Kerosene-soaked man dies after lighting up in Japanese police station
A Japanese man who had doused himself with kerosene in front of police died of burns after asking to smoke during interrogation, police and reports said Monday. Hifumi Kubota, 45, was taken for questioning to a police station in the central Japanese city of Nagoya on Saturday after a woman who was living with him told police that he was acting violently.
When officers came to his house, "he poured kerosene over himself in front of police," a police spokesman said.
Kubota refused to change his kerosene-soaked clothes at the police station and asked to smoke during questioning, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun and other Japanese media. Despite no-smoking rules in the building, a police official gave him a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Smart move.
When Kubota stood up, his right knee was ablaze and he quickly turned into a fireball, the reports said. The police spokesman declined to give further details, but said Kubota was rushed to hospital where he died Sunday due to burns over a wide area of his body. Smoking is bad for your health, or Kubota's, at least...
A Fort Worth businesswoman was almost robbed at her shop, but a neighbor comes to her rescue. In the end, the man suspected of the crime is shot and killed. Chong Im Randle, who friends call Angel, described her conversation with the would-be robber. "I say you not to shoot. Okay, you kill me I'm going to heaven. You go to jail."
By Friday afternoon Angel appeared calm and collected as she detailed the morning's activity. "He followed me, then grabbed me. I hit him with my elbow."
Randal says 45-year-old Richard Lane wore a mask when he broke into Happy Donuts around 1:30 a.m., with what looked like a rifle. He stole money from the cash drawer, beat Randal up and tried to steal her car. "I grabbed my telephone," Randal explained. "He said, don't call police. I say I gotta do something."
Meanwhile her neighbor, 54-year-old Stanley Livingston, heard the commotion next door, grabbed his shotgun and ran over to help. That's when Lane allegedly pointed his gun at Livingston, who fired one shot killing the robber.
Fort Worth defense attorney Trey Loftin told CBS 11 News, "We're a gun toting state. We have a lot of John Wayne in our blood. We're gonna shoot first and ask questions later." Loftin says Livingston will most likely not be charged.
Randal, who says this morning's robbery was the second in two weeks, is grateful her neighbor was there. "If my neighbor no come, what is gone happen? I might die."
According to Fort Worth police Lane was armed with a BB gun rifle during the robbery. State records indicate Lane had an extensive criminal history, including aggravated assault and aggravated robbery.
After talking to police Randal was back in the store. She said she had to keep her promises to customers. "We have orders that have to be delivered," she said.
#6
I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm damned glad whenever I hear about one of these scum being killed. Far better for society that the perp gets killed in the act than have him enter the revolving-door justice system, do a few years (at most) in post-graduate criminal training, and then be released with greater skills and fewer inhibitions to prey on more innocent victims. Very well done, Stanley. I wish there were more people like you.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
05/12/2008 5:26 Comments ||
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#7
Another triumph for the progressives.
What, you don't see it?
He used a BB gun because he couldn't get a permit for a .357 magnum.
The death, however, should not have happened had the neighbor simply called 911 and not interfered.
Waitaminute! Maybe BB guns should be licensed!
Posted by: Progressive Bobby ||
05/12/2008 6:13 Comments ||
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#8
"We have orders that have to be delivered,"
Immigrants are a big part of what makes America great. We should always have room for people like Chong Im.
Yes, Britain is well and truly lost.
Michael Clark, 40, was on the Sex Offenders Register and subject to official checks. But he was able to move into a city of his choosing where neighbours did not know his past. The council considered him too dangerous to live there, but had to house him after being warned of legal action for breaching his human rights as a homeless person. Clark had just been released from a three-year jail term for sexually assaulting a prostitute and had been given a seven-year sentence for raping a woman in her own home.
Robert and Matgorzarta Zommer came to Britain from Poland with their daughter Zuzanna, 14, and nine-year-old son Mikotej. Clark, a jobless solvent abuser, struck as the couple walked their son to his first day at school two months after arriving in the country. He is thought to have let himself into the house where he sexually assaulted Zuzanna before stabbing her in the stomach, fracturing her skull by stamping on her head and slitting her throat.
Afterwards he drew his benefits from a Post Office and went to Blackpool.
Yesterday he was jailed for a minimum of 35 years at Sheffield Crown Court after being convicted of murder and sexual assault. Clark also had convictions for assaulting a woman friend and assaulting two police officers, biting a testicle off one of them.
When he was released from jail for attacking the prostitute it was considered too dangerous for him to return to Scunthorpe, Lincs. He moved to Leeds, where the city council rejected his request to house him. Les Carter, Leeds city council's head of neighbourhood and housing, said the homeless charity Shelter warned of possible judicial review because the decision infringed his human rights. He said: "I'm not worried about his rights, I'm more concerned about the rights of a 14-year-old girl who should be alive today."
Det Supt Bill Shackleton, who led the police inquiry, said: "Clark was on the Sex Offenders Register and regular checks were carried out on him. He was being managed in the community." The Police as enemy of the people and the Queen's Peace.
A spokesman for West Yorkshire Probation Service said: "We had no statutory supervision of Clark. He was not on licence or any other kind of sentence that involved probation."
A Shelter spokesman said: "This is a tragic case and we send our sincerest sympathies to the family. We did not ask or threaten a judicial review. The decisions on where to place Clark and who to house next to him were taken by Leeds city council. Questions need to be asked as to why this young girl and her family were housed next to a known sex offender." Yes, questions need to be asked.
More importantly, answers have to be given, and lessons have to be learned.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Adult entertainment publisher Playboy Enterprises Inc posted a quarterly loss on Tuesday because of weaker publishing and domestic television revenue and forecast more trouble during the year, pushing its shares down 8 percent.
The worse-than-expected results illustrate the trouble that Playboy and other publishers and television companies face as more people get their entertainment online, and often for free. True, dat. You get a better grade of cheesecake, for free, from the Rantburg Defender-Scimitar & Times-Picayune every morning--without all the creepyness inherent in anything associated with Hugh Hefner.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/12/2008 12:27 ||
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#1
I still believe that Playboy will die with Hefner. It might take a few years, but it will follow its founder to the grave.
#2
One of the major problems that Playboy faces is that any articles in it are reflexively liberal/leftist, and when the magazine get called on inaccuracies in same, they never respond. Hefner has misinterpreted the appeal of the magazine and is burdening it with dead weight in the form of a liberal manifesto - hey, Hef! Guys like the magazine for the girls, not your opinions!
#4
Funny thing is, if I read Playboy it's for the articles. Don't want to let you all in on the secret but there are boobies for free on the internet if you look. You don't even have to look very hard.
Playboy has been a dead man walking for some time.
#5
Based on the PLAYBOY Mags I've seen in local stores since 2005, IMO > LACKLUSTER WRITING, LAYOUT, + ABOVE ALL TOO LONG ON THE BLONDE ARYANISM PROMO, i.e. to many obviously NOT-BORN-A-ARYAN-BLONDE BABES WEARING POORLY-SIZED BLONDE WIGS = BOTTLE DYE. TOO MANY UN-NATURAL BABES TRYING TO LOOK/PROMO AS NATURAL.
MISSED THE QUIZ ON EFFECTIVE TOTAL PRODUCT PACKAGING-MARKETING AGAIN, DIDN'T WE!
On the lighter side, research reveals...
It is, perhaps literally, a no-brainer. Most men like looking at naked breasts. Many women wonder why. Those in the business of making money out of mammaries are happy to exploit the mystery. Take Jo Hanna, the 50-something female manager of a South Auckland bar which ignited a brouhaha by introducing topless waitresses on Thursday nights.
Waitresses at Jo's Place, in a suburban shopping centre, have taken off their tops since March. Councillors have denounced the stunt as "tacky and demeaning", and inappropriate for a shopping centre.
"Excuse me," says an unrepentant Hanna, "but we are now getting naked newsreaders. What about all the pole-dancing bars in the USA? It's everywhere. We're not breaking the law. These girls aren't getting mauled or pawed. Okay, they're getting ogled, but nothing untoward goes on. It's just a gimmick to get patrons to come in."
And it's working: turnover has trebled.
Over at Alt TV, station managers are planning to welcome thousands of new viewers when their Naked News show starts this month.
Why, if half the population has them, are naked breasts still such a sought-after commercial commodity?
"It's primitive, instinctual, we're never going to change it," says Hanna, who adds her waitresses come in all shapes and sizes and are welcomed equally by her male clients. "Men just appreciate being able to freely ogle the girls."
She's right, says Canterbury University social psychologist Garth Fletcher. The sex appeal of breasts has an innate, biological basis.
#1
OTOH, IRAN-DAILY > CANADIAN SURVEY of 18000 Femmes > apparently, the TOP 10 CHORES done by STAY-AT-HOME WOMEN/MOMS is equal to a $125,000 job, or in the altern a $75,000 job for a WORKING/PROFESSN WOMAN. Results indic that MOMS = WOMEN are truly in charge of HOME-BASED BUSINESSES???
Craziness in Ol' Blightey
A new ruling has granted pagan inmates in British prisons the right to keep twigs in their cells for use as wands, the U.K.s Daily Mail newspaper reported Monday.
The policy, announced by Justice Reform Minister Maria Eagle, gives prisoners the right to carry and decorate the twigs for use in their rituals, the Mail reported. Its the latest in a string of reforms to protect the religious rights of prisoners. "Prison service policy is to enable prisoners of different faith traditions, including paganism, to practice their religion, Eagle told the Mail.
The wands will join items such as prayer mats as acceptable religious artifacts.
A prisons spokesman said the ruling sounds like an April Fools Day joke. But I gather it's not a joke....
#1
The ruling might not be a joke but there is a chance the demand was. Curious if any of those in the Jedi religion are in prison and what they would demand.
A chilled-out barbecue on a balcony turned into a nightmare for two young men in Kaiserslautern on Saturday as they ended up accidentally setting a car on fire and damaging two other vehicles.
The incident took place in the southern German city of Kaiserslautern on Saturday evening, as the two men, aged 28 and 37, took advantage of the warm weather to grill some steaks on their balcony. Police said the duo initially struggled to light the charcoal with a fluid lighter but failed.
Frustrated, the 37-year-old then grabbed a can of petrol, poured some into a cup and over the charcoal in an effort to finally get the grill started. The result was a sudden explosive flame that apparently startled the two men.
The 37-year-old accidentally dropped the cup of petrol in his hand while his friend, in panic, let go of the petrol can. The inflammable oil pool gushed down the balcony and into the courtyard where the 37-year-olds car was parked. The vehicle burst into flames and was gutted within minutes.
Two other cars parked next to it one of them belonged to the mans wife were also damaged. Police estimate the incident caused damages worth 30,000.
#1
Thank goodness it was 2/3rds an own goal. Germans are very protective of their cars -- they have case law about who gets the parking space when both cars aim toward it at exactly the same time.
#4
SEND IN THE MARINES > its agz the law for Germans to be incompetent = inefficient like Americans or Frenchies. This is as bad as British Guardsmen fainting = dropping their rifles on duty while at attention in dress formation.
NEW DELHI: Finding husbands for highly-educated women is difficult. Co-education makes them go astray. Girls should be educated only till they attain puberty. And the ideal education for Muslim girls is religious, plus a modicum of general subjects to enable them to become good housewives.
These are some of the beliefs why Muslim women in India are educationally-backward, reveals a government-commissioned study.
Commissioned by the ministry of women and child development, the survey conducted to prepare a national plan of action for the advancement of Muslim womens education found that the most common factors responsible for the high incidence of non-enrolment, alarmingly high dropouts and low achievement among Muslim girls were poverty, lack of women teachers, absence of separate schools for girls, observance of purdah, opposition to secular education, early marriage, community resistance and conservative attitudes.
Of the total out-of-school Muslim children aged 6-13, 45% are girls. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Orissa have the most low-literacy districts across religions. The southern states fare better, possibly because they have a large number of technical and professional institutions.
Finding appropriate husbands for highly-educated Muslim girls was a major hindrance because only a few Muslim boys go for higher education due to poverty and the perception of discrimination in government employment.
It was noted that the clergy had a stranglehold on the illiterate and poor strata of the Muslim society who were given diktats and injunctions on what a Muslim, specially a Muslim woman, can or cannot do.
The study found that there was considerable opposition to co-education as parents felt it might lead to girls going astray. Only 12.5% of the people surveyed said they were not opposed to co-education. A majority of parents supported education for girls but only till the age of puberty and in all-girl schools and under female teachers.
However, Mohd Manzur Alam, member of the Muslim Personal Law Board, argues such beliefs are among other Indian communities as well. Muslims girls are doing very well in education in the southern states while in north India, both Muslim boys and girls are lagging behind. Lack of security is a prime concern for parents of all girls in all states and all religions, so why underline only Muslims? he said.
Contrary to popular belief, Muslim girls consider burqa a facilitator, not an obstruction. Among Muslims, there is a perceived sense of being discriminated against by the system.
The fear that secular state schools which do not impart religious education would pollute the minds of Muslim children was heightened by the clergy who recommended only Islamic education to retain purity of thought and conduct.
#1
Mohd Manzur Alam, member of the Muslim Personal Law Board, argues such beliefs are among other Indian communities as well.
A photo from last week's Agni 3 MRBM launch - at least 7 women in the design team
Posted by: john frum ||
05/12/2008 17:22 Comments ||
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Women scientists involved in strategic weapons programme
New Delhi (PTI): As the world celebrates Mother's Day day, a little known fact has emerged that women scientists are propelling India's strategic weapons programme including long range missile.
According to official figures there were almost up to 200 women scientists involved in India's key weapon programmes
Now Dr Tessy Thomas would be the first woman scientist in the country to become Project Director for developing upgraded versions of the 2,000 kilometre range nuclear capable surface to surface Agni-II missile.
Thomas is presently the Associate Project Director of the 3,000 kilometre range Agni-III missile project. Thomas, an expert on all solid system propellant did the post analysis of the failure of the first Agni-III missile. She said there were some shortcoming in the first test of the missile. But these have been overcome to have a smooth flawless test fly.
Posted by: john frum ||
05/12/2008 17:27 Comments ||
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The Pacific Research Institute estimates that the tort system nationwide costs the economy about $7,000 for every family in America.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
It's signal detection theory.
No one (Pro-litigation leaning or Anti-litigation leaning) is really complaining about the True Positives or the True Negatives. The Anti-litigation leaning are clearly complaining about the False Positives, and the Pro-litigation leaning are clearly complaining about the False Negatives.
The real question should be how we can make our criteria more closely match true reality. That won't happen by banning all lawsuits or making lawsuits unprofitable -- something clearly prohibited by the constitution and the Founders of the U.S. That also won't happen by encouraging frivolous lawsuits or allowing attorneys to gouge the system -- something that is prohibited by the laws of every state of which I am aware, and which can result (and has resulted) in the disbarment of attorneys.
The only thing that can make our criteria more closely match true reality is by continuing to upgrade the Rules of Evidence, Standards of Proof, and Rules of Civil Procedure. But, that's complex, and it is just a whole lot easier to talk about greedy trial attorneys or conservative bastards. Yet, sadly, any other approach will always result in one of the following:
Lower False Positives and you raise False Negatives.
Lower False Negatives and you raise False Positives.
#3
Under the old system, a plaintiff's attorney could toss a pile of mud at the plaintiff's and if he looked bad to the jury, the plaintiff would cash in. Justice was blind. Damage quantification awarded frauds; in order to redress personal injury wrongs, barely or non-culpable persons - even where they made good faith errors - were subject to ruinous defamation. What a system: use tortious conduct to redress alleged tortious conduct.
#4
It's always the way. If a profession or industry refuses to show restraint and maintain an internal culture to restrain themselves, they spin out of control until they end up being regulated by the government.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
05/12/2008 5:47 Comments ||
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#5
I'd like to see this catch on like wildfire and spread across the country without control. But it will probably just be reversed by the next donks in office.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Kerosene-soaked man dies after lighting up in Japanese police station
A Fort Worth businesswoman was almost robbed at her shop, but a neighbor comes to her rescue. In the end, the man suspected of the crime is shot and killed. Chong Im Randle, who friends call Angel, described her conversation with the would-be robber. "I say you not to shoot. Okay, you kill me I'm going to heaven. You go to jail."
Code Pink stages a Mother's Day protest in DC. About 30 clowns, and I mean that literally, showed up, including Medea. Look at the pics. Amazing. 
