Austrian Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years and fathered her seven children, said he was no "monster" and he could have killed her and her children had he wanted to, according to his lawyer. "I am not a monster," Austrian daily Oesterreich quoted Fritzl as saying in comments relayed by his lawyer Rudolf Mayer.
Elizabeth Bathory wasn't a monster, either. Neither was Little Harp.
Fritzl also criticised media coverage of his case as "totally one-sided".
There's another side?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2008 00:00 ||
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said he was no "monster" and he could have killed her and her children had he wanted to
I bet he held that little bit of information over their heads constantly too.
Posted by: Jan ||
05/08/2008 1:01 Comments ||
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#2
Classic attitude for this sort of monster. It's what the death penalty is for.
#5
I am going to have to seriously start avoiding reading or hearing about this story at all, because every time I do, I spend the next half hour thinking of how much I'd like to beat and torture this monster to death. It can't be a healthy way to spend my time.
If there were more Europeans demanding that this *#@%! be put to an excruciating death than there were Europeans demanding that Gitmo be shut down, I would consider it a sign that Europe might still have a chance. Of course this fantasy is as unrealistic as my fantasy of beating Fritzl like a pinata, no doubt. In any event, I have to go now so I can curse and yell and break stuff.
A Florida teacher may have to pull an unemployment check out of his hat after performing magic in front of students, according to reports.
Jim Piculas said he made a toothpick disappear and reappear in front of students at the Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes, Fla., Local6.com reported. He said he later got a call from the supervisor of teachers, saying he had been accused of wizardry. "I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, 'Jim, we have a huge issue. You can't take any more assignments. You need to come in right away,'" he told Local6.com.
Piculas said hes concerned the incident may prevent him from being considered for future jobs.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2008 00:00 ||
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Oh for G*d's sake! Some middle school student can't tell the difference between a simple sleight of hand trick and "wizardry" and the guy gets fired? I could understand if this story came from Nigeria, or Afghanistan, but Florida?
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
05/08/2008 0:36 Comments ||
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#2
Ah, Wizardy, the first of the computer dungeon adventure games. Glad they were living next to de Leon's pool so bringing the early 80's into the next century. Now to get them a job at the state department...
#3
So much for trying to get that youngster's attention. Makes one wonder what that child is being taught at home. I can remember when being a "teaching wizard" was a good thing.
#4
Jim Jinn Piculas said he made a toothpick disappear and reappear in front of students at the (Salman) Rushe Middle School Madrassah in Land 'O Lakes Lahore, Florida
#5
Are they seriously considering the possibility that he is a wizard? That's so, muslim. Slight of hand is more like it, and to my knowledge, that has not been banned by any school. You can't punish a guy for doing something that isn't against the rules. I think this guy might need to find a good lawyer.
Morgan Sparks, who led Sandia National Laboratories for nearly a decade and invented a device that has revolutionized almost every aspect of modern life, has died.
Sparks died Saturday at his daughter's home in Fullerton, Calif., Sandia said Tuesday in a news release. He was 91.
Sparks worked for 30 years at Bell Laboratories in New Jersey before taking over as director of Sandia in 1972. He served in the post until his retirement in 1981.
Sandia and Bell labs officials said Sparks invented the first practical transistor, a semiconductor device that led to devices such as personal computers, cell phones and DVD players.
Transistors work something like light switches, flipping on and off inside a chip to generate the ones and zeros that store and process information inside a computer.
Sparks joined the Semiconductor Research Group at the New Jersey lab in 1948 just as three of the group's physicists John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley were developing the first transistor for which they won the Nobel Prize, said Peter Benedict, a spokesman for Bell. The New Jersey lab is the research arm of Alcatel-Lucent.
Sparks conducted materials science research with the group and worked with fellow team members Shockley and Gordon Teal to help develop the microwatt junction transistor in 1951...
Irvine Robbins, who with his brother-in-law, Burton Baskin, started the Baskin-Robbins chain of ice cream stores together concocting quirky flavor combinations with names like Daiquiri Ice, Pink Bubblegum and Here Comes the Fudge died on Monday near his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 90. . . .
I shall toast his memory with a double scoop of French Vanilla, with fudge topping.
Posted by: Mike ||
05/08/2008 12:34 ||
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So maybe the message is that if you want to live to be 90 eat Ice cream; the new health food. If one listened to all the medical pundits and read all the medical research, one would be stark raving mad in a month or less.
A U.S. Navy destroyer will be named after Lt. Michael P. Murphy, the Patchogue native who was killed in Afghanistan in 2005 while seeking help for his platoon members who had come under intense fire from the Taliban, officials said Wednesday.
At a ceremony on the eastern shore of Lake Ronkonkoma -- in a Brookhaven Town beach previously named after Murphy, who was awarded the Medal of Honor last September -- Navy Secretary Donald Winter said the keel of the destroyer would be laid in June 2009 at a shipyard in Maine. He said the ship would be commissioned in 2011.
Winter said Navy warships have traditionally been named after major historical figures, such as American presidents. He said the naming of the destroyer after Murphy was "an opportunity to recognize this new generation of heroes."
Murphy had been a lifeguard on the same Ronkonkoma beach when he was growing up in Patchogue.
The announcement pleased the slain sailor's family. "I am at a loss; what do you say?" said Murphy's father, Daniel Murphy, of Wading River. " 'Thank you' seems so trivial in light of such an honor to our son."
Murphy and a four-man Navy SEAL team were hiding on a mountainside in eastern Afghanistan trailing a Taliban leader when they were surrounded by dozens of fighters. In receiving the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest award, Murphy was cited for exposing himself to enemy fire while trying to radio for help. Murphy and two others were killed; a fourth SEAL was saved when an Afghan herder came upon him and took him to his village for safekeeping.
Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command under which Murphy served, said the ship's naming represents the pinnacle of naval honors.
"His was a courageous act," Kernan said. "If you have a ship named after you, you've done something extraordinary."
#1
The announcement pleased the slain sailor's family. "I am at a loss; what do you say?" said Murphy's father, Daniel Murphy, of Wading River. " 'Thank you' seems so trivial in light of such an honor to our son."
The father is a humble man. It's seems like the truth is the other way around; it seems modest in light of Murphy's actions to name a Destroyer after him.
#3
Destroyers and destroyer escorts/frigates have traditionally been named after individuals, usually admirals or or heroes. (E.G. DDG 56 John S. McCain, DD 850 Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., FF1093 Cappodanno)
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
05/08/2008 14:42 Comments ||
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yup, and carriers after presidents.
Sad to say, the prospect of the CVN USS Hillary Rodham Clinton is receding into the distance.
#6
Over time, the naming of US ships has changed. Battle ships used to be named after states, cruisers after cities, submarines after marine animals. Nowadays, we don't have battle ships, so we name cruisers and ballistic missile submarines after states or presidents (USS Jimmy Carter (!!)), and attack submarines are named after cities and other things. Cruisers are named after famous battles (USS Lake Erie). Carriers lately have been named after presidents, but some are named after Congressmen and Secretaries of the Navy.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
05/08/2008 16:10 Comments ||
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Somehow the CVN "B. Hussein Obama" doesn't carry quite the smack one would like, though it might be somwhat amusing/ironic given likely targets
If you've dug out your camping gear from the recesses of storage for a few star-filled nights in the high country, the Forest Service is saying "not so fast."
The scheduled openings of several campgrounds in the Pike and San Isabel national forests have been delayed because of snow and freezing temperatures.
"At this time some high-elevation campgrounds are opening late because the amount of snow is prohibitive. In other cases, continued low and potentially freezing temperatures prevent the operation of our water systems," said a news release from the U.S. Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Region. "In a few locations the lakes and reservoirs are partially frozen, creating some unsafe conditions for anglers."
The delayed openings affect sites at higher elevations such as Blue Lake and Bear Lake, Kenosha and Hall Valley. The Forest Service hopes to open them by Memorial Day. Monarch Campground in Chaffee County will not be available until mid-June.
Open campgrounds include:
- Lake Isabel
- Sites along the South Platte River and in the Manitou Park area north of Woodland Park.
Campgrounds scheduled to open on time include:
- Eleven Mile Canyon.
- Jefferson Lake and the campgrounds at Rampart Reservoir are all tentatively scheduled to open on May 15.
- Twin Lakes and Lakeview in Lake County, although the recreational areas at Turquoise Lake may not open by Memorial Day weekend.
A journalist who fears he will be murdered if he returns to his Iraqi home has been given fresh hope in his bid to stay in the UK. Mohamad Star Saeed (26), of Gladstone Street, Bury, is facing deportation after the Home Office snubbed his bid for asylum. But at a tribunal hearing in Manchester on Friday, the TV presenter's chances of winning his case appeared to have been boosted due to a change in conditions in Iraq. After the day-long hearing, Judge Fountain reserved judgement on the case and said he would reveal in the next three or four weeks whether Mohamad could stay in the UK.
Mohamad worked for a TV channel operated by a liberal political party in the northern city of Kirkuk. Using newspaper articles and other literature as proof, he told the court that three of his colleagues had been murdered due to their jobs.
Last August, Mohamad's 12-year-old brother Bilal was kidnapped by the Jihad U Tawheed terrorist group, which murdered Liverpudlian Ken Bigley. In a phone call and on a CD audio clip, the group ordered Mohamad to help them kidnap the daughter of the local mayor, Payam Rahman, who is a family friend. Mohamad kept this information from his family and the mayor, until his sister Sara and Payam discovered the audio clip.
Scared the terrorists or the mayor would seek reprisals, Mohamad paid the Mafia £3,000 to escape to England in a series of lorries. He has since spoken to his parents directly twice. There has still been no word of Bilal, who is feared dead.
The Home Office rejected Mohamad's asylum request, concluding that he would not face any specific threat due to his job if he were return to Iraq and, even if he did, he could easily move to safer parts of the country.
But the appeal hearing was told the situation had now changed dramatically. Judge Fountain said Mohamad would not now have to prove that he would be under threat elsewhere in Iraq. This is because UK Government intelligence showed Jihad U Tawheed - otherwise known as Al Qaeda In Iraq - would be able to track down targets anywhere in the country. So Mohamad only has to prove to the judge that he was singled out by terrorists when he lived in Iraq and that, because of his job, he would be singled out again.
However, the Home Office remained adamant that Mohamad's story doesn't add up. Speaking at the hearing, Home Office presenting officer Mr Walker, who refused to give his first name due to fear of reprisals from failed asylum seekers, said Mohamad should be deported. He said: "We still find the story surrounding the CD incredible. We see no reason why it should exist as there was no more information on it than in the phone call. We question why he did not tell his family or go to the police when he discovered that Bilal had been kidnapped. In our opinion, by leaving the country in these conditions, it would have put him at even greater risk."
Representing Mohamad. Mr Rory O'Ryan said: "It is accepted that he is a TV presenter and that several of his colleagues have been killed in recent years. The Reporters Without Borders report the court has seen says 56 journalists have been killed in Iraq in the last year."
He added: "It has also been accepted that Mohamad's family is friends with the family of the mayor, and a terrorist organisation would know he could assist with a kidnap attempt, especially given that the mayor and his daughter were protected by bodyguards."
Dan Rather says CBS's skulduggery has cost him jobs everywhere from CNN to A&E.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the former CBS Evening News anchor says his reliance on the network's false promises that it would defend him after making him a scapegoat for a controversial news report cost him several high-profile jobs - and some lower-profile ones as well.
While he was once a hot property coveted by CNN to be its "face," the fallout from his report on President Bush's Air National Guard service resulted in him being turned away from even part-time jobs at CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox, HBO, the History Channel, A&E, Discovery and National Geographic channels, the filing says.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Wow. Everything that went down, and Dan Rather is still the principal victim in the case. Tee hee, in one way he's actually right, in that he didn't do much except sign his name to it. However, reporting something that you didn't bother to verify because you hope it's true is horrible journalism, all too common these days.
#6
Ahh, but the strawberries that's... that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with... geometric logic... that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist, and I'd have produced that key if they hadn't of pulled the Caine me out of action. I, I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officers CBS vice-presidents...
Posted by: Dan ||
05/08/2008 12:38 Comments ||
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He should try Channel 9 news in Paducah, Kentucky.
As billboard skins displaying images of women were removed in Peshawar last week, the action -- reminiscent of the previous Mutthida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA)-led governments tenure -- left advertising agencies and companies counting their losses and feeling insecure.
The Shabab-e-Milli, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)s youth wing, set advertising agencies a deadline to remove billboard skins carrying images of women, and on May 2 youth from the group allegedly drove around in a black vehicle and took away the skins, Noor Muhammad, an advertising agency employee, told Daily Times on Wednesday.
On the same day, the district government also removed illegal billboards from service roads in various areas of the city, he added.
Noor said the damage to the billboards was hurting advertisers financially. They pay government taxes on the billboards, so the government should give them protection, he said.
The manager of a leading department store in Peshawar, who requested that he not be named, said his company rented three billboards in the main centres of the city and paid Rs 550,000 a year for them.
One of the companys billboards, at the Gora Qabristan, featured an image of a girl and boy sitting on a beach, before the billboard skin was removed. The company has now put up an image of a mattress with not a human figure in sight. The department store manager said his company pays around Rs 10,000 to 15,000 per billboard skin to the advertising companies.
We pay due taxes to the government and this kind of behaviour will definitely hurt the economy, as multinationals companies could divert their investments, he said.
If the government had agreed to the removal of such advertisements, it should have taken stakeholders onboard. It should have let advertising agencies and companies know in advance instead of permitting damages to their investments, he added. During the MMA governments tenure there was a complete ban on such advertising, and we adhered to that policy for five years. If this government also intends to follow the same policy, it should declare this clearly, said the manager. The billboard skins were removed last week despite the Home and Tribal Affairs Department (H&TA) issuing directives to the district administration to stop Shabab-e-Milli activists from damaging billboards. Meanwhile, Shabab-e-Milli has denied any involvement in the removal of billboard skins, and the district government claimed it had removed only illegal billboards. The latters claim is challenged by skinned billboards still standing.
The provincial government has said it has taken note of the issue, but so far no action has been forthcoming. NWFP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain was not available for comment despite repeated attempts to reach him.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
This happened in the U.K. too.
Any advertisement near the mosque featuring a woman was sprayed with ink.
#2
..yet in the netherlands you can have a guy sporting the English flag pissing in a teacup and it is sold as provocative? Don't like that trend for you all.
An additional district and sessions judge adjourned the rape case of a seven-year-old girl on Wednesday, saying he would frame charges against the accused in the next hearing on May 12.
Judge Qamar Ijaz took the bail application of the accused, Zubair, and said that the statement of the victim, Tayyaba, would also be recorded in the next hearing. He said this after the witnesses of the case, Jamshed Iqbal and Muhammad Mansha, changed their stance and presented their affidavits in favour of the accused. The judge also said that the arguments on the bail application would also be heard in the next hearing.
The counsel for Zubair said that his client was innocent and that no rape had actually been committed. But the counsels for Tayyaba argued that the medical and chemical reports proved the rape and that the police had accused Zubair in their investigation report.
Tayyabas mother, Nusrat, told reporters after the hearing that the witnesses had changed their stance after receiving money from the accused.
The counsels for the victim Muhammad Irfan, Abdul Razaq Ibrahim, Anis Saadi and Mian Saif Bashir are pursuing her case voluntarily.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/08/2008 00:00 ||
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This, the parallel court system liberals and progressives propose? Dare ye who try my daughter as 1/3 witness.
I will serve in hell so my family reigns in heaven.
Two spectators and a paratrooper were seriously injured when he was swept off course by a gusting wind and landed at the edge of a crowd watching a free fall- aerobatic spectacle over Tel Aviv beach. Five more spectators suffered minor injuries. Ouch. And doubly so because this happened in front of a bunch of foreign paratrooper guests invited for their 60th anniversary.
#1
In April, Xinhua news agency reported that China had confiscated thousands of fake military vehicles and number plates in a move to crack down on citizens masquerading as privileged members of the People's Liberation Army.
Everyone is equal, but some are more equal than others...
#3
Actually, Title 18 of the Untied States criminal code covers it.
Chapter 1 §35 is "imparting or conveying false information."
Chapter 15 § 287. False, fictitious or fraudulent claims
Whoever makes or presents to any person or officer in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States, or to any department or agency thereof, any claim upon or against the United States, or any department or agency thereof, knowing such claim to be false, fictitious, or fraudulent, shall be imprisoned not more than five years and shall be subject to a fine in the amount provided in this title.
Wish they would use it more against the false Winter Warrior fakers.
#5
BP, it's called a civil suit, and they happen fairly often. See O.J. simpson for an example of this. Aquitted in criminal court, then had the daylights sued out of him in civil court.
Posted by: N guard ||
05/08/2008 11:01 Comments ||
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#6
No private prosecutions in the US.
I have to say that we seem to have left that behind after the small unpleasantness in 1776 or if it was developed later, we never imported it.
I have very mixed feelings about it's utility in a nation so overrun by hungry lawyers.
#7
Doesn't this idea go back at least to the '20s gangsters?
And if it is the Moped Stream I have seen in that area an enforcer has gotta be on speed or have an impressive tivo or such anyways just to keep up on an even playing field.
#8
There was a spate of those going on out here in Seattle; losers were buying ex-WSP Crown Vics and then pulling over victims, usually attractive women folks and then assualting them
The State was taken to task (by the press / TV, natch)for not fully 'de-mil-ling' them ( pulling push bars and such) but they said it was a strictly economic decision; cheaper to buy new than remove. trying to shift the focus to the cops and not the perps.
"Bush may turn out to be the worst president in history," he declares as he peeks into room after room. "I think history is going to be very tough on him. But that doesn't mean he isn't a great story. It's almost Capra-esque, the story of a guy who had very limited talents in life, except for the ability to sell himself. The fact that he had to overcome the shadow of his father and the weight of his family name you have to admire his tenacity. There's almost an Andy Griffith quality to him, from A Face in the Crowd. If Fitzgerald were alive today, he might be writing about him. He's sort of a reverse Gatsby."
#2
No, don't want to see oliver stone's bush...oh the movie? Nah that either.
For someone supposed so talented he sure uses a lot of lame ass cliches to justify him trying to make a buck and a movie. And by the way, Tom Lister Jr. is hands down the worst president in history (not a real president but when was the last time hollywood cared what was real?). Josh Brolin as GWB looks more like Ash which might actually save this pos flick from sucking more ass than robert downey jr sucks coke, if only if there is the line, "This, Saddam, is my BOOMSTICK!" then whips it out and pees on Saddam like he is an r-kelly girl (hows that for some lame ass hollywood cliches olly?).
#9
HMMMMM, perhaps iff "W" proves successful, STONE can do one for OSAMA BIN LADEN + WOT - I like the title GOD AND GHOSTSOLDIERS, or the Novel/Book-esque WHITE DOVES AND FLAME TREES - GOD, OSAMA, AND THE WAR ON TERROR.
Take-Two Interactive today announced that Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 4 has done a whopping $500 million in sales since the game's release last week.
Some 6 million copies of the game have been sold worldwide, 3.6 million of those coming in just the first day. Although the numbers exceed industry predictions, Take-Two was confident about selling six million copies before launch.
#1
They've done a good job branding and developing the name. They also give the customer what he wants. I don't see why they are so surprised. But still, it is just a game.
Enough for some pathetic attempt at a script and rationale for wasting more money on the big screen production to keep the 'in crowd' happy. I'm sure the people with real power in conglomerates of which Hollyweird is only a division of, notice, because they have or are adding the gaming divisions to their stable of entertainment. It won't take long before the suits realize that the 'beautiful people' are failing to produce a profit. When that happens it will simply follow the pattern of Chrysler. It won't disappear, but it will become a hollow model of itself.
#4
Got to take a look at it last night on the 360. Environmentally, I was completely impressed which is saying a lot; I go back to AH-64 Apache on C64.
The only problem with this game is that if you are old enough, you get the joke. If someone is not 'getting the joke' and thinks it real then is when you have the slide on behavior - but imho that is testiment to the parental abilities not the game itself. That is, I learned at a very young age not to even think about driving (until old enough) a car even though it looked fun.
#5
Game software outsells videos by 4 to 1, if not more with the GTA spike in sales. Hollywood has already noticed, hence several movies - like the Tomb Raider series - have been made and much more are in the planning.
The cost of my personal purchases for games and vids in 2007-8 = ZERO. Not interested.
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.
In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the former CBS Evening News anchor says his reliance on the network's false promises that it would defend him after making him a scapegoat for a controversial news report cost him several high-profile jobs - and some lower-profile ones as well.
