game of peon played with dice like pieces of white and black bone. They have also passed on bird songs that celebrate the natural world. Many of those songs had been lost to those on the Mexican border.

The southern tribal members have taught their northern kin traditional handicrafts of pottery and basket weaving. They have also shared agricultural techniques.

The Kumeyaay language had been losing ground in the United States but with the help of their Mexican kin who generally speak fluent Kumeyaay its being re-learnt. In Mexico the native tongue is spoken in the home with the children learning Spanish only when they start in school.

The next step for the tribe is to obtain work visas for those in Mexico to help at the tribe’s four casinos in California.

“What we have shown is that people who live along the borders are not the enemies of the government, but can be their valued allies,” said Guassac. “They need to understand that.”

Father And Children From Columbus, Georgia Found Dead

Agents searching for Eddie Harrington and his three children found their remains at a Columbus park Wednesday afternoon. Harrington was the focus of a manhunt after an Amber Alert was reported on the children.

There is no word on how the four died. The GBI crime lab has had the bodies sent there for autopsies.

Police had thought that Harrington took the children to Tennessee last week when his car was spotted outside of Jackson early Thursday morning. The police have been searching for the family for the past three weeks.

Wall Street Sees Another Decline On Wednesday After Tuesday’s Rally

Wednesday morning started off on a strong note on the New York Stock Exchanges floors only to decline as investors cashed in gains a day after the market’s huge rally on Tuesday.

The government plans to free up billions of greenbacks at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac seemed to ease some fears on the market. It wasn’t enough though as investors sold off stocks that had been huge advancements. The past weeks evaporation of those advancements was enough to drive brokers into a selling frenzy Wednesday.

Tuesday rose the Dow rise 420 points. It’s the second 400+ rise in six sessions.

Nobody wants to make the first move. There is liquidity on the sidelines. It doesn’t really know what to do right now,” he said, adding that investors are trying to determine whether moves by the Fed and other regulators to stimulate the economy and stabilize the markets will take hold.

“Clearly there is fear. I would say the needle is pointing more toward fear than greed right now,” George Shipp, chief investment officer at Scott & Stringfellow said.

By midday Wednesday the Dow fell 192.7 back to 12,199.96.

Light sweet crude fell from $5.52 to $103.90 per barrel on the York Mercantile Exchange.

Fannie rose to $31.02 and Freddie is up to $30.05.

According to Bruce McCain of Key Private Bank in Cleveland recent trading is encouraging.

“when stocks didn’t plummet in the face of bad news and rallied on good news “

McCain says that it’s a possible sign that the market is closer to getting back on solid footing.

Charred Child’s Parents Charged With Murder

After killing their 2 year old daughter Joseph Miller, III, 28 and Nickello L. Reid, 23 grilled the child’s remains. The charred remains were found by police in Detroit in the basement ceiling of the couple’s home.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy have charged the parents of felony murder which carried a maximum penalty of life in prison without parole for the crime.

On November 22 Detroit police were called to the home where they discovered the child’s charred body in a plastic bag hidden away in the ceiling. The cause of death was inconclusive according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner. It was said though that the child was suffering from disease, abuse and malnutrition.

In addition to the felony murder charges Joseph Miller, III and Nickello Reid also face involuntary manslaughter, first degree child abuse, mutilation of a dead body and welfare fraud charges.

Reid also has an additional welfare fraud charge and two counts of failure to inform charge.

Reid continued to collect welfare monies from the State of Michigan after she and Miller allegedly murdered the child.

Doretha Lippett, 51 of Detroit, the child’s grandmother has been charged with two counts of welfare fraud in her role of helping her daughter.

“It is very difficult to think of an innocent child suffering so profoundly during his two years on earth,” said Worthy.

Some Freedoms Granted, Blood On The Streets: Iraq Five Years Later

Going to school students open their books to look at a colour picture of Saddam Hussein on the first page. That was five years ago. How has life changed in five years? Looking at some Iraqi citizens the answer is mixed.

Today freedom of speech has improved in that nation. Shiite Muslims have the chance to read booklets that are published inside the nation. That wouldn’t have happened five years ago.

Owner Muwaffaq Abu Hamra and his prominent Shiite family has seen religious freedom take place. They are allowed to publicly practice their faith without fear of being imprisoned.

“The Americans did what we could not do: they removed Saddam,” says Muwaffaq. “We are indebted to them for that. But we are now close to forgetting this good deed because of the suffering of the past five years.”

Muwaffaq’s family is a mirror of Iraq today. They have struggled with the hardships of war since the invasion by the United States on March 20, 2003. They find fresh hope with a drop in violence and sectarian killings the nation has seen in the past few months.

In a poll commissioned by the BBC and ABC News 45% of Iraqi’s are finally seeing some hope for the future thinking that next year will see a better Iraq. Just six months ago that figure was at only 29 percent. Those most optimistic about the future are Shiites and Kurds. Sunnis are still in doubt.

Devout Shiites, the Abu Hamra family has seen Iraq grow in political and religious freedom over the course of five years.

Five years ago there was only state sanctioned newspapers. Today there are 268 privately owned papers and 54 commercial TV stations. That is a vast improvement. Booklets and posters promoting Shiite figures are also now seen on the street. Five years ago those papers would have caused publishers to be imprisoned. Still that freedom doesn’t come cheap and it doesn’t pay the bills.

Before the war Muwaffaq’s family operated four printing plants and had hundreds of employees. They are down to only two plants and 42 employees.

The past five years have seen kidnappings and ransoms increase. Thousands of Iraqis, mostly middle class professionals and business people have been abducted for ransoms. Paying the ransom is no guarantee that loved ones will return home alive.

The nation has seen over 2,200 doctors and nurses killed. 20,000 of the 34,000 doctors that were registered in Iraq prior to the war have left the country. Last week the last neurologist of Basra was killed after he had been kidnapped.

Health care is in shambles.

While some of the Muslim groups that were persecuted in the past have seen more freedoms minority and Christian groups have not. They have been targeted by kidnappers particularly hard.

Iraqi civilians still are in danger of the crossfire between insurgents and coalition troops. Going to the market for food can be a life and death struggle. 24,000 civilians have died in 2007. The daily average of 66 deaths is half the rate of 2007 but it’s still not a figure to be proud of.

Iraq is becoming a nation of refugees. United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates that there are 4.4 million displaced Iraqis. 2.5 of those reside within their own nation while 1.9 have fled to neighbouring nations. Some have started to return. Of those many men leave behind their families in safer areas. 54 percent of Iraqis say its not the time for the refugees to return.

Corruption is rampant. Much worse than five years ago with government contracts today rigged. A recent health ministry contract had death threats coming from a competitor to all the others that may have bid on the job. Between 2003 and 2007 Judge Radhi Hamza, the former head of Iraq’s Commission on Public Integrity estimates that $18 million in public funds have been lost to the vast corruption within the government. Another $8.3 billion dollars in fraud has been “forgiven” by ministers and the prime minister. It’s not just Iraqi money that has been used by corrupt hands. US reconstruction money has also been misspent. One incident of this was a $20 million bridge repair contract that only cost the contractor $1 million to repair.

“The Americans have destroyed this country,” Dhia Mahdi, one of the printing company’s longest employees says. “They have divided the nation. Their policy is divide and conquer.”

According to surveys this attitude is mixed. Sixty one percent of Iraqis say that the U.S. presence in Iraq has made the security situation worse. That said only 38 percent want to see the U.S. to be on the next plane out. 76 percent want the US to provide training and weapons to the Iraqi Army. 80 percent want the US to help in the security operations against jihadis in Iraq.

The Abu Hamra brothers say that US forces should leave Iraq now. “Nothing is going right [in Iraq],” says Khaled, who thinks it’s time for the family to sell the business and leave Iraq.

The 10 minute commute to work for the brothers prior to the war now takes two hours as they weave through police checks, blast barriers and VIP convoy filled streets.

Most males in Iraq have to carry weapons to protect themselves. According to Ali, a teenage nephew of the brothers, there is no law to protect civilians. The teenager owns a pistol and an AK-47.

Laith Kubba, a director at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington and a former Iraqi government spokesman, agrees. “It’s most misleading to assume that the current violence and conflict among Iraq’s communities is rooted in the country’s history. Intermixed neighborhoods and marriages testify to the contrary,” he says. But the pattern of violence may be difficult to break, he notes. “The levels of sectarian conflict are unprecedented in the region. Those who caused and benefited from sectarian and ethnic strife will not help resolve it.”

Most Iraqis survive by hope. The hope for the light at the end of a very long tunnel. The hope that tomorrow will bring a better day. The hope that after this long journey into the darkness of man peace will come home.

In the end when posed with the question of if Iraq is better off than it was five years ago the answer is mixed. Some freedoms have been granted but the blood that coat the streets isn’t coming off anytime soon.

Doctors Need To Ask If Cocaine Was Used When Patients Show Signs Of Heart Attack

The American Heart Association is warning emergency room doctors to ask patients that show signs of heart attacks if they used cocaine. It’s a matter of life and death. Treatments used for heart patients can be lethal for those using cocaine.

New guidelines were published online on Monday in the AHA journal Circulation. Cocaine can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, palpitations, dizziness, nausea and heavy sweating. All of these are also the signs of a heart attack.

“Not knowing what you are dealing with and giving the wrong therapies could mean death rather than benefit,” said Dr. James Reiffel, professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The case load of cocaine related users going to the ER rose 47 percent from 1995 to 2002 with symptoms that closely resemble a heart attack. While cocaine itself can cause a heart attack it is a rare occurrence happening in only 1 to 6 percent of those who suffer chest pain.

Your heart rate goes up because your heart needs more oxygen, then it shrinks the arteries to the heart,” McCord said.

Those using cocaine are at risk if they have certain treatments meant for heart attack sufferers.

• Clot-busting drugs carry an extra risk of bleeding into the brain in patients whose blood pressure is high due to cocaine use.

• Betablockers that can lower blood pressure without constricting arteries in typical heart attack patients have the opposite effect in cocaine users, raising blood pressure and squeezing cocaine-narrowed arteries.

Also in the new guidelines are the use of stents with heart attack victims who use cocaine. Those who use the drug should get a bare metal stent instead of the drug coated one. This is because the drug coated stent requires medicine to prevent new blockages. Most chronic drug users do not take their medicines reliably.

“I think an ideal scenario would be someone whose job is to talk to them about this — explain the extent of the health problems, give them information about resources to help them quit cocaine,” McCord said.

Ivan Dixon, Kinchloe of Hogan’s Heroes, Passed Away at 76

Ivan Dixon, best known as Kinchloe on the 1960s “Hogan’s Heroes” has died at the age of 76. He died at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina, from a hemorrhage and kidney failure.

Sidney Poitier had been friends with Dixon since they worked together on the 1958 movie “The Defiant Ones” where Dixon was his stunt double.

“As an actor, you had to be careful,” Poitier said in a statement. “He was quite likely to walk off with the scene.”

Dixon started his career on Broadway appearing in plays like “A Raisin in the Sun.” He was in many films including the film version of “A Raisin in the Sun.” He was also in cult favorite “Car Wash.”

He was best known though for his role of U.S. Staff Sgt. James Kinchloe on the small scene’s “Hogan Hero.”

“It was a pivotal role as well, because there were not as many blacks in TV series at that time,” Nomathande Dixon said. “He did have some personal issues with that role, but it also launched him into directing.”

He is survived by his wife of 53 years Berlie Dixon of Charlotte, daughter Doris Nomathande Dixon of Charlotte a son, Alan Kimara Dixon of Oakland, Calif. Two of his sons Ivan Nathaniel Dixon IV and N’Gai Christopher Dixon preceded their father in death.

There will be no memorial or funeral at Dixon’s request.

Squat Toilets Could Pose Olympic-Size Problems At The Beijing Games

There’s a new concern with the Beijing Olympics: the toilet situation. There were over 30 test events held by organizers and the squat toilets that have been provided are a source of complaints.

“We have asked the venues to improve on this, to increase the number to sit-down toilets,” Yao Hui, deputy director of venue management for the Beijing organizers, said Wednesday. “Many people have raised the question of toilets.”

This past weekend the same toilets that will be used at the Games was used by the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers at the new Olympic baseball venue. The portable toilets are used widely in Asia but very rarely in the West. Yao knows it will be impossible to change out all the permanent toilets at 37 venues. 31 of those venues are in Beijing itself. Right now the focus will be on satisfying three groups of visitors: athletes, journalists and the Olympic family. Roughly, that means the VIPs of the games have a chance of sitting down at a toilet instead of squatting.

Yao and team have renovations underway at the three largest venues. Visitors at the 91,000-seat “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium, the “Water Cube” and the National Indoor Stadium should be able to sit down when in the washrooms.

Beijing is hoping that the games bring in 500,000 tourists during the Games running from Aug. 8 to 24.

With the Chinese government spending at least $40 billion on the infrastructure, modern toilets seemed to have slipped their minds.

Most of the Chinese people are used to the squat toilet, but nowadays more and more people demand sit-down toilets,” Yao said. “However, it will take some time for this transition.”

Bush Says Iraq War Was Worth it

Five years ago the United States was a different country. Five years ago a war was waged against a dictator who had weapons of mass destruction. President George Bush says that he has no doubts that the Iraqi War has been worth it.

Since the beginning of the war in Iraq 3,900 military members from the United States have died. Tax payers have shelled out $500 billion and climbing to fund the effort. Joseph E. Stiglizt, Nobel Prize winning economist and finance expert Linda Bilmes estimate that the war cost total will even out at $3 trillion.

“The successes we are seeing in Iraq are undeniable, yet some in Washington still call for retreat,” the president said. “War critics can no longer credibly argue that we are losing in Iraq, so now they argue the war costs too much. In recent months, we have heard exaggerated estimates of the costs of this war.

“No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure, but those costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq,” Bush said.

Since 2003 at least 82,240 Iraqi civilians have perished. 7% of the adult male Iraqi population have been killed. On average a thousand Iraqis died on every single day of the first half of 2006.

Out of such chaos in Iraq, the terrorist movement could emerge emboldened with new recruits … new resources … and an even greater determination to dominate the region and harm America,” Bush said in his remarks. “An emboldened al-Qaida with access to Iraq’s oil resources could pursue its ambitions to acquire weapons of mass destruction to attack America and other free nations. Iran could be emboldened as well with a renewed determination to develop nuclear weapons and impose its brand of hegemony across the broader Middle East. And our enemies would see an American failure in Iraq as evidence of weakness and lack of resolve.”

Badr Brigade is the largest known active terrorist group in Iraq. They are led by Grand Ayotollah al-Sistani.

A $7 million dollar contract was awarded to KBR, a part of Halliburton, to construct and run military bases. KBR was tasked to plan oil well firefighting in 2002 within Iraq. In February, 2008, a hard disk and two computers containing classified information were stolen from Petrobras while in Halliburton’s custody. Allegedly, the content inside the stolen material, was data on the recently discovered Tupi oil field. The former President Bush and Dick Cheney have both been affiliated with Halliburton.

Looking back, Bush said, “Five years into this battle, there is an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting … whether the fight is worth winning … and whether we can win it. The answers are clear to me: Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision and this is a fight America can and must win.”

The terrorists who murder the innocent in the streets of Baghdad want to murder the innocent in the streets of American cities. Defeating this enemy in Iraq will make it less likely we will face this enemy here at home,” Bush said.

U.S. strikes have killed an estimated 40,000 Iraqi civilians in the five years of war. From March 2003 to April 2004 30,000 bombs rained down on the mostly urbanized country. 240,000 cluster bombs were used.

The other half of the deaths have happened from bombings and uprising with militants that use the guise of the war to terrorize the people.

In Iraq, we are witnessing the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden, his grim ideology, and his terror network. And the significance of this development cannot be overstated ,” the president said.

“The challenge in the period ahead is to consolidate the gains we have made and seal the extremists’ defeat. We have learned through hard experience what happens when we pull our forces back too fast — the terrorists and extremists step in, fill the vacuum, establish safe havens and use them to spread chaos and carnage.”

In war torn Iraq there are no safe havens. The people are worse off today than they were 5 years ago. Humanitarian groups describe the country as being a crisis of huge proportions with little reason for hope. The Red Cross filed a report stating that civilians continue to be killed in the armed hostilities. That medical care is inadequate for those wounded. Water and sewage are of poor quality. Women are victimized if they are not attired in Islamic dress.

It’s been said that war is Hell. Hell has a new address, Iraq.

Follow Up: Cesar Rodriguez Found Guilty Of Manslaughter In Nixzmary Brown Case

The jury has spoken for Nixzmary Brown. The seven year old was murdered by her step-father after years of abuse for eating yogurt. Cesar Rodriguez was convicted of manslaughter on Tuesday. He faces 25 years in prison.

Rodriguez had plead guilty to manslaughter to escape first degree murder charges which could have given him a sentence of life imprisonment.

It took jurors four days of deliberations to come to the findings.

Nixzmary Brown weighed a mere 36 pounds when she died. Her body was a map of bruises.

Rodriguez had tried to portray the tiny child was a “monster” who had violent uncontrollable outbreaks. He cast her mother as a Mommy Dearest character.

On the fateful night that Nixzmary died Rodriguez punished her by sticking her head under a faucet. It is speculated that the man smashed her head into that faucet. He admitted to abusing her but has never confessed to killing the child.

Because of sloppy police work and rushing to judgement the jury was unable to hear testimony that would have resulted in a first degree murder conviction.

I am grateful that at least they’re holding him accountable with a manslaughter conviction,” Assistant District Attorney Alma Dwimoh said.

Rodriguez was also convicted of endangering the welfare of Nixzmary and her siblings and criminal possession of a weapon.

Anthony Minghella Dead At 54

The Oscar winning director Anthony Minghella has died at the age of 54 according to his agent. Judy Daish Associates told AFP that Minghella died Tuesday morning of a haemorrhage following an operation underwent last week. The director has many box office hits with films like “Cold Mountain”, “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “The English Patient”. Tony Blair said he was “an artist of the highest calibre.”

He made his name on English television with the detective drama “Inspector Morse” before hitting the silver screen. His last film was in 2006, “Breaking and Entering” which starred Jude Law.

He was made a commander of the British empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001.

“He was a brilliantly talented writer and director who wrote dialogue that was a joy to speak and then put it on to the screen in a way that always looked effortless,” Jude Law said.

“He made work feel like fun. He was a sweet, warm, bright and funny man who was interested in everything from football to opera, films, music, literature, people and, most of all, his family whom he adored…I shall miss him hugely.”

Married to Carolyn Choa Minghella leaves two children to carry on his name.

The Hobbit Fetches Record Price At Auctio

One of the few first edition “The Hobbit” novels has sold for a record 60,000 at auction Tuesday in London. The sale by auctioneers Bonhams said the novel was signed by Tolkien and dedicated to close friend Elaine Griffiths.

Griffiths had read the transcript of the story that Tolkien had written for his children convincing him to publish. It was published in 1937 and featured black and white sketches.

Only 1,500 copies of the first edition were run.

The story is expected to be turned into a Hollywood film.

Will Castlepoint Ever Build Studio In Toronto?

What is the status of the movie studio Castlepoint building in west Toronto? Alfredo Romano of Castlepoint talked to downtown residents in February, saying that the studio makes economic sense.

Last year Castlepoint Development bought a 7.5 acre plot in downtown Toronto and established a 50-50 partnership with Pinewood out of the U.K. to make big budget movie shoots at the planned studio.

While there are no zoning problems ahead for the studio there are financial ones causing delays. When the complex does get completed it will have a 100,000 square foot six sound stage addition to the 10 story historic brick building that has been dated back to 1919.

Romano says there needs to be considerable demolition and clean-up work to start the new construction. If for any reason Pinewood backs out of the deal Castlepoint will rent out space to high tech design, graphic arts and new media companies while looking for new investors.

“If they (Pinewood) don’t come, my plan doesn’t change. I’m still going to bring in commercial businesses,” he said.

At present there are already seven new sound stages being built on the city’s waterfront by Toronto Film Studios. The FilmPort complex is scheduled to open in March. There have yet to be firm bookings announced for that complex.

If Castlepoint does what it is saying the city of Toronto will be giving them ten years of tax breaks as part of an economic improvement area. The proposed Castlepoint complex will bring in 1,000 new jobs and possibly an additional 1,000 support positions.

Trees Show Climate Change At A Faster Rate Than Expected

Forty years ago Camels Hump mountain in Vermont was covered in red spruce and balsam fir trees. Today those trees are being edged out by sugar maples and American beech. The difference is the newer trees need warmer climates. They are thriving in Vermont.

Scientists thought that it would take generations for the tree population to shift because of a warming world. It appears now that the change will be happening much sooner than expected.

“The fact that we found shifts here may be indicative that forests are changing throughout the region,” University of Vermont ecologist Brian Beckage said.

A study that was published earlier this month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that northern hardwoods and colder loving tree has shifted 350 feet upward in just the last 40 years. Climate change is on of the factors but other reasons are being studied too.

In the past 40 years New England has warmed 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists believe that the warmth is because of heat trapping gases from power plants, factories and vehicles.

Springtime temperatures have started at least a week earlier and the growing season now has 10 more days a year in some places. Now plants are starting to react to the change in climate.

In the 1960s University of Vermont graduate student Thomas Siccama started to do vegetation surveys on Camels Hump. That work has helped scientists to deduce that the sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from power plants have harmed trees in higher altitudes.

In 2004 Ben Osborne, a graduate student of Beckage went back to the mountains to resurvey the slopes. He measured the types of trees and density every 200 feet.

Beckage and his colleagues compared these new measurements to those of the past. At 2,600 feet and up the cold loving trees had declined from 43 percent to a mere 18 percent. Northern hardwoods though had increased from 57 percent to 82 percent.

There is little change at the bottom of the mountain with the trees. At the top the cold loving trees still dominate. It’s the middle ground where changes are already becoming a transition zone.

And it’s not in one place – we are seeing it across the area,” said Carrie Pucko, a co-author of the report and a graduate student who works with Beckage.

It’s not just the climate that makes these changes happen; precipitation, cloud cover, and wind all factor into the equation. Still these changes are remarkable because of how long it generally takes trees to transcend. Trees live for hundreds of years.

“How do you account for the [lack of a] lag?” asked Charlie Cogbill, a visiting fellow at Harvard Forest, an experimental forest run by Harvard University. He said Beckage’s work was interesting, but wonders if some of the forest change is a natural trend or unconnected to global warming. And just because the 1960s is the baseline researchers have, doesn’t mean that it is the best one to use.

“We also need to take into account what was happening before the first plots were surveyed,” he said.

Could the changes be happening because acid rain has killed off some of the colder loving trees? Are natural tree diseases the cause? Can farmers save the tree populations that have been fading?

Farmers “are not going to allow trees to change,” said Tim Perkins, director of the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center and a co-author of the report. “But the work shows that change is probably happening on a scale we haven’t really been aware of.”

By 2050, Will Earth Be Able To Sustain Its Population?

By the year 2050 India will have passed China as the most populous country in the world. The world that we know though may have long ceased to exist by that time. With a population too large for the orb to provide for our species could become endangered.

The overpopulation of the world will see famine and thirst for many. There will not be enough clean water for every person on the planet. Diseases will be a plague as poverty becomes a greater problem.

Cholera outbreaks like the 1850s may be commonplace without an infrastructure ready for more human waste as the population increases. There won’t be enough health care workers to cover the sick.

Then again the population problems that have been scoped out may not happen as the orb becomes more and more urban. Families in urban areas tend to be smaller.

Nothing ever continues at its present rate, neither the stock market nor population growth,” said Doug Allen, the dean of the school of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and an expert in the history of cities and urban design, which he’s taught for more than 31 years.

“There is a substantial body of evidence that the world population will flatten out in about 30 years,” he said. “Built into that model would be an assumption that more of the world’s population will become urban, and as such the population will begin to decline.”

One factor that could reverse the climb of the population is the fact that parts of the world now have populations that are not able to be sustained by their regions. In Italy this is the reality. The population at large is having to conserve not because it’s the smart thing to do but because they have no other choice.

The population of the world depends on one resource that may not be able to sustain those coming. Water.

“If the water goes, the species goes,” Lawrence Smith, president of the Population Institute said.

“That sounds kind of alarmist,” Smith conceded, “considering there’s water all around us, but 97 percent plus is saltwater, and the freshwater that we use to sustain ourselves is just native to 3 percent. … So the accessibility of water, the competition for water, the availability of water is going to be a major, major threat,” he said, noting world population growth estimates at more than 9 billion people by 2050.

Birthrates of today will affect those in 40 odd years. Most developed countries have seen a decline when it comes to large families. That is not the case in developing nations where the normal family size consists of five children.

China has a one child rule but that has sparked controversy. Those living in the urban parts of the country generally follow this rule with but those in rural areas are faced with less population to farm for more people.

This year is the first year in history that both the urban and rural populations are equal.

We have never in the history of the world experienced urban growth rates or metropolitan growth rates at the same level that we are experiencing now,” said Doug Allen, the dean of the school of Architecture at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Op-Ed: What If The Shoe Was On The Other Foot?

Oliver Poole is a Western journalist for the BBC who spent almost 5 years in Baghdad. He wrote an article reflecting on the impact of war and the average Iraqi family. Would we feel differently about this war if it was our children being changed forever?

They worried for their children, they got stressed about how to pay their bills, they commuted to work, they made jokes about their hardships and they struggled to maintain good relationships with their spouses.

Families are basically the same wherever you live. Parents worry about their children and children enjoy their childhood. Unless there is a war going on in front of them. then children grow up believing that death and destruction is a normal occurrence.

Poole saw war through the eyes of his translator Ahmed. Ahmed has a 4 year old daughter who has only known of war. She plays in the streets and pretends to be a “jihadist” like the ones she views on her TV.

We are becoming a war culture and our children’s playground has become a battlefield,” Ahmed told me.

“Our children’s minds are being changed and we will have to change them back to stop Iraq’s future from being a bloody one. I wonder if I will be able to do this and if God will help me to get it done.”

Most of the West can’t image what it would be like to have their children pretending to be at war. It’s not the norm but if our streets were the battlefields the shoe would be reversed. Our children’s viewpoints would be altered to think that bombings are normal and tanks are just another vehicle that goes down the road.

Would our children look up at planes and wonder if a bomb was about to be dropped? Would they play silly games and giggle or would their games deal with adult issues?

War is hard for everyone involved. There is no question on that. It’s those who grow up though surrounded by death that we should worry about. Will they ever know peace? Will they understand peace if it ever arrives on their doorstep?

How would we feel if our children’s games reflected the carnage and pain that only comes from being an eyewitness to the worst in man?

As Poole ends his article so I end this piece:

We often think we know what war looks like but it is not until we get to war that we realise it looks like us.

West Palm Beach Sex Tourism Trial Begins Today

Jorge Muentes booked a trip to Costa Rica to visit a teen prostitute or so he thought in November. Instead Muentes booked through the F.B.I. and got busted. The West Palm Beach man goes on trial today.

Muentes, 48, thought he was going through a travel agency when he booked a trip to Costa Rica but the agency was run by the Federal Bureau of Investigations. He was arrested on Nov. 15 when federal authorities nabbed him at Miami International Airport when he tried to take his flight to San Jose.

Since 2003 70 people have been charged with crimes heading off for a sexual tourism trip that they had hoped involved underage prostitutes.

Lawyers for those arrested say that there wasn’t a crime committed but law enforcement officials say that they are protecting minors from sexual predators.

I’m all for catching child predators,” Muentes’ lawyer, David O. Markus, wrote in a brief. “The problem is instead of netting the real criminals, this sting draws in innocent people like Jorge Muentes.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Rashbaum says Muentes wasn’t so innocent. He paid for the trip hoping to have a sexual contact with a teenager. By boarding the plane it showed he had intent to do just that.

If Muentes is convicted he could face a mandatory 10 year prison sentence.

Female Suicide Bomber Kills 33 in Iraq

Today was another bloody day in Iraq as a female suicide bomber targeted Shiite worshippers. The carnage left 33 dead and at least 50 wounded in the city of Karbala, Iraq. Elsewhere in Iraq, two American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb.

The incident was one half-mile away from the Imam Hussein shrine of Karbala, southwest of Baghdad.

Earlier in the day two American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad. The soldiers were conducting a route clearance combat operation north of the country’s capital.

The soldiers names have not been released.

Dick Cheney is in Iraq on an unannounced visit to met with top Iraqi officials. His trip will include stops in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Israel and the West Bank.

Update:

The death count has been updated to 39 from the bombing of one of the holiest sites for Shiites by a female suicide bomber. Police have closed off the area and blocked all roads leading to the shrines. The tombs are of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and his half brother. The two Shiite saints were killed during a seventh century battle.

“The only thing I know is there was a big explosion and I saw bodies flying in the air,” said Hassan Khazim, 36, who was wounded in the face. “All the tight security measures designed to protect us were in vain.”

Soldiers Being Failed By Mental Health Services

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With the massive amount of United States funds paying for the war in Iraq mental health services for those who serve are not in the equation. As a result suicide, family breakups and depression is a commonplace factor of those who have been deployed.

Almost 4,000 men and women from the United States have died in the Iraqi war effort. Another 29,000 have been wounded during action. Still countless more carry with them the psychological scars that may haunt them for the rest of their lives.

This war, like those before it, put human beings on the front lines of death watching comrades in arms die. Carnage of massive proportions from suicide bombings and car bombs have an added impact of those serving in the Middle East. Add to that the trauma that comes from simply having to kill another and you have the makings of serious mental health issues.

A study out by Veterans for America found that the mental health care provided for soldiers did not meet the actual psychological burdens suffered by those who have had repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Sooner or later, and likely sooner, we’re going to hit the wall and something will have to change,” said Bobby Muller, the founder of Veterans for America and a former Marine paralyzed while serving in Vietnam in 1969

The report criticized the Pentagon’s policy of extended tours of duty that have gone from one year to a total of 15 months. There is also concerns about the lack of “down” time between those deployments.

One of the troops that were studied in the project was the 10th Mountain Division’s second brigade combat team. During their most recent deployment out of the 3,500 soldiers that served 52 were killed in action and 270 were injured. Those that returned home reported low morale, spousal abuse and attempted suicides. When it came to mental health those soldiers had to wait up to two months from an initial appointment with a mental health expert after returning home.

A separate report released by the Army shows that 28 percent of soldiers have been experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder, or acute stress.
Since five years ago when the U.S. entered into the war in Iraq severe stress, emotional, alcohol or family problems had risen more than 85 percent. In 2002 375 soldiers attempted suicide. Compare that to the more than 2,000 soldiers in 2006 that tried to take their lives. It is not hard to see that mental health services are needed for those dealing with the stress of war.

While we’ve made great strides this year to increase our mental health provider capacity, we acknowledge the shortage of mental health providers, not just here but across America,” unit commander Major General Michael Oates said.

“We welcome the opinions of outside interest groups, but we’re more interested in well-researched solutions to these problems,” spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Paul Swiergosz added in a statement.

ABBA Drummer Found Dead

Ola Brunkert, the only drummer to play on all of the albums for the 1970s Swedish band ABBA has been found dead in Spain. His body was found after an apparent accident at his home in Mallorca, Spain.

According to the Spanish police Brunkert bled to death from a wound in his throat. It is believed that he accidentally smashed through a pane of glass. The results of an autopsy are pending.

Brunkert was the only instrumental musician to be on all of the albums the band released. ABBA is most famous for the songs “Waterloo” and “Dancing Queen.”

Halle Berry Has A Daughter

Actress Halle Berry gave birth to her first child, a girl on Sunday in Los Angeles. The father is Canadian model Gabriel Aubry. The couple have been together for two years since meeting during shooting a Versace ad.

“I think it validated that I was meant to be a mother because every day I dealt with the character as a mother and thinking as a mother,” Berry said. “It let me know that I must be a mother.”

The couple have no plans to get married at this time but have said they are bound to each other. The child will carry her father’s last name. The couple have not announced their daughter’s first name.

Four F.B.I. Agents Wounded In Islamabad Bombing

A weekend bombing in Islamabad, Pakistan killed one woman and wounded 12 people including 4 F.B.I. agents dining at Luna Caprese. The outdoor restaurant is a favorite of Westerns, journalists and diplomats.

The F.B.I. agents who had deep lacerations, concussions and fractures were taken to hospital by air ambulance. It is not believed that they were the target of the attack.

There has not been any one group claiming responsibility for the latest attack but government officials believe that al Qaeda and Taliban-linked militants were behind this one as they have been in the past. According to National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe President Bush’s thoughts were with the family as they recover from their injuries.

“The U.S. condemns the latest in a series of bombings in Pakistan that have taken the lives of over 500 people since January.

“Extremists that are targeting innocent Pakistanis, as well as Americans and others in the international community in Islamabad and elsewhere, must be stopped. These terrorists offer nothing but death and destruction, and we will continue to work with the Pakistani government as they go after these thugs.”

The U.S. Embassy has warned American citizens in Pakistan to keep a low profile and avoid places that are popular with Westerners.

Landlords Are Smiling Again

While the U.S. housing crisis and credit problems are plaguing many citizens one group is coming out on top. Foreclosure auctions are the hot new sights for landlords and contractors to hang out picking up property at dirt cheap prices.

“There will be a lot of product hitting the street in the coming months and it should be pretty cheap,” said Mike Bacza, watching the bidding at a foreclosure auction last month in this western suburb of Chicago. “This year I expect I’ll buy at least two multi-family units in a decent neighborhood.”

Investors and landlords who are seeing a profit as many former homeowners seek a new place to live. After years of former renters becoming homeowners the American Dream has tilted pushing many back into the world of monthly renter.

During the early 2000’s buying a home was a breeze. Mortgage rates were low and many real estate companies were not asking for a down payment so almost anyone could get their own house. That’s not the case today so homes are going up on auction blocks right and left.

“The U.S. rental market was nearly flat between 2000 and 2005,” said Ken Fears, an economist at the National Association of Realtors. “Some landlords were so desperate to get tenants that we saw cases where they would offer three months free rent and other promotions to fill vacancies.”

“Now mortgage rates have risen and it’s harder to gain access to credit, allowing landlords to jack up rents for the first time in years,” he added.

Those landlords that were struggling during the early part of this new century are now in need. Just a few years ago landlords were almost having to give away rentals to get occupants now they are hanging up no vacancy signs. More of these types of investors are also signing on to be government-subsidized making sure that their tenants will have their rent.

“Guaranteed cash flow like this actually raises the property’s value,” John Anderson said. “But flooding inner city neighborhoods with Section 8 housing will kill off the recovery or gentrification that has taken hold in recent years.”

Could The Dalai Lama Walk Away From Tibetan Government?

The Dalai Lama has threatened to resign from his position of Tibet’s leader if the Tibetan people continue to commit violence. Premier Wen Jiabao has denounced the supporters of the Dalai Lama as separatists.

Premier Wen Jiabao went on to say that the supporters have instigated violence in the capital city of Lhasa. The Dahai Lama has told his people to show restraint.

“If the Tibetans were to choose the path of violence he would have to resign because he is completely committed to nonviolence,” Tenzin Taklha said. “He would resign as the political leader and head of state, but not as the Dalai Lama. He will always be the Dalai Lama.”

The most recent protests in Lhasa began on March 10. The peaceful demonstration was led by monks on the anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. By this past Friday though the protests had turned violent. According to the Chinese officials on hand 16 people have been killed. The Tibetan government in exile has the death toll at 80.

Tibetan exiles have start began a six month march from India to Lhasa. The Dalai Lama has told them to stop their march at the border.

“Will you get independence? What’s the use?” he said.

As China hopes to boost it’s international image the Tibetan crisis brings the focus onto its human rights issues. According to Wen the protesters in Lhasa have killed bystanders, smashed up utilities and set their stores on fire. He says that his government has evidence that this violence was started by the Dalai clique.

“They used extremely cruel means,” Wen said. “This incident has seriously disrupted public order and life in Lhasa. This incident has inflicted heavy losses of lives and property of the people in Lhasa.”

However, Wen said, the city was returning to normal.

“The situation is quiet and calm, and Lhasa will be reopened to the rest of the world,” he said.

China had given protesters until midnight Monday to turn themselves in or face severe punishment. An unnamed witness reported to Radio Free Asia that Tuesday authorities in Lhasa had started arresting hundreds of people. That has yet to be confirmed.

China has tight control over information that flows out of the country and bans trips by foreign reporters. The police in Lhasa have refused to answer questions.

An official at the Administrative Department of the city’s Communist Party office said Tuesday the city’s markets, work places, schools were all back in operation.

“There are no police or troops around our area. But as to whether there are still police sealing off the downtown streets, I am not clear yet,” he said. He refused to give his name.

Could this be the straw that breaks the camels back in Tibet?

Did The Manson Family Kill Anyone Else?

Four decades ago could have been more murders performed by the Manson Family? Will new remains be found on the compound’s grounds using cutting edge forensic technology? A new search is ongoing at the Barker Ranch where the cult resided.

Four decades ago the followers of Charles Manson holed up in the desert after a pair of brutal murders. That carnage left California in shock when a very pregnant Sharon Tate was among the dead.

There have always been rumors that more had met their demise in the hands of those in the Manson ‘Family”. Now a team of forensic investigators are seeing if those rumors are true. It now seems likely there are a total of three grave sites that require the use of shovels to get to the bottom of the mystery. The victims are likely those who were hitching a ride and fell out of favor with the crazed members.

In 1969 Susan Atkins boasted to a cell mate that there were “three people out in the desert that they done in.” Others from the ‘family’ have made similar comments but until now have not been followed up on.

“We prosecuted Manson and the family for all the murders we could prove. But you know, could he have killed someone else? Possibly. Could another member of the family have killed someone? Sure,” said Steve Kay, a former deputy district attorney.

Last month using all-terrain vehicles investigators went in search of lost souls to the ranch outside of Ballarat. They carried with them instruments to detect chemical markers of human decomposition, a police investigator with a cadaver-seeking dog, and an anthropologist armed with a magnetic resonance reader. Sharon Tate’s sister was also there and the Manson’s closest neighbour, a gold prospector.

Prospector Emmett Harder had a claim on Manley Peak back in the day. His site looked onto the ranch and he even dined with the group at times. Some of the men in the clan had worked for Harder.

Harder recalled hearing Manson say, “We’re not hippies; we’re here to get away from the troubles of the world.”

In time Harder would hear Manson’s thoughts on the world was about to end, “Helter Skelter” and that he had been called on to accelerate that chaotic time through murder.

The Barker Ranch was not where the clan fled after murdering the Tate dinner party, they went to the Spahn Ranch then. A warrant looking for car thieves though that netted 26 arrests made the Spahn Ranch unsafe for the murderous group so the clan retreated to Barker Ranch.

“After the murder, my mom became a shell of herself,” said Debra Tate, who was 17 when her sister, actress Sharon Tate, was killed. Her younger sister Patti was 11. “I filled in at home, as best I could.”

Debra Tate is the last of her family. She has taken up the task of making sure that the Manson Family remains in prison.

Releasing Buster, the dog trained to sniff out dead bodies it took no time for the first alert to be flagged. A machine that detects fluoridated hydrocarbon compounds went next quickly found another area to research further.

A dig will take place soon at the ranch. If remains are found they may be able to identify them ending some families years of questions. The chances of new trials are slim. The members involved in the murders already are serving life sentences.

Now researchers have to dig out the soil to see if remains are under the desert sun waiting to have a proper burial. Are there more bodies like Shorty Shea who was killed when he lost favor with Manson? It took eight years for his body to be found. Forty years later the questions are still unanswered.

“I dug it up myself,” about a quarter mile behind the ranch house, said Sgt. Bill Gleason, a now-retired homicide investigator with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

“There were rumors of other deaths, minors killed out in Death Valley,” said Gleason, who took part in the original Spahn Ranch raid. “We just didn’t have anything concrete to link to the Manson family.”

Hiroshima and Nagasaki Still Dealing With Fallout

The unborn children of those living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki when the U.S. dropped the bomb during WWII are still dealing with issues of the fallout. Adult cancers are now attacking children and those yet to be born when their city was forever changed.

Findings of a recent study have been published in the March 19 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

“Clearly there’s an increased risk for adult cancer among all those exposed to radiation, but risk following exposure in utero [in the womb] seems to be quite a bit smaller than risk among those exposed as young children,” said study author Dale Preston, a principal scientist with the Hirosoft International Corp., a California-based consulting and software development company.

The study Preston conducted was in association with other researchers at the U.S. National Cancer Institute and scientists from the Radiation Effects Research Foundation.

RERF, called the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission in the their beginnings, have been studying the more than 120,000 survivors for decades. Cancer rates aren’t available from 1945 to 1957 so this study focused on survivors between the ages of 12 and 55 between 1958 and 1999. Almost 2,500 had yet to be born when the bombs dropped, still in their mothers wombs and 15,500 were under the age of six at the time. The study focused on the radiation dosage exposures and how close the child or pregnant mother were to the epicenters of the two explosions.

During the study 336 men and 407 women had developed cancer. Diagnosis rates increased dramatically after the age of 40. 70 percent of the man and 30 percent of the women had incidents of digestive system cancers. Breast cancer and cancer of the reproductive system accounted for 58% of the disease within the women.

Researchers determined that nine of the cancers within those who were in their mother’s womb during the blast were directly caused by the radiation exposure from the atomic bombs dropped. That is in comparison to the 87 cases that the blast caused with the adult who had been children during the blast.

“This is a subject of much interest, and these studies are ongoing,” Preston said. “And in another five or six years the number of cancer cases among survivors will probably double, because these people are relatively young — in their 50s — and cancer rates go up in general with age. And I think — if the trends we found continue as expected — that we will see that the risk differences between childhood and in utero exposure will grow wider.”

The study showed that embryos had a better protection while still in the womb than others during this atomic incident. Why is still not completely clear. Does the embryo have a better DNA repair process while still in development? Does an embryo simply discard the damaged cells that radiation could cause? Or is it because a mother’s body starts protecting her young before they even hold their child the first time?

Another possibility,” Dr. Gerald Crabtree, a professor of pathology and developmental biology at Stanford University School of Medicine offered, “would be that there’s enough maternal wall to offer a small amount of shielding around the placenta — though I would think this is less likely because this kind of radiation pretty much penetrates body tissue without a problem. So perhaps it could also be that cancerous tumors were not produced at the instant of the bomb explosion but later, and that the mother’s placental barrier perhaps protected the unborn baby from exposure. But all this is all just theorizing because we don’t really know.”

Facebook Is Still Going Strong

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Don’t believe the rumours that Facebook is about to drop off the face of the Internet. While Britain did have a drop in users in January, it still retains 8.5 million devotees. Canada is still going strong, too.

In Canada there were about 20,000 less viewers but that isn’t a worry at this point for the networking site. A single month of decline is to be taken with a grain of salt says comScore Senior Analyst Andrew Lipsman.

“Any one-month decline — I’d always just take that with a grain of salt,” Lipsman told CTV.ca on Thursday, noting two out of every three Canadian Internet users have a Facebook account.

Since 2006 when Facebook opened the doors for Canadians they have been flooding the gates. In January 2007 the site had 3.3 million users. In 2008, a year later that number had risen to 15.3 million checking out the social scene.

Even if Facebook’s new user market starts to slip they could still be around for a long time. By expanding the services for their existing members and keeping the site fresh they will be able to stay in the running.

Some experts think that one way to keep things fresh is to have more information being able to be shared among the other user-based websites. The one concern with that goal though is keeping security at the forefront.

“Facebook is it for the near future, but things change pretty quickly,” social networking expert Charlene Li said. “We’re going to look back in five years time and think it was so silly for us to have to go to a site like Facebook to be social with our friends.”

Crane Toppled In Manhattan Killing At Least Four

A 15 story crane smashed into a residential building in Manhattan Saturday killing four. Five people are still trapped in the rubbled. The small brick building the crane hit was completely totalled.

Emergency management crews are on the scene attempting to retract the five trapped. The Fu Bar was inside the destroyed building. One of the employees of the establishment is feared to be among the dead.

“Our bar is done,” John PlaGreco said. “The crane crashed the whole building. If I wasn’t watching a Yankees game, I would’ve come to work early and gotten killed.”

A piece of steel fell and sheared off a tie holding the crane to the building it was on. It has been declared a freak accident.

Last Week’s Flooding At Grand Canyon Has Positive Results

Last week’s artifical flooding of the Grand Canyon worked creating sandbars. Some of the much needed new formations are the size of football fields according to an official making new habitats possible.

“On a couple of big sandbars there were already beaver tracks, bighorn sheep tracks,” Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Steve Martin said. “You could see the animals already exploring new aspects of the old canyon.”

The three day flood from the Glen Canyon Dam did what experts had hoped for, providing new habitats for plants and animals. It also built new bridges for campers and will help protect archaeological sites from erosion and weathering.

Since 1963 when the dam was built it has blocked sentiment from the Colorado River that runs through the canyon. The natural state of the river is not the clear water that tourists see when they visit the landmark. In the days before the dam was in place the water was full of sentiment making it muddy and warm. The cleaner waters have speed up the extinction of four fish species.

This is the third flooding since the dam was completed. The other two took place in 1996 and 2004. The river levels from this flood are thought to be a 10 year high. It will take 18 months though for the positive effects of the flooding to pass.

There are no future floodings planned until 2012. That’s not good enough according to the Grand Canyon Trust that has called for more regular high flows to maintain the river.

“Reclamation has come in with a lot of show and fanfare from last week’s event, and we’re seeing the benefits of doing these high flows. But we know that they’re short-lived and the Grand Canyon deserves long-lived benefits, long-lived restoration,” said Nikolai Lash, senior program director at the trust.

The Joker Goes Unchanged

Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker in the upcoming Dark Knight movie will not be changed. No vats of chemicals will transform the criminal mind of the character, like in other productions.

“I believe whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you stranger,” Ledger’s depraved Joker cryptically tells an accomplice in the opening scenes, in which he pulls off a daring bank robbery.

The Dark Knight will be a darker version of the famous Batman story. Even before Ledger’s unforeseen death the marketing wizards behind the movie had focused on the villain’s side of the story.

It was thought that the marketing would not focus on Ledger in light of his demise but the marketing has not changed according to Warner Bros.

When Ledger had a chance to view the movie it’s said that he was blown away by his own performance.

“He was just blown away by his own performance,” Roven said. “He said, `Can I see it again?’ So he was really, really thrilled.”

The movie is expected to be a summer blockbuster. It will be in theaters July 18.

Will Penicillin Work Again?

With the emergence of antibiotic resistant bugs penicillin has become one of those drugs that the “bugs” have figured out how to overcome. Does that mean penicillin will become fazed out?

Streptococcus pneumoniae kills 5 million children a year. In the past pneumonia were treated with basic penicillin and for the most part were curable. The problems started when the full dosages were not carried out so that the bacterias had a chance to mutate and get smarter. As they learned how to conquer the fighting properties of penicillin the medical world has had to come up with new ways to attack.

A protein called MurM may hold the keys on how to get penicillin back on track with these bacterias according to researchers at University of Warwick. That protein is what seems to be in the chemical makeup of the peptidoglycan that appears in penicillin resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. MurM acts as an enzyme that seems to be a prerequisite for high level penicillin resistance. The Warwick team is working on learning each step that MurM takes to attack the antibiotic.

Knowing those steps will help researchers be able to come up with new treatments. Those treatments may include penicillin that has been mutated to attack the MurM.

The full research paper is titled Characterization of tRNA-dependent Peptide Bond Formation by MurM in the Synthesis of Streptococcus pneumoniae Peptidoglycan. It is in the March 2008 issue of The Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Wal-Mart Store In Dearborn Reflects Population

Could Dearborn, Michigan be showing the world the future of the world’s largest retail store? Wal-Mart in that town has added Middle Eastern merchandise to its shelves reflecting the population of the area.

With an international aisle that reflects the huge Arab population in the town Wal-Mart is going from a store that customizes it’s chains to a market that meets the needs of its communities.

Another glimpse of smart marketing is that the Dearborn store vowed not to undercut other merchants in the area on Middle Eastern specialties. With an Arab population of 300,000 in Dearborn it was a wise move.

“I have not heard of anything this tailored. It’s inspiring to me as a shareholder,” said Patricia Edwards, portfolio manager and retail analyst in the Seattle office of San Francisco-based investment manager Wentworth, Hauser & Violich, which has 537,000 shares of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. stock.

The Dearborn store also employs 35 Arabic speaking staff whose name tags show that skill. The store also hired an educator to teach the staff cultural sensitivity.

The Arab market isn’t the only one in Dearborn being looked after with Hispanic items also offered.

“It’s very important that we have the variety of the Muslim, Hispanic items, local items, at a comparable price,” Bill Bartell, the store manager who developed the international aisle with Tut’s International Export & Import Co. said. “If you go over to Warren (Avenue) where there’s other … small retailers, they have a variety that goes on and on and on.”

The Dearborn store is part of a two year corporate effort to tailor their stores to meet the needs of local markets. Six groups have been targeted with this effort; Hispanics, blacks, empty-nesters/boomers, affluent, suburban and rural shoppers.

“Wal-Mart is a little kinder and gentler than they were 10 years ago. They are fierce competitors … but I don’t think they’re trying to do a scorched earth policy,” Patricia Edwards said.

“The trick for these local merchants is … they’re going to have to change how they operate in the face of this changing competition.”

Mother Nature Visited The Georgia Dome Friday Night

During the Alabama and Mississippi State game at the Southeastern Conference tournament Friday night, a possible tornado paid a visit. Almost 18,000 fans were witness to the huge fabric roof waving in the wind.

“I thought it was a tornado or a terrorist attack,” said Mississippi State guard Ben Hansbrough, who was guarding Alabama’s Mykal Riley when the clatter began above their heads, growing into an angry growl that, yes, sounded like an approaching freight train.

The rest of the tournament has been moved to Georgia Tech’s Alexander Memorial Coliseum which is a much smaller venue. Only 9,100 seats are available compared to the Dome’s 26,000. Because of the size difference only players’ families, cheerleaders, bands and those with working credentials will be getting a first hand viewing of the tournaments.

“We planned for a lot of things,” Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. “We didn’t plan for a tornado.”

The basketball fans hoping to catch their favorite teams have had that dream dashed in light of the heavy storms that hit Atlanta on Friday and are expected to return on Saturday.

When the storm hit many fans were in the dark about the approaching danger but those with cell phones ringing knew seconds before that the area was under a tornado warning.

“The guy behind me got a phone call saying there was a tornado warning,” said Lisa Lynn of Atlanta, who was watching the game from the lower deck. “And in 2 seconds, we heard the noise and things started to shake. It was creepy.”

Although the structure survived the possible tornado metal and screws fell to the playing field. The Georgia Dome is as tall as a 29 story building with one of the world’s largest cable supported roofs. Several windows in CNN Center, which is in the same complex were blown out. There were no injuries.

Op-Ed: Britney Spears Deals With Hospital Security Breaches For Second Time

Some of the staff at UCLA Medical Center will be looking at pink slips soon. Confidential medical records were snooped through during Britney Spear’s stay. Does the media have to do with this?

Jeri Simpson the hospital’s director of human resources has confirmed actions in the breach of confidentially incident are being taken.

Most questions that are being asked by the media though will probably go unanswered. There is no word from the medical centre as to which of the times Spears stayed at the hospital or from which records the snoopers looked at. However the Los Angeles Times reported that the incidents in question concern Britney Spears’ medical not mental health records during her most recent hospital stay. A total of 13 employees will be fired with 12 others facing discipline for viewing her computerized records. Several doctors are among those being disciplined.

Ms. Spears has had security problems from the same hospital before. In September 2005 workers were fired after being caught snooping when first son Sean Preston was born.

“It’s not only surprising, it’s very frustrating and it’s very disappointing,” Simpson told the newspaper, adding that she felt “horrible” that it happened again.

So what does the media have to do with this?

When the price for a person is so high that unethical people will risk all for a snippet of information the media is at fault. Not directly but as the underlining factor the source has to be able to acknowledge their part.

Most of the stories online about these incidents also have a footer on how far Spears has fallen. Her current mental health issues aren’t at issue its the breach of confidentiality that is the story.

Do you think that the media should be also disciplined when these types of revelations come out? What is your take?

Could You Be My Cousin?

Native American family trees appear to have one of six women in them. 95 percent of all Native Americans have been traced back to the DNA of these women who lived between 18,000 and 21,000 years ago.

The findings show that the six maternal lineages can be found in the mitochondrial DNA that is passed on only by the mother. This DNA connects generation after generation by mothers.

The DNA findings are totally from the Americas and not from Asia. The footprints of DNA signatures have not been found in that area. The women are thought to have lived in Beringia. Beringia is now underwater but at one time stretched from Asia to North America.

Connie Mulligan of the University of Florida, an anthropologist who studies the colonization of the Americas but didn’t participate in the new work, said it’s not surprising to trace the mitochondrial DNA to six women. “It’s an OK number to start with right now,” but further work may change it slightly, she said.

The findings raise more questions as to where the women lived for sure and how many people wandered away from Beringia to America.

The report was published this week in the journal PLoS One.

Op-Ed: Penthouse Is Calling Ashley

Penthouse wants 22-year-old Ashley Alexandra Dupre, the call girl that is in the middle of the Spitzer sex scandal. President and publisher Diane Silberstein would love to offer her a cover and photo spread.

As Eliot Spitzer slinks away with his tail between his legs the woman he had sex with may come out on top.

While Penthouse hasn’t been able to talk to Ashley they have let the media know that they want her. Playboy on the other hand had no plans to reach out and shoot her.

She’s not the first woman to climb their way to the top by laying on their back with bigwigs. Do you remember Monica Lewinsky?

The Lewinsky scandal almost destroyed the Clinton presidency. Since the scandal Monica Lewinsky has earned a master’s degree in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics. She also sells handbags and made a cameo on SNL. Not that bad for an intern at the White House.

It’s always been suspected that both John and Bobby Kennedy got it on with Marilyn Monroe. Her career didn’t suffer for it. Well other than her death, but that’s not been linked for sure to the Kennedy boys.

Does Washington have a double standard? Boys can play but if they are caught they can watch their careers teeter and maybe go up in smoke. The ladies under them though seem to glide by unscathed and with offers that feature real money come their way.

Not bad for a few hours faking it.

Good Son Gets Dad Stripper

When Cai Jinlai passed away at the age of 103 his son Cai Ruigong fulfilled a promised he had made to dead old dad. You see dad wanted a stripper to perform at his funeral if he made it to 100. A promise is a promise.

The Taiwanese son spent 80 pounds to hire an erotic dancer.

The stripper dancer for the dead man in front of his coffin for more than ten minutes.

Cai Jinlai passed away after walking into town to vote. He was the oldest in his village and left behind more than 100 descendants.

His son said his father was famous locally for his interest in strip clubs: “He would travel around the island with his friends to see these shows,” he added.

Jinlai had a good son.

Op-Ed: A Child Known As ‘Ashley’

The profoundly disabled girl known as Ashley, now 10, has achieved her full height, 4 feet 5 inches. Related Articles China plans to change one-child policy 11 comments Child’s Remains Discovered At Former Child Care Home in Britain 27 comments Grandfather Passes Out On Grandson, Killing Him 5 comments

A year ago a family that opted to open up on their decision to keep their severely disabled child a “little girl” forever garnered criticizing media coverage. A year later they still in agree that for their family it was right for “Ashley.”

Her case could change the way severely disabled children are cared for in the future.

“The ‘Ashley treatment’ has been successful in every expected way,” Ashley’s parents told CNN exclusively in a lengthy e-mail interview. “It has potential to help many others like it helped our precious daughter.”

At the age of ten Ashley has reached her full height of 4 feet 5 inches. Her parents know that she will be able to be carried around by them for the rest of their lives. A year ago her family openly blogged about the time when their child underwent a sterilization that would stunt her growth. While the family knows for them it was the right thing it still was against the law in Washington state.

The child will always be a little girl because of the radical surgery but she was never going to be fully an adult regardless. She has the mental capacity of a six month old. Severely brain damaged with the condition called static encephalopathy she will never walk nor talk. She eats through a tube and wears diapers. What she can do is smile and be cuddled and loved. At her size she will always be able to be held and carried to wherever she needs to go.

Ashley did not grow in height or weight in the last year, she will always be flat-chested, and she will never suffer any menstrual pain, cramps or bleeding,” say her parents, who felt it important to publicly address their decision after repeated interview requests, in the hopes of sharing their experience with other families.

In 2004 the little girl went through a hysterectomy, removal of breast buds and had high doses of estrogen to retard both growth and sexual maturation. There are risks but “Ashley” has yet to suffer from any of those.

While many were outraged at the family they counter back with;

“If parents of children like Ashley believe this treatment will improve their children’s quality of life, then they should be diligent and tenacious in providing it for them,” her parents write. “We have a sacred duty to do what we believe is right for our children.”

The operation though wasn’t legal even if it seems to may as the right move. In May 2007 Children’s Hospital admitted that the child should have had a proper court review before the hysterectomy. Today the operation would require a court order.

Some doctors remain adamant the treatment shouldn’t be available.

“Adults can consent. But for a child, we’re making decisions for them and hoping in our heart of hearts we are making the right decisions,” says Dr. Nancy Murphy, chairman of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Children with Disabilities.

The overriding sentiment in the medical community is that this case was unethical.

“I think mutilating surgery involving removal of breast buds is indefensible under any circumstances,” says Arthur Caplan, the chairman of the Department of Medical Ethics and director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania. “Growth retardation is not a substitute for adequate home aides and home assistance.”

In the end the child known as Ashley survives unaware of the fuss going on around her. Her parents are sure that as long as they are alive they will be able to care for her at home.

And she is loved.

That with all the ethics in the world that oppose or support Ashley’s parent’s choice makes a difference.

Southwest Airlines Grounds 44 Planes

Southwest Airlines has been alleged to have broken federal safety rules. At this times the airline has grounded 44 Boeing planes until they determine if they need further inspections.

Federal Aviation Administration officials and congressional investigators have raised concerns about the airlines safety practices. It is alleged the company’s fleet made almost 60,000 flights without fuselage inspections.

The airline has put three employees on leave following the questions arising from the FAA.

“Upon learning last month of an investigation with respect to our handling of this inspection and an airworthiness directive, I immediately ordered an independent and comprehensive investigation by outside counsel,” Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said in a Tuesday statement.

The FAA submitted documents to congressional investigators saying that the airline flew over 100 planes in violation of standard safety checks. According to the FAA the company failed on nearly 60,000 flights to inspection fuselage areas to detect fatigue cracking which is an FAA directive. Furthermore the company continues to make an additional 1,451 flights after the discovery of failure to comply. After inspections it was discovered that 6 of the 46 planes had fatigue cracks.

Whistle-blowers are saying that not only is the airline to blame in the safety violations but the FAA played a part as well. It has been alleged that FAA managers knew of the safety lapses and still allowed Southwest to operate and conduct safety checks on a slower schedule.

“I am concerned with some of our findings as to our controls over procedures within our maintenance airworthiness directive and regulatory compliance processes,” Kelly said Tuesday. “I have insisted that we have the appropriate maintenance organizational and governance structure in place to ensure that the right decisions are being made.”

Mandatory checks for fuselage checks started after the cabin on an Aloha Airlines 737 tore apart during a flight in 1988. During that incident a flight attendant was killed and several other passengers and crew were in danger until the flight landed.

Southwest Airlines flight history has been unblemished having never had a catastrophic crash.

Sister Caught Bringing Brother Home, In Pieces

Human Skull

Two Italian women were stopped by Munich airport police when an X-ray of their luggage revealed a skull. The 63 and 62 year olds were questioned about remains they were toting.

The women revealed that they were on their way to bury one of the ladies brothers. 11 years ago the brother died in Brazil. His last wish was to be buried in his home country of Italy.

The good sister produced a death certificate and was allowed to finish her trip.

“We questioned the women and they produced a valid death certificate showing he had died 11 years ago of natural causes. As they were not violating any German laws they were allowed to continue their journey to Italy,” said police spokesman Christian Maier.

Should Salvia Divinorum Be Legal?

An easy to obtain plant that is touted as a hallucinogenic herb is being targeted by lawmakers. The herb Salvia divinorum has already had restrictions placed on it by 8 states and 16 others are considering a ban on it.

The online sites that sell Salvia divinorum are running warnings to stock up while you can as the herb comes under fire.

“As soon as we make one drug illegal, kids start looking around for other drugs they can buy legally. This is just the next one,” said Florida state Rep. Mary Brandenburg, who has introduced a bill to make possession of salvia a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Are lawmakers overreacting or does the herb impair judgement enough to make it a problem? the herb is native to Mexico where it is still grown. While it can be smoked it is mostly chewed or brewed into a tea. Carrying nicknames like Magic Mint and Diviner’s Sage the saliva produces an out of body sensation. The effects of the herb last for up to an hour.

Online an ounce of Salivia goes for $30 to $65 depending on the strength. It comes in a variety of flavors like apple and spearmint.

The herb isn’t in the mainstream with just 2 percent of those surveyed in 2006 ever using the product. Still could this product just be on the fringes waiting?

Phone Calls For Guantanamo Detainees Promised

Gitmo detainees will be allowed to make regular phone calls to their family members according to an announcement by the military on Tuesday. While the announcement is a nice thing for those in the prison they have to wait. No date has been set yet.

Some of the detainees have been in extreme isolation for as long as six years. The phone calls are part of a strategy to ease frustrations among the military prisoners in the prison.

Since the prison opened it has been an area of criticism. The prisoners held there are considered enemy combatants with few rights.

Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon says that the phone policy shows a commitment to maintaining the health and the well being of those housed within Guantanamo’s walls.

There has not been a start date set for the phone calls to begin.

Inmate’s current outside contact consists of mail delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and meetings with their lawyers. Some of the detainees have had a chance to speak with their families when a “humanitarian” issue comes up. The death of a family member constitutes for one of those issues.

Not everyone is taking the announcement at face value.

“I will believe it when I see it,” said Wells Dixon, a lawyer with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents many Guantanamo detainees.

It Appears Spitzer Spent A Small Fortune On Call Girls

As pressure mounts for Governor Eliot Spitzer to vacate his post the actual amount he spent on call girls is coming out at upwards of $80,000. It appears he was a frequent customer of the prostitution ring being investigated.

Spitzer and his family are hiding away while the news buzzes in their Fifth Avenue apartment as the scandal rages on the tips of Democrats and Republicans tongues. Calls for the governor to resign or face impeachment hearings is the current talk of the town.

“Particularly because of the reform platform on which he was elected governor, his ability to govern the state of New York and execute his duties as governor have been irreparably damaged,” said Citizens Union, a good-government group that supported the crusading attorney general for governor in 2006 and provided critical support in his effort to reform Albany. “It is our strong belief that it is now impossible for him to fulfill his responsibilities as governor. Accordingly, Citizens Union urges him to resign as governor.”

Spitzer was caught on a wiretap spending $4,300 on “Kristin” and setting the remainder of that money on a tab for the next time he felt the urge. It’s coming out now that he used the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. for himself and a prostitute sneaking away from his security detail to do the deed.

What appears to be the biggest shock in this scandal is the fact that Spitzer was known as “Mr. Clean.” It’s a newspaper dream when the hypocrisy comes from a married man who fought against crime is one of those nabbed.

“The irony and the hypocrisy is almost too good to be true,” said Bryn Dolan, a fundraiser who works with many Wall Street employees. “If he had any shame, he would’ve already resigned.”

Is George Clooney Off The Market?

Could George Clooney be out $40,000 some time in the near future? The happy bachelor has a double or nothing bet going on with Michelle Pfeiffer and Nicole Kidman that he still won’t be waking up to screams of Daddy by the time he’s 50.

The ladies already lost a bet when he was 40 but think maybe 50 will see them winning.

They have a card on their side this time around, Sarah Larson. The Fear Factor winner seems to have gotten into George’s heart. Just don’t say they are engaged. Clooney is denying the rumour mill that is swirling around.

“These reports are not true,” Clooney, 46, said in a statement released through his publicist.

Still Clooney took the 28 year old along to the Oscars. That’s a feat no other girlfriend ever managed to do.

If Clooney remains true to his word though don’t count on wedding bells. He’s done the marriage thing with Talia Balsam. Married from 1989 to 1993 he discovered that marriage wasn’t his cup of tea.

“I’ve been married,” he told People in November 2006. “It’s not something I’m looking out for. The truth is, I’m really happy.”

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Grew Monday Night

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame just got bigger with the induction of the Dave Clark Five, Madonna, John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and the Ventures on Monday night.

Mike Smith of the Dave Clark Five died just two weeks shy of seeing this happen.

Madonna paid tribute to people who encouraged her and even the critics who said she wasn’t going to do well. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame by Justin Timberlake.

“Thirty-five years later, people are still encouraging me to believe in my dreams,” she said at the Waldorf Astoria induction ceremony. “What more could I ask for?”

Even the people who “said I was talentless, that I was chubby, that I couldn’t sing, that I was a one-hit wonder, they helped me, too,” she said. “They inspired me because they made me question myself repeatedly and pushed me to be better.”

Madonna didn’t perform on Monday night instead asking Iggy Pop and the Stooges to sing two of her songs, “Burning Up” and “Ray of Light.”

Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff wished for “peace” during their time on stage. Patti LaBelle sang “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” to introduce the songwriters. A variety of artists sang a melody of their popular soulful songs.

“There’s a little ‘Me and Mrs. Jones’ going on here in New York,” Gamble said to laughter, hours after New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer was accused of hiring a prostitute.

The Ventures performed Walk, Don’t Run,” and “Hawaii Five-O.” John Fogerty recalled when he and the members of Creedence Clearwater Revival used to hang out in their garages learning how to play Venture tunes.

“When the Ventures first hit the radio, I would say I was gone,” Fogerty said. “The Ventures went on to record 250 albums. Think about that. These days, some of us would be happy to sell 250 albums.”

The Canadian Leonard Cohen is one of the world’s most respected songwriters. Lou Reed read several of the lyrics that Cohen had written while inducting the man into the Hall of Fame. Damien Rice sang the beloved “Hallelujah”.

“We’re so lucky to be alive at the same time Leonard Cohen is,” Reed said.

Cohen, dressed in a black tux, recited the lyrics to his song “Tower of Song” in a hushed voice.

“This is a very unlikely occasion for me,” he said. “It is not a distinction that I coveted or even dared dream about.”

John Mellencamp talked about his “Authority Song” which he played on stage with his son Speck.

“I wrote this song, and I still feel the same way today as I did when I wrote it 25 years ago,” Mellencamp said.

Japan To Outlaw Owning Child Porn

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Russia and Japan are the only two G8 countries that have yet to outlaw owning child pornography. Soon only Russia will allow child porn for it’s citizens though as Japan plans to pass a law banning it.

Child welfare groups though are not satisfied because the new ban exempts manga comics and animated films.

The Liberal Democratic party and its junior coalition partner are in the midst of making legislation in Japan on par of the rest of the developed countries when it comes to child pornography. In Japan as long as owners of child porn do not post their collections online they are free and clear.

Japan is one of the world’s leaders when it comes to supplying child porn. After the United States it is also the largest consumer of images. Japan banned the production, sale and distribution of images of children under 18 in 1999.

The banning of owning child porn comes on the heels of comments made by the US ambassador to Tokyo, Thomas Scieffer.

Unlike some people in adult pornography, children are not willing or paid participants. The majority of images and videos depict the violent and brutal sexual assault of children, most of them younger than 12 years old. We are talking about child rape.”

Kunio Hatoyama, justice minister, agrees that child pornography is a reprehensible market. Taking the loophole of being able to own the material will make it more difficult for those marketing it to be able to distribute.

While child welfare groups are pleased that the new law is on the way they are upset that the manga market wasn’t included in the writing.

We would like the revised law to cover manga, but it is extremely difficult,” Yuka Saito of Unicef’s Japan office told the Guardian.

“We keep encountering arguments about freedom of expression, but if the US and other countries can ban that kind of material, why does Japan continue to tolerate it?”

Saito says that the vast market of Japanese child pornography is impossible to gauge because it covers illegal websites and DVDs.

Police though have seen the increasing demands for it though. Last year alone 304 children under the age of 18 were IDed as victims. That figure is 20% higher than 2006 and the nations’ highest since records on victims began in 1999. In 1999 there were 25 child pornography cases in Japan. By 2006 that number rose to 585 cases where the police were prosecuting.

The new law appears to be popular with Japanese citizens. 70% of adults
surveyed were in favour with banning possession. 89% of those surveyed also would like for manga and other illustrations to be included with the new law.

Manga though is a 500bn yen market with a large amount of those having sexually explicit input. Sadomasochism and raping of schoolgirls is a common theme. MPs fear that by banning the genre men would not have an outlet for their sexual urges forcing them to commit serious offences.

Vatican Upgrades The Deadly Sin List

The seven biggie sins of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride now have some competion on bringing the devil his dues according to Vatican’s daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

Drugs, pollution and genetic manipulations made the updated list. The article came from an interview with Monsignor Gianfranco Girotti who says that sins are increasingly manifesting themselves into social damaging behaviours.

Girotti is the head of the Vatican body, Apostolic Penitentiary, that issues decisions on matters of conscience and grants absolution. The Monsignor said that while in the past sin concerned the individual it now concerns society as a whole. The Catholic Church also continues to be concerned by abortion and pedophilia.

Considering the mudslide of scandals within the Church pedophilia would seemingly be top and foremost of the deadly sins. The Monsignor said that the authorities within the Church had reacted with rigorous measures to the scandals of child abuse. He accused the media though of emphasizing the problem.

The deadly sins are different from minor venial sins that can be forgiven. According to the Catholic faith the only way to avoid the flames of Hell is to confess a mortal sin to a priest and then serve an act of penitence.

Father Antonio Pelayo, a Spanish priest and Vatican expert thinks it’s time for people to get over their obsession with sex.

“There are many other sins that are perhaps much more grave that don’t have anything to do with sex – that have to do with life, that have to do with the environment, that have to do with justice,” he told AP Television.

The Vatican just finished a week long conference on confession. According to a recent survey going to confession is not at the top of many Catholics to do lists. 60 percent of Italian Catholics do not go to confession.

Governor Spitzer Involved With Prostitution Ring

Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York told his advisers that he was involved in a prostitution ring. A statement will be coming later this afternoon according to the New York Times.

Updated
At this time Spitzer is not resigning his post.

The New York Times reported the Governor Eliot Spitzer told his senior administration that he was involved with a prostitution ring on Monday.

“To say this is a shock is an understatement,” said CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who went to law school with Spitzer.

Prior to being elected governor Spitzer was New York’s attorney general for eight years. Time magazine named him “Crusader of the Year” two years straight while he served in that position.

Dubbed “Eliot Ness” because of his reputation for ridding corruption and busting white collar crime this announcement is a shocker.

He is in his first term. The Democrat is married and has three daughters.

More will follow as details become known.

update

The details about the prostitution ring are not clear but last week federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed conspiracy charges against four that alleged that they ran a high end prostitution service for the wealthy of Europe and the U.S. This ring charged thousands for the use of the girls they employed.

The web site for Emperors Club VIP listed the rates of their “employees” were charging along with pictures of their bodies. The girls were rated from 1 diamond to 7 diamonds depending on their rank. Those listed at 7 diamonds were charging rates at $5,500 an hour.

In 2004 Spitzer was part of an investigation of an escort service that resulted in the arrest of 18 people in New York City.

Nelly Furtado To Play At Toronto’s Earth Hour

A free concert by Nelly Furtado awaits those in Toronto during Toronto’s Earth Hour event. The event is slated at Nathan Phillips Square on March 29. Grammy and Juno winner Nelly Furtado has been named the first Canadian Earth Hour Ambassador.

Cate Blanchett and Natalie Imbruglia are also Earth Hour Ambassadors. The event will be as ‘green’ as possible. Organizers are taking step to power the event with renewable energy and be as carbon neutral as possible.

At 8 p.m. on March 29 cities around the world will turn off their lights for Earth Hour to spotlight awareness about climate change. Millions are expected to participate worldwide. Canada so far is leading the pack with more than 20,000 people, 1,000 businesses and 50 cities pledged to be dark for an hour.

Those who are on Facebook can sign up for the event. There are already 624,713 confirmed guests pledged on the Toronto based group for the event.

On March 29th, 2008 at 8pm local time Earth Hour will commence ALL AROUND THE WORLD.

Created to take a stand against the greatest threat our planet has ever faced, Earth Hour uses the simple action of turning off the lights for one hour to deliver a POWERFUL MESSAGE about the need for action on global warming.

Be part of making Earth Hour 2008 a huge, global success by telling your friends and family. Remember, every single light makes a statement and makes a difference.

Last year, on 31 March 2007, 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney (Australia) businesses turned off their lights for one hour – Earth Hour. This massive collective effort reduced Sydney’s energy consumption by 10.2% for one hour, which is the equivalent effect of taking 48,000 cars off the road for one hour.

It’s a worthy event. I’ve signed up. Have you?

Heath Ledger’s Will Leaves All To His Family

Heath Ledger drafted a will in 2003 before he became a father leaving everything to his parents and siblings. The will was filed in his homeland of Australia according to the New York Daily News.

Although Michelle Williams and daughter Matilda were not named in the will his father Kim made it clear that they would be taken care of.

“Matilda is our absolute priority and Michelle is an integral part of our family,” Kim Ledger said in a statement released to People. “They will be taken care of and that’s how Heath would want it to be.”

Reps for Ledger also confirmed that Williams and 2 year old Matilda would be looked after. The documents were filed in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court. At the time of his January 22, 2008 death Ledger has about $100,000 in banks accounts, his Toyota Prius and $20,000 in furniture. That is not the bulk though of his estate. The Brooklyn townhouse he shared with Williams and property holdings in Australia will add quite a chunk as well as trusts he had stashed away.

His family spent $39,000 on his memorial service at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home. His coffin alone cost $25,000.

Ledger’s lawyer has requested that the documents be sealed to protect the family’s privacy.

While the case…has generated extraordinary public interest, it has also, unfortunately, brought out the worst in human nature,” Harvey Corn wrote in the filing, pointing out that one impostor posed as Ledger’s father, Kim, and made calls to celebrities including John Travolta and Tom Cruise in his name.

Ledger passed away as the result of an accidental overdose of prescription medicine.

The Terminator Has The Backs Of California Homeschoolers

Homeschoolers in California have a hero in their corner after the state appeals court ruled Feb. 28 to severely restrict homeschooling after hearing a case that involved one family. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denounced that ruling.

Schwarzenegger has also promised parents they will be able to educate their children at home if they choose to even if it means he has to change the law himself.

“Every California child deserves a quality education, and parents should have the right to decide what’s best for their children,” Schwarzenegger said in response to the ruling, which said children educated at home must be taught by a credentialed teacher.

“Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children’s education,” Schwarzenegger said. “This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts, and if the courts don’t protect parents’ rights then, as elected officials, we will.”

In California this ruling affects the estimated 166,000 children who are educated by their parents at home or in independent study programs. As an earlier article at Digital Journal by journalist Susan Duclos explained the court ruling makes it illegal for parents to do so unless they have a teacher’s certification. Otherwise children between the ages of 6 to 18 must attend public or private school full time until they graduate from high school.

Prior to the ruling California had no laws addressing homeschooling in the California Education Code. Homeschool advocates want that to remain the way for their comrades.

“We just want to leave it alone because it’s good the way it is,” said Loren Mavromati, who homeschools her two children and volunteers with the California Homeschool Network, an advocacy organization made up mostly of homeschooling parents. “The law as it stands is working well in California.”

The ruling arrived with the case of Phillip and Mary Long of Lynwood and their eight children. Mary Long has taught her children who were also enrolled in a private school’s independent study program. The school included quarterly home visits by officials of the school to check on progress of the eight Long children. Their 54 year old father objected to the children being taught evolution and awareness of homosexuality, both issues against his belief system in school.

“I want to keep and protect them until I feel they’re mature enough to deal with these issues,” he said. “I believe the creator wants us to protect our children from things we believe are hazardous to their character.”

Homeschooling has been at odds with education officials in the past. In 2002 then Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin tried to make the act of educating children at home by their parents illegal. The Legislature though declined to take her stand on the matter. Since that time though homeschoolers haven’t faced opposition for their educational choices. In the meantime homeschooling has become more mainstream with even the Ivy Leagues vying for the top homeschooling pupils. the National Spelling Bee has had several homeschoolers in the top ten for the past few years.

With the many different styles of educating children homeschooling guidelines could prove to be challenging.

For now, Schwarzenegger is prepared to wait and see if the courts will resolve this case, spokeswoman Sabrina Lockhart said.

“He believes parents should have the right and flexibility to homeschool their children,” she said.

If court appeals fail, legislation would be an option, Lockhart said. But she added that “what that legislation looks like at this point is premature.”

Tony Blair Is Ivy Bound

Former British prime minister, Tony Blair. – Photo courtesy Wikipedia Related Articles Mohamed al Fayed: Prince Philip is a Nazi 3 comments US Ranks Below India In A Yale Study On Environment, Disease Fighting and Sanitation 1 comment Blair To Be Part-Time Advisor To JP Morgan

Tony Blair will be teaching God and politics at one of the most prestigious universities in the United States. Yesterday Yale confirmed that the former British Prime Minister would be joining the staff to teach in the schools of management and divinity.

The course that Blair will be instructing will focus on religion and the modern world. The class is hoping to promote understanding between the Big 3 religions of the developed world, Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Richard Levin, president of Yale, said: “The appointment of Mr Blair provides a tremendous opportunity for our students and our community. As the world continues to become increasingly inter-dependent, it is essential that we explore how religious values can be channelled toward reconciliation rather than polarisation.”

This course is part of Blair’s Faith Foundation that he will be launching in London prior to the Ivy League teaching gig. He is modeling his foundation on the one that Bill Clinton set up after his terms as President of the U.S. finished. Clinton’s Foundation raises millions for international development.

His aides are worrying though that their boss may be over extending himself by taking on this latest job even though the deans of Yale’s management and divinity schools say he will not be required to be in Connecticut for large stretches of time.

His workload is jam packed already without the added teaching responsibilities. He is currently in the United States meeting with George Bush as part of his position in the United Nations as a special envoy for the Quartet. He also has an advisory role with Zurich Financial Services Group Insurance which earns him 50,000 pounds a month.

Living In Limbo, Saudi Arabian Women And Marrying To Escape Spinsterhood

For women in Saudi Arabia being in your 30s and unmarried means that you may never have a suitable husband. Asma is one such woman, caught between spinsterhood and a husband who wants her to “rot” in her father’s home.

“My father wanted me to marry either a relative or a member of our tribe,” she said. “No one from my family asked for my hand in marriage. Year after year went by. It was then that my mother tried to convince my father that I was approaching spinsterhood, and a marriage had to be arranged fast. Initially he did not listen.”

One man did offer his hand but the aftermath has turned her life into a nightmare. She’s technically married yet not and her husband says he will refuse a divorce. Asma is caught in a catch 22 as she resides with her father not able to get a divorce even though her husband refuses to allow her to live with him. Women caught in this situation haven’t the financial means to escape and live on their own.

With groom selection the wealthy turn down suitors because of financial status. Women who haven’t as much money as their groom are also looked down upon by the groom’s mothers. Tribal issues add into the mess resulting in women who face a lifetime of spinsterhood if the cards are stacked against them.

Asma and the man she is married to are from the same tribe. Even though he had another wife her father accepted his offer of marriage since Asma was approaching spinsterhood.

My father didn’t like the fact that the suitor was already married,” she said. “But because of my age, he finally started to worry that I may end up a spinster, so he agreed.”

In Saudi Arabia marriage comes in three steps. The “nikah” is the marriage finalization, basically a business deal where the payment of dowry takes place. The next step is called “milka”. Milka is when the bride and groom are allowed to have contact with each other. The final step, a coming out ceremony takes place before the couple are allowed to live together. This tradition ensures that the community knows that the cohabitants are legally married.

Asma and her husband have completed the first two stages of the marriage process. Instead of having the “coming out” ceremony though Asma’s husband had a change of hear. He began to harass the then 31 year old woman, taunting her with being a spinster. When she complained to her mother she was urged to be patient and try to stay on this man’s good side.

As this behavior continued, I saw my dreams falling apart, I knew that things were going to get worse,” she said. “I took all his insults quietly, but one day it got too much, and I answered back, retorting, ‘If I’m so bad and my family is so bad why did you marry me?’” Asma said her husband then called her father and told him the wedding ceremony would be delayed for six months because of job obligations. It was then that her husband told her she would “rot” at her father’s house.

Asma is now in limbo, married but not. Her father forbids her from seeking a divorce because it would cause shame onto the family. She is now a 33 year old ‘married spinster’ and the source of village gossip.

“My parents pity me and know that I am not to blame, but people, such as our neighbors and distant relatives, are all saying horrible things about me, and find nothing wrong with my husband,” she said, adding that her husband has even stopped answering phone calls from her family.

Asma is not the only woman is this situation in Saudi Arabia. Islamic scholar Sheikh Hassen Al-Kilati says there are dozens like her locked into marriages that never make the full circle. Many of these men who have a first wife disappear from the scene locking the women into a marriage that isn’t. They are in one viewpoint single and yet they are not free to marry another man.

Women can obtain a divorce in these cases but by doing so they face the financial burden of returning part or all of the dowry that they were given. The money aside, there is a great deal of family shame in these matters which fold women back even further.

“The law can restore these women’s rights,” said Al-Kilati. “The woman can file a compliant, and her husband will be unearthed wherever he is, and he will, by law, have to either take his wife home, or divorce her and also let her keep half her dowry as compensation, and he will have to sign legal papers stating that he will never harm or slander his ex-wife.”

Second Story Window Toss Saves Family Of Seven From Fire

A Montreal mother saved all of her seven children by tossing them out of a second story window during a house fire. The 34 year old mother and her seven children are recovering in hospital from bruises and burns.

The most seriously injured was a three year old girl who has third degree burns to her face. The mother has burns to her face and is in stable condition. The children ranged in age from 2 to 10.

The quick thinking action of the Quebec mother saved her family’s life. Neighbours attempted to enter the house in a rescue attempt only to be driven back by flames. The window was the only way out as the family home burnt.

The family lived in subsidized housing. Police investigations were searching the home for clues about the fire. It is thought that the batteries in the smoke alarm were dead leaving only the window as a means of escape.

A spokesman for Montreal’s ambulance service said the home had been evacuated when paramedics arrived.

“The only exit was that window,” said Bart Panarello of Urgences Sante.

“Having the quick thinking of throwing the children out the window, that in itself saved their

Margaret Thatcher In Hospital

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is in hospital. The 82 year old fell ill at her home Friday evening and was taken to hospital for observation. According to the hospital she is in stable condition.

Thatcher has had a series of small strokes after the 2002 stroke that caused her to retire from public life. She is the first and only female prime minister in England.

Called the “Iron Lady” after a 1976 speech about communism. she had a close relationship with United States President Ronald Reagan.

After leaving office she was named Baroness Thatcher of Kesteven.

Op-Ed: Sexual Abuse Cases Cost the Catholic Church $615 Million Last Year Alone

Child sexual abuse cases cost the Roman Catholic Church 615 million dollars last year alone. That is an increase of 54% from the previous year. What is going on with the priests this past year?

Most of that money ($526 million) went to settling cases. According to this year’s annual report the church is implementing a charter to protect the children of its parishes.

$23 million dollars was used for the ongoing therapy that is needed for victims and for those who have been accused of these heinous crimes. Lawyers and court fees ate into another $60 million dollars. The report was commissioned by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

With some cases that date back decades the church had 689 new allegations of abuse in 2007. Most of the victims are young males whose cases began when they were between the ages of 10 and 14.

This years total is down from previous years although the costs have increased.

The report is in place to track progress made in the Charter for the Protection of Children. The Charter was implemented in 2002 by bishops as the Catholic Church was in the news because of multiple child sexual abuse cases. That year the Archbishop of Boston confessed that he had protected a priest that he knew had sexually abused youngsters in his parish.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the USCCB, said in a statement Friday that child protection was a priority for the bishops, and praised them for “working diligently to implement the Charter.”

There are some criticisms though with this report. Terry McKiernan the president of the group Bishop Accountability says the report may fudge on the actual number of clergymen accused of sexually abusing children.

Because the report is only counting and not actually naming the priests, we are not able to determine which of these allegations pertain to priests already accused and which pertain to new priests,” McKiernan told AFP by phone from Boston.

“This is nowhere near a complete accounting from the bishops conference, but it’s better than nothing,” he said.

Of the 41,500 priests that serve the United States at least 5,000 have committed acts of sexual violence upon the youngest members of their congregations since the 1950s. In a report commissioned by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice for the USCCB in 2004 nearly 4,400 priests had been accused of abuse.

This report comes just weeks before Pope Benedict XVI will be in North America visiting New York and Washington. The pope will be skipping a visit to Boston.

It’s hard to not read the visit to New York, where there is a real hold-out among the American episcopate — Archbishop Edward Egan, who has been very restrictive about information that might get out about this — as a reward, and the skipping of Boston as expressing a desire not to confront the issue,” said McKiernan.

“I don’t hope for any gestures on the part of the pope,” he added.

“Remedies are going to come through the legal system, not through the church.”

A few of the cases in just this last year include:

On 19 December 2007 a Fr Patrick McDonagh of the Salvatorian Order admitted 8 counts of sexual and indecent assault on 4 girls (aged 6 to 10) in the period 1965-1990 in Ireland. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison, with the last 30 months suspended. He gave the police the names of 3 girls, but also admitted to assaulting 6 other victims whom he has refused to identify. The judge described this as “remorse” and suspended most of the sentence for his guilty plea. Aged 78 in 2007, he had joined the Salvatorians in 1955 and retired in 2004.

In Sligo County Sligo, St. John’s School had 5 teachers who have faced abused charges, of which 3 were Marist Brothers. In January 2008 “Brother Gregory” (real name Martin Meaney) admitted to abusing a boy 20 or 30 times in a four-month period in 1972, apologized unreservedly and was sentenced on 5 sample charges to 2 years imprisonment. He described the boy as “a weak little lad”, and told police he had “picked on children who were not getting love at home”. Meaney had previously served 12 years of an original 18 year jail sentence imposed in November 1992 where he admitted 8 sample charges of buggery, rape and indecent assault on other boys, out of 109 charges. These charges arose when he was teaching at Castlerea, County Roscommon.

Father Jeremiah McGrath of the Kiltegan Fathers was convicted in Liverpool in May 2007 for facilitating abuse by Billy Adams. McGrath had given Adams £20,000 in 2005 and Adams had used the money to impress a 12-year-old girl who he then raped over a 6-month period. McGrath denied knowing about the abuse but admitted having a brief sexual relationship with Adams. His appeal in January 2008 was dismissed.

While the Charter is a step in the right direction the fact that this many cases are out there speaks poorly about the steps taken by the church to protect their most innocent. Other than a home a child should feel safe to be in a house of worship. That clearly is not the case in a large percentage of Roman Catholic Churches. Until the church protects each and every child that is raised in this belief will it begin to clean away the tears and emotional scarring that has been placed within its walls.

Marion Jones Reported To Federal Prison Today

Marion Jones entered prison to serve her six month sentence for lying to investigators about using performance enhancing drugs and also for her part in a cheque fraud scam. The Olympic track star will serve her sentence at Federal Medical Center Carswell.

The federal prison is located in Fort Worth, Texas. Jones turned herself in to be process before noon on Friday. She had until Tuesday to do so.

While Carswell specializes in prisoners that require medical or mental health care it also serves the general population. Whether or not Jones is requiring special care is not known and that information will not be released.

In her heyday the track star won three gold and two bronze medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She had denied using drugs that enhance performance until her trial. She admitted that in November 2003 she had lied to federal investigators about drug use. She also admitted lying about knowledge of a cheque fraud scam that involved the father of one of her sons, Tim Montgomery.

In January Jones was sentenced to six months prison time and 400 hours of community service in each of the two years that follow her release from prison. Her lawyers had argued for probation but Federal Judge Kenneth Karas threw the book at her giving her the maximum sentence in Jones’ plea bargain.

Bush Vetoes Waterboarding Bill

President George Bush just vetoed a bill that would have banned waterboarding. The torture interrogation method stimulates drowning. Bush claims that not allowing for such inhumane methods puts the country in danger.

“The bill would take away one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror, the CIA program to detain and question key terrorist leaders and operatives,” deputy White House press secretary Tony Fratto said Friday.

Had the bill passed the C.I.A. would have to use only the 19 interrogation techniques listed in the Army field manual.

The bill would have banned tortures such as waterboarding, sensory deprivation and other methods to get detained prisoners to “break.” Waterboarding earned a “bad” name during the Vietnam War when it was used on military personnel captured by the Vietnamese army.

Waterboarding was banned in 2006 by the Army.

The vetoed bill had already passed both the House and the Senate last month.

Washington Receives Mass Mailing Dealing With Bombing In Times Square

Capitol Hill was abuzz with manila envelopes arriving at least 10 Democratic offices with the message “We did it” after the Times Square bombing. The early Thursday morning is sparking a manhunt to find the bike riding bomber.

The message on the card: “Happy New Year, We Did It.”

The man who may be charged with the bombing could be an older white male. He has thinning gray hair and wore a striped flannel shirt and jeans. A photo with such a male was in documents sent to the offices in Washington, D.C. along with about 10 pages of what appears to be a political manifesto against the Iraqi War. There was also a booklet in the mailings.

E-mails circulated around D.C. asking that any such mailings be left unopened for security reasons. Capitol Police, FBI, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service authorities are investigating the mass mailing. The mailings had made it through the standard security process meaning they had been sent well before the bombing has taken place. The processing can take a week or more.

The envelopes each contain a return address. The mailings did not contain threats to those who received them.

The email that was sent:

“A few offices on the House side have received a letter today addressed to ‘Members of Congress’ with a picture of a man standing in front of the Times Square recruiting station that was bombed in New York today with the statement ‘We did it.’ He is standing in front of it with his arms spread out and he’s attached his political manifesto.”

The Price Of Daddy Watching Over Her

When an adult child becomes troubled parents try to step in and help. For most it’s a thankless job but if you’re Jaime Spears and your daughter is multimillionaire Britney Spears you could be making a tidy little pay cheque.

Britney Spears was ordered to pay Daddy 10 grand a month and give him a car for watching over her.

Until at least July 31st Jaime Spears will be collecting $2,500 a week for conservatorship duties. Spears’ psychiatrist was also in court today to get two other doctors on the dole with retainers totalling $9,000.

Because of his daughter’s recent mental health issues Jaime Spears was granted conservatorship over his child, he is also co-conservator of her estate while she is in recovery.

Her court appointed lawyer Samuel D. Ingham III is receiving $58,800 for his part in helping control the young star’s estate.

Spears was recently allowed to have visitation rights with her two young sons. She and her former husband Kevin Federline agreed to modify the court agreement. She is not allowed to see the boys though without supervision.

Happy People Could Very Well Make Happy Kids

A study of 1,000 pairs of twins has found that genes may control the happiness factor. The researchers used both identical twins and fraternal twins to test their study to test their theories.

“We found that around half the differences in happiness were genetic,” said Tim Bates, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh who led the study. “It is really quite surprising.”

The findings show that those who are sociable, active, stable, hardworking and conscientious tend to be happier people reported in the journal Psychological Science.

Fraternal twins do not share the same genes while identical twins do. The study’s subjects ranged in age from 25 to 75. The study used a survey of questions that dealt with personality. Because of the shared genes researchers could identify common genes that result in certain personality traits.

“What this study showed was that the identical twins in a family were very similar in personality and in well-being, and by contrast, the fraternal twins were only around half as similar,” Bates said. “That strongly implicates genes.”

Perhaps your parents couldn’t give you a huge inheritance but if they were happy people they just may have passed on a trait more important than money. Happiness.

Mercy Is Not Something Shown To Caught Defectors Of North Korea

North Korea has executed 15 of its citizens as they tried to defect crossing the Tumen River earlier this week according to Seoul’s Good Friends Center for Peace, Human Rights and Refugees. The group was headed to China when troops fired to kill.

Tens of thousands of refugees are now in China hoping for a slightly better life across the border. Seoul’s Good Friends Center for Peace, Human Rights and Refugee’s report highlights the deadly message North Korea is sending to those who want to escape the regime.

Food is scarce in North Korea and the thought of life without hunger sometimes prods those to defect their homeland. Pyongyang shows no mercy on those who are caught in this endeavor. Although not all are killed on sight, some are sent to linger in the prison system that has been called horrific.

Some believe that the recent stepping up of executions is China. China, with the upcoming games at Beijing may be pressuring the communistic North Koreans to stem the flow of refugees.

“Beijing wanted to nip in the bud, before the Olympics, any chance that the number of refugees would turn into a flood this year,” says one diplomat who has followed the issue. “They’ve really tried to crack down on the border.”

Those who do make it across the border are classified as “economic migrants” and have no rights under international law to enter China illegally. International human rights groups have urged China who signed on to the United Nation’s protocol on refugees to offer safe harbor for those risking their lives.

The situation in North Korea is not likely to improve. No longer can money be used to bribe North Korean border guards to allow for safe passage.

“It appears the North Koreans have increased salaries on the border, or put more senior guards there, over the past year or so, because things are more difficult now,” says a Christian activist working under cover in China.

With the use of public executions the North Koreans are showing their citizens that mercy is not in place. Freedom is getting even harder to obtain.

Toronto’s Ryerson University Says Facebook Group And Cheating Went Hand In Hand

Ryerson student Chris Avenir thought making a Facebook group for him and fellow students was a great idea. Ryerson University in Toronto thinks otherwise. The engineering student is now facing expulsion on charges of cheating.

When Avenir started his Facebook group for students in a chemistry course to exchange tips on homework questions, he had no idea that he’d be facing academic expulsion. Based on the study room that Ryerson engineering students call The Dungeon, Dungeons/Mastering Chemistry Solutions was set up at Facebook to help with homework questions. Those questions count for 10 per cent of a student’s mark in the course.

The 18-year-old will learn his fate on those charges today. He faces a total of 146 cheating charges, one for each of the other students that were a member of the group. If he loses today he can appeal his case to the university’s senate.

Students at Ryerson are shocked, according to Kim Neale,26, the student union’s advocacy co-ordinator representing Avenir today.

“All these students are scared s—less now about using Facebook to talk about schoolwork, when actually it’s no different than any study group working together on homework in a library,” said Neale.

“That’s the worst part; it’s creating this culture of fear, where if I post a question about physics homework on my friend’s wall (a Facebook bulletin board) and ask if anyone has any ideas how to approach this – and my prof sees this, am I cheating?” said Neale, who has used Facebook study groups herself.

Officials at Ryerson are not commenting until the case has been taken care of.

Avenir feels that he was the only one charged because he is the administrator of the group that quickly grew last year when their professor would give students questions that they were to work online.

“So we each would be given chemistry questions and if we were having trouble, we’d post the question and say: `Does anyone get how to do this one? I didn’t get it right and I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.’ Exactly what we would say to each other if we were sitting in the Dungeon,” said Avenir yesterday.

He says the stress of his charges has affected his midterm exam results. He has been allowed to continue his studies while the case is pending.

The question here is how much difference is the group than student tutoring. The university offers mentoring programs that feature tutorials. The Facebook account appears to have been taken offline as of yesterday although it ceased activity when the course ended in December.

Avenir earned a B in the class but that was changed to an F when the professor found the Facebook group over the holidays. The professor than reported the incident to the school’s student conduct officer and recommended Avenir to be expelled.

Because of miscommunication Avenir missed two meetings to discuss the matter. Tuesday’s hearing was arranged so that the student would be able to state his case against the expulsion. Ryerson does not have to do this.

The professor had told the class to work on the homework independently but it’s a tradition at Ryerson for students in heavy programs to brainstorm homework in groups.

There is no evidence that students were completing solutions for each other and each student had different questions to prevent cheating. What the evidence does show is that the students used the group to brainstorm about techniques in answering the questions.

“They’d say to each other stuff like … `Remember what to do when you have positive cations (a type of positively charged ion)’ and that sort of thing,” she said.

But Neale admitted the invitation to the Facebook group may have been what landed them in trouble. It read: “If you request to join, please use the forms to discuss/post solutions to the chemistry assignments. Please input your solutions if they are not already posted.”

Still, said Neale, “no one did post a full final solution. It was more the back and forth that you get in any study group.”

Does this type of group involvement change the cheating rules? How different is it than the study groups that students have long sat in?
What’s your take on this issue?

Please Don’t Shoot The Messenger: Canada To Have Cold Spring

Canada has had over its fair share of snow this past winter. If the forecasters are right it’s not over even as those in the Great White North count down the days until Spring finally will arrive. Oh and this spring is expected to be cold.

After a season of record snow fall in Canada the spring that will arrive on March 20 may not warm the bones of Canadians.

As the Canadian Press reports:

It really is the winter from Hell,” senior Environment Canada senior climatologist Dave Phillips said.

Wednesday saw freezing rain in Nova Scotia, snow in New Brunswick and Ontario. Children may even be getting tired of snow days as they were yet again called in Prince Edward Island and part of Scotia.

This has been a season of delays at airports, Pearson International Airport had at least 200 flights delayed yesterday.

The snow in Toronto on Wednesday may be the last straw as city dwellers dealt with the slush.

As the Canadian Press reports:

It’s not really the worst (storm) of the season,” Phillips admitted, “But it really is the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. There’s a kind of weather rage, (with) a collective crying of ‘uncle!’,” he said.

And the news for Spring according to Phillips isn’t going to make everyone jump up and down for joy.

As the Canadian Press reports:

“We’re showing colder-than-normal conditions for the spring period,” he explained, “It doesn’t mean every day is going to be like that, but it means the flavour of the personality of the next three months should represent cooler conditions. I’m probably not going to put away my snow shovel until the long weekend in May,” he said.

And those in central Ontario don’t hide those shovels. Yep, snow this weekend. Again.

Over 900 Stricken With Typhoid In Philippines

Typhoid has stricken at least 900 in a village just south of the Philippine capital of Manila. The numbers could rise according to Red Cross in the city of Calamba. The Red Cross is trying to track down the source of the disease.

“As of 5:00 pm today (0900 GMT), we have confirmed 903 cases. This includes those still in the hospital and those discharged,” provincial Red Cross administrator Rutelly Cabutin said.

The Red Cross has also said that the disease has spread to a total of 18 villages. Without knowing the source the disease’s spread can be stopped but when that source is not defected the numbers will increase.

The outbreak has been going on since last month. About 5,000 villagers have sought medical help during that time span from the government.

The Manila health department has not made any comment. The local district water authority has been testing samples. While the health department in Manila has yet to declare an outbreak local news has reported that hospitals in the area were running out of supplies and pressing the limits to services.

Could ‘ELF’ Be Behind Seattle Blaze?

Seattle woke Monday morning to five luxury homes in the “Street of Dreams” neighbourhood shooting flames. A sign with the letters “ELF” was found at the scene. Could the eco-terrorist group be behind the fires?

The five fires are being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism. The new development features homes priced at $2 million.

The sign thought to be left by the group Earth Liberation Front read, “Built green? Nope black!” and called the homes “McMansions.”

John Heller, the president of Seattle Street of Dreams, has been told by the fire chief that the fires are suspicious. He was out of town on business and on route home to see what is left of the subdivision.

“My understanding is that it was an act of terror,” Heller said.

Luckily, there were no injuries from the fires. The police and agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are both prosueing the case now.

ELF has claimed responsibility for other fires in the past. In 2005 five townhouses under construction were burnt using kerosene in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Ten people of ELF and another group called the Animal Liberation Front were convicted for a string of arsons. The total dollar damage of that crime was over $40 million. It was at the time the “largest ecoterrorism case in U.S. history.”

Three more have been charged with that case but they are at large and considered international fugitives.

Op-Ed: Does The Muslim World Really Hate The West?

According to President Bush those of the Islam World hates those of the Western World because of the West’s freedoms. That appears not to be the truth for the mass majority according to a survey of 500,000 Muslims in more than 35 Islamic states.

“They hate our freedoms — our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other.”-George W. Bush

According to the survey by the Gallup Poll only 7 percent of those questioned condone terrorist attacks. They do though fear that the West and the United States in particular want to occupy and dominate the Islamic world.

A book resulting from the results of the Gallup poll, Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think gives a very up to date view of 97% of the Muslim world. Written by John L. Esposito, a professor of international affairs and Islamic studies at Georgetown University, and Dalia Mogahed, Gallup’s executive director of Muslim studies the book gives a well rounded view of what 1.3 billion Muslims really feel about the West.

Gallup commissioned the poll shortly after President Bust asked in a speech, “Why do they hate us?”

Gallup posed questions that have been on the mind of many since the terrorist attacks of 9/11:

Is Islam to blame for terrorism? Why is there so much anti-Americanism in the Muslim world? Who are the extremists? Where are the moderates?

The answers were a often a reverse of the Western way of thinking.

“One also has to face the fact that policy really does matter, It’s the political grievances that are the real drivers” of radicalization,” said Esposito. In other words, it was not religious beliefs that have driven some Muslims to believe that the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington were justified.

Much of the Muslim world feels that the West treats those of the Islamic faith as inferior. They would rather have respect reaching both ways when it comes to religion and not the double standards that they feel the West exchanges.

That double standard came to light in many of the questions from the survey. One area was asking what did Islamics admire about the West. Those questioned had no trouble coming up with admiration for technology, freedom of speech and the value of hard work. In contrast when the question posed to Americans of what they admired about Muslim societies the answer was generally “Nothing” and “I don’t know.”

Most Muslims detest the use of terrorism. They also fear “occupation/U.S. domination”.

The core of the data shows that both sides feel that the other thinks they are hated. When broken down and looked at from a more individualist view both sides seem to want basically the same. Toleration. Freedom to worship. A aversion to the ways of terrorists.

The flaw of labeling one entire religious group as the enemy is that it alienates the world, putting sides up where they shouldn’t be. With both sides mostly against terrorism it would make since to learn toleration in order to work together instead of pulling the world apart.

Exhumed Padre Pio To Be Put On Display

40 years ago Saint Padre Pio died. The mystic monk’s body was exhumed during a three hour ceremony to be put on display for his many devotees. His body should be ready for viewing by April 24 for several months at least.

The Capuchin friar is said to have had the stigmata. The stigmata is bleeding on the hands and feet in the areas it is said that Jesus Christ was wounded during his crucifixion.

According to a church statement the friar’s body was still in “fair condition” after dying at the age of 81 in 1968. His hands were particularly well preserved and according to Archbishop Domenico D’Ambrosio looked like they had just underwent a manicure. He had been buried under marble in a crypt at San Giovanni Rotondo.

Morticians should be able to conserve the face of the monk recognisably enough for those devoted to him.

It is said at one time more Italian Catholics prayed to Padre Pio than even Jesus or the Virgin Mary. His tomb is toured by 7 million people a year. With a membership of 3 million there are about 3,000 “Padre Pio Prayer Groups” worldwide.

The monk was sainted in 2002. The ceremony in which Pope John Paul II stood over had one of the largest crowds in Vatican history. The monk is said to have fought the devil in his monastery cell. He was also said to have predicted the future, tell people their sins before they confessed to him and be seen in the same place at the same time.

Doubters say the man was a self harming fake who poured carbolic acid to create the wounds on his hands. The church denies that is a possibility.

Breaking News: U.S. Fires Missiles On Somalia

On Monday the United States used precision missiles to strike an al Qaeda target in southern Somalia. The strike killed 3 women and 3 children. An additional 20 people were injured near the town of Dhoobley.

The missile hit two houses in its attempt to wipe out a facility where there are “known terrorists.” The remains of the missile were marked “US K.”

The U.S. military is still collecting post strike information and not confirming any casualties as of yet.

We woke up with a loud and big bang and when we came out we found our neighbor’s house completely obliterated as if no house existed here,” Fatuma Abdullahi, a resident of the town, told The Associated Press. “We are taking shelter under trees. Three planes were flying over our heads.”

Local villagers are in fear that more attacks may come at any minute. Dhoobley hosted a senior Islamic official, Hassan Turki Sunday to mediate between his fighters and a militia loyal to the government. The Turk’s took over Dhoobley last week according to AP.

FBI Search Home That Roger Von Bergendorf Lived In A Year Ago

Who is the man that is in a coma in the Las Vegas ricin case? Roger Von Bergendorff has been described as a loner who walked his dog and attended the Mormon church. He moved to Las Vegas about a year ago after staying at his cousin’s home in Utah.

That cousin, Thomas Tholan was the one who found the vials of ricin in the room that Von Bergendorff had been residing in Las Vegas last week. Sunday his own home was being investigated by FBI agents covered in full hazmat protection suits. Homes nearby Tholan’s were evacuated at the beginning of the search.

The FBI presented a search warrant this morning to Tholan. As of Sunday afternoon the home was still closed off and the search was ongoing. Neighbours though had been allowed back into their homes by mid afternoon.

Investigators are trying to figure out why Roger Von Bergendorff had the ricin and other materials such as firearms and castor beans in his Vegas digs. Unfortunately for those researching this case the man remains in a coma unable to answer a single question.
Las Vegas authorities are stressing to the public that they are not in danger of the lethal toxin.

Notre Dame To Honour Martin Sheen

Martin Sheen was honored by the University of Notre Dame with its Laetare Medal for humanitarian work. The medal will be handed to the actor on May 18 during the school’s commencement. Sheen’s character on the show West Wing was a Notre Dame graduate.

The Laetare Medal has been awarded annually since 1883 to a Catholic “whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the church and enriched the heritage of humanity.”

Others who have been honoured by the University include President John Kennedy, Us House Speaker Tip O’Neill Jr. and Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr.

Sheen has used his status as an actor to promote peace. He has been arrested for taking part in nonviolent demonstrations against US military policies in the past. He donated money and his time to various causes including homelessness, human rights for migrant workers and environmental protection.

“He has used that celebrity to draw the attention of his fellow citizens to issues that cry out for redress, such as the plight of immigrant workers and homeless people, the waging of unjust war, the killing of the unborn and capital punishment,”President of Notre Dame Rev. John I. Jenkins said.

China Claims it can Control Rain for the Summer Games

China is hoping to do what others can’t: control the weather for the 2008 Summer Olympic. Scientists are claiming they will have clear skies for the opening ceremony, and will be able to start rainfalls anytime.

International scientists have doubts that the country will be able to pull off this feat. China has high hopes for this project to be just another way to showcase that the nation is no longer about rural poverty but an economic powerhouse.

China has spared no money into restructuring the infrastructure of Beijing in time for the summer games. It’s spending $40 billion to modernize the ancient city. This is in addition to the $100 million it currently spends a year on Beijing. The government currently employs 50,000 people just to produce rain.

Fragrant Hills is one installation outside of Beijing that hires peasants in military fatigues to blast silver iodine into clouds to stop rain from falling on the capital city. If rain is threatening to ruin the opening ceremony, then there will be multiple areas where the employees are blasting away at the clouds with rocket launchers.

“We are now drafting the implementation plan for the artificial rain mitigation for the opening and closing ceremonies,” said Wang Yubin, a Beijing Meteorological Bureau engineer. “This is a very complex process, so we must select the right time and place.”

China is short on water and arable land, so they have been spending millions on rainmaking and rain prevention. Their arsenal in this quest includes 6,781 artillery guns and 4,110 rocket launchers. More than 4,200 flights took place between 1995 to 2003 for cloud seeding.

The Chinese say that their weather making technology works. They claim that rainfall increased during those years by 210 billion cubic meters. That amount is enough to support the needs of a 400 million population but China has a population of 1.3 billion.

Internationally, though, those claims have been met with skepticism.

“I don’t think their chances of preventing rain are very high at all,” said Dr. Roelof Bruintjes, a meteorologist with the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, who was in China several weeks ago and told top-ranking Chinese scientists he was skeptical. “If there is really a weather system that is producing rain, they won’t be able to do anything. We can’t chase away a cloud, and nobody can make a cloud, either.”

With the August climate in Beijing warm and wet, it’s no wonder that the government is hoping their plan works. A washout on the opening ceremonies would be unfortunate but rain itself during the tightly scheduled games could be a scheduling nightmare. Then again the city’s overwhelming pollution needs rain to make breathing easier. The only thing that clears the pollution is rain.

“The only thing that cleans up the pollution is the rain, and if they are going to suppress rain, my worry is the pollution will be oppressive,” said Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, an atmospheric scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, who will use the Olympics to study the impact of reduced pollution. “It’s a Catch-22.”

So will China be able to pull off what most experts say is impossible? The skeptics have their vote in and China has its ballot cast. The results on this one will come in August. Bring your umbrella just in case.

Two Banks Top The List In ID Theft According To Survey

ID theft is a huge problem for consumers. Which companies top the scales with the worst security measures that result in data leaks? Not to surprisingly the top firm that gives the least protection is a bank. The Bank of America averaged 1,117 complaints in a three month survey completed by researcher Chris Hoofnagle. Lagging right behind BoA were two cell phone companies, AT&T Wireless and Sprint.

The sheer amount of stolen data produced by these mega corporations doesn’t mean that they are entirely at fault Hoofnagle cautions. Because data is self reported human error accounts for the majority of ID theft. When customers file out phishing emails they open themselves up to theft. The ID thieves go after those who use the largest companies.

“The results suffer from a lot of weaknesses,” Hoofnagle said. “But it’s a start.”

Hoofnagle used various comparisons to complete his report. The final comparison that he settled on was using total deposits and dividing the number of incidents by a dollar amount.

Betty Reiss of Bank of America said the firm hadn’t yet fully analyzed the study, but she pointed to its high potential for errors.

“We take identity theft very seriously, and we provide consumers with tools to fight it,” she said.

Using that research the Bank of America still ranked high when it came to ID theft at the second highest institute with 17 incidents per $1 billion. Top on the list was HSBC with 21 incidents per $1 billion.

“We can say that customer protection around identity theft is of paramount importance to HSBC. We take fraud of any kind very seriously,” the statement read. “We have a range of robust fraud detection and monitoring systems in place for the early identification and prevention of fraud to protect our customers and their accounts.”

Hoofnagle’s list is a read through of America’s largest companies. A year ago he campaigned to get banks to disclose more information about fraud and security. That idea fell flat with the banking world.

One of the reasons behind his study was in fact to have banks disclose more of this information. Consumers have the right to know what they could be dealing with when it comes to the bank they choose to put their money with. Without the truth consumers have to rely on commercials where each bank says they do more than the other to protect their clients in the ID thief wars.

“I think the disclosure of these problems will drive some competition among banks,” he said.

Hoofnagle is a senior fellow at UC-Berkeley with the Center for Law and Technology. His study showed that perhaps the safest place to put your funds is in credit unions. He hopes that banks will open up about theft issues and inform their clients on their practices resulting in a more informed consumer.

A Mistake Costs 22 North Koreans Their Lives

North Korea shot to death 22 fishermen that had strayed out of the country’s waterways into South Korea as they returned home. North Korea has a “no tolerance” stance when it comes to anyone trying to leave the country.

It appears that stance holds up even if an error was made.

The two boats used for oyster and clam fishing had 14 women and eight men on board. Straying off course, they entered South Korean waters near Yeonpyeong Island. South Korean officials questioned the group that included three teenagers. Officials thought perhaps they were attempting to defect from the communistic North but quickly understood that this was an accident.

The fishing boats were taken and the South Koreans gave the 22 passage back to their country on an overland route.

As the Daily Mail reports:

Last night, a source with the South Korean national intelligence agency said: “We found the group were neither asylum seekers nor spies.

“They didn’t want to stay in South Korea, so we sent them back.

“We have heard that they were shot, but we had no idea that would happen.”

A source with North Korean contacts added: “They weren’t even given the option of going to a prison camp. They were simply executed.”

North Korea is saying that the group didn’t have authorisation to be on a maritime expedition. For that mistake they were shot to death when they returned back to the North.

State Of Emergency Called In Armenia

A state of emergency has been declared in Armenia by President Robert Kocharian Saturday night. The day was filled with clashes between rioters and police protesting that the presidential election last month was rigged.

Like Kenya before it the nation of Armenia has seen its people clashing and demonstrators taking to the streets. Unlike Kenya though the riots have not had high death rates.

Police used force to move the thousands that had settled in Freedom Square over the past 10 days according to an official at the U.S. Embassy there.

Salpi Ghazarian, assistant to the Armenian foreign minister said the authorities “moved in” because “they thought that there were arms there, and it turned out that they were right.”

Although there were injuries the government has not elaborated on to extent of those or how many were involved. Witnesses to the violence though have said that gunfire has been heard. Another witness stated that two demonstrators were hit by a police car earlier. Protesters surrounded the vehicle, dragging the police out of it and then torched the car.

The state of emergency could last until March 20.

Even with the state of emergency announced though protests went on. Unrest in Yerevan is deepening as the opposition demonstrates. Opposition leader opposition leader, Nikol Pahinian told the demonstrators to brace themselves for further police attacks and boost their self defense.

“The authorities made a big mistake this morning,” said opposition leader, Nikol Pashinian. “Believe me, we will make the most of that mistake.”

Soon after the February 19th election protesters started demonstrating citing that the election was rigged. Opposition presidential candidate Levon Ter-Petrosian lost to Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian, a political ally of outgoing President Kocharian. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) oversaw the election and has stated that it was mostly in line with international standards.

Ghazarian said Sunday that the government had reached out to the opposition.

“We are hoping with the help of the international community, the opposition, the leader of the opposition, will come and enter a political dialogue rather than continuing this debate on the streets,” she said.

According to Haroutiun Khachatrian, editor of the Noyan Tappan News Agency several hundred of the demonstrators have been arrested.

As night falls though Yerevan is mostly quiet with fires burning outside a market. There is some sporadic looting. There are reports that police laid down their weapons and refused to fire into the crowd. Reports of two dead are slowly filtering out.

Citizens of the United States living in Yerevan have been warned to stay at home and avoid the downtown where the protests are underway.

Armenia is east of Turkey, south of Georgia and north of Iran. It was part of the Soviet Union and has a population of about 3 million.

Dimitri Is A Street Hero In Quebec

St. Andrew by the Lake in the snow – Photo by Bart B. Van Bockstaele

A Quebec family had it up to here with the lack of snow removal on their street. Instead of just complaining Dimitra Provias installed a snow plow on the front of her SUV. Now she’s a hero in the neighbourhood.

The plow cost the family $4000 to insure that they will be able to get through their narrow Laval, Que. street. The community is north of Montreal.

The contractor’s equipment for the small city is to big for the narrow roads. So far this winter the city has plowed Provias’ street once.

With a winter record of snow this season of 383 centimeters if the residents waited for a thaw they would be blocked in for the duration.

Thank goodness neighbours can count on Dimitra to get them out and moving on down the road.

Model And Activist Katoucha Dead At 47

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Beautiful, graceful and outspoken Katoucha Niane ruled the Parisian catwalk. Her life ended early February 2008 drowning in the river Seine. The native of Guinea was the first black African to become a global catwalk star in the 1980s.

The daughter of author, playwright and historian Djibril Tamsir Niane, Katoucha lived in exile during her childhood after her father came in conflict with Guinean President Sekou Toure. She lived with an uncle in Mali until the age of 12 when she reunited with her family in Dakar. She married her husband at the age of seventeen. After the birth of her first child the family emigrated to France.

In the 1980s Katoucha began her career as a super model working for Thierry Mugler, then Paco Rabanne and Christian Lacroix. She was a “muse” for Yves Saint Laurent. Her latest endeavor was working as the host of the French version of Top Model.

Katoucha was more than a mere model. In 1994 she became a outspoken activist against female circumcision. The cruel rite had been performed on her as a young girl of nine. She started KPLCE, an organisation that battles against the act.

‘One day, mother said we were going to the cinema. And I found myself the victim of a horror movie. ‘An unimaginable trauma that I had never managed to talk about, until I found love and wrote In My flesh,’ she said.

She said she saw her success as a form of revenge for the excision.

‘I embodied the most arrogant and admired kind of femininity, I who was supposed to be diminished.’

Returning home from a party January 31, 2008 it is thought that she slipped into the river Seine where she lived on a houseboat. The police issued a missing person’s report on the 4th of that month. On February 28, 2008 her body was found in the river. The death of 48 year old Katoucha has been ruled an accidental drowning.

She leaves behind three children.

So Long, Netscape, You Served Us Well

As of March 1, Netscape Navigator is no longer being supported. The Web browser was used by 90 per cent of those who went online, but now it has died off as a new breed of browsers eroded its user base.

When Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Firefox came into the picture Netscape Navigator started to take a backseat in the browser game. AOL is recommending that those faithful to the Internet relic upgrade to either Firefox or Flock. Those two browsers were built on the same technologies as Navigator.

“I think we represent the hope that was of Netscape,” Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla Foundation which coordinates development of Firefox, told BBC News.

“We have picked up many of the things that Netscape launched but we’ve taken them further in terms of openness and public participation.”

Baker has been with Netscape from the beginning in 1994.

Created by Marc Andreesen, Netscape was not the first browser but it was one of the leaders in the pack. Andreesen was just a student when he co-authored Mosaic, the first popular Web browser. By 1994 his company Netscape Communications Corporation had the first released Netscape version.

“Netscape had a critical role in taking all of these zeros and ones – this very academic and technical environment – and giving it a graphical user interface where an average person could come online and consume information,” he told BBC News.

“During its halcyon days it really felt like the Internet and Netscape were really the same thing,” he said.

Microsoft was one of the companies that capitalised on the success of Netscape. IE became a common feature on Windows operating systems.

The Mozilla foundation was setup by Netscape staffers in 2003 bringing forth Firefox. It has had over 500 million downloads and is the largest competitor of IE.

Rewriting The Bible Manga Style

Manga is a popular style of Japanese comic book. The Bible is one of the oldest books around. Ajinbayo Akinsiku better known as “Siku” in the manga world decided to merge the two.

The Nigerian educated artist has just penned and illustrated The Manga Bible: From Genesis to Revelation. The new version is 200 pages depicting a world full of chaos, corruption and crazed prophets. There’s a super hero element to this new retelling of the religious book, Jesus Christ.

Siku hopes that his version of the Bible will re-educate the younger generation that hasn’t attended Sunday School like he did as a child.

“These stories are still relevant,” he says. “The people in these stories are just like you and I. They have the same passions, same weaknesses and same strengths.”

The 42 year old British artist is a believer. He attended theology school and hopes to become an Anglican priest.

Court Orders Ben Griffin Not To Talk

Ben Griffin the former SAS soldier that alleged that the British military handed over captured Iraqis and Afghans to U.S. troops knowing they would be tortured was served with a gag order on Thursday.

If Griffin continues to disclose about people seized by the British special forces were mistreated he could spend time in jail. The 29 year old left the British army in 2005 because of his disagreement of the “illegal” tactics of the United States troops.

Earlier this week Griffin a speaker at a press conference was hosted by the Stop the War Coalition. During his speech he told the media that the British and United States worked together on a joint special forces taskforce. Some of the individuals that were detained ended up in interrogation centres and at Guantanamo Bay.

“I have no doubt in my mind that non-combatants I personally detained were handed over to the Americans and subsequently tortured.”

The Ministry of Defence will not comment on special forces activity.

The Last Dryvax Vaccines Have Been Destoyed

The world’s oldest vaccine is no more. The CDC announced on Friday it has disposed of the last 12 million doses of Dryvax. Dryvax is the oldest smallpox vaccine helping to eradicate the disease worldwide.

Created by scraping virus off the skin of infected calves Dryvax was a particularly dangerous virus. In recent years it has been blamed for heart problems following the lifesaving dose.

Dryvax was formulated in the late 1800s by what would become Wyeth Laboratories. By the mid-1940s Wyeth was the primary manufacturer in the United States for the smallpox vaccine and by the 1960s was the only company still making the lifesaving shot. It made its final doses in the 1980s.

Until the 1970s the smallpox vaccine was a part of the routine childhood shot schedule. The disease has been declared eradicated from the world since 1980.

The United States government stockpiled 15 doses of the vaccine. During a outbreak of monkeypox in 2003 that stockpile was used.

“There are situations where one does have to have a smallpox vaccine,” said Dr. Neal Halsey, director of John Hopkins University’s Institute for Vaccine Safety.

After the 9/11 attacks there were fears that smallpox would be used by bio-terrorists. Many emergency workers were vaccinated in case of that resulting in a painful heart inflammation for a small number. Because of the risks to the vaccine a new one has been developed called ACAM2000. It was derived from Dryvax but created in the lab. It is unclear if it will have fewer side effects than the old vaccine.

Diamond Smuggled Nabbed At Pearson

Smuggling diamonds is commonplace in African countries but not on the busy streets of Toronto. Donald MacKay, 58 was arrested at Pearson International Airport on Wednesday though doing just that.

The RCMP allege that the gemologist was trying to evade taxes and duties on the rough diamonds. They also question if MacKay was trying to trade internationally in an area that doesn’t protect citizens from the violence that the hot commodity can be the root of.

Canada is one of 74 countries that has signed on the Kimberly Process. It’s commonly known at KPCS. The process was designed to certify the origin of rough diamonds ensuring that they are free from conflict. It’s an attempt to stop the trade of “blood diamonds”. Established in 2006 in Northern Cape, South Africa the process begin to try to curb the violence in many countries where diamonds are mined.

MacKay’s charges are smuggling contrary to the Customs Act and importing rough diamonds without proper certificate contrary to the Export and Import of Rough Diamonds Act.

Deputy and Two Daughters Dead In Georgia Shooting

A teenage boy returned his home 35 minutes after gunfire was reported to find his mother and two sisters slain in Lawrenceville, Georgia. His 40 year old mother was a deputy with the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.

The 17 year old boy is the sole survivor of the family. His mother was a deputy for seven and a half years with the department close to Atlanta, Georgia.

Authorities responded to a shots fired report in the Gwinnett County subdivision Thursday night. A bullet hole was found in a neighbour’s house which lead them to the home of the deputy. Her marked patrol car was in the driveway when they went to enter the home. The first victim, an eleven year old girl was just outside the front door. Inside the home the mother and a four year old girl were found also shot dead.

“They knew a deputy lived there, so they knocked at the door to see if everybody was all right,” Schiralli said. “There was no answer, but lights were on. They opened the door a little bit to announce themselves. That’s when they saw the 11-year-old.”

The deputy was not married.

Dave Clark Five Singer, Mike Smith, Dead at 64

In less than two weeks the Dave Clark Five are to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Lead singer Mike Smith won’t be on hand. He died Thursday at the age of 64 from pneumonia.

Smith was admitted to the ICU unit at a hospital outside of London on Wednesday. The singer of ‘I Like It Like That’ had been paralyzed below the ribcage since a fall at his home in September 2003. He had recently moved to a specially prepared home with his wife Charlie after spending the last five years in hospital because of that accident.

“These last five years were extremely difficult for Mike. I am incredibly saddened to lose him, his energy and his humor, but I am comforted by the fact that he had the chance to spend his final months and days at home with his loving wife Charlie,” agent Margo Lewis said.

Part of the British Invasion Smith wrote songs as well as playing the keys for the strongest threat to the Beatles. The band made a total of 12 appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show”.

The band was the focus of the 1965 John Boorman documentary “Catch Us If You Can.”

The band broke up in 1970. Smith had hoped to attend the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony set for March 10.

His wife Arlene (Charlie) survives him.

Toxin Found In Las Vegas Hotel + Updates

A container of the deadly toxin ricin was brought to the manager’s office of the Extended Stay America hotel Thursday by a man who had been retrieving items from the hotel room.

The police who were called in revealed that the container contained 100 percent ricin within.

Four people from the hotel were taken to the hospital for precaution after the discovery. Three police officers that went into the room are also being observed at the hospital. At this point all seven have been free of symptoms of the toxin.

Ricin poisoning has the potential to cause difficulty breathing, fever, cough, nausea and sweating to severe vomiting and dehydration.

The hotel room and all areas of concern have been quarantined. A decontamination process has been started. Those in the hospital have already been decontaminated.

The number of guests that have stayed in the room is not known at this time.

According to Capt. Joe Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department at this time the discovery is not considered a terror incident. There are no suspects yet as the investigation begins.

The poison ricin comes from the left over after processing castor beans. The toxin comes in mist or pellet form. It can be dissolved in water or weak acid.

It takes very little of the poison to be lethal. 6000 times more poisonous than cyanide it can be inhaled, injected or ingested. The size of the head of a pin can kill an adult. It works by entering cells and then blocking the cell from producing the proteins that it needs. Those who do survive the severe diarrhea and shock often have to contend with long term organ damage.

Some ricins have been used in the treatment of cancer. In some cases it is considered a ‘magic bullet’ attacking malignant cells that are linked to monoclonal antibodies. It is more well known though for its negative uses. Georgi Markov was assassinated by the toxin in 1978. It is suspected that the Bulgarian secret police shot him in the leg with a pellet of the poison. A few days later in hospital he died. What makes ricin so dangerous is that there is not specific antidote.

There were castor beans found in the room along with powder in a small vial according to Lombardo. Ricin in itself is not illegal to own and only becomes illegal if processed to use in poisoning another person.

UPDATE 1:

Man In Critical Care After Ricin Exposure In Vegas

The news is not good in Las Vegas today where a container filled with ricin was discovered on Thursday. Earlier reports had said that no one was ill from the find. Now it is being reported that at least one person is in critical condition.

The latest information is that the man was discovered in his room unconscience on February 14. He had placed a call to the front desk expressing respiratory distress. He has been in a coma since that time.

On Thursday a relative or friend of the gentleman arrived at the hotel to
remove his belongings. At that time he came across the vial. The vial was later confirmed to be 100 percent ricin.

While the authorities say this is not an act of terrorism there are questions as to why the man had a vial of the lethal toxin in his hotel room. There is an ongoing criminal investigation underway.

UPDATE 2:

Roger Von Bergendorff Named As The Man In Coma From Ricin Las Vegas Case

The man in the middle of the Las Vegas ricin case has been identified as Roger Von Bergendorff. His cousin, Thomas Tholen of Riverton, Utah said that the man was “holding his own.”

Ricin has no antidote.

Roger Von Bergendorff had stayed at the Extended Stay America hotel in Las Vegas prior to his admission into the hospital. He is in a coma and has been since Feb. 14.

Tests did not reveal ricin in the motel office, the room itself where Roger Von Bergendorff was staying nor a room at the Excalibur where Tholen stayed on Wednesday night.

Dr. Lawrence Sands the chief health officer of the Southern Nevada Health District in Las Vegas has stated that the general public was not at risk to the ricin poisoning as far as they can tell.

“Right now, we don’t have any indication anyone has been exposed to ricin in the community,” Sands said, adding that health officials were still trying to confirm whether Von Bergendorff’s respiratory ailment stemmed from ricin exposure.

There were three pets in the room when Tholen arrived in Las Vegas this past Wednesday. Two cats and a dog that was so ill it had to be put down by the Las Vegas Humane Society.

After Tholen took the three vials that contained ricin to the office at the Extended Stay America hotel the police were called. The three police officers that took the call, two hotel employees and Tholen were taken to area hospitals after being decontaminated at the scene. None of the seven have shown signs of ricin poisoning.

It is still unclear why Von Bergendorff was in possession of the three vials. The police also revealed on Friday that firearms, an “anarchist-type textbook” and castor beans were also in the 57 year old man’s room. The book had been tabbed to a spot that contained information on ricin.

Execution Approved For ‘Chemical Ali’

Saddam Hussein’s cousin Hassan al-Majid, better known as Chemical Ali will be going to the gallows within 30 days. Appeals have not saved the man charged with 100,000 Kurd deaths that resulted from the Anfal campaign in northern Iraq in 1988.

During the campaign that took countless lives al-Majid ultilized poison gas earning him the nickname ‘Chemical Ali’.

Majid remained defiant throughout his trial not once showing any remorse for the carnage he was in charge of.

He said at one hearing: “I am the one who gave orders to the army to demolish villages and relocate the villagers. I am not apologising. I did not make a mistake.”

Hussein Rashid Mohammed, an ex-deputy director of operations for the Iraqi armed forces, and former defense minister Sultan Hashim al-Taie did not have approval from the three member presidental council that approves death sentences. The two that were tried with al-Majid are in United States custody.

The council though did approve for ‘Chemical Ali’ to be executed by hanging. He will be the fifth former regime leader to be hanged for the war crimes associated with the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Kurds.

Explosion Rocks Chicago Strip Mall, 5 Injured (updated)

An explosive at a mall 40 miles north of Chicago left mannequins, broken glass and debris littering the street. The explosion, injuring five people, occurred at a strip mall in Waukegan, Illinois.

According to a spokesman, Vista Hospital has received five of the injured brought in from the blast.

There have been no reasons given for the blast. Crews from Peoples Gas Co. are working the site. North Shore Gas Co. was on site after turning off gas lines so the firefighters were able to search the rubble for any other survivors.

“We do know there was an explosion. We know there was a tuxedo store there and also a hair salon and a bar. Until the firefighters get in there and … we can get to our equipment and take a closer look, it is premature to say exactly what has caused this,” she told CNN.

The blast took place about 12:15 p.m.

More details will follow as they come available.

update:

Nine have now been reported injured in the explosion.

A total of three stores were rocked when what appears to be a gas related explosion occured a little after noon Thursday in Waulegan, Illinios.

Two of the nine injured was reported to be in serious condition at Vista Medical Center East. The status of the other injured has not been disclosed.

Most of those injured were at the Cleopatra’s Unisex Hair Salon. Two of those had to be extricated from the rubble. There have reports of smoke inhalation injures.

There is one more possible missing person within the rubble.

Prince Harry Was Serving His Country In Afghanistan

Princess Diana wanted her boys to live life and to go their own way. It appears that her youngest Prince Harry is doing just that as he is seeing combat first hand with the rest of his unit.

Deployed in December in secret Harry has been serving right along beside his unit in Afghanistan. For the past ten weeks his unit has remained mum pledged to secrecy about their comrade in arms.

Prince Harry has always been outspoken on his deserve to be just like the rest of his unit and serve his country. It’s what he signed on to do.

The British Army and the media had struck a deal prior to the prince’s deployment for the safety not only of the prince but of the rest of his unit. At this time as the news breaks that he is in the Middle East fighting decisions have to be made if he and those soldiers of the the Blues and Royals are still safe enough for him to remain in combat.

Chief of the General Staff Sir Richard Dannatt said: “What the last two months have shown is that it is perfectly possible for Prince Harry to be employed just the same as other Army officers of his rank and experience.

“His conduct on operations in Afghanistan has been exemplary. He has been fully involved in operations and has run the same risks as everyone else in his Battlegroup.

“In common with all of his generation in the army today, he is a credit to the nation.

“In deciding to deploy him to Afghanistan, it was my judgment that with an understanding with the media not to broadcast his whereabouts, the risk in doing was manageable.”

I am sure his Mum would be proud.

Update 1:

Prince Harry To Head Home

The BBC is announcing that Prince Harry will be withdrawn from the battle in Afghanistan. On Thursday news reports that the prince was in combat put him and his unit in jeopardy resulting on the decision to remove the 23 year old from battle.

Brigadier Patrick Marriott has only positive words about Prince Harry’s time in army fatigues.

“There’s been an enormous amount of planning that’s gone on into this, and the fact that this was going to break was always thought a possible outcome and so plans are there – and I think people can be reassured about that.”

Part of the Household Cavalry Prince Harry had been based with a Gurkha regiment. He was involved in air cover support of ground forces and foot patrols.

Conservative leader David Cameron praised the British press for keeping the story under wraps for the ten weeks that Prince Harry was enabled to be like every other soldier in the British military.

“He has pursued his desire to get on the front line and serve his country with huge determination and courage. I applaud the British press for not breaking the story and risking his life and others around him.”

The news had first leaked out in an Australian publication in January however it wasn’t until The Drudge Report ran the story did the unit of the prince and the prince himself become jeopardized.

Update:2

Op-Ed: Does Prince Harry Dislike His Homeland?

After being pulled from the field because of the media’s coverage in Afghanistan Prince Harry will be welcomed home to England with a hero’s welcome but is his homeland where he wants to be?

“I don’t want to sit around in Windsor,” he said, referring to his barracks near a royal residence outside London in a pooled interview in Afghanistan last week, released after the blackout on his whereabouts was broken.

“But I generally don’t like England that much and, you know, it’s nice to be away from all the press and the papers and all the general s..(expletive) that they write.”

The prince has been the subject of many a British tabloid smear story from his hard partying to totally invading the young man’s privacy.

He has had to deal with the press all of his life and watch how that press at times tarnished his own mother’s image. Being born into the House of Windsor makes him a target for the media regardless of how he feels about it.

For a while after the death of Diana her sons were allowed by the press some privacy. That changed as they aged and began their college careers, the press camping out to capture their every move. From wearing a Nazi outfit for a Halloween Party to drinking all hours of the night the press covered the young royal relentlessly.

With the most recent media coverage over his time spent in Afghanistan fighting along side the rest of his unit he is no doubt rather angry about having to leave the ‘good fight’ and settle back into the blue blooded life.

Lives Shattered By Domestic Violence

Brandon Roskos knew that his girlfriend Brandi Watson’s ex-boyfriend was upset about their breakup. Rusty “Bo” Rumley had after all threatened to shot him. He laughed it off. Bo made good his promise on Wednesday morning.

“This guy was threatening my son many times,” said Mark Roskos, of Bristol, Tenn. “He told him he’d shoot him. My son never took him serious. He used to just laugh it off.”

Brandon died in hospital Wednesday afternoon. His father didn’t make it there in time to have any last words with his son. He and three others the victim of a jealous ex-boyfriend who couldn’t move on.

Rumley used the excuse of needing help to move furniture to enter the Edgemont Towers where Watson lived with her mother. There he took 43 year old Francis Watson, Brandi’s mother and neighbour Roy Malone,55 to the breezeway where he shot them. The time was about 10:40 a.m.

Rumley then returned to the eighth floor apartment and asked Brandi for a drink. As she opened the refrigerator door he made his move shooting Brandon Roskos,20, and 53 year old family friend Danny Wayne Murray. Somehow Watkins was able to close the door locking him out of the apartment and into the hallway as he tried to reload his gun.

That brave act saved her life. All of those who had been shot were either dead or dying.

Rumley ran. He drove his pickup to Carter county where his family lived and ran into the wooded hills. SWAT was tracking him at about 2 p.m. when they heard a single gunshot. Rumley had killed himself.

Now Brandi Watson is left to pick up the pieces.

Brandi Watson met Brandon Roskos when they were just 12. They two were sweethearts through high school. Later Brandi moved to Knoxville and for a short time dated Bo Rumley. She broke up with him though and reunited with Brandon. She was even working with his mother at a KFC.

26 year old Bo Rumley was in the Army but was discharged after going AWOL. He quickly got into trouble with the law. After being convicted of a federal felony charge of conspiracy to sell stolen firearms he spent two years in a federal penitentiary. He had recently joined the Tennessee National Guard. It’s not clear how a convicted felon with arms charges was able to join the Guard but he made private 1st class with Troop L3278, of Greeneville, Tenn.

Last year he and girlfriend Brandi Watson moved to Knoxville. He was happy until she left shortly after Christmas leaving him a note on the table. She returned to Bristol. Bo was devastated.

He was distraught about his life, he had some issues with his girlfriend, he was obviously in love — along those lines,” Carter County Sheriff Chris Mathes said of the letter.

Somehow he obtained a gun. With his felony conviction that shouldn’t have happened. Somehow the law that should have protected the four that died didn’t work. Somehow Brandi Watson is left to pick up the pieces of her life without her mother or the man she loved.

Another tragedy in the world of domestic violence.