The Month Of The Dead's Death Toll
Another "November To Remember" this will be, assuredly...
Lillian Ellison
aka
The Fabulous Moolah
(1923-2007)
At least, now,
where she's headed
Vince McMahon
will not be able to
use her in abysmal ways
on his lamentable show
(where she is now
Vince will not BE
period!)
Hey, Lillian -
give 'Classie Freddie Blassie'
a hug, for me...?
My condolences to
both your daughters -
Mary 'not stone cold' Austin
and Katie Glass
aka 'Diamond Lil'
LAST YEAR
the Boston Celtics' season
started with Red Auerbach's
departure from this world...
This year,
amidst the euphoria
of a new team
with tons of
very realizable
great expectations,
another tragedy
early in the season:
the coach's FATHER
passes away
suddenly...
My condolences to Doc Rivers
and everyone who knew
and held dear
Grady Alexander Rivers Sr.
(1931-2007)
PEOPLE DIE YOUNG TOO -
the unexpected
and shocking death of
distance runner
Ryan Shay
(1979-2007)
took many by surprise
last Saturday.
Could Couch Potatoes
actually achieve more
"reliable longevity"
than those striving to be
fit and active?
The questions
that such sudden
and unforseen
tragedies raise
are many
and difficult
to answer promptly...
I have a question too;
as someone forwarded to me
the following
"Formidable Forwardable"
(as often seen on TLB Prime)
a mere few hours
before Shay's untimely demise...
and the message of the "FWD"
is for the recipient to
HAVE A "SHAY DAY"...
(not on a Saturday - I hope...)
>Subject: Two Choices
By A Luminous Anonymous
evidently...!
>Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 09:02:08 -0400
(Hence, roughly a little more
than 24 hours before Ryan Shay's
sudden passing...)
>>What would you do? You make the choice.
Don't look for a punch line,
>there isn't one.
Read it anyway.
My question is: Would you have made the same choice?
>>At a fund raising dinner for a school that serves
learning-disabled children,
the father of one of the students delivered a speech
that would never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff,
he offered a question:
"When not interfered with by outside influences,
everything nature does is done with perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do.
He cannot understand things as other children do.
Where is the natural order of things in my son?"
>>The audience was stilled by the query.
>>The father continued.
"I believe that when a child like Shay,
physically and mentally handicapped,
comes into the world,
an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself,
and it comes in the way other people treat that child."
>>Then he told the following story:
>>Shay and his father had walked past a park
where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball.
Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"
>>Shay's father knew that most of the boys
would not want someone like Shay on their team,
but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play,
it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging
and some confidence to be accepted by others
in spite of his handicaps.
>>Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field
and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play.
(Some kids *do* have a heart -
and can figure out, also,
that baseball *is* only a game
and winning isn't everything...)
The boy looked around for guidance and said,
"We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning.
I guess he can be on our team and we'll try
to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."
>>Shay struggled over to the team's bench and,
with a broad smile, put on a team shirt.
His Father watched with a small tear in his eye
and warmth in his heart.
The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
In the top of the ninth inning,
Shay put on a glove and played in the right field.
Even though no hits came his way,
he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game
and on the field, grinning from ear to ear
as his father waved to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning,
Shay's team scored again.
Now, with two outs and the bases loaded,
the potential winning run was on base
and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
>>At this juncture, do they let Shay bat
and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.
Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible
because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly,
much less connect with the ball.
(Pray for a walk...?)
>>However, as Shay stepped up to the plate,
the pitcher, recognizing that the other team
was putting winning aside
for this moment in Shay's life,
moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly
so Shay could at least make contact.
The first pitch came
and Shay swung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward
to toss the ball softly towards Shay.
>As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball
and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
>>The game would now be over.
The pitcher picked up the soft grounder
and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.
Shay would have been the inning's third out
and that would have been the end of the game.
>>Instead, the pitcher threw the ball
right over the first baseman's head,
out of reach of all his teammates.
Everyone from the stands
and both teams started yelling,
"Shay, run to first! Run to first!"
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far,
but he made it to first base.
He scampered down the baseline,
wide-eyed and startled.
>>Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second,
gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second base,
the right fielder had the ball ...
the smallest guy on their team
who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.
He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman
for the tag and the final out,
but he understood the pitcher's intentions
so he, too, intentionally threw the ball
high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward third base deliriously
as the runners ahead of him
circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming,
"Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay!"
>>Shay reached third base because
the opposing shortstop ran to help him
by turning him in the direction of third base
and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"
>>As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams,
and the spectators, were on their feet screaming,
"Shay, run home! Run home!"
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate,
and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam
and won the game for his team.
>>"That day", said the father softly
with tears now rolling down his face,
"the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of
true love and humanity into this world".
>>Shay didn't make it to another summer.
He died that winter,
having never forgotten being the hero
and making his father so happy,
and coming home and seeing his mother
tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
>>AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY:
We all send thousands of jokes
through the e-mail
without a second thought,
but when it comes to sending
messages about life choices,
people hesitate.
The crude, vulgar, and often obscene
pass freely through cyberspace,
but public discussion about decency
is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.
>>If you're thinking about forwarding this message,
chances are that you're probably sorting out
the people in your address book who aren't
the"appropriate" ones to receive this type of message.
Well, the person who sent you this
believes that we all can make a difference.
We all have thousands of opportunities every single day
to help realize the "natural order of things."
EVEN AS DEATH HOVERS OVER US ALL
So many seemingly trivial interactions
between two people present us with a choice:
Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity
or do we pass up those opportunities
and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?
>>A wise man once said every society is judged
by how it treats its least fortunate amongst them.
>>You now have two choices:
>1. Delete>2. Forward
And my third option: Blog! And...
>>May your day be a Shay Day.>>>
My condolences to Alicia Shay
and all of Ryan Shay's family and kins.
aka
The Fabulous Moolah
(1923-2007)
At least, now,
where she's headed
Vince McMahon
will not be able to
use her in abysmal ways
on his lamentable show
(where she is now
Vince will not BE
period!)
Hey, Lillian -
give 'Classie Freddie Blassie'
a hug, for me...?
My condolences to
both your daughters -
Mary 'not stone cold' Austin
and Katie Glass
aka 'Diamond Lil'
LAST YEAR
the Boston Celtics' season
started with Red Auerbach's
departure from this world...
This year,
amidst the euphoria
of a new team
with tons of
very realizable
great expectations,
another tragedy
early in the season:
the coach's FATHER
passes away
suddenly...
My condolences to Doc Rivers
and everyone who knew
and held dear
Grady Alexander Rivers Sr.
(1931-2007)
PEOPLE DIE YOUNG TOO -
the unexpected
and shocking death of
distance runner
Ryan Shay
(1979-2007)
took many by surprise
last Saturday.
Could Couch Potatoes
actually achieve more
"reliable longevity"
than those striving to be
fit and active?
The questions
that such sudden
and unforseen
tragedies raise
are many
and difficult
to answer promptly...
I have a question too;
as someone forwarded to me
the following
"Formidable Forwardable"
(as often seen on TLB Prime)
a mere few hours
before Shay's untimely demise...
and the message of the "FWD"
is for the recipient to
HAVE A "SHAY DAY"...
(not on a Saturday - I hope...)
>Subject: Two Choices
By A Luminous Anonymous
evidently...!
>Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2007 09:02:08 -0400
(Hence, roughly a little more
than 24 hours before Ryan Shay's
sudden passing...)
>>What would you do? You make the choice.
Don't look for a punch line,
>there isn't one.
Read it anyway.
My question is: Would you have made the same choice?
>>At a fund raising dinner for a school that serves
learning-disabled children,
the father of one of the students delivered a speech
that would never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff,
he offered a question:
"When not interfered with by outside influences,
everything nature does is done with perfection.
Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do.
He cannot understand things as other children do.
Where is the natural order of things in my son?"
>>The audience was stilled by the query.
>>The father continued.
"I believe that when a child like Shay,
physically and mentally handicapped,
comes into the world,
an opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself,
and it comes in the way other people treat that child."
>>Then he told the following story:
>>Shay and his father had walked past a park
where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball.
Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?"
>>Shay's father knew that most of the boys
would not want someone like Shay on their team,
but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play,
it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging
and some confidence to be accepted by others
in spite of his handicaps.
>>Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field
and asked (not expecting much) if Shay could play.
(Some kids *do* have a heart -
and can figure out, also,
that baseball *is* only a game
and winning isn't everything...)
The boy looked around for guidance and said,
"We're losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning.
I guess he can be on our team and we'll try
to put him in to bat in the ninth inning."
>>Shay struggled over to the team's bench and,
with a broad smile, put on a team shirt.
His Father watched with a small tear in his eye
and warmth in his heart.
The boys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.
In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
In the top of the ninth inning,
Shay put on a glove and played in the right field.
Even though no hits came his way,
he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game
and on the field, grinning from ear to ear
as his father waved to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning,
Shay's team scored again.
Now, with two outs and the bases loaded,
the potential winning run was on base
and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
>>At this juncture, do they let Shay bat
and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.
Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible
because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly,
much less connect with the ball.
(Pray for a walk...?)
>>However, as Shay stepped up to the plate,
the pitcher, recognizing that the other team
was putting winning aside
for this moment in Shay's life,
moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly
so Shay could at least make contact.
The first pitch came
and Shay swung clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward
to toss the ball softly towards Shay.
>As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball
and hit a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher.
>>The game would now be over.
The pitcher picked up the soft grounder
and could have easily thrown the ball to the first baseman.
Shay would have been the inning's third out
and that would have been the end of the game.
>>Instead, the pitcher threw the ball
right over the first baseman's head,
out of reach of all his teammates.
Everyone from the stands
and both teams started yelling,
"Shay, run to first! Run to first!"
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far,
but he made it to first base.
He scampered down the baseline,
wide-eyed and startled.
>>Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second,
gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second base,
the right fielder had the ball ...
the smallest guy on their team
who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.
He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman
for the tag and the final out,
but he understood the pitcher's intentions
so he, too, intentionally threw the ball
high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward third base deliriously
as the runners ahead of him
circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming,
"Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay!"
>>Shay reached third base because
the opposing shortstop ran to help him
by turning him in the direction of third base
and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third!"
>>As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams,
and the spectators, were on their feet screaming,
"Shay, run home! Run home!"
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate,
and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam
and won the game for his team.
>>"That day", said the father softly
with tears now rolling down his face,
"the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of
true love and humanity into this world".
>>Shay didn't make it to another summer.
He died that winter,
having never forgotten being the hero
and making his father so happy,
and coming home and seeing his mother
tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
>>AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY:
We all send thousands of jokes
through the e-mail
without a second thought,
but when it comes to sending
messages about life choices,
people hesitate.
The crude, vulgar, and often obscene
pass freely through cyberspace,
but public discussion about decency
is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.
>>If you're thinking about forwarding this message,
chances are that you're probably sorting out
the people in your address book who aren't
the"appropriate" ones to receive this type of message.
Well, the person who sent you this
believes that we all can make a difference.
We all have thousands of opportunities every single day
to help realize the "natural order of things."
EVEN AS DEATH HOVERS OVER US ALL
So many seemingly trivial interactions
between two people present us with a choice:
Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity
or do we pass up those opportunities
and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?
>>A wise man once said every society is judged
by how it treats its least fortunate amongst them.
>>You now have two choices:
>1. Delete>2. Forward
And my third option: Blog! And...
>>May your day be a Shay Day.>>>
My condolences to Alicia Shay
and all of Ryan Shay's family and kins.
Labels: Donda West, George Osmond, Hank Thompson, Joe Nuxhall, Lisa McCalmont, Marilyn Martinez, Mr Rivers, Mrs Moolah, Norman Mailer, Paul Norris, Shay Day, Titanic, Tom Johnson, Tuusula shootings
posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ @ 1:45 PM
58 comments
58 Comments:
Crooners Check Out Buzz
By Huw Evans | Raise your glasses to veteran smoothie Robert Goulet, now playing the great cocktail lounge in the sky. The "American baritone from Canada" used his golden pipes in musicals, records, and movies for decades after getting his big break as Arthur's buddy Lance in 'Camelot.'
Younger fans will remember this crooning cat from his cameos in Beetlejuice, the Simpsons, and the Naked Gun movies. News of Mr. G's passing sent searches for his name up by 1031 per cent this week, and "Will Ferrell as Robert Goulet" was a Search Breakout as Canadians hunted for skits featuring Goulet appearing on Conan O'Brien or singing rap songs.
Country music lost a great showman too as Porter Wagoner, the Grand Ole Opry singer famous for his shiny rhinestone suits, died this week in Nashville. Wagoner released an acclaimed comeback album this year, and even opened for the White Stripes in a recent gig. Searches for the man who gave Dolly Parton her break increased 827 per cent, and Canadians looked for more on his duet partner too: Dolly spiked 125 per cent.
The singers' families may have lost loved ones, but a recent Forbes study suggest that they haven't necessarily lost breadwinners: many stars continue to earn millions from beyond the grave, including Elvis Presley, who is still the highest-earning deceased star thirty years after his untimely demise. Elvis is as popular as ever in Search, increasing 26 per cent this week.
Nov. 2, 2007 | The latest Top 10 searches
Tags: celebs, huwevans
+++
Runner dies during marathon trials
Sat Nov 3, 12:23 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Distance runner Ryan Shay died on Saturday after collapsing during the U.S. Olympic marathon trials. The 28-year-old, a four-times national champion on the roads, collapsed after passing the five-mile mark of the race in New York.
He was taken to hospital by ambulance where he was pronounced dead, race officials said.
"We all are devastated over Ryan's death," the U.S. track and field federation said in a statement.
"He was a tremendous champion who was here today to pursue his dreams. The Olympic Trials is traditionally a day of celebration, but we are heartbroken. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ryan's wife, Alicia, and all of his family.
"His death is a tremendous loss for the sport and the long-distance running community."
Shay was the national marathon champion in 2003, he twice won the U.S. half marathon title and was 20 km champion in 2004. He also won national college titles while at Notre Dame.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
*
it is hard when anyone loses anyone - my heart goes out to the family for there great loss some of you see it as another runner dying but who is thinking about his family who lost someone. think about his wife and family too
POSTED BY: john w on SAT, NOV 03, 2007 08:51 PM -0500
*
What's wrong with die for what you enjoy doing ? Isn't that what life all about, live and enjoy? Bravo ! Ryan !
POSTED BY: ascenzio m on SAT, NOV 03, 2007 08:46 PM -0500
*
please do not compare marathon runners and couch potatoes. that is like comparing tigers and pigs. No offense
POSTED BY: Matin V. on SAT, NOV 03, 2007 07:50 PM -0500
Report Abuse
*
Marathon has always taken lives since the beginning, it is not a surprise someone has die running the marathon. "Marathon" it is name given after a runner took a message and die.
POSTED BY: Matin V. on SAT, NOV 03, 2007 07:45 PM -0500
*
Seems to be the norm nowadays... couch potatoes live and the fit and healthy are dropping like flies. What gives?
POSTED BY: Cat on SAT, NOV 03, 2007 07:26 PM -0500
+++
"Matin V" thinks pigs and tigers are so different...
Let's see - both are mammals-type of beastlings. Both actually do "pig out"... The real difference is - man hunts tigers for their skin - not their meat! That's why the other critter is allowed to put on the extra weight; no one's feeding the tigers! They're actually an endangered species...
And Porky's family would ALL be gone and thoroughly extinct, had it not been "taken in" by farmers... who treat it so right too... See "The Meatrix" someday, at a matinée or something, Matin my boy!
The comparison between runners and couch potatoes made by "Cat" was actually all about comparing extremes - "Matin" didn't get that either...
Blame it on his poor understanding (and use) of English...
...
Lillian Ellison, Fabulous Moolah of wrestling fame, dies at 84
November 4, 2007
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- Lillian Ellison, professional wrestling's Fabulous Moolah, has died. She was 84.
Ellison died Friday, according to Dunbar Funeral Home in Columbia.
Born Mary Lillian Ellison in 1923, she was dubbed the Fabulous Moolah after saying she wrestled "for the money ... for the moolah."
She was a longtime champion and the first woman inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame. Her autobiography, "The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle," was published in 2003.
"She was famous, but I never looked at her that way," daughter Mary Austin, 66, told The State. "She was just Mom, someone that was always there for me. Someone I could turn to."
Ellison grew up in the small Kershaw County community of Tookiedoo, the youngest of 13 children and the only girl. Austin said her mother had six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, loved her family and wrestling.
Her obituary from the funeral home lists 63-year-old Katie Glass of Columbia as Ellison's adopted daughter. Glass, known as "Diamond Lil," was a professional midget wrestler for 25 years. She said she was just 17 when she moved to Columbia to live with Ellison and learn to wrestle.
"She just taught me the basics, the holds, how to get somebody down, lock them down and everything," Glass told The State.
Glass said she will miss Ellison.
"It's going to be hard, I'll tell you," Glass said. "We're doing the best we can. She was there for me. She's a very nice lady. I'm going to miss her dearly and I love her very much."
Updated on Sunday, Nov 4, 2007 6:08 pm, EST
+++
Celtics Coach Doc Rivers Skips Game Against Raptors After Father's Death
Nov 4, 7:18 PM (ET)
TORONTO (AP) -Celtics coach Doc Rivers left the team before Boston's game Sunday against the Raptors after his father died in Chicago.
The Celtics said Rivers left Toronto on Sunday morning. Grady Alexander Rivers Sr. was 76. There was no immediate word on the cause of death and funeral arrangements have yet to be announced.
"It was a tough, emotional morning, I'm sure, for the whole Rivers family," guard Ray Allen said. "I hadn't had the chance or the pleasure of meeting Doc's father but I can tell how much he meant to Doc by his words this morning. Our hearts went out to him."
Assistant Tom Thibodeau replaced Rivers and the Celtics held off Toronto to post a 98-95 overtime victory behind 33 points from Ray Allen and a 23-point, 13-rebound effort from Kevin Garnett.
"Thib did a great job tonight," Garnett said. "He's a defensively sound kind of guy."
Thibodeau joined Boston this season, moving from the Houston Rockets. He acknowledged the pressure of stepping into the top job.
"Obviously, when you're an assistant you're making suggestions," Thibodeau said. "When you're the head coach you're making the final decision and there are a lot of decisions to be made. Some work out well, some don't, but it's coming at you fast."
Beating Toronto to improve to 2-0 meant a lot to Thibodeau and his players.
"Our thoughts are with Doc and so that makes it special, the fact that we were able to win for him," Thibodeau said.
Forward Paul Pierce said he was also thinking about Rivers.
"My blessings go out to him," Pierce said. "I've never been through anything like that. We wanted to come out here and get the win for him."
A 13-year NBA veteran, Rivers became the 16th coach in Celtics history on April 29, 2004, and won NBA Coach of the Year honors as Boston went 45-37 and won the Atlantic Division title in his debut season.
(HMM... 16TH COACH - FOR THE ONLY NBA TEAM WITH AS MANY AS 16 CHAMPIONSHIPS! NEXT UP: AT LEAST 4 MORE CHAMPIONSHIPS - TO EQUATE THE DAMN YANKEES AND DAMN HABS!)
Now in his fourth season with Boston, the 46-year-old Rivers has led the Celtics to a 103-144 record.
(A RECORD THAT IS SET TO IMPROVE DRASTICALLY OVER THE NEXT THREE YEARS...)
DOC RIVERS WILL DO IT -
FOR HIS DAD.
+++
Macedonia police kills six Albanian gunmen
SKOPJE, Macedonia,
Nov. 7 (UPI) --
Six ethnic-Albanian men were killed in a shooting with Macedonian police in a northwestern mountainous region close to Serbia's Kosovo province.
A police operation, aimed at "neutralizing" members of ethnic-Albanians extremists and outlaws, was launched Wednesday morning in three villages in the mountains north of Tetovo, 25 miles west of Skopje, the Macedonian news agency MIA reported.
Gordana Jankuloska, Macedonian police minister said 10 members of an ethnic-Albanian group of separatists and criminals were arrested and cases of ammunition and weapons were seized in the raid.
Jankuloska said no casualties were registered among police officers or villagers.
The Tetovo area was a site of rebellion activities by ethnic-Albanian separatists from Macedonia and Serbia's Kosovo province in 2001.
After months of skirmishes, armed guerrillas of ethnic-Albanians laid arms after the Macedonian government had accepted their demand for greater national minority rights.
Macedonia's 2 million population include about 20 percent ethnic-Albanians.
© UPI, Headline News
Powered by Bravenet.com
...
Afghans mourn victims of worst suicide attack
Wed Nov 7, 7:41 AM
By Yousuf Azimy
BAGHLAN, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghans began three days of mourning on Wednesday for 52 people, many of them children, killed in the country's worst suicide attack.
The blast, in the relatively peaceful north, has shaken public confidence in the ability of the government and the 50,000 foreign troops in the country to provide security more than six years after the Taliban were ousted from power.
"In the very miserable incident which took place yesterday, six of Afghanistan's hard-working, honest members of parliament were martyred, and Afghan people including school teachers, students and children were also martyred, and many were wounded," President Hamid Karzai told a news conference in Kabul.
The governor of Baghlan where the attack took place said the death toll had risen to 52 and about 100 people were wounded.
The Taliban have carried out more than 130 suicide bombings in Afghanistan so far this year, but the insurgents denied responsibility for Tuesday's attack on visiting parliamentarians as they were being greeted by schoolchildren and elders.
The bomber approached the parliamentary delegation on foot as children lined up to welcome them on a visit to a sugar factory in Baghlan. Large crowds had also turned out to see the deputies.
There were still pools of blood at the site on Wednesday morning as police collected body parts and put them in plastic bags. School notebooks and children's sandals lay strewn on the ground.
"We are treating the wounded and the condition of some is very critical," said Dr. Mohammad Rokai at the local hospital. "The dead and wounded are mostly children."
BULLET WOUNDS
Baghlan residents peered glumly at the bomb site from behind police cordons. "One of my brothers is missing, he's 12 years old. We don't know if he's alive or dead," said Shafiqullah.
Some of the dead and wounded appeared to have suffered bullet wounds and some residents said Afghan security forces began shooting wildly after the blast.
"This attack was carried out by the Taliban, but only 10 people were killed by the blast. The rest of the victims are from gunfire from the security forces," said Abdul Qadir, pointing to what appeared to be a bullet hole in his dead son's neck.
Other Baghlan residents made similar charges.
The Baghlan governor said authorities were investigating accusations that police had opened fire after the attack.
A Taliban spokesman said the insurgents were not behind Tuesday's attack. The rebels usually distance themselves from attacks that largely kill civilians.
The insurgents' strategy is aimed at convincing Afghans that Karzai's government and its Western backers are unable to bring security to the country, which has already suffered nearly three decades of almost constant war.
As often happens after suicide attacks, many ordinary Afghans blamed the government for failing to prevent the bloodshed.
"I lost my cousin in this attack," said shopkeeper Sakhi Ahmad. "He was a school student and had gone to the ceremony. We will never forget this tragedy and we ask the government to find the culprits instead of announcing days of mourning."
The United States condemned the bombing.
"The terrorist attack today in Afghanistan is a despicable act of cowardice and it reminds us who the enemy is -- extremists with evil in their hearts who target innocent Muslim men, women and children," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Northern Afghanistan has been relatively peaceful and prosperous compared with the south and east, where Taliban suicide attacks are all too common and insurgents are locked in almost daily battles with Afghan and foreign forces.
NATO commanders say the Taliban are not a unified organization, but a number of factions operating under loose guidelines handed down from a governing council. Al Qaeda and at least one other insurgent group are also active in Afghanistan.
(Additional reporting by Tahir Qadiry in Mazar-i-Sharif and Hamid Shalizi in Kabul, writing by Jon Hemming, editing by David Fogarty)
====
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
*
The Taliban are sick animals!
POSTED BY: dustyscresmar on WED, NOV 07, 2007 12:29 PM -0500
*
No Photo Available.
human race has not learned to live in peace,shame on us all.
POSTED BY: unclejass on WED, NOV 07, 2007 12:17 PM -0500
*
The Preacher
As it is written, "men's hearts shall fail them for fear...". Christ said this evil will come upon the world, and as we see these things happen we need to look upon him who is true!
POSTED BY: The Preacher on WED, NOV 07, 2007 10:25 AM -0500
*
god help muslim men, women and childern , our hearts with u every day ....al Qaeda and taliban not muslims.....i dont think they know anthing about the real islam.....muslim from palestine
POSTED BY: cinderellatech on WED, NOV 07, 2007 09:12 AM -0500
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Relatives of one of the six Afghan members of parliament who was a victim in Tuesday's suicide bombing, grieve after the coffins were brought into the capital Kabul, November 7, 2007. REUTERS/Omar Sobhani
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+++
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+++
British police investigate after 'dead' man turns up alive
Sat Nov 3, 5:46 AM
LONDON - British police are investigating after a woman oversaw the cremation of a body she believed was her son - who turned up alive the next day.
The mixup began when a man's body was discovered in Manchester, on Oct. 12. He was identified as Thomas Dennison, 39, by a care worker who knew him.
Officials contacted Dennison's mother, Gina Partington, 58, who identified the dead man as her son. The body was released to the family and a funeral was held Tuesday.
The next day, Dennison was discovered alive in Nottingham, 130 kilometres away.
Partington said the resemblance between the dead man and her son was remarkable. She told the Manchester Evening News "I held his hand and kissed his head. I stayed with him for about 40 minutes and would have sworn he was my son."
Police said they believed they knew the identity of the dead man, who had been living on the streets, and were trying to contact his relatives in Ireland.
Verily, France, Belgium and Quebec are not the only places where Clouseaus, Thompson Twins, Duponts & Duponds thrive...
...
RCMP officer shot to death in Nunavut hamlet
Tue Nov 6, 12:51 PM
People in Nunavut reacted with shock and grief Tuesday to news that an RCMP officer was shot and killed in the Baffin Island hamlet of Kimmirut.
A man was arrested by Kimmirut RCMP several hours after Const. Douglas Scott, 20, was fatally shot while on duty late Monday night. Police have yet to identify the man who was taken into custody in Iqaluit on Tuesday. Charges have not been laid as of Tuesday.
Scott, who was originally from the Brockville, Ont., area, is the second Mountie to be shot and killed in Canada's North in the past month.
"The death of any of our members is deeply felt," Chief Supt. Martin Cheliak, the RCMP's commanding officer in Nunavut, told a news conference Tuesday.
"But when, once again, it occurs in one of our close-knit communities in the North, the pain of that loss seems even greater."
Much of Kimmirut - a hamlet of about 400 located 120 kilometres south of Iqaluit on Baffin Island - was very quiet on Tuesday, as residents reacted with shock to Scott's death.
Local schools were closed for the day. CBC News reporter John Main, who travelled to Kimmirut on Tuesday, said a "large number" of RCMP investigators were at the scene of the shooting and subsequent standoff. That area has been off-limits since the incident took place.
Scott was responding alone to a complaint of an impaired driver shortly before 11 p.m. ET. He radioed in six minutes later to say he was following up on the call.
His fellow officer in the two-person detachment tried to reach him at about 11:30 p.m., but received no response. Local residents told the officer that Scott had responded to the report of an impaired driver and that the driver had crashed into a residence.
Scott was found and later pronounced dead at 11:45 p.m.
"Upon arrival at the scene, it was found that our member had been shot," Cheliak said.
Shortly afterward, a standoff ensued at a residence nearby and ended at about 4:10 a.m. with the man surrendering without incident.
Cheliak expressed his sympathies to the officer's parents, Doug and Marla Scott, who live near Brockville.
The RCMP said Scott had only been posted in the North, including in Kimmirut, about six months ago. Mayor Joe Arlooktoo said Scott was supposed to be in the hamlet for two years.
Police expect the investigation to take a number of days.
At a separate news conference in Ottawa, RCMP Chief Supt. Fraser Macaulay said they are doing a "very in-depth and comprehensive review" of the force's backup policy and other policies relating to "incidents such as these."
He added that "every call for service has potential inherent danger. In this case, it starts as an impaired driver."
Iqaluit residents join hands in protective circle
In the territorial capital of Iqaluit, roughly 300 residents gathered at the local RCMP detachment Tuesday afternoon for a hastily arranged service to grieve Scott's death and show their support for the Mounties.
CBC News reporter Fiona Christensen described people joining hands, forming a "human chain" around the detachment building to "symbolically protect" the RCMP members inside. They sang Amazing Grace when the circle was formed.
Residents also gave moving speeches and prayers in the Inuktitut language during the afternoon service. Speaking in Inuktitut, Nunavut Commissioner Ann Meekitjuk Hanson said when such a tragedy happens, it can be too much to bear.
Iqaluit Deputy Mayor Al Hayward described Scott as "a proud member of the RCMP, who paid the ultimate price in service of self-sacrifice, selflessness and an act of duty to Nunavut, our communities and our country.
"We share in the shock and grief of the RCMP, and we're here today to show our unity," Hayward said.
Scott, who was born on Dec. 21, 1986, hailed from Lyn, Ont., eight kilometres north of Brockville. His family learned of what happened around 6 a.m. ET Tuesday.
His uncle, Staff Sgt. Chris Scott of the Kingston Police Force, told CBC News that his nephew had graduated from the RCMP training academy in the spring. He was initially posted to a larger centre in Nunavut before being transferred to Kimmirut, Scott said.
"Dougie," the oldest of three boys, was just getting ready to see his family in what would have been his first visit home in a long time, his uncle said.
220 Mounties killed in line of duty
The shooting comes almost one month after RCMP Const. Christopher Worden was shot to death while responding to a house call in Hay River, N.W.T.
Police launched a search for the suspected shooter a day after the Oct. 6 shooting, and five days later, Emrah Bulatci surrendered to police following a standoff. He has been charged with first-degree murder.
Including Monday's shooting, a total of 220 RCMP officers have been killed in the line of duty since the 1870s. Some have been high-profile deaths, such as the shootings of four young officers in Rochfort Bridge, Alta., in March 2005, and the deaths of two Mounties shot near Mildred, Sask., in July 2006.
Const. Jurgen Ziegfried Seewald, 47, was shot and killed in Nunavut in March 2001 after responding to a domestic dispute in the community of Cape Dorset.
+++
Shooting victims had gang connections
Tue Nov 6, 9:35 PM
VANCOUVER (CBC) - Conflicts between two or more gangs are likely the cause of increasing gun violence in Metro Vancouver, where two men died Tuesday in the latest gangland-style shooting, police said.
Ronal Shakeel Raj, 31, of Surrey and Ali Abhari, 25, of Kelowna were identified by police as the men found dead in the front seats of a Mercedes at the intersection of Granville Street and 70th Avenue at around 2:15 a.m.
"A large newer SUV, we don't know the colour, and a mid-sized SUV trapped the victims' vehicle ... a passenger came out of one of the SUVs and opened fire through the passenger window of the Mercedes, killing both victims," said Doug LePard, deputy chief of the Vancouver Police Department.
Police allege Raj, who was the driver of the Mercedes, and Abhari were both associated with gang activity.
"There clearly is a conflict between two or more gangs right now," LePard said. "And it would seem that the way they settle disputes, even minor disputes, is through violence and gun play."
The Mercedes was heading south on Granville Street and was waiting at the light at 70th Avenue to turn left, police said.
A police officer was in a cruiser two blocks away and heard the shooting, and was quickly on the scene, but the two vehicles sped off before the officer arrived.
Investigators shut down several blocks of Granville Street from 68th Avenue to 72nd Avenue for more than five hours, scouring the scene for any piece of evidence.
The morning rush hour traffic was let through close to 8 a.m., after a flatbed truck took the Mercedes away with the bodies still in the vehicle.
Vancouver has seen a rash of gang-style shootings this fall. The latest killings are the city's 19th and 20th homicides of 2007, and the third and fourth shooting deaths in less than a week.
When asked by reporters about possible solutions to the growing gang problem in Vancouver, deputy police chief Bob Rich said stopping the illegal smuggling of guns into the country is key.
"There is a proliferation of American handguns that are coming into this country," Rich said. "We need to find a way to reduce the flow of handguns into Canada."
Police announced on Tuesday a new VPD task force will be formed that will focus on strategies to reduce gang violence and the threat that it poses to public safety.
====
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
*
No Photo Available.
I agree with introducing capital punishment. Its very simple, when you get a gun, its functional use is to kill--its an accessory or a watch, or necklace. If your man/women enough to purchase a gun, you are man/women enough to face the consequences. Instead of spending millions and millions of dollars on Green this and Green that, spend that money on preventing these guns from getting into our country.
POSTED BY: amit49ers on TUE, NOV 06, 2007 08:35 PM -0500
*
No Photo Available.
What we really need is to reintroduce capital punishment, and not just for law enforcement and prison guards, everyone is entitled to justice.I read a comment earlier about it should be a capital punishment offence, for killing a police officer, it should be a capital offence for killing anybody. With nothing to deter killers, they just go on killing, they blame guns and weapons, but it's the people behind them. With the technology for testing dna and such, executing the wrong guy would be rare.
POSTED BY: Ol Boob on TUE, NOV 06, 2007 07:04 PM -0500
*
No Photo Available.
Why there is no action re criminal activities is because the Government tend to overlook the important aspects of life starting with Health, education, etc etc those issues are all at the bottom of the political barrel. The Government rather pay attention to industry making money and filling their coffers rather than the safety and wellness of the people. Same with the Police there is good and bad and there is only so much that they can do.
POSTED BY: poeticmime777 on TUE, NOV 06, 2007 06:54 PM -0500
*
No Photo Available.
To stop this bloodshed on streets our GOVERNMENT, POLICE,and OUR COMMUNITY has to work together.We have to help each other to clean the mess of bloods on each and every street so that we can make this CANADA a beautiful place.We have to educate our generation and most of all THE CRIMINALS CAN SPENT THEIR LIFE IN PRISON UNTIL THEY DIE.Atleast our streets will be without bloods and country without any FEAR where people can live with peace,parents can beleive their children are coming home after.
POSTED BY: sandhya vikash on TUE, NOV 06, 2007 06:42 PM -0500
*
The Death Penalty will not deter anyone from committing crimes and/or being evil...
Look at the USofA...
And besides...
Many of those fiends have death wishes too - don't you know that?
....
Fisherman dies after weekend training mishap
Last Updated:
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
10:30 AM NT
CBC News
A fisherman has died after sustaining serious injuries during a weekend training accident off a national park in eastern Newfoundland.
Dennis Chaulk was injured Sunday after his 12-metre longliner, the Sea Urchin, capsized near the wharf at Saltons, in Terra Nova National Park.
Chaulk died on Monday after being treated in the intensive care unit at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's, his family said.
He and two other men had been taking part in a Canadian Coast Guard training exercise.
Chaulk, who was caught underwater in netting before he could be rescued by a crewman from a coast guard fast-rescue craft, was transported to the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's.
The other two men were not injured.
The Transportation Safety Board has confirmed it has started an investigation into the incident.
Federal Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn said Chaulk had earned the respect of colleagues during the years he volunteered on marine safety programs.
"He was a dedicated member of the Canadian Coast Guard Auxiliary who was always willing to assist in working to improve safety for all mariners," Hearn said in a statement.
"[We were] truly fortunate to have such a dedicated individual as Mr. Chaulk offer his time and expertise. He will be deeply missed."
Meanwhile, Stephen Decker, a spokesman for the Canadian Coast Guard, addressed questions as to why a training exercise was held Sunday, while the remnants of Hurricane Noel brought high winds to much of the province.
Decker said Clode Sound, where the exercise was held, is sheltered and that conditions were not that bad.
"Everyone has to be satisfied with the equipment that you have and the conditions, and in this case, everyone was confident the training could be carried out in a safe manner," he said.
Decker said the coast guard will be doing an internal investigation into what happened.
+++
Man, 87, perishes in cabin fire outside Glovertown
Last Updated:
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
12:35 PM NT
CBC News
Authorities are investigating the cause of a central Newfoundland cabin fire that has claimed the life of an elderly man.
A Glovertown resident, 87, died Monday when his cabin was destroyed by fire, the RCMP said.
The cabin was in the area of Maccles Lake, near Glovertown.
Police said a nearby pickup truck was also destroyed in the blaze.
The RCMP and the Newfoundland and Labrador fire commissioner's office are investigating the fire.
+++
The preceding story showed us that even though the old adage "a casa nunca mata ninguém" (which means, basically, that being a homebody never endangers one's health - normally) is true and almost always accurate - there can be exceptions.
The next story teaches us that even the best of intentions can be met, somewhere down the road, by diametrically opposite resolutions that one would have never thought one would consider - in a million years...
No one wants to literally live a million years though...
But that is another story...
Okla. death penalty foe commits suicide
By SEAN MURPHY,
Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 7, 2:05 PM ET
NORMAN, Okla. - Defense attorney Lisa McCalmont was well-known nationally as an outspoken critic of lethal injection and amassed a trove of information about problems with the three-drug cocktail that is at the very center of a case the U.S. Supreme Court will hear early next year.
Colleagues say McCalmont, 49, was looking forward to the Supreme Court case as a momentous event in her career.
But then, last week, she hanged herself at her home in Norman — a suicide that stunned and baffled some of those who knew her.
"She seemed like she was on top of the world," said Dr. William Kinsinger, an Oklahoma City anesthesiologist who worked with McCalmont on a capital case. "I'm absolutely dumbfounded."
Her husband, Craig Dixon, a geophysicist, would not discuss what might have troubled his wife. She left no suicide note.
At the time of her death, she was a consultant to the Death Penalty Clinic at the law school at the University of California at Berkeley, and worked passionately to save the lives of death row inmates. She advised attorneys across the country who were working on challenges to lethal injection.
McCalmont was not directly involved in the Kentucky case before the Supreme Court, in which two condemned men claim lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.
But colleagues said she helped lay the groundwork for similar challenges in other jurisdictions. She argued that if the drugs were not properly administered, the condemned could suffer excruciating pain without being able to cry out.
"We wouldn't be where we are today with lethal injection cases if it were not for her," said Ty Alper, a colleague of McCalmont's at the Death Penalty Clinic. "In large part due to the work of lawyers like Lisa, lawyers in every death penalty case are challenging the method of lethal injection in their cases."
In agreeing to hear the case, the Supreme Court appears to have put a halt to executions in the U.S. for now.
"I think that she was glad the high court had stepped in to resolve this because the lower courts were all over the place," said a colleague of McCalmont's George Kendall, a New York-based lawyer and board member at the Death Penalty Information Center. "This is a major-league constitutional issue the court announced it will attempt to decide."
McCalmont brought a scientific background to the job: She had a successful career in the 1980s and early 1990s as a geologist for Houston-based Conoco Inc. She received a bachelor's degree in geology at Dickinson College in 1979 and pursued graduate studies in geology at the University of Arizona.
"She was able to leverage her great scientific expertise and mind and use it to great effect in the lethal injection work, which is all about medicine and science," Alper said. He said she also had a "great legal mind" and was "very compassionate and dedicated to her clients."
A 1996 graduate of the University of Tulsa College of Law, McCalmont previously worked for the federal public defender's office in Oklahoma City, where she successfully argued a federal appeal on behalf of Oklahoma death row inmate Glenn Anderson, convicted of a triple killing.
McCalmont argued that during the death penalty phase of his trial, his attorney failed to investigate potential mitigating evidence. Anderson was resentenced in June to life without parole.
Some of those who knew McCalmont said she did not appear to be despondent recently.
John McShane, founder of the Dallas-based Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers, a support group for attorneys, said depression can be an occupational hazard for lawyers.
Only for lawyers...? I don't think so...!
"The best and most compassionate lawyers are the most vulnerable to mental illness," McShane said. "Your job is to protect your client from all the things that can go wrong, and you're hyper-vigilant about all the negatives associated with a situation."
May GOD Forgive you,
Lisa McCalmont.
R.I.P.
May also the Norman Oklahoma police consider the hypothesis of a murder disguised as a suicide...
And may no one think of you as the Chris Benoit of attorneys...
No offense, Chris -
you R.I.P. too -
if you can...
+++
Something else that we never think will happen to us, "not in a million years"...
Seeing our own tools, instruments of work, turn against us and become the instrument of our own demises...!
Ok - in this case, it was a little more conceivable since the "tool" in question is a gun indeed...
But still...!
Ole time cowboy mentality -
it is a downright tragedy and DISGRACE when a gunman bites the dust due to his very own "piece"... There are more flamboyant and dignified ways of "buying the farm" yes - but then again we're not all exactly like Wild Bill Hickok these days...!
Fla. deputy, 76, killed with his own gun
By KELLI KENNEDY,
Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 7, 10:21 PM ET
POMPANO BEACH, Fla. - An inmate handcuffed inside a medical transportation van Wednesday managed to steal a gun from the twice-retired, 76-year-old sheriff's deputy at the wheel, kill him with it and drive off, authorities said.
Michael Mazza was recaptured four hours later at a pawn shop, the deputy's gun still on him, Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti said. The 40-year-old suspect confessed to the shooting, the sheriff said.
Mazza, dressed in a suit and tie, was on his way to the second day of trial on charges of bank robbery and eluding police. He had been complaining of a back problem, which is why he was in the medical van, but it's not clear if that was a legitimate claim, sheriff's spokesman Elliott Cohen said.
Deputy Paul Rein talked to his wife on his cell phone just before 8 a.m., then set out on the routine transfer from a county jail, Lamberti said.
Minutes after departing, Mazza fought through a partition separating him from Rein, the sole officer in the vehicle, the sheriff said.
Rein died at a hospital shortly after he was found bleeding in a Pompano Beach parking lot just after the attack. He was not wearing a bulletproof vest and had been shot once in the chest, the sheriff said.
He had other injuries, including a broken finger and bruises, suffered in the altercation with Mazza, Lamberti said.
Mazza was charged with first-degree murder and escape, and was transferred to a maximum-security jail in Miami-Dade County after a judge denied him bond.
"We all just feel it's probably better he be housed at another facility outside of Broward County," Lamberti said.
Mazza was already serving one life sentence for armed robbery and faced another in a trial under way at the Broward County Courthouse. Authorities initially speculated accomplices may have helped him escape Wednesday, but Lamberti said they had no evidence of that.
Traffic backed up for miles and schools were placed on lockdown as authorities launched a manhunt. The van was found 20 miles away in a Fort Lauderdale restaurant parking lot.
Investigators still were trying to figure out Mazza's steps, but a man who refused to give his last name said he met Mazza at another pawn shop, and Mazza asked for a ride. He wasn't wearing handcuffs, said his name was Tony and said he didn't care where they went, the man said.
"He said he just had an argument with his wife, and he left from up state," said the man, who gave his name only as Mark. He refused to give his last name as he grew more anxious about being interviewed. "He was sitting down at a store, all exhausted and everything ... and his leg was messed up, hurting."
Mazza by then had changed out of the suit into a T-shirt, shorts and sneakers. They went to a soup kitchen and got something to eat, the man said, and then to the Hollywood pawn shop. Mazza stayed in the car, and when the man went inside, he saw Mazza's picture on television and realized his passenger was a fugitive.
"I freaked out," he said.
He went outside and took the keys from his car, then he and the manager called 911.
Mazza was on trial in a Feb. 28 bank robbery after which he led police on a short chase before he crashed his car into another vehicle, injuring himself and two others, authorities said.
Mazza's attorney, Maurice Graham, requested a mistrial Wednesday morning in court, where he and prosecutors listened to radio updates about the manhunt. Graham did not immediately return a phone message or e-mail from The Associated Press.
A person who identified herself as a relative of Rein's declined to comment when reached at his home.
Rein's ex-wife, Mollie Meyers, described him as a 5-foot 7-inch "little strong guy" who retired from the U.S. Postal Service at age 55 and began a second career in the sheriff's department. He served as a Broward deputy from 1987 to 2000; the department lured him out of his second retirement in 2003.
"He was a typical father, a typical husband, working very hard for his family," she said. "Sometimes he held down two jobs to provide for his family."
She said she and Rein split up seven years ago, and both remarried after being wed for 49 years. They had two grown sons, one of whom recently retired as a police officer in Davie. A stepson works for the Coconut Creek police department.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," Meyers, 75, said of Rein's death. "I couldn't tell you how I feel."
Meyers said she rarely worried about Rein's safety because his job involved dealing with inmates, not working the streets. However, she said her ex-husband should not have been alone with Mazza.
"There should have been another deputy with him," Meyers said.
Rein's file includes numerous letters of commendation, including one from an inmate who said Rein "treated me with a little respect and dignity" when the deputy transported him in 1997.
Rein is the fourth South Florida law enforcement officer and the third Broward deputy shot in the last three months.
Deputy Maury Hernandez was shot in the head Aug. 6 during a traffic stop. He was released from the hospital Oct. 25. Sergeant Chris Reyka, 51, was fatally shot as he was looking for stolen vehicles behind a drug store Aug. 10. His killer is still being sought.
In September, Miami-Dade County police officer Jose Somohano was fatally shot by a gunman who ambushed him and three other officers. The suspect was killed by officers hours later in Broward.
___
Associated Press writers Laura Wides-Munoz, Damian Grass, Jennifer Kay, Suzette Laboy and Adrian Sainz contributed to this report.
+++
FINALLY -
some monthly death toll news
that will actually lighten up the toll a bit...!
Quite frankly - I never thought I'd see the like of this...
Number of border-crossing deaths drops
By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Wed Nov 7, 7:33 PM ET
PHOENIX - The number of illegal immigrants who died while crossing the southern U.S. border fell for the second straight year, officials said Wednesday.
Four hundred people perished while entering from Mexico in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, down 12 percent from the 453 deaths in the previous year. A record 494 deaths were reported in the fiscal year that ended in September 2005.
U.S. Border Patrol spokesman Lloyd Easterling said that although the number is still too high, "We feel we have made significant progress this year."
The Border Patrol attributed the lower numbers to tighter border enforcement that led to fewer illegal crossings and to 2,500 new agents in the field, who can spread out more to seek out immigrants crossing in remote and perilous terrain.
More than half the deaths were reported in Arizona, the busiest illegal entry point along the nearly 2,000-mile southern border. For several years, immigrants have succumbed to triple-digit heat during the summers in the state's deserts.
The primary cause of death was exposure to heat. Other causes include vehicle and train accidents, drownings, fatigue and banditry.
The deaths dropped in seven of the nine Border Patrol sectors along the southern border. The increases came in the sectors near Tucson, Ariz., and Laredo, Texas.
The Rev. Robin Hoover, founder of the Tucson-based group Humane Borders, said it is likely that other immigrants died whom Border Patrol agents have yet to find.
"This is not good news for the Border Patrol, and the Border Patrol shouldn't treat this as good news," Hoover said. He blamed the deaths on the government's border enforcement strategy.
As the Border Patrol has increased security in certain spots, smugglers have turned to more remote and dangerous migration routes where enforcement is weaker, said Hoover, whose group has dozens of water stations in the Arizona desert to help illegal immigrants in distress.
Easterling said money-hungry smugglers are to blame for failing to warn illegal immigrants how dangerous it can be to cross the desert.
"(Border Patrol agents) are not the ones out there beckoning these illegal aliens to come over," Easterling said. "When you think about it, you have to tie it into the smugglers making false promises."
___
U.S. Border Patrol: http://tinyurl.com/yusdb6
Humane Borders: http://www.humaneborders.org
.......
One single George
begat 9... who begat 55... who begat 48 more...
He sure left his mark.
At 90 - nearly four years into his new "life" as a widower, I guess he felt it was time to check out too...
Or, really, God Took him in -
he'd done his part.
George Osmond, patriarch of Osmond family of singers, dies at age 90
Tue Nov 6, 8:52 PM
By Jennifer Dobner,
The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY - George Osmond, father of Donny and Marie Osmond and patriarch to the family's singing group, The Osmond Brothers, died Tuesday. He was 90.
Family spokesman Kevin Sasaki said Osmond died at his home in Provo, Utah. Because he had not been ill, he likely died from natural causes incident to his age, Sasaki said.
Marie Osmond, a contestant on ABC's "Dancing With the Stars" who fainted following a live performance two weeks ago, was due to appear on Tuesday night's results segment, but instead boarded a plane in Los Angeles with her brother for Utah.
"He was the best man I've ever known," Donny Osmond told the "Entertainment Tonight" website.
The death was first reported on the "Entertainment Tonight" website and confirmed by The Associated Press through a spokeswoman for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which Osmond was a member.
Marie Osmond performed Monday night on "Dancing With the Stars," with Donny in attendance. She's not the only "Dancing" contestant to have lost a parent this season: Jane Seymour missed a show last month after the death of her mother, Mieke Frankenberg.
George Osmond married his wife, Olive, on Dec. 1, 1944. She died in 2004. The couple were the parents of nine children, many of whom became singing stars. Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay Osmond first became famous as The Osmond Brothers, a barbershop quartet that sang at Disneyland and on "The Andy Williams Show."
Donny Osmond joined the group at age six and later hosted "The Donny and Marie Show" with his sister. The youngest son, Jimmy Osmond, is also a performer.
George Osmond also had 55 grandchildren and 48 great-grandchildren.
A Second World War veteran, Osmond also served missions for the Mormon church in Hawaii and the United Kingdom. In his professional life, he worked in real estate, insurance sales and was once the postmaster for the city of Ogden. He gave up his work to manage the singing careers of his children.
Together, Osmond and his wife formed the Osmond Foundation, which later became the Children's Miracle Network, a nonprofit organization that raises funds for children's hospitals.
+++
Death comes in threes...
Or so they say...
After Porter Wagoner
and Robert Goulet,
another giant was expected to go...
It's Hank Thompson.
Heaven's Choir is really filling up its ranks - a big concert must be looming...
Did I say "big"...?
I meant HUGE...!
Texas country singer Hank Thompson dies at 82 of lung cancer
Wed Nov 7, 8:35 PM
By Matt Curry,
The Associated Press
DALLAS - Hank Thompson, who mixed honky-tonk and Western swing on such hits as "A Six Pack to Go" and "The Wild Side of Life," has died. The country singer and bandleader was 82.
Thompson died of lung cancer late Tuesday at his home in the Fort Worth suburb of Keller, said spokesman Tracy Pitcox, who is also president of Heart of Texas Records. He died just days after canceling his tour and announcing his retirement.
"He was battling aggressive lung cancer," Pitcox said Wednesday in a statement. "He remained conscious until the last couple of hours and passed away peacefully at about 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday night surrounded by his friends and family."
The last show Thompson played was Oct. 8 in his native Waco. That day was declared "Hank Thompson Day" by Gov. Rick Perry and Waco Mayor Virginia DuPuy.
Fans loved Thompson's distinctive voice and his musical style, which drew on the Western swing first developed in the 1930s by fellow Texan Bob Wills. Thompson was named to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1989.
His first hit record was "Whoa, Sailor" in 1946. That year, he started a band called the Brazos Valley Boys, which won Billboard magazine's touring band of the year award 14 consecutive times.
Thompson had 29 hits reach the top 10 between 1948 and 1975. Some of his most famous songs include "Humpty Dumpty Heart" and "A Six Pack to Go." Among others: "Waiting in the Lobby of Your Heart," "Broken Heart and a Glass of Beer"; and "Cat Has Nine Lives." He wrote many of the songs himself, including "Whoa, Sailor."
His "The Wild Side of Life," which reached No. 1 in 1952, inspired a famous "answer song" written by J.D. Miller, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels." Recorded by Kitty Wells, the song was the first No. 1 hit by a woman soloist on the country music charts and made Wells a star.
Thompson's song was about a guy who'd lost his wife when she left him "and went back to the wild side of life." The song says, "I didn't know God made honky-tonk angels."
"It wasn't God who made honky-tonk angels, as you said in the words of your song," sang Wells, who worked with Thompson for many years. "Too many times married men think they're still single, that has caused many a good girl to go wrong."
Wells, 88, said Wednesday she never took Thompson's tune personally and didn't record the response for personal reasons.
"It was just a song," she said from her Nashville home.
The two hits were both on the charts at the same time.
"I think mine kind of helped his record and his helped mine," she said.
Thompson's death was the country music world's second big loss in as many weeks. Porter Wagoner, the Grand Ole Opry star who helped launch the career of Dolly Parton, died Oct. 28 at age 80.
Thompson grew up a fan of Gene Autry, which fuelled his love of the guitar. By the time he finished high school, he was playing on a local radio show in Waco, where he was featured as "Hank the Hired Hand."
He served in the Navy, and studied electrical engineering at Southern Methodist University, the University of Texas and Princeton.
Thompson considered a career in engineering, but remained in show business. He caught the attention of Tex Ritter, who helped him get a contract with Capitol Records.
Pitcox said Thompson requested that no funeral be held.
A "celebration of life," open to fans and friends, will be held Nov. 14 at Billy Bob's Texas, a Fort Worth honky-tonk.
Survivors include his wife, Ann. He had no children.
-John Gerome in Nashville, Tenn., contributed to this report.
-
On the Net: Hank Thompson: http://www.hankthompson.com/
Country Music Hall of Fame: http://www.countrymusichalloffame.com/site/
=======
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
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No Photo Available.
I know next to nothing about Hank and his music, but I will be sure to check out his website in the morning. 90 years old.... would love to sit with him and listen to his stories. Will check out his tunes tomorrow. In the meantime Hank, God bless and rest in peace.
POSTED BY: Joe C on THU, NOV 08, 2007 01:25 AM -0500
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My personal tribute to you Hank- I bought one of your greatest hits compilations today, plugged you into the dash of my Mercury and cruised a nice long way! You live on! Have fun with those HonkyTonk Angels!
POSTED BY: iambic59 on THU, NOV 08, 2007 01:01 AM -0500
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my sincere condolences to his family & friends left behind.
POSTED BY: che.parcero on THU, NOV 08, 2007 12:38 AM -0500
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My Deepest Sympathy Goes Out To His Wife and Family-another angel voice in God's Heavenly Choir-say hi to Hank Williams for me Hank.
POSTED BY: Harry T on WED, NOV 07, 2007 10:35 PM -0500
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My Deepest Sympathy Goes Out To His Wife and Family-another angel voice in God's Heavenly Choir-say hi to Hank Williams for me Hank.
POSTED BY: Harry T on WED, NOV 07, 2007 10:34 PM -0500
A twin bill then
of requiems
in fire and... water.
Sort of.
Body found near border is 9th fire death
Thu Nov 8, 11:32 PM ET
SAN DIEGO - A man whose body was found in a border area ravaged by recent wildfires was the ninth death directly related to the blazes, authorities said Thursday.
The man, who has not been identified, died in the blaze, the San Diego County medical examiner confirmed.
A humanitarian group found the body in a rugged area often used by people crossing illegally into the United States.
The bodies of four suspected illegal immigrants were found near the border soon after flames raced through. A Mexican woman who was badly burned trying to cross illegally into the U.S. died Tuesday in San Diego.
Seven other deaths involving evacuees fleeing the blazes have been indirectly linked to the fires.
There will be more...
My condolences -
in advance.
Titanic survivor dies at 96
Thu Nov 8, 11:33 AM ET
LONDON - Barbara West Dainton, believed to be one of the last two survivors from the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, has died in England at age 96.
Dainton died Oct. 16 at a nursing home in Camborne, England, according to Peter Visick, a distant relative. Her funeral was held Monday at Truro Cathedral, Visick said Thursday.
Elizabeth Gladys "Millvina" Dean of Southampton, England, who was 2 months old at the time of the Titanic sinking, is now the disaster's only remaining survivor, according to the Titanic Historical Society.
The last American survivor, Lillian Gertrud Asplund, died in Massachusetts last year at age 99.
Dainton, born in Bournemouth in southern England in 1911, was too young to remember the night when the huge liner hit an iceberg and sank in the Atlantic in April 1912, killing 1,500 people, including her father, Edwy Arthur West.
He waved farewell as the lifeboat carrying Barbara; her mother, Ada; and her sister, Constance, was lowered into the ocean, according to Karen Kamuda of the Titanic Historical Society in Indian Orchard, Mass. His body was never identified.
The Titanic did not have enough lifeboats for all of 2,200 passengers and crew. Only a small number of those unable to find a place on the boats survived the freezing waters.
Dainton returned to England after the accident. She married in 1952.
She avoided publicity associated with the Titanic and even insisted that her funeral take place before any public announcement of her death, Kamuda said.
"We respected her privacy," Kamuda said. "We're so open with everything and our emotions nowadays, but people at that time, they just didn't talk about it."
And then there was one.
I strongly recommend the multi-part documentary on the Titanic tragedy that is available from A&E Home Video. It is the one that is aptly narrated by my erstwhile hero, David McCallum - thank God they didn't consider Robert Vaughn to do it...! But I digress...
R.I.P.
Barbara West Dainton
May they welcome you back onboard the ship like they did Rose in that Cameron movie...
+++
Iraqi, U.S. soldiers kill 14 gunmen in Mosul raids
1 hour, 44 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi and U.S. forces killed 14 suspected insurgents and detained 44 more in raids over the past 48 hours in northern Iraq, the U.S. military said on Friday.
Iraqi and U.S. soldiers also uncovered weapons caches this week in and around the city of Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, including rocket-propelled grenades and materials used to make bombs, the U.S. military said in a statement.
Helicopters were used in some of the fighting that took place in Mosul and around Nineveh province, it said.
"Iraqi citizens have been actively providing information to the (Iraqi security forces) and coalition forces to assist them in securing their neighborhoods," U.S. Colonel Stephen Twitty said in the statement.
The raids come as the U.S. military, which has poured an extra 30,000 troops into Iraq this year, touts declining levels of violence, especially in the capital Baghdad.
(Reporting by Missy Ryan; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
++++++++++++++
2 men arrested in death of Missouri girl, 9, whose body was found in cave
Fri Nov 9, 10:17 PM
By Marcus Kabel,
The Associated Press
NEOSHO, Mo. - Two men have been arrested in the death of a nine-year-old girl whose body was found Friday in a hillside cave in southwest Missouri, authorities said.
Newton County Sheriff Ken Copeland identified one as a 24-year-old male and the other as a man of about the same age. Their identities were not released because charges have not yet been filed, Copeland said.
The body of Rowan Ford was found on private land about 16 kilometres south of the girl's hometown of Stella, a village of about 200 people, Copeland said.
He said authorities were still determining how the girl died.
"We know we have a homicide," Copeland said, declining to elaborate.
The McDonald County deputy who found the body had searched the area on his way to work after recalling that there was a cavern there, Copeland said. The FBI was gathering the evidence at the scene.
Stella Mayor Bill Alsop, who answered the phone at the family's home Friday, said the girl's mother was "pretty shook up" when Copeland came to the home that morning and told her the body was very likely Rowan's.
"He told her they found the body of the little girl, and they were 99 per cent sure it was her daughter," Alsop said.
Rowan was reported missing after her mother, Colleen Spears, returned home early Nov. 3 from a night shift at a Wal-Mart.
The girl's stepfather, David Spears, told investigators he and two male friends were with Rowan the night before until they went out around 10:45 p.m. He returned home around midnight but did not check on the girl, Copeland said.
David Spears also later told authorities that he called his mother sometime after 1 a.m. and asked to use her vehicle, Copeland has said. She took it to him about half an hour later, then stayed at his house while her son left in her vehicle for about five hours, Copeland has said.
Copeland also has said that Spears has not been able to explain what he did during that time. He has not been accused of a crime.
David Spears declined to comment. He has been staying at his mother's house outside Stella since Rowan's disappearance.
"He's pretty torn up. He's extremely distraught. He's been crying quite a bit," his mother, Myrna Spears, said.
His mother declined to answer any questions about what happened that night. David Spears previously has said that it was wrong for him to leave the girl alone.
===========
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
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No Photo Available.
What kind of parents are you? Words cannot express my sorrow for that little girl. I dread to think what might have happened to her all because no one had the sense to check on her. People like that shouldn't be allowed to have children. The whole story sounds awful fishy to me and I hope the ones that did this get proper punishment.
POSTED BY: coton on SAT, NOV 10, 2007 04:58 AM -0500
*
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Yet again, another story like Madaline McCann's we a child is left alone while a parent or parents go out nad forget about their children. His story doesn't add up, and I am sure he is a prime suspect at this point as well as the 2 buddies he was hanging with. Why do some woman choose to live their children in care of people they they know and take a chance they are not going to be harmed. I think it is high time the people start taking care of their children and be parents...
POSTED BY: ttone1966 on SAT, NOV 10, 2007 04:48 AM -0500
*
Donna C
WHAT SICKOS
POSTED BY: Donna C on SAT, NOV 10, 2007 04:47 AM -0500
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Ok, As a parent,I would never leave my babies alone,and not check on them. What the heck was he thinking. I believe he knew and is just trying to pin it on the other guys. As for Mom,Divorce his butt,he is the reason Rowan is dead, whether he did it or someone else because of his stupidity
POSTED BY: dalihlalee on SAT, NOV 10, 2007 04:39 AM -0500
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Ok, As a parent,I would never leave my babies alone,and not check on them. What the heck was he thinking. I believe he knew and is just trying to pin it on the other guys. As for Mom,Divorce his butt,he is the reason Rowan is dead, whether he did it or someone else because of his stupidity
POSTED BY: dalihlalee on SAT, NOV 10, 2007 04:37 AM -0500
+++
Teen shoots 8 to death at school then kills self in rampage that stuns Finland
Wed Nov 7, 8:57 PM
By Marius Turula,
The Associated Press
TUUSULA, Finland - An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at his high school in this placid town in southern Finland on Wednesday, killing seven other students and the principal before mortally wounding himself in a rampage that stunned a country where gun crime is rare.
Police were analyzing YouTube postings that appeared to anticipate the massacre, including clips in which a young man calls for revolution and apparently prepares for the attack by test firing a semiautomatic handgun.
Investigators said the gunman, who was not identified, shot himself in the head after the shooting spree at Jokela High School in Tuusula, some 50 kilometres north of the capital, Helsinki. He died later at Toolo Hospital in Helsinki.
The teen killed five boys, two girls and the female principal with a .22-calibre pistol, police said, adding that about a dozen more people were injured while fleeing the school. Officials said more than 400 students ages 12 through 18 were enrolled.
Witnesses described a scene of mayhem at the school in this leafy lakeside community, saying the shooter prowled the building looking for victims while shouting slogans for "revolution."
Police Chief Matti Tohkanen said the gunman didn't have a previous criminal record. "He was from an ordinary family," Tohkanen said. He said the teen belonged to a gun club and got a licence for the pistol Oct. 19.
Gun ownership is fairly common in Finland by European standards, but deadly shootings are rare. Finnish media reported that a school shooting in 1989 involved a 14-year-old boy who killed two other students, apparently for teasing him.
Investigators were searching for connections to the shooter and a possible motive in YouTube postings that appeared to reveal plans for Wednesday's deadly attack.
One video, titled "Jokela High School Massacre," showed a picture of what appeared to be the Jokela school and two photos of a young man holding a handgun. The person who posted the video was identified in the user profile as an 18-year-old man from Finland. The posting was later removed.
The profile contained a text calling for a "revolution against the system."
Another video clip showed a young man clad in a dark jacket loading a clip into a handgun and firing several shots at an apple placed on the ground in a wooded area. He smiled and waved to the camera at the end of the clip.
A third clip showed photos of what appeared to be same man posing with a gun and wearing a T-shirt with the text "Humanity is overrated."
Kim Kiuru, a teacher, said the principal announced over the public address system just before noon that all students should remain in their classrooms.
"After that I saw the gunman running with what appeared to be a small-calibre handgun in his hand through the doors toward me, after which I escaped to the corridor downstairs and ran in the opposite direction," Kiuru told reporters.
He said he saw a woman's body as he fled the building.
"Then my pupils shouted at me out of the windows to ask what they should do and I told them to jump out of the windows ... and all my pupils were saved," Kiuru said.
Terhi Vayrynen, a 17-year-old student, told The Associated Press that her brother Henri, 13, and his classmates had witnessed the assailant shoot the principal outside the school through their classroom windows.
She said the gunman then entered her brother's classroom shouting: "Revolution! Smash everything!"
When no one did anything, the attacker shot the television set and windows but did not fire at the youngsters, she said. Then he ran out and down the corridor.
Vivianna Korhonen, a student at the high school, told Finnish broadcaster YLE she feared for her life as news of the shooting spread through the building.
"We were terrified and afraid. We thought that we might die as he was still able to come to our classroom," she said. "We were informed all the time. We were calling our friends and asking for information."
Residents in Tuusula, a town of 34,000 people, said such attacks were unheard of in the area.
"Mostly nothing happens here, this is nice surroundings and not any criminals to talk of. This was a total surprise," said Reijo Pekka, whose son Arttu Siltala was at the school.
Students said the killer often wore the same clothes to school - brown leather jacket, black trousers and checkered shirt - and usually carried a briefcase.
Tuomas Hulkkonen, another student, said he knew the gunman well, adding that the teen had been acting strange lately.
"He withdrew into his shell. I had noticed a change in him just recently, and I thought that perhaps he was a bit depressed, or something, but I couldn't imagine that in reality he would do anything like this," Hulkkonen told Finnish TV broadcaster MTV3.
Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen described the bloodshed as "extremely tragic" and declared Thursday a day of national mourning with flags to be flown at half-mast.
============
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
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No Photo Available.
If someone is this troubled they will use something else if they can't get a gun. I do not believe in gun control, I grew up with guns my dad taught me that guns were not toys and showed the respect one needs to have around guns and for guns, and I have passed this on to my sons. I feel so much sorrow for the people who lost loved ones in this but tougher gun laws would not have prevented this.
POSTED BY: Freedom West on SAT, NOV 10, 2007 04:37 AM -0500
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He was 18 so he would have been able to have a gun anyway under the new proposed laws. That is not the issue here. He had problems that school counselors and teachers should have seen.
POSTED BY: rbrum on SAT, NOV 10, 2007 12:11 AM -0500
*
No Photo Available.
Truly sad - but the fault of the system, the teachers and the other students who saw and still accepted the bullying. Not the fault of the inaminate object - the gun. Every person has a point at which they will break - much like glass, steel or diamond. One hopes that the victims were none of the "Truly innocent"!
POSTED BY: roonsal on FRI, NOV 09, 2007 09:19 PM -0500
School Shooting
LATEST HEADLINES
* Virginia Tech president defends school's actions after report on shootings CP
* Virginia Tech president defends school's reaction after critical report CP
* Report faults Virginia Tech response in shootings Reuters
* Virginia Tech response too slow after first shootings, report concludes CBC
* School safety panel releases C.W. Jeffreys report CBC
..............
Deaths mark grim Afghan, Iraq milestones
By JASON STRAZIUSO,
Associated Press Writer
KABUL, Afghanistan - Militants ambushed and killed six U.S. troops walking in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan — the most lethal attack in a year that has been the deadliest for the U.S. military here since the 2001 invasion.
The number of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan this year mirror the record toll in Iraq. Both conflicts have seen an increase in troop levels this year that has put more soldiers in harm's way, including those killed Friday while returning from a meeting with village elders in Nuristan province. Militants wielding rocket propelled grenades killed the six Americans and three Afghan soldiers. Eight U.S. troops were wounded.
"They were attacked from several enemy positions at the same time," Lt. Col. David Accetta, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the U.S. military, said Saturday. "It was a complex ambush."
The six deaths brings the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year to at least 101, according to an Associated Press count, surpassing the 93 troops killed in 2005. About 87 died last year. The toll echoes the situation in Iraq, where U.S. military deaths this year surpassed 850, also a record.
Launched in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the war in Afghanistan quickly ousted al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and his Taliban protectors and appeared to have been a swift military victory.
But insurgent attacks — advanced ambushes and suicide and roadside bombs — have risen sharply the last two years, and analysts say the counterinsurgency battle U.S. and NATO forces now face will take a decade or more to win.
Critics of the Bush administration say the Pentagon turned its attention away from Afghanistan during the build-up to the invasion in Iraq, leaving the military with too few resources here to back up that initial victory with an adequate security presence.
Though attacks in Iraq have dropped in recent months, U.S. troops there have also faced a rising number of suicide and roadside bombs since the 2003 invasion, known as asymmetric attacks in military circles.
Seth Jones, an expert on Afghanistan at the Washington-based RAND Corp., said the power of the U.S. military has forced insurgent groups into relying on such bombings.
"It's an irony that the United States far and away has the most powerful military in the world," said Jones. "I think the current levels of attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan show, however, that the key vulnerability to the United States both in Afghanistan and Iraq is the asymmetric attacks."
U.S. forces have two combat brigades — more than 8,000 troops — in eastern Afghanistan this year, up from one last year. The U.S. has about 25,000 forces in Afghanistan today — 15,000 under NATO and 10,000 under the U.S.-led coalition.
Accetta said U.S. forces this year have pushed into new areas that traditionally have been militant safe havens.
"If you look back, last year we didn't have a significant presence in Nuristan and now we do," he said. "That all contributes to the fact there have been more casualties this year than there have been in previous years."
Violence is at record levels across the board. Insurgents have launched more than 130 suicide attacks, a record number, and Afghanistan last week saw its deadliest attack since 2001, a suicide bombing in Baghlan province that killed about 75 people, including 59 students and six members of parliament.
"It certainly is disturbing that U.S. casualty figures, though they are low in general, are increasing," Jones said. "But I think the most significant concern is the growth that is affecting Afghans, the whole panoply of raids, IEDs, suicide attacks, and the attack in Baghlan this week."
More than 5,800 people, mostly militants, have died due to insurgency-related violence this year, also a record, according to an AP count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.
In Helmand province on Sunday, a suicide bomber detonated himself near a NATO convoy in the town of Gereshk, wounding three civilians nearby, said Helmand police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal. In the eastern province of Khost, police patrolling on foot Saturday were hit by a land-mine blast that killed one officer and wounded two civilians, said Wazir Pacha, a spokesman for the provincial police.
Anthony Cordesman, an expert on the U.S. military, said in a report this month that the average number of attacks in Afghanistan each month has risen 30 percent this year, from 425 in 2006 to 548 this year.
He labeled the Afghan conflict a "war of attrition that can last 15 or more years" that militants can win simply by outlasting U.S. and NATO efforts.
"As in Vietnam, tactical victory can easily become irrelevant," he wrote in a report for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies that called for greater development of the Afghan government and military.
Friday's ambush resulted in the highest number of U.S. casualties from a battle this year, Accetta said.
"With Sunday being Veterans Day, this is a reminder of the sacrifices that our troops and our Afghan partners make for the peace and stability of the Afghan people," Accetta said.
Fighter aircraft and troops using artillery and mortars at nearby outposts fired on the militants' positions, Accetta said. It wasn't immediately clear how many militants were involved in the ambush, he said.
Mohammad Daoud Nadim, Nuristan deputy police chief, said the ambush happened in the remote province's Waygal district, about 40 miles from the border with Pakistan, which militants are known to use as a sanctuary.
Arabs and other foreign fighters from Chechnya and Uzbekistan are known to operate in the Nuristan region, but the provincial governor, Tamin Nuristani, blamed the attack on Taliban militants. Nuristani said the combined troops searched two houses after the meeting with village elders and were ambushed while walking to their base afterward.
Nuristan province has seen heavy fighting recently. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 13 wounded by an ambush in July, while militants disguised in Afghan army uniforms wounded 11 U.S. troops in August.
The attack Friday was the deadliest incident for U.S. troops since a Chinook crashed in February in Zabul province, killing eight Americans. Officials ruled out enemy fire as the cause of that crash.
___
Associated Press reporter Amir Shah contributed to this report.
Clash in Iraq kills 18 al-Qaida members
By LAUREN FRAYER,
Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 10, 3:59 PM ET
BAGHDAD - Former Sunni insurgents asked the U.S. to stay away, then ambushed members of al-Qaida in Iraq, killing 18 in a battle that raged for hours north of Baghdad, an ex-insurgent leader and Iraqi police said Saturday.
The Islamic Army in Iraq sent advance word to Iraqi police requesting that U.S. helicopters keep out of the area since its fighters had no uniforms and were indistinguishable from al-Qaida, according to the police and a top Islamic Army leader known as Abu Ibrahim.
Abu Ibrahim told The Associated Press that his fighters killed 18 al-Qaida militants and captured 16 in the fight southeast of Samarra, a mostly Sunni city about 60 miles north of Baghdad.
"We found out that al-Qaida intended to attack us, so we ambushed them at 3 p.m. on Friday," Abu Ibrahim said. He would not say whether any Islamic Army members were killed.
Much of the Islamic Army in Iraq, a major Sunni Arab insurgent group that includes former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, has joined the U.S.-led fight against al-Qaida in Iraq along with Sunni tribesmen and other former insurgents repelled by the terror group's brutality and extremism.
An Iraqi police officer corroborated Abu Ibrahim's account, but said policemen were not able to verify the number of bodies because the area was still too dangerous to enter.
Before the battle, the insurgent commander personally contacted Iraqi police in Samarra himself to tell them his plans, according to the officer and Abu Ibrahim himself. He asked that Iraqi authorities inform the American military about his plans, and requested that no U.S. troops interfere, they said.
The U.S. military said Saturday it had no record of U.S. troops ever being informed about the operation, and it was unclear whether Iraqi police followed through on Abu Ibrahim's request.
The police officer said the al-Qaida captives would not be transferred to Iraqi police.
Instead, he said, he believed the Islamic Army would offer a prisoner swap for some of its members held by al-Qaida. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity because of the situation's sensitivity.
Meanwhile, farther east, in Diyala province, members of another former insurgent group, the 1920s Revolution Brigades, launched a military-style operation Saturday against al-Qaida in Iraq there, the Iraqi Army said.
About 60 militants were captured and handed over to Iraqi soldiers, an Army officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to media.
Afterward, hundreds of people paraded through the streets of Buhriz, about 35 miles north of Baghdad, witnesses said. Many danced and fired their guns into the air, shouting "Down with al-Qaida!" and "Diyala is for all Iraqis!"
Like the Islamic Army, the 1920s Revolution Brigades includes former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party and officers from his Army. Hundreds of 1920s members now work as scouts and gather intelligence for American soldiers in Diyala.
And at Baghdad's most revered Sunni shrine, the Abu Hanifa mosque, voices blasted from loudspeakers Saturday urging residents to turn against al-Qaida: "We are your sons, the sons of the awakening, and we want to end the operations of al-Qaida...We call upon you not to be frightened, and to cooperate with us."
So-called "awakening councils" have sprouted up in communities across Iraq, where members swear allegiance to Iraq's U.S.-backed government and disavow militants. U.S. officials say the councils have been key to tamping violence in recent months.
The backlash against al-Qaida among Iraq's Sunni Arab community began in Iraq's western Anbar province last year. Americans recruited Sunni sheiks to help oust al-Qaida from their home turf, and the movement spread to former militants who once fought U.S. and Iraqi soldiers.
Along with a U.S. force buildup of 30,000 troops, the Sunni fighters are credited with wresting neighborhoods back from the terror network — yielding a sharp drop in violence here in recent months.
The top commander for U.S. forces in the Middle East, Navy Adm. William Fallon, said Friday that a grass-roots shift among Iraqis — both Sunni and Shia — against insurgents in their midst has been critical to the improvement.
"Over the last year, many people in Iraq, I believe, have gotten fed up with the extremists on both sides," Fallon told the AP in an interview during a stop in Hawaii on his way back to U.S. Central Command headquarters in Florida from a trip in Pakistan, Central Asia and Singapore.
"The situation has dramatically improved in the last five months in particular," he said. Some 50,000 Iraqis have signed up to be what the military calls "concerned local citizens" in a project Fallon compared to a neighborhood watch program.
The U.S. military announced the death of another American soldier, killed a day earlier in an explosion in Diyala. Three others were wounded in the blast, it said.
At least 3,861 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an AP count. The figure includes eight civilians working for the military.
The military also said its troops detained 10 suspects in raids across central and northern parts of the country.
Twenty people were killed or found dead across Iraq, including four civilians who died on minibuses hit by roadside bombs on their way to work, police said.
One of the explosions, which missed the passing police patrol that was apparently its target, struck a minibus, killing two people in a predominantly Shiite area of Baghdad, an officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
One of the victims, Qais Hassoun, was riding in a nearby pickup truck. He spoke to AP Television News at a hospital in the Sadr City area, where the victims lay on gurneys in a grimy corridor.
"We are just construction workers, trying to get to our jobs. We were riding in the minibus when the explosion went off," Hassoun said.
Toll Rises to 41 in Afghan Bombing
Sameer Najafizada/Associated Press
Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, an opposition leader in the Afghan Parliament, in Baghlan Tuesday before a bomb attack killed him.
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By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA
Published: November 8, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 7 — The death toll from a suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan rose to 52 on Wednesday, making it the worst single suicide bombing in the country since 2001, government officials said.
The former minister of commerce, Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, was among the victims of a suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan.
(The New York Times)
Casualties of an attack in Baghlan included children.
Among the dead were 18 schoolchildren, four teachers and six members of Parliament, including one of the country’s most promising young politicians.
The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, declared a three-day period of national mourning as the normally quiet northern province of Baghlan reeled from the deaths.
On Tuesday, a suicide attacker detonated a large bomb as a parade of schoolchildren, teachers and elders welcomed a parliamentary delegation from Kabul. “Based on the tally by the police department,” said Mohammad Alam Rasikh, the provincial governor, “so far, 52 people were found dead and 102 are injured.”
The leader of the National Front, the parliamentary group whose young spokesman, Mustafa Kazimi, died in the attack, questioned the government’s explanation of a lone suicide bomber and said he had received reports of shots being fired. He also questioned why no members of the provincial government were present at the attack.
“There is a question why the provincial officials were not with their parliamentarian guests,” Burhanuddin Rabbani, the leader of the National Front, told an Afghan television station. “And it is a question why there was shooting after the explosion.”
A White House news release said President Bush called Mr. Karzai on Tuesday to offer sympathy and encouragement.
In a news conference, Mr. Karzai said the attack was carried out by “the enemies of peace and security,” a phrase that he uses frequently for the Taliban insurgents who carried out over 116 suicide attacks in this year. “There is no doubt it was a terrorist attack,” he said.
The attack reverberated in Kabul on Wednesday. The bombing occurred in a part of the country that is considered relatively safe and showed that the Taliban could carry out strikes across the country.
Afghan television stations broadcast videotape from Baghlan of family members of the victims mourning their loved ones. The bodies of the six Parliament members were flown to Kabul, covered in Afghan flags.
Zohor Afghan, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education, said that along with 18 schoolchildren and 4 teachers killed, another 25 students and 5 teachers were wounded. He said the tally could still rise.
“This number is not final,” Mr. Afghan said. “We are trying to find out the exact number of casualties.”
Taimoor Shah contributed reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Past Coverage
* Suicide Bomber Kills 26 in Northern Afghanistan (November 7, 2007)
* Death Toll in Afghan Bombing at 52 (November 7, 2007)
* Foreign Fighters Of Harsher Bent Bolster Taliban (October 30, 2007)
* Kabul Blast Kills at Least 5, Including G.I. (October 7, 2007)
Soldier with US-led force dies in Afghanistan
33 minutes ago
KABUL (AFP) - A soldier with the US-led coalition fighting Taliban-led extremists in Afghanistan has died of injuries suffered during battle, the coalition said Sunday.
The latest casualty follows the deaths announced Saturday of six soldiers from a separate NATO-led force fighting in eastern Afghanistan.
The nationalities of the casualties of the past two days have not been officially released. Most of the troops in the east and in the coalition are US nationals.
The latest soldier to die was wounded in fighting in Kapisa province, north of Kabul, on Saturday, the coalition said in a statement.
The battle was in the Tagab valley which is about 40 kilometres (25 miles) southeast of the biggest US-led military base in Afghanistan at Bagram.
Tagab, about 100 kilometres from Kabul, saw Taliban unrest earlier this year, prompting Afghan and foreign troops to move to the region.
The new death takes to 201 the number of international soldiers to be killed in Afghanistan this year, most of them in combat.
More than 50,000 international soldiers are in Afghanistan to fight an insurgency by the resurgent Taliban, who were removed from government in late 2001.
Dozens die all over the place -
but heaven forbid that we lose A SINGLE ONE of 'Our Men At War'... (sic)
+++
Pulitzer winner Norman Mailer dead at 84
By RICHARD PYLE,
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - Norman Mailer, the pugnacious prince of American letters who for decades reigned as the country's literary conscience and provocateur with such books as "The Naked and the Dead" and "The Executioner's Song," has died at the age of 84.
Mailer died Saturday of acute renal failure at Mount Sinai Hospital, J. Michael Lennon, the author's literary executor and biographer, said.
"He was a great American voice," said a tearful Joan Didion, author of "The Year of Magical Thinking" and other works, struggling for words upon learning of Mailer's death.
From his classic debut novel to such masterworks of literary journalism as "The Armies of the Night," the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner always got credit for insight, passion and originality.
Some of his works were highly praised, some panned, but none was pronounced the Great American Novel that seemed to be his life quest from the time he soared to the top as a brash 25-year-old "enfant terrible."
Mailer built and nurtured an image over the years as bellicose, street-wise and high-living. He drank, fought, smoked pot, married six times and stabbed his second wife, almost fatally, during a drunken party.
He had nine children, made a quixotic bid to become mayor of New York City on a "left conservative" platform, produced five forgettable films, dabbled in journalism, flew gliders, challenged professional boxers, was banned from a Manhattan YWHA for reciting obscene poetry, feuded publicly with writer Gore Vidal and crusaded against women's liberation.
Mailer had numerous minor run-ins with the law, usually for being drunk or disorderly, but was also jailed briefly during the Pentagon protests in the late 1960s. While directing the film "Maidstone" in 1968, the self-described "old club fighter" punched actor Lane Smith, breaking his jaw, and bit actor Rip Torn's ear in another scuffle.
But as Newsweek reviewer Raymond Sokolov said in 1968, "In the end, it is the writing that will count."
Mailer, he wrote, possessed "a superb natural style that does not crack under the pressures he puts upon it, a talent for narrative and characters with real blood streams and nervous systems, a great openness and eagerness for experience, a sense of urgency about the need to test thought and character in the crucible of a difficult era."
Norman Mailer was born Jan. 31, 1923, in Long Branch, N.J. His father, Isaac, a South Africa-born accountant, and mother, Fanny, who ran a housekeeping and nursing agency, soon moved to Brooklyn.
Mailer earned an engineering science degree in 1943 from Harvard University, where he decided to become a writer, and was soon drafted into the Army. Sent to the Philippines as an infantryman, he saw enough of soldiering to provide a basis for his first book, "The Naked and the Dead," published in 1948 while he was a postgraduate student in Paris.
The book became a best seller, and Mailer returned home to find himself anointed the new Hemingway, Dos Passos and Melville.
Buoyed by instant literary celebrity, Mailer embraced the early 1950s counterculture, defining "hip" in his essay "The White Negro," allying himself with Beat Generation gurus Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, and writing social and political commentary for the Village Voice, which he helped found. He also churned out two more novels, "Barbary Shore" (1951) and "Deer Park" (1955), neither embraced kindly by readers or critics.
Mailer turned reporter to cover the 1960 Democratic Party convention for Esquire and later claimed, with typical hubris, that his piece, "Superman Comes to the Supermarket," had made the difference in John F. Kennedy's razor-thin margin of victory over Republican Richard M. Nixon.
While Life magazine called his next book, "An American Dream" (1965), "the big comeback of Norman Mailer," the author-journalist was chronicling major events of the day: an anti-war march on Washington, the 1968 political conventions, the Ali-Patterson fight, an Apollo moon shot.
His 1968 account of the peace march on the Pentagon, "The Armies of the Night," won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and was listed in the top 20 on a 1999 New York University survey of 100 examples of the best journalism of the century.
When he covered the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago for Harper's magazine, Mailer was torn between keeping to a tight deadline or joining the anti-war protests that led to a violent police crackdown. "I was in a moral quandary. I didn't know if I was being scared or being professional," he later testified in the trial of the so-called Chicago Seven.
Jorge Herralde, editor of Mailer's Spanish publishers, Anagrama, said Saturday that Mailer was a titan of literature who, like Kafka, was never awarded a Nobel prize. "He surely had too excessive a profile for that award," Herralde said.
Mailer's personal life was as turbulent as the times in which he lived. In 1960, at a party at his Brooklyn Heights home, he stabbed his second wife, Adele Morales, with a knife. She declined to press charges, and it was not until 1997 that she revealed in her memoir how close she had come to dying.
His other wives were: Beatrice Silverman, Lady Jeanne Campbell, Beverly Bentley, Carol Stevens and Norris Church. He had five daughters, three sons and a stepson.
"He had such a compendious vision of what it meant to be alive. He had serious opinions on everything there was to have an opinion on, and everything he had was so original," friend William Kennedy, author of "Ironweed."
Mailer's suspicion of technology — "insidious, debilitating and depressing" — was so deep that while most writers used typewriters or computers, he wrote with a pen, some 1,500 words a day. In a 1971 magazine piece about the new women's liberation movement, Mailer equated the dehumanizing effect of technology with what he said was feminists' need to abolish the mystery, romance and "blind, goat-kicking lust" from sex.
Time magazine said the broadside should "earn him a permanent niche in their pantheon of male chauvinist pigs."
"He could do anything he wanted to do — the movie business, writing, theater, politics," author Gay Talese said Saturday. "He never thought the boundaries were restricted. He'd go anywhere and try anything. He was a courageous person, a great person, fully confident, with a great sense of optimism."
In "Advertisements for Myself" (1959), Mailer promised to write the greatest novel yet, but later conceded he had not. Among other notable works: "Cannibals and Christians" (1966); "Why Are We in Vietnam?" (1967); and "Miami and the Siege of Chicago" (1968).
"The Executioner's Song" (1979), an epic account of the life and death of petty criminal Gary Gilmore, won the 1980 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. "Ancient Evenings" (1983), a novel of ancient Egypt that took 11 years to complete, was critically panned.
"Tough Guys Don't Dance" (1984) became a 1987 film. Some critics found "Harlot's Ghost" (1991), a novel about the CIA, surprisingly sympathetic, considering Mailer's left-leaning past. In 1997, he came out with "The Gospel According to the Son," a novel told from Jesus Christ's point of view. The following year, he marked his 75th birthday with the epic-length anthology "The Time of Our Time."
Mailer lived for decades in a Brooklyn Heights town house with a view of New York harbor and lower Manhattan from the rooftop "crow's nest," and kept a home in Provincetown, Mass., where he spent increasing time in his later years.
Despite heart surgery, hearing loss and arthritic knees that forced him to walk with canes, Mailer retained his enthusiasm for writing and in early 2007 released "The Castle in the Forest," a novel about Hitler's early years. "On God: An Uncommon Conversation," came out in the fall.
In 2005, Mailer received a gold medal for lifetime achievement at the National Book Awards, where he deplored what he called the "withering" of general interest in the "serious novel." Authors like himself, he said often, had become anachronisms as people focused on television and young writers aspired to screenwriting or journalism.
Lennon said arrangements for a private service and burial for family members and close friends would be announced next week, and a memorial service would be held in New York in the coming months.
___
National Writer Hillel Italie in New York contributed to this report.
RIP NORMAN
+++
Comic Marilyn Martinez dies at 52
By SOLVEJ SCHOU,
Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 9, 11:07 PM ET
LOS ANGELES - Marilyn Martinez, a sassy standup comic who performed with the Original Latin Divas of Comedy and other Latina troupes, has died, her husband said Friday. She was 52.
Martinez died Nov. 3 of complications from colon cancer at a Hollywood hospital after being diagnosed nine months earlier, said her husband, John David Crowder.
"Marilyn was out there to make the fans excited. She wasn't out there for stardom and fame," he said. "And she didn't want to be remembered as a dirty mouth."
"She used to tell me she was a triple minority. She was fat, she was a woman, she was Hispanic," he said.
Raised in Denver, Martinez tap-danced on a local television show as a child before funneling her love of acting, and food, into standup routines, according to her longtime manager, Scott Montoya.
She moved to Los Angeles around 1989, he said. Her routines often included frank talk about sex and men.
"She was getting away with saying a lot of crazy stuff," said comedian Carlos Mencia, who performed alongside Martinez and knew her for more than a decade.
"It wasn't like, 'I'm a woman and let's talk about flowers and shopping.' ... But she could do clean if you wanted her to."
In L.A., Martinez connected with her Mexican roots and in the mid-1990s joined Latina troupe the Hot and Spicy Mamitas, Montoya said.
She also became a member of the Hot Tamales with Eva Longoria and was "the anchor" of the Latin Divas of Comedy, with a Showtime special earlier this year in the same vein as the hit Latin Kings of Comedy, Montoya said.
Martinez also toured solo with comic Paul Rodriguez from 1996 to 2003.
Her screen credits include parts in 2003's "Pauly Shore Is Dead," 2002's "For Da Love of Money," the ABC television series "My Wife and Kids" in 2001, and the 2004 reality TV show "Urban Jungle" on SiTV.
___
On the Net:
http://marilynmartinez.com/
RIP MARILYN
Gee...
The last two "RIP" notices have felt...read...sounded... like DEJÀ-VU, indubitably!
There is no confusing Mr. Mailer for Mr. Bates though.
And Marilyn Martinez cannot be confused with namesakes McCoo, Monroe and... ah, who else is there?
Marilyn Martinez reminded me of a female John Candy.
Or a latino version of Lise Dion.
She was therefore linked to two Canadians in the same line of work as she was - and that, as much as anything else in her life, was probably a bad omen in and by itself, right there...
You can never tell when I am being... ah, dead serious - can you?
The fact remains though that 52 is way too early to make one's exit, no matter how one looks at it.
Besides, are you going to tell me that the lamentable AOL/Time-Warner approved project, 52, wasn't a bad omen too...?
But I digress...
+++
CDNS REMEMBER WAR DEAD AT REMEMBRANCE DAY CEREMONIES
Hillier can't hide his grin as crowd applauds rabbi who says 'We love our troops'
By Steve Rennie,
The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - Canadians laid wreaths to honour those slain on battlefields and during peacekeeping missions at Remembrance Day ceremonies across the country Sunday, but a thunderous response to a call to show support for soldiers currently serving injected some energy into what is normally a sombre occasion.
A smattering of applause snowballed after Rabbi Reuven Bulka, the honorary chaplain for the Dominion Command, urged thousands gathered at Ottawa's National War Memorial to chant "We love our troops."
Canada's top soldier couldn't contain a broad grin as the crowd applauded the country's men and women in uniform.
When asked later if he'd ever seen such an outpouring of support, Gen. Rick Hillier replied, "Not in this country, that's for sure."
"I think today, in particular, is going to be remembered for that line, which signifies in my view a coming awareness, a growing, increasing and now culminating awareness by Canadians of what their men and women in uniform do in service for them," he said in an interview.
Hillier, Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean and Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined a host of dignitaries and veterans at the ceremonies across the street from the Parliament Buildings.
Both Jean and Harper, flanked by their families, laid wreathes before the estimated throng of 30,000 onlookers gathered under sunny skies, which included one woman who held up a small sign with the words "thank you."
Members of the Ottawa Children's Choir, all dressed in red, sang "O Canada."
In his prayer, the military's Chaplain General, Brig.-Gen. Stanley Johnstone, noted Canada has been shaped by the sacrifices Canadians made in battles like Vimy Ridge in the First World War and Dieppe and Normandy in the Second World War.
"May the memory be forever strong of those who preceded us in wars past and may their own courage and readiness of spirit to secure our future and our world for a greater hope be also known and taught among us," Johnstone told a hushed audience.
In the footstep of those who gave their lives in wars past, sacrifices are still necessary today in places like Afghanistan in order to preserve peace and protect our way of life, Johnstone added.
"We are paying our own debt for the future of our children with bravery and determination that befits the duty, but never with exaltation," he said.
Afghanistan's ambassador to Canada, Omar Samad, spoke of those sacrifices in an interview with The Canadian Press. Samad, who laid a wreath bearing his country's name at the base of the monument, said Canadian troops are part of a "very noble cause" in Afghanistan.
The 71 members of the Canadian Forces and one diplomat who have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002 won't soon be forgotten by Afghans who know all too well the price of war, Samad said.
"Afghanistan is a country that has suffered tremendously over the last 25 years. We have lost more than a million people as part of conflict," he said.
"We have a very destroyed nation where millions of others had to flee their homes, many of whom have now returned and come back because they see there's hope for Afghanistan and there's a future for Afghanistan."
Two opposition leaders on hand were careful not to wade too deep Sunday into what that future may hold for Canada's military.
Liberal Stephane Dion and New Democrat Leader Jack Layton said they attended the ceremony to honour Canada's veterans, and while their views of the mission differ from the Prime Minister's, they're appreciative of the troops' efforts.
"We support our troops, we love our troops .... we have different views about how it should be managed, what should be the deadline to say that the combat mission is over. We have different views, but we are all Canadians today and we all love our troops," Dion said.
"They face a lot of difficult times, and they're willing to sacrifice for us. Our job is to make sure we decide what we ask them to do very, very carefully," added Layton.
Master Cpl. Paul Franklin, who lost both his legs to a suicide bomber's attack in January, 2006 that killed Canadian diplomat Glyn Berry and seriously injured two others in the armoured vehicle they were travelling in, also attended the ceremony.
It differed from past Remembrance Day ceremonies he'd attended, he said, "mainly because more of my friends are dead."
A slew of 'what ifs' went through his head during the ceremony, he said.
"What if it was me, what if I was gone and they were in my position, what if I was okay and they were injured? It's a difficult thought process."
Meanwhile, similar ceremonies were held in cities across Canada.
In Halifax, several hundred people filled the space in front of the downtown cenotaph.
Charlotte Smith, whose son Pte. Nathan Smith was killed in a friendly fire incident in Afghanistan in 2002, was greeted by applause as she laid a wreath on behalf of all Silver Cross mothers.
In Saint John, N.B., that honour went to Laurie Greenslade, whose son, David, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan on Easter Sunday. She has been outspoken in her support for Canada's troops.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay told hundreds of people attending a rally Saturday in Shelburne, N.S., that Canadians are making a difference in the lives of Afghans.
"It is a great privilege for me to mark this Remembrance Day as the Minister of National Defence. It is an honour to be associated with the Canadian Forces, its history and traditions," MacKay said in a news release.
In Toronto, hundreds of dignitaries, war veterans, military personnel, cadets and observers gathered before the Ontario Veterans' Memorial outside the provincial legislature Sunday to mark the occasion.
The traditional service included a moment of silence, a 21-gun salute, the reading of "In Flanders' Fields" and the laying of wreaths.
Canadians have a "duty" to support the families of those men and women who are fighting in Afghanistan, said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty.
"Today, on the other side of our world, Canadians are again fighting for those same principles, for the cause of freedom, to bring hope to a land torn apart by decades of warfare. Our soldiers are serving their country, they're doing their duty. Sometimes paying the ultimate price," he said.
In Vancouver, ceremonies were held at a number of venues around the city.
Members of 38 Canadian Brigade group, some of whom are deploying to Afghanistan next year, were on parade at two armouries in Winnipeg. A larger ceremony was also held at Winnipeg's convention centre.
+++
6 dead after Hamas fires on Arafat rally
By IBRAHIM BARZAK,
Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 29 minutes ago
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Hamas security forces opened fire Monday at a rally by the rival Fatah movement commemorating Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Six people were killed in the bloodiest day of intra-Palestinian fighting since Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip in June.
Some 250,000 Fatah supporters joined Monday's rally in a major square of Gaza City, carrying pictures of Arafat, yellow Fatah flags and wearing trademark black-and-white Arab headdresses. It was the biggest outpouring of support for Fatah since Hamas' violent takeover of the territory.
The crowd scattered as masked Hamas security men ran through the city streets, firing weapons. Two hours later, hundreds of Hamas gunmen controlled the protest site and were arresting protesters as they tried to flee.
An eyewitness, identifying himself as Abu Samir, said Hamas security men appeared to fire unprovoked. "I saw brutality. I saw gunmen shoot at people. I saw them catch a boy and beat him with a stick," he said.
At least 85 people were wounded, medical officials said.
The office of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who leads the Fatah government out of the West Bank, denounced Hamas' actions as a "heinous crime."
Hamas officials accused Fatah of provoking the violence. Since taking over Gaza, Hamas has rounded up Fatah supporters, confiscated weapons and barred many large public gatherings.
"Before the rally, Fatah militants were deployed throughout the area," said Ehab Ghussen, spokesman for the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry. "Fatah is responsible for continued incitement against the Palestinian police, and there was a clear attempt to bring back chaos."
Hamas said Fatah gunmen took positions on the rooftop of a building near the rally site. No Fatah gunmen were visible on the streets during the clashes, though a handful of Fatah militiamen were earlier turned away from the rally by organizers.
Abbas has been trying to isolate Hamas as he moves to relaunch peace talks with Israel at the U.S.-hosted Mideast conference
Arafat, Fatah's founder, is still widely loved by Palestinians of all political beliefs and Abbas has been using the third anniversary of his death to rally support on the streets.
In a gesture of support for Abbas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert disclosed plans Monday to release more than 400 Palestinian prisoners in a goodwill gesture before the peace conference, Israeli lawmakers said.
Olmert told parliament's influential Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Israel would release more than 400 Palestinian prisoners ahead of the summit, according to lawmakers Yossi Beilin and Yuval Steinitz. Palestinian officials put the number of Palestinians in Israeli jails at 12,000. But government statistics show Israel is holding around 8,700 Palestinians on security charges ranging from armed attacks to throwing stones, the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem said.
Because so many Palestinian families have relatives held in Israeli jails, prisoner releases are a charged issue in Palestinian society, and releases are considered a confidence-building measure.
The Annapolis meeting is meant to formally relaunch peace talks, which broke down in violence nearly seven years ago.
"It's a meeting meant to give an opportunity to jumpstart the peace process between us and the Palestinians, a process we are interested in advancing seriously and consistently. We intend to reach understandings, as soon as possible," he later told lawmakers from his Kadima Party.
___
Associated Press Writer Laurie Copans in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Gunfire kills seven at Fatah rally in Gaza
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
19 minutes ago
STILL ON NOV. 12th
GAZA (Reuters) - Gunfire killed at least seven people and wounded 80 on Monday at a Fatah memorial rally for Yasser Arafat attended by more than 200,000 supporters of the defeated faction in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
A sea of yellow Fatah flags had filled a Gaza square for the biggest gathering held by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular faction in the territory since Hamas Islamists routed its fighters there in June.
The rare Fatah rally broke up in chaos after gunfire rang out and grew into what Hamas described as battles with the rival group's fighters, forcing even members of the crowd who had initially stood their ground to bolt for cover.
Dr Muawiyah Hassanein, head of Gaza's emergency medical services, said seven people, all civilians, were killed. He said 80 people, including several Hamas security men, were wounded.
Fatah officials accused Hamas forces of opening fire from the nearby Islamic University. Hamas said its men had come under attack from Fatah gunmen and returned fire.
The emotional memorial event for Arafat had given Fatah a rare chance to assemble its supporters in the Gaza Strip.
Abbas, preparing for a U.S.-hosted conference with Israel later this month on Palestinian statehood, has rejected new dialogue with Hamas until the group relinquishes control of the Gaza Strip.
Later, a Fatah official said Hamas security forces had arrested several of its activists, including Mohammad al-Nahal, a senior Fatah political leader in north Gaza.
RALLY BAN
Hamas has banned opposition rallies since its takeover of the territory but any move to prevent a remembrance ceremony for Arafat, the iconic leader who died on November 11, 2004, would have been widely unpopular among Palestinians.
"The people came out today into the streets to say 'no' to Hamas," said senior Fatah official Mohammed Dahlan, a former security chief in the Gaza Strip who is now based in the occupied West Bank, where his faction holds sway.
"I call on Fatah in Gaza to continue pursuing peaceful means in confronting Hamas ... Popular means are the only way to bring the downfall of this fascist movement," he said.
Ahmed Qurie, chief Palestinian negotiator in talks with Israel, compared Hamas's rule in Gaza to the Israeli occupation.
"The policy of silencing the other side will not win," he said at a ceremony in Ramallah.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told a news conference Fatah was to blame for the day's "deaths and crimes" in Gaza.
Huge murals of Arafat in his trademark Arab headdress, and a smaller picture of Abbas, had provided a backdrop for the event which organizers said was attended by more than 250,000 people. A Reuters witness said between 200,000 and 250,000 attended the rally.
Fatah nationalist songs blared from loudspeakers as many in the crowd expressed their longing for the days of Arafat, regarded by Palestinians as a symbol of unity.
"Abu Mazen (Abbas) is not like Arafat but he is our president now and we respect him. We urge him to end Hamas occupation," said a teenage participant, who gave his name only as Khaled.
(Writing by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Editing by Andrew Dobbie)
++++++ +
Kanye West's mother dies in L.A. after surgery
Tue Nov 13, 9:04 AM
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Grammy-winning rap star Kanye West's mother, a former university professor, died in a Los Angeles-area hospital due to possible complications from surgery, the L.A. County Coroner's office said on Monday. She was 58.
Donda West helped manage her son's businesses and educational foundation after retiring in 2004 after 30 years teaching English at Chicago State University. She died Saturday night at Centinela Freeman Hospital in seaside Marina del Rey after paramedics were called to her nearby home.
A coroner's spokesman said an autopsy would be performed later this week. He did not know what sort of surgery West underwent, but media reports said she had a breast reduction and abdominoplasty, a major procedure commonly referred to as a "tummy tuck."
The celebrity news Web site TMZ.com quoted a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon, Jan Adams, as saying he performed surgery on West before she died, that her death was unforeseen and he did nothing wrong.
In a statement issued late on Monday, Kanye West thanked "everyone for the outpouring of support and kind words that have come in from across the country." He did not address any surgery or health issues.
Donda West raised her son in a middle-class Chicago suburb after splitting with her husband, a former Black Panther who went on to become a sociology professor.
Mother and son co-founded the Kanye West Foundation, which aims to keep inner-city youth in school and improve literacy.
She inspired the song "Hey Mama," which is featured on her son's Grammy-winning 2005 album "Late Registration." In May, she published a book titled "Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Superstar."
(Reporting by Dana Ford and Dean Goodman; Editing by Patricia Zengerle)
My condolences to you, Kanye:
I know what it is to lose a parent.
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WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
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Breast augmentation actaully is not the same thing as breats reduction, if you are going to voice your concerns here you should do a little research first, i have had a breast reduction done ,and believe me, it was not for VAIN reasons, more like PAIN reasons, i have permanent dents in my shoulders, and still suffer from a sore back and neck almost very day, i am 36 yrs old and needed it done and sholud ahve had it done when i was 20, dont assume that people always do it for vanity reasons.
POSTED BY: treen on TUE, NOV 13, 2007 10:32 PM -0500
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Im not coming on here judging anybody because frankly i dont even know the woman and your the one coming on talking about maybe she had flaps and so on..thats disgusting and you should be ashamed of yourself ..I never once mentioned the womans body .. I was talking about people in hollywood wanting to get plastic surgery and how the drs are getting rich off of it.. I happen to feel very sorry for Kanye for losing his mom and for that nice woman dying. ^__^
POSTED BY: Jadee on TUE, NOV 13, 2007 09:45 PM -0500
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I gotta back up the person who commented on the breast reduction being for medical reasons.. Breast *augmentation* is usually for vain reasons. Breast *reduction* is usually for the medical reasons previously stated. As for the tummy tuck, who knows, maybe she had flaps from having kids, maybe she had some medical condition that was most easily treated by this surgery, who knows? .. but for you people to come on here and *judge* a dead woman... You should be ashamed of yourselves.
POSTED BY: Napalm on TUE, NOV 13, 2007 09:27 PM -0500
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I wasnt talking about Kanye's mother.. I was talking about older women in general who look like the bride of frankenstein ..And sorry that you feel you need plastic surgery because your old and ugly and your body has gone to pot because of so many kids (which you admit yourself) .. But for me i still wont get plastic surgery no matter how many times you say we need it..because i happen to love myself inside.. *big cheesy smile*
POSTED BY: Jadee on TUE, NOV 13, 2007 09:22 PM -0500
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"Theres nothing worse than seeing an old woman who's trying to look 20 with plastic surgery and a gallon of makeup". Wow, how old are you? 58 is NOT an old woman. The picture of Kanye with his Mom during his Grammy win show a wonderfully aged MOTHER and her son. Most of the younger crowd have the "reject plastic surgery" attitude. Well kiddies, wait 20-25 years. When you are saggy from having 2 to 3 kids and can afford the cost of surgery you will start to think about it too.
POSTED BY: Tanzy Girl on TUE, NOV 13, 2007 08:10 PM -0500
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Outbreak of lethal bird flu confirmed in Britain
Tue Nov 13, 9:31 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - Veterinary authorities confirmed an outbreak of the potentially lethal Asian strain of bird flu in eastern England on Tuesday, in a new blow to the British farming industry.
More than 6,000 poultry were ordered to be slaughtered at the site in Suffolk, where an exclusion zone was imposed on Monday after a suspected outbreak was found.
"I can now confirm that the strain of avian influenza found in the infected premises is the highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 strain," said deputy chief veterinary officer Fred Landeg.
"It is of the Asian lineage. It is closely related to strains of the highly pathogenic avian influenza found this summer in the Czech Republic and in Germany," he added.
On Monday, officials ordered the slaughter of poultry at the farm, which houses free-range turkeys, ducks and geese, while the Food Standards Agency reassured consumers that poultry meat and eggs were still safe to eat, so long as they were cooked properly.
The cull involves some 5,000 turkeys, more than 1,000 ducks and 500 geese. About 100 turkeys were found dead on Sunday, and overnight between Sunday and Monday a further 80 birds died.
Ducks and geese were not displaying symptoms, Landeg added.
Hilary Benn, the environment secretary, told parliament Tuesday that officials were doing their "darnedest" to ensure the disease did not spread, and said the anti-viral drug Tamiflu had been given to all those who were involved in the poultry cull.
A three-kilometre (1.8-mile) radius protection zone and a 10-kilometre surveillance zone has been imposed around the farm in the county of Suffolk, where there was an outbreak of H5N1 in February.
Further restrictions are in place in a wider area as a "precautionary measure" as well as a ban on poultry movements, bird fairs and pigeon racing.
Landeg said the operation to contain the latest outbreak would be tough. The similarities between the British and European strains suggested the turkeys could have caught the virus from a wild bird through contact on a farm lake.
But he said all potential sources of the virus would be investigated.
The new bird flu cases are the latest blow to hit the British farming industry, after the first foot-and-mouth disease cases in six years were found in August and the country's first ever cases of bluetongue disease in cattle.
Ireland immediately imposed a ban on the import of British birds for gatherings and shows.
Irish Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan said a simultaneous ban was being introduced in British-ruled Northern Ireland as a precautionary all-island approach to the threat of the introduction of bird flu.
In the February bird flu outbreak some 159,000 turkeys were killed as a precaution at a plant near Holton in Suffolk, prompting some countries to impose import bans on British poultry.
An official report said it was most likely the virus reached the flock via imported turkey meat from Hungary.
Britain's first case of H5N1 was detected in a dead swan in eastern Scotland in April 2006.
The H5N1 strain first emerged in Asia in 2003, and has caused some 205 deaths in humans, with Indonesia and Vietnam among the worst hit countries, according to World Health Organisation figures.
Scientists fear that H5N1 will eventually mutate into a form that is much more easily transmissible between humans, triggering a global pandemic.
The original source is thought to have been wild migratory birds.
H5N1 has mainly affected Asia and some parts of Africa, but the Food and Agricultural Organisation warned last month that the virus could be transmitted to poultry in Europe by ducks and domestic geese seemingly in good health.
Besides Indonesia and Vietnam, deaths have been recorded in Azerbaijan, Cambodia, China, Egypt, Iraq, Laos, Nigeria, Thailand and Turkey.
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I was just saying this too, the other day...
'We don't get enough earthquakes, do we? Always a hurricane this, tropical storm that... Where are them quivering quakes, hmm?'
And this news item, just in:
Quake kills 2, damages homes in Chile
By EDUARDO GALLARDO,
Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 52 minutes ago
Nov 14th 2007 (a very bad day, personally - in Chile too, of course)
SANTIAGO, Chile - A major earthquake crushed cars, damaged hundreds of houses and terrified people for hundreds of miles around Wednesday. Authorities reported at least two deaths and more than 100 injuries.
The quake, which struck at 12:40 p.m., shook the Chilean capital 780 miles to the south of the epicenter, and was felt as far away as the other side of the continent — in Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1,400 miles to the east.
The U.S. Geological Survey calculated the magnitude at 7.7. It was followed by several aftershocks, including three larger than magnitude 5.
Two women were killed in the town of Tocopilla, 25 miles from the epicenter, when their houses collapsed, authorities said. Hospital director Juan Urrutia said at least 100 people were treated there for injuries or panic.
In the port city of Antofagasta, 105 miles south of the epicenter, police Capt. Javier Carmona said at least 45 people were injured. The mayor of nearby Maria Elena, Eduardo Ahumada, said 20 others were injured there and most of the town's 1,800 houses were damaged.
Television images showed cars crushed by the collapse of a hotel entryway in Antofagasta.
"It was horribly strong. It was very long and there was a lot of underground noise," said Andrea Riveros, spokeswoman for the Park Hotel in nearby Calama, site of the Chuquicamata copper mine. The mine's owner, Codelco, reported power outages but no major damage.
At the Agua del Desierto Hotel, administrator Paola Barria said she felt like she was riding on "a floating island." She reported downed power lines, cracked windows and fallen pieces of houses near the hotel.
"I was very frightened. It was very strong," she said. "I've never felt one that strong."
Schools, hospitals and other buildings were evacuated in several cities. Television showed some patients holding their IV bags as they were wheeled from the hospital in Copiapo, 500 miles north of Santiago.
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued, then canceled, a tsunami warning for Chile and Peru. It said the quake generated only a two-foot wave.
Scientists in Chile and the United States were trying to determine why such an intense quake apparently did not cause more damage.
"The ground in the region is very good, very firm, so the movement's effect on buildings is limited," said Sergio Barrientos, a seismologist at the University of Chile.
"It comes down to the level of shaking in certain places," added Paul Earle at the USGS. "It's not immensely populated in the areas most affected."
The quake occurred in one of the most seismically active regions in the world, where the Nazca tectonic plate is shoving itself beneath the South American plate.
A 1939 quake in Chile killed 28,000 people and in 1960, a magnitude-9.5 quake — the strongest recorded in the 20th century — killed 5,700 people. On June 13, 2005, a magnitude-7.8 quake near Tarapaca in northern Chile killed 11 people and left thousands homeless.
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Nuxhall, a Fixture on the Reds' Scene for More Than 60 Years, Dies at 79.
Nov 16, 3:50 PM (ET)
By TERRY KINNEY
CINCINNATI (AP) -Joe Nuxhall, the youngest major leaguer at age 15 and later a beloved broadcaster as "the ol' left-hander" in Cincinnati, has died. He was 79.
Nuxhall died Thursday night while hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia, the team said. He was awaiting surgery to insert a pacemaker, and had been slowed by a recurrence of cancer since September.
Brought up by Cincinnati to pitch during World War II - just out of junior high classes, he unraveled at the sight of Stan Musial in the on-deck circle - Nuxhall worked more than six decades for the Reds. He continued to pitch batting practice into the 1980s and was a member of the team's Hall of Fame.
While he won 135 games, it was on the radio where he became best known. On a franchise filled with Hall of Fame players and big personalities, Nuxhall might have been the most popular of all.
"This is a sad day for everyone in the Reds organization," outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. said in a statement. "He did so many great things for so many people. You never heard anyone ever say a bad word about him. We're all going to miss him."
Reds owner Bob Castellini said Friday that "Joe exemplified everything baseball's all about, from the mound to the broadcast booth."
Great American Ball Park was to be dark Friday night in Nuxhall's honor, except for spotlights shining on his statue outside the main gate. Also to be illuminated were the big red words of his radio signoff, emblazoned outside the stadium: "... rounding third and heading for home."
"Summer nights in Cincinnati will never be the same again without the voice of the ol' left-hander crackling over the airwaves," U.S. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio said in a statement. "To millions, even those who never met Joe in person, his voice was the voice of a good friend."
Nuxhall's son, Kim, released a statement thanking the public for the many cards and messages sent to his father.
"Dad felt that he truly had three extended families during his career - the great City of Hamilton, where he grew up; Fairfield, where he raised his children; and Cincinnati, where he was able to play and broadcast the great game of baseball with the Cincinnati Reds," Kim Nuxhall said.
"We will be eternally grateful to the Cincinnati Reds organization and the fans who provided us with experiences and memories of a lifetime. Dad truly loved you all," he said.
Nuxhall's place in baseball lore was secured the moment he stepped onto a big league field. With major league rosters depleted during World War II, he got a chance to pitch in relief for the Reds on June 10, 1944.
At 15 years, 10 months, 11 days old, Nuxhall was big for his age. He was 6-foot-3 and his parents let him join the Reds when school let out.
Nuxhall spent most of the time watching from the bench, assuming he'd never get into a game. The Reds were trailing the St. Louis Cardinals 13-0 after eight innings when manager Bill McKechnie decided to give the kid a chance.
Nuxhall was so rattled when summoned to warm up that he tripped on the top step of the dugout and fell on his face in front of 3,510 fans at Crosley Field. He was terrified when it came time to walk to the mound.
"Probably two weeks prior to that, I was pitching against seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders, kids 13 and 14 years old," he recalled. "All of a sudden, I look up and there's Stan Musial and the likes. It was a very scary situation."
Nuxhall walked one and retired two batters before glancing at the on-deck circle and seeing Musial. Nuxhall unraveled - Musial hit a line-drive single, and the Cardinals scored five runs as the young pitcher lost his ability to throw a strike and failed to get another out. In all, he walked five and threw a wild pitch in two-thirds of an inning.
"Those people that were at Crosley Field that afternoon probably said, 'Well, that's the last we'll see of that kid,"' Nuxhall said.
The Reds sent him to the minors, but eight years later he was back with the Reds. Nuxhall spent 15 of his 16 big league seasons with the Reds, going 135-117 before his retirement in 1966.
A year later, Nuxhall started doing radio broadcasts, describing games in a slow-paced, down-home manner that caught on with listeners. Marty Brennaman became the play-by-play announcer in 1974, and the "Marty and Joe" tandem spent the next 28 seasons chatting about their golf games, their gardens and some of the biggest moments in franchise history.
Nuxhall retired as a full-time radio broadcaster after the 2004 season, the 60th anniversary of his historic pitching debut. Since then, he was heavily involved in charity work, especially his scholarship and character education programs.
He had surgery for prostate cancer in 1992, followed by a mild heart attack in 2001. The cancer returned last February, when he was preparing for spring training in Sarasota, Fla.
Nuxhall called some games last season even though his left leg was swollen by tumors. He was hospitalized again this week.
There will be a private funeral Wednesday.
My condolences to the Nuxhall family
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On November 5th, the four-color industry aka the sequential art circles aka the comic-book and comic-strip universes lost an ICON...
Paul Norris, co-creator of AQUAMAN and long-time creator of the BRICK BRADFORD syndicated comic-strip, passed on. He was 93 - yes, 93. (A long life must be part of the fringe benefits of being associated to the sea and the Sea King - others include all-you-can-eat lifetime supplies of seafood... And the temperament of the sea; calm when things are as they should be, overwhelming when torment is around...? But I digress...)
I wasn't as fast as Mark Evanier on his weblog, but I got to pay homage to Paul Norris too, on my aqua-related blog, aqua musings - and, for my money, mine is a better eulogy! ;)
You be the judge!
(You'll find a link to Evanier's on my own...!)
Still, I'll copy and paste here a preview of it:
"Thursday, November 15, 2007
Paul Norris R.I.P.
The co-creator of AQUAMAN,
and last Golden Age original (those wondrous artists and writers who gave us the first batch of modern-day mythic characters, now known as members of the "fabled" Justice League...) - also the long-time artist of Brick Bradford, has died in Oceanside, California at the age of 93.
It is only recently enough that DC Comics has been adding the notice " created by Paul Norris" to all AQUAMAN publications... Some legal imbroglio prevents them from also crediting writer/editor Mortimer Weisinger, who died way back in 1978.
Paul Norris was a gentleman and a professional, whose work was never even remotely close to missing its deadline (for all 35 years+ that his Brick Bradford comic-strip lasted; and all of his comic-book work too, of course!)
His work had even deterred Japanese troops from fighting on, during World War II, as he was assigned to the production of propaganda leaflets - a batch of those was prepared for the towns of Nagasaki and Hiroshima but the powers that be chose to drop the bomb instead than another salvo of leaflets...
It is doubly sad to see a class act like Paul Norris go now - as his creation, Aquaman, is presumed dead himself but, inexplicably, is more mediatized than ever before as a plethora of new action figures made to his likeness have been released... A DVD has been released, one collecting his pilot episode (that wasn't picked up as an ongoing series by the CW network) and two appearances on Smallville that the character has made (portrayed by a different actor - or he claims to be an actor, anyway...) and the Sea King will feature prominently in the upcoming live action JLA movie too...
Paul Norris will not enjoy any of that now.
He has moved on to bigger and greater things - in the afterlife.
His wife, who passed on in 2000, had been awaiting him there...
Two sons are now orphans - and must be feeling like the character, Aquaman, felt for the better part of his modern-day adventures... And as all Aquaman fans have been feeling since last year as well..."
Yeah - one can learn a lot about a character by looking at its creator! Norris was a rather... ah... "delicate" gentleman, a trifle feeble - not a brutish seaman at all! And looking at him I came to realize that is probably why AQ is so perceived too...
Just look at the way AQ was drawn too... That is when he was drawn BY Mr. Norris!
AQ LOOKS LIKE NORRIS, EACH TIME!
An artist tends to draw his likeness a lot, I guess...
Norris did also state something fascinating in regards to the creative process - the fact that "characters create themselves" in truth of matter - and their adventures write themselves too! Or they dictate, by themselves, what the direction will be - and this is indeed so very true...
Makes me wonder if scribes are all PUPPETS really - but who's the puppeteer then? Hmm...
Paul Norris may be privy to these secrets now...
My condolences to his two sons.
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Oops - my link for aqua musings wasn't up to par...
Here it is again:
aqua musings
And with it -
some dramatic news of nature's fury washing over the earth's parasites - that is *us*...
Report: Bangladesh cyclone kills 1,100
By JULHAS ALAM,
Associated Press Writer
DHAKA, Bangladesh - Aid workers struggled Friday to help hundreds of thousands of survivors of a cyclone that blasted Bangladesh with 150 mph winds, killing a reported 1,100 people, savaging coastal towns, and leaving millions without power in the deadliest such storm in more than a decade.
Rescuers — some even employing the brute force of elephants — contended with roads that were washed out or blocked by wind-blown debris to try to get water and food to people stranded by flooding from Tropical Cyclone Sidr.
The damage to livelihood, housing and crops from Sidr will be "extremely severe," said John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, adding that the world body was making millions of dollars in aid available to Bangladesh.
The winds wreaked havoc on the country's electricity and telephone lines, affecting even areas that were spared a direct hit, and leaving the full picture of the death and destruction unclear.
By late Friday, about 24 hours after the cyclone roared ashore, officials were still struggling to get reports from many of the worst-hit districts.
Dhaka, the capital city of this poor, desperately crowded nation of 150 million people, remained without power. Winds uprooted trees and sent billboards flying through the air, said Ashraful Zaman, an official at the main emergency control room.
The government's most recent announcement put the death toll at 242, but officials in the Dhaka control room had little up-to-date information. Dalil Uddin of the Ministry of Disaster Management said the official toll would go much higher.
The United News of Bangladesh news agency, which has reporters deployed across the devastated region, said the count from each affected district left an overall death toll of at least 1,100.
Holmes said his U.N. agency believes that more than 20,000 houses have been damaged in the hardest-hit districts, and that the death toll is expected to climb beyond the government's figures.
About 150 fishing trawlers were unaccounted for, he said.
Hasanul Amin, assistant director of the cyclone preparedness program sponsored by the government and the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, said about a dozen teams had been deployed to the worst-hit areas in the country's southwest.
But it was slow going. In the village of Sharankhola, some people waited for hours to get dry biscuits and rice, according to Bishnu Prasad, a United News of Bangladesh reporter on the scene.
"We have lost everything," a farmer, Moshararf Hossain, told Prasad. "We have nowhere to go."
The cyclone swept in from the Bay of Bengal and roared across the southwestern coast late Thursday with driving rain and high waves, leveling thousands of flimsy huts and destroying crops and fish farms in 15 coastal districts, officials and witnesses said.
Sidr spawned a 4-foot-high storm surge that swept through low-lying areas and some offshore islands, leaving them under water, said Nahid Sultana, an official of the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management.
At least 650,000 coastal villagers had fled to shelters where they were given emergency rations, said senior government official Ali Imam Majumder in Dhaka.
Volunteers from international aid agencies, including the U.N. World Food Program, Save the Children and the U.S.-based Christian aid group World Vision, have joined the relief effort.
World Vision is putting together seven-day relief packages for families that will include rice, oil, sugar, salt, candles and blankets, according to Vince Edwards, the agency's Bangladesh director.
The World Food Program was sending rations for up to 400,000, Holmes added.
Edwards said debris from the storm has blocked roads and rivers, making it difficult to reach all the areas that had been hit.
"There has been lot of damage to houses made of mud and bamboo, and about 60 to 80 percent of the trees have been uprooted," Edwards said.
An elephant was pressed into service to help clear a road in Barishal, 75 miles south of Dhaka, pushing a stranded bus and moving a toppled tree.
By Friday night, work had resumed at the country's two main seaports — Chittagong and Mongla — as well at Chittagong and Dhaka airports, authorities said.
The storm spared India's eastern coast. Weather officials had forecast only heavy rain and flooding in West Bengal and Orissa states.
Bangladesh is prone to seasonal cyclones and floods that cause huge losses of life and property. In 1970, between 300,000 and 500,000 people were killed by a cyclone, and some 140,000 died in 1991. Dozens of other cyclones have taken more than 60,000 lives since 1960.
The most recent deadly storm was a tornado that leveled 80 villages in northern Bangladesh in 1996, killing 621 people.
After the 1991 cyclone, foreign donors and Bangladeshi government agencies began building emergency shelters — concrete boxes raised on pillars, each able to hold anywhere from a few hundred to 3,000 people.
More than 2,000 shelters have since been built.
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Bangladesh cyclone toll nears 1,900
By Anis Ahmed
DHAKA (Reuters) - Grieving survivors and rescuers picked through the rubble left in the wake of a super cyclone that battered Bangladesh as the death toll neared 1,900 on Sunday and a government official declared the disaster "a national calamity."
Military ships and helicopters were trying to reach thousands of people believed stranded on islands in the Bay of Bengal and in coastal areas still cut off by the devastating storm.
Officials expected the death toll to rise further as the search for hundreds of people missing after Thursday night's storm intensified.
The disaster ministry in Dhaka had recorded 1,861 deaths by Sunday noon, but local media put the figure at more than 3,000. A much improved disaster preparedness plan has been credited with saving scores of lives.
"It will take several days to complete the search and know the actual casualty figure and extent of damage to property," said food and disaster ministry official Ayub Miah.
A huge effort was underway to get food, drinking water and shelter to tens of thousands affected by the storm, the worst to hit disaster-prone Bangladesh since 1991 when nearly 143,000 people died.
Cyclone Sidr smashed into the country's southern coastline late on Thursday night with 250 kph (155 mph) winds that whipped up a five meter tidal surge.
Most of the deaths came from the surge washing away homes and strong winds blowing down dwellings. Many others drowned or were lost at sea.
ELEPHANTS CLEAR FALLEN TREES
In Barisal, one of the worst hit districts, authorities used elephants to clear uprooted trees blocking highways.
Helicopters flew sorties to devastated areas, dropping food, drinking water and medicine for the survivors.
"There are not many places where we can land," said one pilot, as large areas were still under water.
Several fishermen picked by a trawler from sea said they saw dozens of bodies floating in the waters near the Sundarban mangrove forest, a world heritage site and home to the endangered Royal Bengal tiger.
They also saw scores of dead deer and other wildlife floating in the Pashur river, near the forest.
Navy ships scoured coastal areas and sought to clear river channels clogged with sunken vessels. Red Crescent officials said some 1,000 fishermen and about 150 boats were still unaccounted for in the Bay of Bengal.
Tapan Chowdhury, a government adviser for food and disaster management, described the cyclone as a "national calamity" and urged all to come forward to help the victims.
"Everybody, including all political parties, should join the relief efforts," he said, adding that "aid pledges from the international community have so far been good,"
Relief operators on the ground said supplies were still inadequate and that the government should make an immediate plea for more international aid to avert a "human disaster."
In many areas there is still no electricity, and officials have warned it could take weeks to restore.
Aid officials said damage from the storm was very severe.
"Our relief teams have started emergency distribution, with an initial coverage of 100,000 people," Vince Edwards, national director of World Vision Bangladesh.
In many areas, 95 percent of rice crops due to be harvested in a few weeks have been badly damaged, officials said. Hundreds of shrimp farms have also been washed away.
(Additional reporting by Ruma Paul and Serajul Islam Quadir; Editing by David Fox)
(For more information on humanitarian crises and issues visit www.alertnet.org)
+++
This next set of condensed information and assorted data has to be carefully read to be believed...
I always said so:
earthly laws are silly; earthly justice is virtually inexistent; and I shall always be in contempt of any court there is, be it "Her Majesty's" or (even more contemptible) the People's...
Die and you're under arrest! Britain's most stupid laws
Tue Nov 6, 2:19 PM
LONDON (AFP) - Queen Elizabeth II's speech in the British parliament Tuesday may have been routine but at least nobody got bored to death. That would have been against the law.
Dying in parliament is an offence and is also by far the most absurd law in Britain, according to a survey of nearly 4,000 people by a television channel showing a legal drama series.
And though the lords were clad in their red and white ermine cloaks and ambassadors from around the world wore colourful national costumes, at least nobody turned up in a suit of armour. Illegal.
Other rules deemed utterly stupid included one that permits a pregnant woman to urinate in a policeman's hat and murdering bow-and-arrow-carrying Scotsmen within the city walls of York, northern England.
A law stating that in Liverpool, only a clerk in a tropical fish store is allowed to be publicly topless, was also ridiculous, said a poll of 3,931 people for UKTV Gold television out Tuesday.
Nearly half of those surveyed admitted to breaking the ban on eating mince pies on Christmas Day, which dates back to the 17th century and was originally designed to outlaw gluttony during the rule of the Puritan Oliver Crowmell.
The laws and other regulations were culled from published research into ancient legislation that has never been repealed although subsequent statutes have rendered them obsolete.
Respondents were given a shortlist and asked to vote.
Most ridiculous British law:
1. It is illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament (27 percent)
2. It is an act of treason to place a postage stamp bearing the British monarch upside-down (seven percent)
3. In Liverpool, it is illegal for a woman to be topless except as a clerk in a tropical fish store (six percent)
4. Mince pies cannot be eaten on Christmas Day (five percent)
5. In Scotland, if someone knocks on your door and requires the use of your toilet, you must let them enter (four percent)
6. A pregnant woman can legally relieve herself anywhere she wants, including in a policeman's helmet (four percent)
7. The head of any dead whale found on the British coast automatically becomes the property of the king, and the tail of the queen (3.5 percent)
8. It is illegal to avoid telling the tax man anything you do not want him to know, but legal not to tell him information you do not mind him knowing (three percent)
9. It is illegal to enter the Houses of Parliament in a suit of armour (three percent)
10. In the city of York it is legal to murder a Scotsman within the ancient city walls, but only if he is carrying a bow and arrow (two percent)
...
At one end, a pre-teen killer is barely castigated... for having aided in killed her OWN FAMILY.
At the other end, a taser's victim is celebrated... by strangers.
That's CANADA's "mosaic" for ya... eh?
Preteen killer urged to rehabilitate herself to honour her dead family
Thu Nov 8, 7:46 PM
By The Canadian Press
MEDICINE HAT, Alta. - Canada's youngest convicted multiple murderer was given the maximum 10-year sentence Thursday for helping slaughter her parents and little brother in their southeastern Alberta home when she was just 12 years old.
And she was instructed to rehabilitate her life as a tribute to her dead family.
"You can never undo what you have done to your mom, dad and little brother," Justice Scott Brooker told the girl, now 14, in Medicine Hat's main courtroom.
"However, what you can do is honour their memory by dedicating your life to becoming the woman your parents and brother would be proud of."
The girl was given a rarely used Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision sentence under Youth Criminal Justice Act. She will spend four of years in custody - primarily undergoing intense therapy at a forensic psychiatric hospital in Edmonton - followed by another 4 1/2 years under supervision in the community.
Brooker gave her credit for the 18 months she has already spent in a young offenders centre since her arrest one day after the murders in April 2006.
The Alberta Court of Queen's Bench judge said his sentence, when viewed through the eyes of a 14-year-old, will provide "meaningful consequences" for her crimes. But he said it should also promote meaningful rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
With a mandatory annual review of the sentence and her progress, the girl will likely be back in the community by the time she is 18.
A jury convicted her on all three counts of first-degree murder in July following a five-week trial full of grisly details of murders Brooker described as "horrific."
The jury heard how the gory crime scene was discovered by a little neighbourhood boy when he came calling on his eight-year-old pal and instead found dead bodies and a basement literally dripping in blood.
The mother died where she lay at the foot of the stairs from multiple stab wounds including one to her heart. The father lay nearby, nearly completely drained of blood after what Crown prosecutor Stephanie Cleary said was a "tremendous fight for his life throughout the TV room."
Upstairs, the little brother lay on his bed, eyes agape with his head nearly severed by a deep gash to his throat. Seasoned police officers struggled to hold back tears as they told the jury about discovering the boy and how blood drenched his stuffed animals and Star Wars toys were.
Brooker said the boy was a completely innocent, vulnerable victim whose death was "completely incomprehensible."
The Crown portrayed the girl as a preteen who was infuriated by her parents' attempts to control her and break up her new romance with Jeremy Steinke - a man who at 23 was nearly twice her age.
Brooker described the couple as loving and wonderful parents who acted at all times in her best interest.
"They were concerned for (her) welfare and were doing everything they could to try and help (her) through a difficult time in her growing up," Brooker said during sentencing.
"They never gave up on her and I do not think that they would even now."
The Crown maintained that the girl played an integral role in planning the murders of her parents. And she confessed on the witness stand to trying to choke her little brother and stabbing him once after he ran to her for help during the attack.
Defence lawyer Tim Foster maintained that his client was a tempestuous girl who often talked angrily about death and killing, but never meant any of it. Testifying in her own defence, she told the jury that she had no idea that anyone took her comments seriously or would act on them.
The jury never did see several key pieces of evidence that Brooker ruled inadmissible, including an apology to her dead family in which she wrote that she wished it had never happened "because now I have no one."
Throughout all her court appearances, the girl has dressed conservatively and appeared older than her years. Because of the setup of the Medicine Hat courtroom, she always sat in the prisoner's box with her back to the public gallery. A wooden barrier prevented anyone from trying to read her emotions Thursday as her sentence was delivered.
Outside court Thursday, Foster said he was confident his client could be rehabilitated and that she was anxious to start her therapy and rehabilitation.
"Although she is physically large, she's a little girl. She was a little girl at the time this all happened and that should never be forgotten."
But Medicine Hat Mayor Norm Boucher, who was the city's police chief at the time of the killings, predicted the sentence would be hard for his community to accept even though it was the maximum allowed.
"We take a more severe approach generally in the public," he said.
"Would I have liked to have it more severe? Probably a little more severe than this."
Crown prosecutor Cleary said outside court that the goal of the sentence was to rehabilitate the girl.
"The act presumes that she can be and the plan drafted by independent court-appointed psychiatrists says that she can be. So certainly we are very hopeful it will be accomplished."
The girl's former boyfriend, Steinke, faces the same three first-degree murder charges, but his trial is not expected until later 2008 at the earliest.
He also appeared briefly in court Thursday at which time a February date was set for his lawyer to argue that the trial should be moved from Medicine Hat because of the intense publicity.
One other person charged in the crimes, 21-year-old Kacy Lancaster, faces accessory to murder charges. She, too, appear in court Thursday, but her case was put over to Jan. 17.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
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I cannot believe the amount of people advocating the death penalty for a crime that a 12 year old commited!!!!! I am not saying that this crime was not horrible but she was 12 and by the way she did have an accomplice who was twice her age..............anyway I think it is just as sick to call for the state sponsored killing of a child......
POSTED BY: pudge_ass on TUE, NOV 13, 2007 11:48 PM -0500
Silly-named poster re-posted his or her inane bit of commentary five times in a row - so that is all the preview of comments you're going to get here, folks!
RUN, GLIDE, SURF over to Yahoo News to get more... IF YOU CAN!
Maybe others did NOT defend the demon-child... WHO KNOWS, eh?
Simultaneous memorials planned across Canada for Polish Taser victim
Fri Nov 16, 7:00 PM
By The Canadian Press
KAMLOOPS, B.C. - A memorial service will be held Saturday morning for Robert Dziekanski, the Polish man who died at Vancouver International Airport last month after being hit by two jolts from an RCMP Taser.
As preparations for the public service in the B.C. Interior continued, simultaneous services were being organized at other locations across the country.
The Kamloops funeral home where the service will be held has been inundated with calls.
Spokesman Lawrence Schrader said many are calling to express their outrage at the RCMP and asking how they can help Dziekanski's mother Zofia Cisowski.
"It's just that they're ashamed to be Canadian for the way Robert was treated," Schrader said.
Schrader said he expects the service to be standing room only.
"We can seat about 240 people but we have audio all through the building so we can accommodate up to 700 or 800 people."
Kamloops-area resident Bonnie Ride said anyone wanting to show support for Dziekanski's mother can gather at 11 a.m. Saturday for a candlelight vigil outside the funeral home.
Facebook postings suggest another candlelight vigil will be held at 11 a.m. at Vancouver International Airport.
As well, postings on the Internet social site are also calling for rallies Nov. 24 in Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto.
Cisowski's lawyer Walter Kostekyj said funds are being raised to pay for her to return to Poland with her son's ashes.
He said the fund will also help pay for the hiring of medical and other experts for the upcoming coroner's inquest into Dziekanski's death.
Dziekanski died Oct. 14 minutes after being zapped twice by a Taser in the airport's international arrivals area.
A video taken by a bystander showed Dziekanski, who spoke only Polish, trying to barricade himself into the secure area of the arrivals terminal.
He had been at the airport for about 10 hours, waiting for his mother to meet him.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
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theRCMPhave already started to cover up the issue. the officers have been reassigned opposed to being suspended. this is the way it goes here in Canada. the officers [profane] up and they get moved. then the issue is burried in red tape until everyone forgets about it.WE SHOULD MAKE THE DAY THAT THE POLISH MAN WAS TAZERED AN INTERNATIONAL HOLIDAY TO OBSERVE THE SAD TRUTH THAT POLICE BRUTALITY HAPPENS EVERYWARE.. EVEN IN THE "PEACEFULL UTOPIA" THAT THE WORLD CALLS CANADA.Quis custidiet ipsos custodes?
POSTED BY: mikey valentino on SUN, NOV 18, 2007 07:15 PM -0500
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i.m a korean.i,m so shocked.never ever going to visit canada.
POSTED BY: sslee547767 on SAT, NOV 17, 2007 03:13 PM -0500
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Do these rcmp officers even get trained properly ?. When I saw the video it looked like these guys had no clue about how to take the guy down without using tasers. Are they afraid to get their hands dirty or four of them wasn't enough to do the job ?.
POSTED BY: bluethunder5560 on SAT, NOV 17, 2007 07:20 AM -0500
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First off they didnt use deadly force. The taser is Non-leathal, its a stun gun with a little more kick. Second I don't smoke and before i would ever go to any country i would have done a little research and perhaps learned a word or two like EMBASY or PHONE and held up the name and number of the person i was meeting. And on top of all that if a cop in any country comes up and draws a taser, asp, or gun or anything of sorts, i would comply and work it out in court. hands above head, and lie down
POSTED BY: GLOCK-31 on SAT, NOV 17, 2007 04:25 AM -0500
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"Are you saying that anyone who doesn't speak english properly in Canada deserves to get killed?" How did you possibly get that from what I said. It is a fact that he was the cause of his own death. He could have calmed down at any point and broken the chain that led to his death, but he didn't. He did not deserve to die, but he did cause it. His death is a tragic accident caused by a lot of mistakes that he made. And just because my opinion is different than yours doesnt make me not canadian.
POSTED BY: GLOCK-31 on SAT, NOV 17, 2007 03:57 AM -0500
...
Corpses can be laying where you least suspect them to be...
Think about this, as you lay yourself down to rest, tonight...
Second body found in search of Margate property
Sat Nov 17, 11:06 AM
MARGATE (AFP) - Police searching the former home of a man charged with murdering a teenage girl who disappeared from central Scotland 16 years ago have found a second body.
The remains were found at a house in Margate, where Peter Tobin, 61, used to live.
On Monday, the skeleton of 15-year-old Vicky Hamilton, who was last seen in 1991, was discovered at the house.
Tobin was charged with her murder and appeared before a judge in central Scotland on Thursday.
Vicky's remains were found during a search for Essex teenager Dinah McNicol, who was last seen returning from a music festival in 1991.
Assistant Chief Constable Peter Lowton of Essex Police told reporters Friday that the height of the body as well as the clothing and jewellery found with it indicated it was McNicol's.
The body was found in the back garden close to the patio, he added, following a post-mortem examination.
...
French dance revolutionary Bejart dies at 80
By Stephanie Nebehay
Thu Nov 22, 1:20 PM ET
GENEVA (Reuters) - French choreographer Maurice Bejart, considered one of the great figures in contemporary dance, died on Thursday in a Swiss hospital at the age of 80, a spokeswoman for his Bejart Ballet Lausanne said.
Bejart, a former dancer who also directed operas and films, had been in and out of hospital in recent months, suffering from kidney and heart problems which left him exhausted.
"He was a hard worker who gave his whole life to dance up to the last moment. What interested him was being in a studio with his dancers, working and researching new steps and scenes. He was a man of genius to the end," Emmanuel de Bourgknecht, general manager of the troupe, told Reuters Television.
In a statement, La Foundation BBL and the city of Lausanne paid tribute to its late director as having "profoundly revolutionized 20th century dance."
"Many dancers have lost a father, a master and a source of inspiration. We have all lost a great friend, an exceptionally prolific creator and an artist of vision and humanity," it said.
Bejart put legends including Rudolf Nureyev, Jorge Donn, Patrick Dupond, Suzanne Farrell and Sylvie Guillem through their paces in bold productions on world stages from the Paris Opera to the Bolshoi.
In 1987, he moved along with most of the dancers in his 20th Century Ballet to Lausanne after 27 years in Brussels, and its name was changed to Bejart Ballet Lausanne. The Swiss lakeside city offered it better conditions and hefty annual subsidies.
SHOW GOES ON
Its 35 dancers are in rehearsals for a new production called "Around the World in 80 Minutes," to be premiered on December 20 in Lausanne. "We're all upset but the show will go on," Aybek said.
Bejart, born in the southern French city of Marseille, came to prominence with a celebrated production of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" in 1959.
Other creations, some allegorical, included "Bolero," "Songs of a Wayfarer," "Firebird" and "Souvenir of Leningrad." He also directed Verdi's "La Traviata" and Mozart's "Don Giovanni."
"We have lost one of the great choreographers of our time, one of the most famous and one of the most admired," French Culture Minister Christine Albanel said in a statement.
Bejart himself said in a speech upon entering the French Academy of Fine Arts in 1995 that a choreographer "is not the master of dance but its first servant."
At celebrations ahead of his 70th birthday on January 1, 1997, the bearded and mustachioed Bejart hosted a gala in Lausanne, appearing on stage in his signature black t-shirt and trousers.
His latest creation was performed, "The Clergy House has lost none of its Charm, and the Garden none of its Lustre," set to the song "Let me Live" by the rock group Queen. Costumes were by Italian designer Versace.
It is a tribute to Queen singer Freddie Mercury and Donn, an Argentine-born Bejart protege best remembered for his wild solo of "Bolero," music by Maurice Ravel. Mercury, Donn and Nureyev all died of AIDS, a scourge that has decimated the dance world.
La Scala, Milan's opera house, said it "shares the sorrow of the theatrical world as a big chapter in the history of dance comes to a close."
A public memorial ceremony is to be held in Lausanne on Monday for Bejart, who converted to Islam and asked that his body be cremated, according to his spokeswoman Roxane Aybek.
(Additional reporting by Vincent Fribault in Lausanne and James Mackenzie in Paris; editing by Jonathan Lynn and Paul Casciato)
R.I.P.
MAURICE
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Tom Johnson, 1928-2007
Boston Bruins.com
Nov 22, 2007, 12:59 PM EST
Tom Johnson, player, coach, mentor, 1928-2007
The Boston Bruins are saddened to announce that Tom Johnson, who served the team as a player, coach and front office executive for over 30 years until his retirement in 1998, passed away at his home on Wednesday, November 21. He was 79.
"If we all are allowed an ultimate friend, mentor, confidant and teacher, Tom Johnson was all of those to me," said Bruins Senior Advisor to the Owner, Harry Sinden, who worked with Johnson for 30 years. "The Bruins and all of hockey have lost a great person."
One of the premier defensemen of his time, Johnson had an outstanding 15-year career with the powerful Montreal Canadiens teams of the late 1940s and 1950s, winning six Stanley Cups with Montreal. He won the Norris Trophy as the NHL's top defenseman in 1959, becoming the only blueliner to break teammate Doug Harvey's string of seven Norris Trophies in an eight-year span.
The native of Baldur, Manitoba was claimed by the Bruins from Montreal in the NHL Waiver Draft in June, 1963 and played two seasons with the Bruins until suffering a career-ending leg injury in February, 1965. He was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a player in 1970.
Johnson then moved into the Bruins' front office as an assistant to General Manager Milt Schmidt, a position he held until 1970, when he succeeded Harry Sinden as the Bruins' Head Coach. Johnson led the team to consecutive 50+ win seasons in 1970-71 and 1971-72, culminating in the 1972 Stanley Cup championship, and his win percentage of .738 behind the Boston bench remains the best in team history.
He returned to the front office in 1973 as Assistant General Manager to General Manager Harry Sinden and he remained in that position until May, 1979 when he was named as the club's Vice President. He retired from the organization in 1998.
Johnson leaves his wife, Doris, son Tommy and daughter Julie. Funeral arrangements are pending.
R.I.P.
THOMAS
I wasn't too happy you spent such a long chapter of your career with the damn habs - but you did end it in the good guys camp, in the hub of hockey; in Boston Bruins country.
That is the way that it was meant to be - you having been born in Massachusetts; you came back home to depart to meet our Maker, our Good Lord.
So many prodigal sons never do return to their old stomping grounds: in your sort of business, the likes of Rick Dipietro and Jeremy Roenick never did and most probably never will return. Others, like Jim Carey and Kevin Stevens, did so - and bombed disastrously before fading into obscurity.
Thomas Johnson was unique in that he did return home - and brought his home team to new levels of constant success and a level of excellence that has endured even after his retirement.
In short, he proved that we can go home again.
And make our mark too.
My condolences to Doris, Tommy and Julie.
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Pitcher Joe Kennedy, 28, dies in Florida after collapsing at in-laws' home
November 23, 2007
Kennedy died early Friday morning, Nov. 23, 2007, a Hillsborough ,Fla.,County sheriff's official said. He was 28. Kennedy passed out at home and was brought to a hospital, Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said.
AP - Nov 23, 2:42 pm EST
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Joe Kennedy, a journeyman left-hander who pitched for three major league teams last season, died at his in-laws' home Friday. He was 28.
After going to bed early, Kennedy woke up at about 1:15 a.m. Friday and collapsed as he was leaving a bedroom at the home of his wife's parents, Hillsborough County sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue took Kennedy to Brandon Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, she said.
"We were terribly shocked," Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey told The Associated Press. "From what we understand he was in Brandon ... to be the best man at a wedding today."
Godfrey didn't have particulars on the cause of death.
"Obviously, when a 28-year-old man dies, ballplayer or not, it's a terrible, terrible thing," he said.
Kennedy spent seven years in the majors, playing last season with Oakland, Arizona and Toronto. He also spent time with Tampa Bay and Colorado and had a 43-61 career record with a 4.79 ERA in 222 appearances.
"He was such a focused kid from the time we took him in the draft," said Florida Marlins vice president Dan Jennings, who was the scouting director for Tampa Bay when the Rays selected Kennedy in the 1998 draft. "He was on a mission to become a major league pitcher."
Kennedy made his major league debut in June 2001 and made his last appearance in relief on Sept. 29 in a 5-3 win over Tampa Bay.
"You think all athletes and all young people are invincible," Jennings said. "Then when you see something like this, it's very tragic."
Craig Weissmann, the Tampa Bay scout who signed Kennedy, described him as a fierce, determined competitor.
"He really dedicated himself and was really on a mission to become a major league pitcher," Weissmann said. "You wish as a scout and a major league organization, you wish every kid could develop that fast."
Godfrey said Toronto was interested in bringing Kennedy back.
"We had every intention to speak to him," he said. "We had him on our list to talk to."
Kennedy's agent, Damon Lapa, did not return phone calls and an e-mail from the AP.
"He was a valued teammate and friend to everyone with the A's organization," Oakland assistant general manager David Forst said in a statement. "On behalf of the entire A's organization, we extend our condolences to Joe's wife, Jami and his entire family."
Kennedy started the 2007 season with Oakland as a starter but was moved to the bullpen after going 3-9 with a 4.37 ERA. He appeared in 27 games, including 16 starts, before being placed on waivers.
Claimed by Arizona in August, he was released that month after just three appearances. The Blue Jays signed him Aug. 29, and Kennedy got his first win as a Blue Jay on Sept. 21, in New York against the Yankees.
Kennedy and his family still lived in the Denver area and had just bought a new house, Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, one of Kennedy's closest friends, told the Denver Post.
"It's a sad day and a sad situation," Helton said. "He's leaving a wife and a little boy behind."
Rockies team president Keli McGregor extended his sympathies through a statement released by the team.
"Joe was a great husband, father, teammate and friend to so many in our organization and throughout the baseball world," McGregor said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, wife, his young son and all those whose lives were touched by Joe over his life."
That family meant everything to Kennedy, Weissmann said.
"He was a great father. He loved that boy and his wife both more than anything in the world. That son of his was the apple of his eye," Weissmann said. "He just was really looking forward to everything that a father shares with a son."
AP Writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
Updated on Friday, Nov 23, 2007 8:44 pm, EST
R.I.P.
JOE
One truly never knows when one goes...
My condolences to Jami, your boy...
And, even though I never thought I would, I extend my condolences to the Toronto Blue Jays organization.
+++
1 dead, 2 injured in targeted attack in Harrison, B.C.: RCMP
Last Updated: Friday, November 23, 2007 | 11:06 PM ET
CBC News
One person is dead and two others injured, one seriously, in what police describe as a targeted attack Friday afternoon in the quiet town of Harrison, B.C., northeast of Vancouver.
================
Police are investigating at this home at 470 Echo Ave., where one person is dead and two others injured. Police are investigating at this home at 470 Echo Ave., where one person is dead and two others injured.
(CBC)
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The deceased person, who was found near a car outside the home at 470 Echo Ave., was believed to be a man. The home was known by police, CBC News has learned.
Witnesses said two people — a man and a woman — were taken by police officers from the scene after the incident, which happened at about 3:30 p.m.
Const. Lea-Anne Dunlop, who is with RCMP in the Upper Fraser Valley, said all men involved in the incident are known to police.
She would not reveal the conditions of the two injured men, who were being treated in hospital, or the nature of their injuries.
"The local community should be aware that they will see an influx of police in the area as this investigation begins to unfold," Dunlop said.
================
Police cordon off an entire block on Echo Avenue, where homicide investigators and the coroner are trying to piece together what happened. Police cordon off an entire block on Echo Avenue, where homicide investigators and the coroner are trying to piece together what happened.
(CBC)
=================
She said there were arrests made in the area but couldn't confirm
whether they were related to the incident.
"While it is in the early stages of this investigation, it does
not appear to be a random act," Dunlop said.
The two injured people were rushed to hospital under police escort, one with serious injuries.
The coroner and the RCMP's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team are on the scene, police said.
Three ambulances that were dispatched to Echo Avenue went to a hospital in Chilliwack.
The entire area is blocked off while the homicide investigators and the coroner try to piece together what happened.
Neighbours told CBC News an elderly man lived in the home and had roommates.
Property records show the owner of the home, who is of Polish decent, bought the place in 1985, and it is now assessed at $324,000.
Harrison is famous for its hot springs and nearby Harrison Lake, both popular tourist destinations.
With files from the Canadian Press
+++
I would be remiss, of course, if I did not mention something, somewhere on the Lugubrious Blog this month, about the 44th anniversary of JFK's demise in Dallas... Forty-four years have gone by since they stopped the "prophet of change" and president of the United States dead on his tracks - a governor of Texas being deemed expendable too, in the process... (Howcome Dubya isn't yet, since he culled BOTH roles within a decade? But that is another story...)
I thought I'd even devote an entire post to this sad anniversary - but really now; anyone who wants to revisit that sad day can do so in far greater detail by watching the Oliver Stone film...
Instead, I'll post here what WIRED cooked up on the subject; a story that is indeed still very ACTUAL despite the four decades that have gone by... Makes us realize how deceiving time is and that, truly, our lifespans are so infinitesimal indeed...
Aye, it really is hard to believe that 44 years have already gone by since these tragic events...
I join the old-timers, patriots, justice seekers, truth-seekers as well, democrats, republicans and all those with a HEART, in mournful remembrance of the events of late November, 1963...
==============
Nov. 22, 1963: A Magic Bullet, a Grassy Knoll, an Enduring Mystery
By Tony Long
11.22.07 | 12:00 AM
President John F. Kennedy and Texas Gov. John Connally ride in a motorcade in Dallas Nov. 22, 1963, moments before a sniper' would shoot the two men, fatally wounding Kennedy.
Photo: Bettmann/Corbis
(To see the pic, go here
1963: President Kennedy is assassinated as his motorcade passes through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas. Texas Gov. John Connally, riding in the same car as Kennedy, is seriously wounded.
The Warren Commission, set up by order of President Johnson to investigate the assassination, concluded that Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald, firing from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository. Although the report was widely accepted at first, skepticism grew as more information concerning possible conspiracies leaked out.
Oswald denied having anything to do with the shooting at all, let alone being part of any conspiracy, but he was killed -- and silenced -- two days after the assassination while in the custody of Dallas police.
That, coupled with the FBI's miserable handling of the initial investigation, did nothing to quell the suspicions of those who believed Kennedy's assassination was the work of (pick one, or more than one): the CIA, Johnson, the mob, Fidel Castro, the anti-Castro Cubans, J. Edgar Hoover.
Whether the shooter was acting alone or as part of a bigger conspiracy may never be known. Most of the available evidence, such as the Warren Commission Report, is inconclusive.
But the other big assertion -- that Oswald (or whoever the Book Depository gunman was) had help from shooters on the ground -- has never been adequately supported by hard evidence, either.
The so-called "grassy knoll" theory maintains that there was one, and possibly two, gunmen at ground level in Dealey Plaza. A number of eyewitnesses claimed to have heard gunfire coming from the grassy knoll, but nobody actually saw a gunman and no shells were ever recovered.
The Warren Report, basing its findings on the autopsy and forensics reports, concluded that two bullets struck Kennedy. They came from the same weapon, a bolt-action Mannlicher-Carcano military rifle of Italian manufacture that was later recovered at the Book Depository. Three shots were fired, all from above and behind the target. The first missed. The second, the so-called "magic bullet," passed through Kennedy and tore into Gov. Connally, causing all his wounds. The third shot, the killing one, exploded into the right side of Kennedy’s head.
Conspiracy theorists point to the impossible trajectory of the magic bullet, and to the Zapruder film, which shows Kennedy’s head snapping backwards as the fatal third shot takes off the right side of his head, as evidence that shots came from more than one direction.
Forensics experts disagree, however, arguing that the described path of the second bullet, while improbable, was not impossible and that Kennedy's head snap at the moment of impact suggests a reaction to the first bullet striking him and not the second.
Forty-four years on and we're still not entirely sure what happened in Dallas that day. All we do know is that something changed in an instant and America has never been the same country since. It’s a dark line that grows only more pronounced as the day recedes into history.
==============
Comments
Posted by: Hangman
14 hours ago
Before I go back to my more interesting pursuits, let me add a thing or three to my previous comments. I keep running into people who knew Lee Oswald. People who were in the orphanage with him. People who were in Japan before his desertion. The picture I get from those who knew him is not the one I see on the tube or read in print. From all I can gather, he was a lonely kid who needed a crash course at the Dale Carnegie schools. He very much needed to "win friends and influence people."
Next, I wound up at Dealy Plaza once, at afternoon drive time, and wasted no time looking around. But a shot from a sixth floor Repository window would have been much like a hunter on top of a 75 foot or so cliff firing at a deer quartering away at the base of the cliff. Under the best of circumstances, that would be an extremely difficult shot. Especially for Oswald, who was a poor shot when he did not have to deal with hot cartridge cases and especially with the Carcano.
For one thing, the Carc is remarkably small even for a carbine. From the size the typical Italian doughfoot must have been around 1.7 Meters, 5 feet, tall with correspondingly short arms. Even though the Carc is not a heavy recoiling rifle, there is not much room between a typical man's hand and his face. It's very easy for recoil to jam your thumb into your nose. While I have never fired a Carc, those who have say the pain is intense.
Then there is the ejection problem. Fired cartridge cases are very hot. According to the lefties who have tried the Carc, if you reach over the action to work the bolt the just-fired case hits the palm of your left hand. Leaving an extremely painful burn. Gloves would help - but the trigger guard is also small. That's why the left handers I know will not consider taking a Carcano afield.
Finally, I saw a comment at a referred site suggesting Oswald's Carc possibly using handloaded ammunition. The Speer reloading manual for 1961 does not even list handloads for the Carc, the Echo reloading die list for 1962 lists no loading dies, leaving me with the impression that factory loads were probably what those who wanted to try the Carc could obtain at that time.
I could go on - but by now everyone's mind is made up so I will shut up and go away.
Hangman
To make matters worse, Oswald was using a carbine that is noted for its sharp report. I tried shooting a carbine in a large masonry warehouse once and nearly deafened myself. The actual report was immediately followed by a double echo that seemed as loud as the original report. Firing a single shot from Carcano near a window in the Repository would have sounded like two or three shots in very rapid succession.
Posted by: cdddraftsman
15 hours ago
Many things are now confirmed by extensive research : The SBT is now The Single Bullet Fact . The WCR is a beacon of enlightenment for those who dwell in the darkness of conjured conspiracies . Quote John Connally on conspiracy thinking " I think it's evil , thats not what happened nor could it of happened "
Posted by: Psyzygy
16 hours ago
Qui Bono? It IS useful to discover the facts behind high profile assassinations. EVERY ONE of the US Presidents who have been assassinated (Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley & JFK) were opposed to a private Federal Reserve style bank and EVERY ONE of them were assassinated by a "Lone Gunman." The attemped assassination of Andrew Jackson, another staunch anti-central bank President falls into this category, as does possibly Theodore Roosevelt who was running for President against Woodrow Wilson (Who DID introduce the Federal Reserve) at the time. FDR also had an attempt on his life in 1933, just before he helped the USA out of the Great Depression by issuing Government Money as opposed to Federal Money. If every deranged person who had access to a gun randomly shot at high profile politicians, there wouldn't be a lot of politicians about!
Posted by: scottybcoder
19 hours ago
Arlen Spector as a young attorney working for the Warren Commission pulled the "single bullet theory" out of thin air. The Commission had to come up with a report that allowed for only one shooter. It's is easy to develop valid reasons why the people shouldn't know the truth about the Kennedy assasination. However, it's not easy to answer the question "Why didn't the Warren Commission come up with a report that a greater segment of the poplution would believe.
Posted by: cdddraftsman
15 hours ago
To : scottybcoder "single bullet theory" out of thin air" Bullets , as they pass through two people and are slowed , can go fast enough to break bone but not fast enough to deform the bullet . Now armed with that I just can't help but feeling that you and the SBF can't help becoming good friends :-) Cheers !
Permalink
Posted by: scottybcoder
19 hours ago1 Point
In 1992 a book entitled "Double Cross" by Sam and Chuck Giancana was published. It tells why and how John F. Kennedy was killed. If you think this book is nonsense, you still have to ask yourself why no one on either side of the conspiracy theory debate has ever mentioned it.
I have no dog in this fight, but I have known that our Fed Govt will lie to us since Dwight David Eisenhower reported to us on television that we were not flying U2 planes over the Soviet Union and that Francis Gary Powers was not shot down over Russia by a surfact to air missile.
Posted by: Hangman
24 hours ago
That is an impressive job, Pat Speer. But all of the timed riflemen you cite were right handers, as was the NRA's Commander (Paul?) Lee; and all these sharpshooters were firing a rifle that is very difficult for a lefty to manage at any rate of fire.
A left handed shooter may, with difficulty, manage to fire most bolt action rifles off their right shoulder, but a lefty with a left master eye must sight with the left eye and fire off the left shoulder. The Carcano deliberately makes that very difficult.
Three seconds, six seconds, or ten seconds, if a group of right handers cannot fire three shots and hit their target in a given period of time with a Carcano, a lefty has no real chance of firing, reaching over the telescope, working the bolt, re-acquiring the trigger, sighting, and firing twice within that period of time.
The Carcano's 6.5 cal cartridge is in the 30/30 class, quite suitable for deer and other medium game. I know several hunters who have hunted with a Carcano, and I even know a few lefties who have tried it. Once. A couple of the dexter group will consider it, but not one of the sinister group will try that again.
Next, about that "telescopic sight" on the Klein Sporting Goods Carcano Oswald bought. It is no secret the FBI found Oswald's "sights" had a broken crosshair. The old Oklahoma Tire and Supply chain bought a quantity of Carcanos from Klein, hoping to sell them as curios.
The manager of the local OTASCO opened a shipment of them in my presence. Just over half the "sights" had one or more broken crosshairs. From his later comments, as well as comments of others, it appears at least one of the crosshairs let go within two shots on every OTASCO/Klein Carcano that was fired.
Now - the media reported Oswald took possession of the Klein Carcano, and that evening fired three shots into a nearby swimming pool. Whether that is true or not, I do not know, but it has been often repeated without challenge so I will not challenge it.
Next, Oswald allegedly fired one shot at General Walker, missing him by quite some distance. Not surprising if Oswald had fired three shots into the swimming pool, since it is virtually certain at least one crosshair would have broken by then.
Next, the Carcano appears on the sixth floor of the Texas Schoolbook Repository. If Oswald actually fired at the Kennedy motorcade he had one of the most difficult shots in the rifleman's handbook; quartering away left.
Given an accurate rifle with fine sights, Annie Oakley could have made her shot. But Lee Oswald, who was an indifferent shot with an ambidextrous military issue weapon that he had quite a bit of practice with, did not have an accurate rifle with fine sights.
Oswald had a rifle that would probably hold five shots in a dinner plate at 50 yards or so; and a telescope with a divider instead of a reticule. Leaving us with the absurd conclusion that Oswald fired several aimed shots with a rifle he could neither work quickly nor aim.
Now, I do not know who killed JFK. I do not pretend to know. I do not assume it was a conspiracy. Or not. Nor do I have the slightest reason to trust the media - which has become much like successful used car salesmen. Well paid liars.
But somewhere in my channel surfing I saw a fellow with a Brit accent claim he was in the break room at the Repository when Lee Oswald walked in like a fellow with not a care in the world. Then, the Brit said, the radio announced that JFK had been shot and Oswald disappeared.
I do not know if that is true or not. But if it is, and if someone invents a time machine, we should use it to record Lee Oswald's face when he realized he had been set up to take the blame for the Kennedy assassination.
Because there can really be no doubt Lee Oswald told the simple truth when he said he was a patsy.
Hangman
Posted by: cdddraftsman
14 hours ago
To : Hangman "he was a patsy" It's not called the "repository" but depository : 1) There's a photo of LHO on the firing range and he's firing right handed .
2) At 200 yards in the bench rest position (Half the distance of Dealey Plaza) on the firing range he shot in the 'EXPERT'classification . 3) There's no reason to believe he even needed the telescopic sight and may have used his iron sight to hit his target .
Posted by: memos87
1 day ago
I'm pretty sure Elvis saved the world from Communism by shooting JFK.. love that book
Posted by: PatSpeer
1 day ago
From reading some of the comments below, it becomes clear why this case is still so confusing to many. There's a lot of nonsense floating around out there. One guy talks about the possibility of three shots being fired in three seconds from Oswald's rifle...this was never considered by any government body..it was three shots in 5.6 seconds. Another guy posts a link to a supposed witness who just came forward. That link is a fraud. There are JFK-related forums and this supposed grandmother never outed herself to any of them. What's worse, JFK geeks like myself have analyzed every photo taken just before and during the shooting, and there was no woman standing at the top of the grassy knoll, and no young girls down on the street anywhere near the shooting. In chapters 5 through 8 at patspeer.com, I have created a database of all the remotely credible eyewitness statements I could find. Anyone curious as to what the witnesses really had to say, and the implications of what they said, should take a gander. Feel free to skip over all the sections entitled "analysis" if you'd prefer to read the statements without my editorializing.
...
Décès chez les Meyers
2007-11-23 06:57:15
(BUM) L’acteur irlandais Jonathan Rhys Meyers perd sa mère.
PA Entertainment rapporte que Geraldine « Geri » Meyers-O'Keeffe, 50 ans, est morte à l’hôpital Mercy University mardi matin (20 novembre). Une soudaine maladie a emporté la mère de l’acteur de 30 ans.
Le porte-parole de la vedette de la série télévisée The Tudors a confirmé mercredi (21 novembre) la nouvelle à Entertainment Tonight : « C’est avec tristesse que je vous confirme que la mère de Jonathan est décédée. »
Un peu plus tôt cette semaine, Rhys Meyers a été arrêté à l’aéroport de Dublin pour ivresse et avoir troublé l’ordre public.
Luminous Translation:
BUM News Service reports...
Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers has lost his mother.
PA Entertainments has reported that 50 year-old Geraldine « Geri » Meyers-O'Keeffe died Tuesday morning (November 20th) at Mercy U Hospital. A very sudden illness took the life of the troubled actor's mother.
A spokesperson confirmed the sad news on November 21st on Entertainment Tonight: "it is with great sadness that I confirm to you that Jonathan's mother is indeed deceased."
Jonathan Rhys Meyers' career has been rising steadily, as he first became known thanks to the mini-series "Gormenghast", stars in the acclaimed series "The Tudors" and has began a movie career as well.
Earlier on this very same week, however, the 30 year-old actor had been arrested at the Dublin airport for drunken and disorderly behaviour.
R.I.P.
GERALDINE
MY CONDOLENCES TO GERI'S SON
AND CLOSE ONES.
And as 44th comment here -
let's return to the 44th anniversary, ah, "anniversary"...
44 Years After JFK's Death, New Assassination Plot Revealed
Just Three Weeks Before Dallas, Feds Uncovered Plot to Kill JFK in Chicago, Says Ex-Secret Service Agent
By CHUCK GOUDIE, WLS-TV
Nov. 22, 2007
A former Secret Service agent has told WLS-TV there was a plot to kill President Kennedy in Chicago three weeks before he was assassinated in Dallas.
Kennedy was murdered on Nov. 22, 1963. Today is the 44th anniversary of JFK's assassination.
Lee Harvey Oswald would never have had the chance to kill Kennedy in Dallas, had an assassination plot in Chicago succeeded three weeks earlier, a plot that has been mentioned over the years.
Kennedy was due to arrive in Chicago the morning of Nov. 2 to attend the Army-Air Force football game at Soldier Field and ride in a parade. Newspapers had even printed JFK's detailed travel plan from O'Hare airport to the Loop.
Although police were preparing to line the motorcade route, Secret Service officials in Chicago were deeply troubled about the visit because of two secret threats.
Right-wing radical and Kennedy denouncer Thomas Vallee had arranged to be off work for JFK's visit; Vallee, an expert marksman, was arrested with an M1 rifle, a handgun and 3,000 rounds of ammo. But then there was the phone call to federal agents from a motel manager concerning what she'd seen in a room rented by two Cuban nationals.
"Had seen lying on the bed several automatic rifles with telescopic sights, with an outline of the route that President Kennedy was supposed to take in Chicago that would bring him past that building," said former Secret Service agent Abraham Bolden.
Bolden, 72, of Chicago, was a young agent in 1963. After a few years as an Illinois state trooper, Bolden joined he Secret Service and was invited by Kennedy onto the prestigious White House detail. He was the first black agent assigned to protect a president.
Bolden recalled how agents bungled surveillance of those two suspected Cuban hit men. They disappeared and were never identified.
"No one was sent to the room to fingerprint it or get an ID. The case was lost and that was the end of it," Bolden said.
On Nov. 2, the president was about to leave the White House for Chicago and Bolden says a Cuban murder squad here was unaccounted for.
"The morning of the game, the special agent in charge of the Chicago office called the White House and recommended the president cancel his trip to Chicago," Bolden said.
News reports stated that Kennedy didn't show because he was ill or because of a diplomatic crisis. Official investigations of JFK never determined why the president canceled Chicago Nov. 2. But in his first interview in 44 years, Bolden said JFK stayed away because of an imminent threat.
Bolden said the president didn't come to Chicago because he was basically waved off by the Secret Service, and it wasn't because he had a cold.
Information about Vallee, his similarity in appearance and background to Oswald and details of the Cuban hit squad in Chicago were never given to federal agents in Dallas.
Bolden said the information was not known to have been passed on to Dallas.
In a book that Bolden wrote with his wife, due out in the spring, he will cite another contributing factor in the JFK murder: on-duty drunkenness by Secret Service agents.
"I told the chief of the Secret Service this, that if anything happens, an emergency situation develops with President Kennedy, that their reflexes are going to be in a condition that they won't be in a condition to respond, and Dallas, Texas, proved I was right," he said. "The president's life was in grave danger because of the inefficiency of security around him, too many weaknesses."
"When that bullet struck the head of the president, it struck me too because I saw it coming," Bolden said.
When the Warren Commission began investigating JFK's assassination, Bolden says, he attempted to inform members about the Chicago plot and misconduct by his fellow agents.
During that time Bolden was arrested and prosecuted for soliciting a bribe from a counterfeiter and served a six-year sentence. He says it was a setup to silence him. The main witness has since recanted, and Bolden hopes now to clear his name.
A spokesman for the Secret Service in Washington said that officials "would not have any comment whatsoever about Mr. Bolden's statements."
====================
(Odd) Comments:
# tritium: Castro did it. I knew it. Next green aliens will be blamed.
# sasquatch2: Green aliens is more credible than Lee Harvey Oswald with a Manlichter Carcarno and the "magic bullet". That dog just don't hunt.
# tritium: Green aliens is more credible than Lee Harvey Oswald with a Manlichter Carcarno and the "magic bullet". That dog just don't hunt. Conspiracy Theorist, gotta lov'em. [laughat] 1. So who do you think killed JFK? 2. Was his son John Jr. also murdered? 3. Did they really find alien bodies at the Roswell crash site? or was it a weather ballon? 4. 9/11 was it and inside job? President Bush did it, right? . . . . . . . . . 5. Elvis is still alive, saw him at a Tim Hortons in Mississauga, ON. :lol:
# Wullu: The truely sad part is that 40 years from now we will still be hearing from 9/11 truthers. The JFK foilers will thankfully be long dead.
Discussion continued in forums
at www.cka.ca
=======================
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So let's add the most related story of all these "related stories" - here, as a sort of bonus...
Kennedy Insider Schlesinger Dies at 89
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Award-Winning Historian and Kennedy Insider, Dies at 89
The Associated Press
By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer
NEW YORK Mar 1, 2007 (AP)
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and Kennedy insider who helped define mainstream liberalism during the Cold War and remained an eminent public thinker into the 21st century, has died, his son said. He was 89.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
....
R.I.P.
ARTHUR SCHLESINGER JR.
And my condolences to the Schlesingers - and apologies as well (for this should have gone with the preceding comment.)
Onwards to another premature departure...
"Quiet Riot" singer found dead in Las Vegas
1 hour, 17 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Kevin DuBrow, lead singer of the popular 1980s heavy metal band Quiet Riot, has been found dead from unknown causes at his home in Las Vegas, authorities said on Monday.
DuBrow, 52, was found dead at about 5:20 p.m. on Sunday, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Coroner's Office said. She said an autopsy would be conducted to determine the cause of death.
"I can't even find the words to say," Quiet Riot bandmate Frankie Banali said on his Web site. "Please respect my privacy as I mourn the passing and honor the memory of my dearest friend, Kevin DuBrow."
Quiet Riot, which was founded in the mid-1970s, topped the Billboard charts in 1983 with the album "Metal Health," spurred on by the massive hit single "Cum on Feel the Noize."
The band has since endured break-ups and personnel changes but released a new album in 2006 and continued to tour sporadically.
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Bill Trott)
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
*
No Photo Available.
Deepest sympathies to his friends and family. He will be missed.
POSTED BY: talisman on MON, NOV 26, 2007 08:37 PM -0500
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No Photo Available.
I feel sad for the DuBrow family and the bandmates may they mourn privately.
POSTED BY: debnanson on MON, NOV 26, 2007 08:36 PM -0500
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No Photo Available.
Maybe he banged his head to much. "No just kidding"... I feel for his family. May he rest in peace.
POSTED BY: B.C~ Rocks on MON, NOV 26, 2007 08:26 PM -0500
R.I.P.
K.D.
You are having dinner now on the Father's Table - no more rioting, quiet or loud - but you may sing in His Choir, surely.
Oh, and dinner will not be Kraft Dinner either; but the best of the best - Manna. :)
Crash kills four elderly women heading home from Chatham, Ont., church
1 hour, 27 minutes ago
By The Canadian Press
CHATHAM, Ont. - A church community in this quiet southwestern Ontario community was in mourning Monday after four elderly women died over the weekend in a head-on crash.
The four women in their 80s, two of whom were sisters, died after a minivan veered into oncoming traffic and crashed head-on into their car in Chatham, Ont.
Marion Dawson, 85, Jean Ripley, 85, and sisters Verna Neaves, 82, and Bernice Phillips, 83, were on their way home from a church dinner.
The 47-year-old driver of the minivan, a man from Chatham, was originally thought to have serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
He was taken to hospital in London, Ont., on Sunday and is listed in critical condition in the intensive care unit, according to Chatham-Kent police.
Police suspect that alcohol was a factor, though no charges have been laid.
"We're going to wait and see if he lives," said Chatham-Kent police spokesman Sgt. Gary Conn.
"If he lives, I can tell you it's an active criminal investigation at this time, and as a result, we don't want to put out any information that may jeopardize our investigation."
An autopsy was to be performed Monday on Dawson, who was driving the car, Conn said, which he described as standard procedure in such cases.
Police have scheduled a press conference Tuesday at 9 a.m. in Chatham to answer further questions surrounding the case.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
*
No Photo Available.
May they rest in peace and God be with the families
POSTED BY: debnanson on MON, NOV 26, 2007 08:40 PM -0500
*
No Photo Available.
Moonglow, this may not be the right moment to point this out but perhaps you meant 'it was THEIR time to go' in stead of 'there time to go'?
POSTED BY: Casey on MON, NOV 26, 2007 08:32 PM -0500
*
moonglow
It was there time to go home, and be with the Father. ~God bless.~
POSTED BY: moonglow on MON, NOV 26, 2007 08:11 PM -0500
*
Steve G
I knew these ladies. They were great ladies. God bless their families. Our thoughts are with you.
POSTED BY: Steve G on MON, NOV 26, 2007 07:53 PM -0500
R.I.P.
GRANNIES
My condolences to your dear ones - grand-kids last.
The next dinner you will attend will be the aforementioned one, at the Father's Table... Manna and Wine will be served...
I guess that, if the Devil Went Down To Georgia, it is possible too that Satan Went Up To Chatham - and caused this accident while he passed by there...
He's always going up and down the road AND he always does enjoy diminishing the already dwindling numbers that attend church in any capacity whatsoever...
Anybody up for an umpteenth tour of death way over there, in those famous "trouble spots"...?
No?
That's just too bad...
Cause if it's happening - we're going along for the tour - sooner or later...
2 suicide attacks kill 35 in Pakistan
By MUNIR AHMAD,
Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 24, 3:11 AM ET
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Suicide bombers hit a bus carrying intelligence agency employees and also targeted a checkpoint near the headquarters of the Pakistan army on Saturday, killing up to 35 people, several officials said.
The two attackers struck within minutes of each other in Rawalpindi, a garrison city just south of the capital, Islamabad. Two senior intelligence officials — one of them at the scene — said at least 35 people were killed. They asked for anonymity because of the sensitivity of their work.
The army said it could only confirm 15 killed in the attack on the bus, in addition to the suicide bomber. It said two security forces personnel were critically injured in the second attack, and the suicide bomber died.
"We suspect that pro-Taliban militants who are fighting security forces in our tribal areas are behind this attack," one intelligence official said, adding the injured and dead were being transported to hospitals.
In the first attack, an explosive-laden Suzuki van rammed a bus carrying employees from the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. The other bomber hit an army checkpoint in another part of the city about 6 miles away, said Mohammed Afzal, a local police official.
The intelligence agent at the scene said the destroyed bus was a 72-seater, but that it was badly overloaded and that more people were believed to be on board. The army said that only 50 people were riding on the bus.
After the blast, troops and police quickly cordoned off the area. They pushed people back and snatched cameras and mobile phones from journalists and bystanders. Agents fanned out across the area, picking up metal bits of what appeared to be the suicide bomber's vehicle.
Shoaib Abbasi, owner of the Oriel guesthouse across from the ISI compound, said that when he came out on the street after the blast the bus was burning fiercely.
"Firemen tried to open the emergency doors while they were dousing the interior, but I can't believe anyone inside survived because of the intensity of the fire," he said.
Hizer Hayat, the owner of a nearby grocery, said the blast occurred at 7:40 a.m. as he was opening the store. "After the explosion, I went out on the street and found the ignition switch for a car amid the debris (which) I later gave to an intelligence agent," he said.
It was the second major attack against the ISI in recent months. On Sept. 4, a suicide attacker blew himself up after boarding a bus carrying ISI's employees, while a roadside bomb went off near a commercial area in Rawalpindi minutes apart, killing at least 25 people.
The latest violence comes as Pakistan remains under a state of emergency, a move by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that has prompted stiff criticism of the military ruler, including from his key Western ally, the United States.
Musharraf declared the state of emergency on Nov. 3, justifying it by citing the escalating danger posed by Islamic extremists, though critics have noted many of his moves have been against political opponents, including members of the judiciary and journalists.
Islamic militants have launched dozens of suicide attacks this year. Most have taken place near the Afghan border, but several have taken place in the country's main cities, raising fears that violent extremism is spreading.
A bomber blew himself up in Rawalpindi on Oct. 30 at a checkpoint several hundred yards from an office of Musharraf, killing seven people. That office was in a building complex known as Army House, about 3 miles from the army headquarters area where Saturday's second blast occurred.
Two weeks earlier, a suicide attack on opposition leader Benazir Bhutto's homecoming parade killed more than 140 people in Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi.
Authorities cited the risk of further attacks when they barred Bhutto from holding a rally in Rawalpindi last month against Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule.
Tension between militant groups and the military are at a high because of an ongoing military operation to sweep the followers of a pro-Taliban cleric from the northern Swat valley, where authorities say more than 300 militants have been killed in recent weeks.
___
Associated Press writer Zarar Khan contributed to this report.
11 relatives of Iraqi journalist killed
By LORI HINNANT,
Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 9 minutes ago
Monday November 26th, 2007
BAGHDAD - Masked gunmen stormed the family home of a journalist who was associated with Saddam Hussein's party and critical of the Iraqi government, killing 11 relatives as they ate breakfast in a neighborhood known as a Shiite militia stronghold, colleagues said Monday.
Dhia al-Kawaz, editor of the Jordan-based Asawat al-Iraq news agency, was in Jordan when his sisters, their husbands and children were reportedly killed Sunday in north Baghdad's Shaab district.
According to the news agency's Web site, witnesses said more than five masked men broke into the home and opened fire, then planted a bomb inside.
"Sectarian militias killed 11 family members of Dhia al-Kawaz," the agency's statement said, apparently referring to Shiite death squads that frequently target minority Sunnis and their supporters.
The media advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said Iraqi police at a nearby checkpoint failed to intervene as the family — al-Kawaz's sisters, their husbands and their seven children — was slaughtered. Al-Kawaz, his wife and their children live elsewhere.
Mohammed Salman, a colleague of al-Kawaz in the Jordanian capital of Amman, confirmed the attack in Shaab, a Shiite militia stronghold where a group of Sunni and Shiite tribal sheiks was kidnapped last month before being freed in a U.S. and Iraqi rescue operation.
Another colleague, who refused to be named because he feared reprisal, said al-Kawaz has received threats for his stance against the U.S. occupation and sectarian strife in Iraq. The colleague refused to say whether al-Kawaz was Sunni or Shiite.
That colleague said an SUV without license plates stopped at the gate of the house and threw two bombs as the two couples and their children aged 5 to 10 were eating breakfast.
Reporters Without Borders, based in Paris, said al-Kawaz had recently received threats from the Badr Brigade, the militant arm of Iraq's largest Shiite party the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council.
Al-Kawaz, who declined to comment Monday, has rejected the U.S. occupation and accused majority-Shiite Iran of seeking to dominate the Iraqi government. The journalist is known as an advocate for Saddam's banned Baath Party.
Officials with the Shiite-dominated Interior Ministry, which oversees Iraqi police, said they had no information about the attack, and local police refused to comment.
The attack, which could not be independently confirmed, is the latest to raise concerns about how long a lull in violence in the capital can last.
"The impunity reigning in Baghdad for the past five years encourages attacks on journalists and their families," Reporters without Borders said. "It is even more disturbing when security forces see what is happening and yet take no action."
At least 206 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in March 2003, Reporters Without Borders said.
Separately, Iraqi soldiers thwarted terrorism suspects disguised as a bride and groom trying to pass through a checkpoint along with their "wedding procession" north of the Iraqi capital, the Iraqi Defense Ministry said.
The procession Sunday near Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad, raised suspicion because most of those celebrating were men, an official in the ministry told The Associated Press. Soldiers searched the car carrying the purported bride and groom and discovered the "couple" were two wanted men: Haider al-Bahadili and Abbas Latif. Two other suspects were detained along with them, according to the Defense Ministry.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to ministry orders, said the investigation of the suspects was ongoing. He declined to release further information.
___
Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad and Shafika Mattar in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.
+++
An earlier report on the Chatham car crash - and some interesting accompanying comments and "related" headlines, both...
Alcohol possible factor in crash that killed 4 Ontario seniors
Sun Nov 25, 12:22 PM
TORONTO (CBC) - Alcohol may have been a factor in a head-on crash that killed four women, all senior citizens, as they were returning home from a church dinner in southwestern Ontario Saturday, police said.
The women were travelling in a Ford Focus when a minivan heading in the opposite direction collided with their vehicle shortly before 7 p.m. in Chatham, about 270 kilometres southwest of Toronto, according to police.
Three women were pronounced dead at the scene while a fourth died en route to a hospital in Chatham. All were trapped in the wreckage and had to be cut from the car, police said.
The driver of the van, a 47-year-old Chatham man, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital.
"At this point alcohol is believed to have played a factor in this tragic accident," Insp. Ed Reed of Chatham-Kent police said in a news release on Sunday.
At that point, no charges had been laid.
Police said no names would be released until the victims' families were notified.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
*
No Photo Available.
agent-dd & jej842000 - are you two for real? People like you make me sick - have some respect DS!
POSTED BY: Chimera_007 on MON, NOV 26, 2007 07:07 AM -0500
*
No Photo Available.
Partial Solution Bar gets patron drunk Drunk drives and crashes Bar get $10,000 fine 1st offence, $50,000 second, lose liquor licence 3rd. Insurance Companies advised of each occurrence - surely bar client will become too much of a risk. Drunk drivers who kill are the same as a murderers- I'm sorry and it was an accident shoudn't fly. It took alot of bad decisions to kill those ladies in Chatham. All Preventable !!
POSTED BY: burts65 on MON, NOV 26, 2007 04:03 AM -0500
*
No Photo Available.
Not all religions forbid alcohol, and not all people are religious. Prohibition didn't work in the past, and won't work again. It's akin to illegal drugs - the problem is still there, whether they are legal or not. There are responsible drinkers out there, who do not drink and drive. I feel for these families, I have lost a family member to a drunk driver. It's a senseless death; it's completely preventable.
POSTED BY: mandy on MON, NOV 26, 2007 03:33 AM -0500
*
No Photo Available.
Mr. Firefighter, Murray B. I feel for you and respect all of your kind who have ever responded to such gruesome calls for aid. I feel for the families of these innocent ladies who should have enjoyed life to a ripe old age, and I sincerely hope that the impaired driver who caused their death, and indeed all those who choose to drink and drive, live out their lives regretting the pain and anguish they have caused others. There is no penalty great enough for those that take another's life.
POSTED BY: Lisa-jo on MON, NOV 26, 2007 02:06 AM -0500
*
Neil H
I have a metal rod in my femur - and some nasty memories thanks to a head on collision with a drunk driver. Our laws unfortunately allow way too much to be left up to the police and the courts to select the gravity of the charges to be laid. Most disturbing was the Mississauga crash recently that left a couple dead by a drunk driver who was driving his Mercedes but had 3 previous Impaired Driving charges. How the man still owned a car, I don't know - start throwing the book please !!!
POSTED BY: Neil H on MON, NOV 26, 2007 01:59 AM -0500
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B.C. man injured during altercation with police dies in hospital
Sat Nov 24, 6:05 PM
By The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER - A B.C. man who was injured after an altercation with the RCMP has died, the Mounties announced Saturday.
Robert Knipstrom, 36, died early Saturday in hospital, four days after two officers used pepper spray, a Taser and their batons on the Chilliwack, B.C., resident, who reportedly was acting erratically in a Chilliwack rental store.
The case is being treated as an "in-custody" death and B.C.'s Coroner's Office has launched an investigation along with the RCMP.
The Mounties are being aided by investigators from the Integrated Homicide Investigative Team, Abbotsford Police, and the Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crime Unit, police said at a news conference Saturday.
The death comes as the Mounties face intense criticism over the death of Robert Dziekanski, the Polish immigrant who died at Vancouver airport last month after officers used a Taser and manhandled him.
Police described Knipstrom last week as a man who was extremely agitated, aggressive and combative with the two officers who responded.
The officers called for backup when the pepper spray, Taser and batons did not subdue him.
Kinipstrom was taken into custody and was conscious and still vocal when he was taken to hospital, according to police last week.
The investigation into Knipstrom's death will focus on the officers' use of force and whether or not their actions were in line with both RCMP policy and the Criminal Code, police said.
Although a Taser was used against Knipstrom, at the moment it's unclear what role if any it might have played in his death, said RCMP Insp. Brendan Fitzpatrick.
"At this juncture in the investigation, we have no information to tell us whether it made contact or was effective," Fitzpatrick said.
Police are hoping that an autopsy will determine if the Taser was involved in Knipstrom's eventual medical condition, he said.
The two officers initially involved in the incident remain on duty.
Investigators have finished questioning most witnesses and have gathered forensic evidence at the scene.
RCMP also released a statement from Knipstrom's father, Robert Thurston Knipstrom, that appealed for the media to respect the family's privacy.
"The family is shocked and saddened by the recent incident between our son and the Chilliwack RCMP. We apologize on behalf of our son to the staff of the EZ Rentals for any distress that was caused because of this incident," the family statement said.
Police use of force is governed by the Criminal Code, which states "as much force as is necessary" can be used to make an arrest.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
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I hate the Police,but learned along time ago that i did not like jail and so i gave up crime.I have not had a beef with the law for some 30 years.But i Still hate the police and have very little respect for the criminal code of canada.I believe that law is the rich mans way of getting even with the poor man.I believe police by nature are aggressive.Todays Police seem to me to be more into the use of pepper spray/tasers as opposed to yesterdays beatings It is hard to feel sorrow for a dead RCMP
POSTED BY: murray m on MON, NOV 26, 2007 10:31 PM -0500
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Some poeple seem to think that there is a Differance between a member of the Public and a Suspect, But there isn"t , every one is a part of the public and a suspect is Inocent untill proven guilty....So if a Cop isn"t willing to risk there own Life to to protect a member of the public be a suspect or not then they shouldn"t be Cops....Being a Cop isn"t a Job it is a Altruistic endevour and should only be an occupation for the few that are willing to REALLY risk there lives to protect EVERYONE!!!
POSTED BY: mr_sevs on MON, NOV 26, 2007 10:26 PM -0500
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I am glad the RCMP and Police of any detachment are there to serve and protect in every which way possible. If I were being attacked by or in the area of, some out of control person, be it because of drugs, alcohol or their own unbalanced mental condition, I would want the Police to use what ever FORCE they have to Protect and Serve! Isn't that what they are there for? They have a job to do, let them do it. I guess it is ok when a Policeman is killed in the line of duty!
POSTED BY: Jane Doe on MON, NOV 26, 2007 07:39 PM -0500
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JUST goes to show once they put on the badge the bullies have the law on their side.They willALL GET OFF not one will even get a reprimand for these chickens**t acts of violence.Infact it wouldn't surprise me if they were given citations of bravery.
POSTED BY: bruce c on MON, NOV 26, 2007 07:34 PM -0500
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Those of you that are anti taser, tell us how you would deal with the man in Regina who was tasered Friday. He was just breaking up an apartment with a shovel and threatened to fight the police with it. Let see get 5 or 6 guys to give him a bear hug. Invite him to your house for tea and coffee and have a chat with his paranoid thoughts caused by the drugs he was taking. Do police see danger in most situations. So they should. My neighbor belongs to a gang (do you think he's packing a gun?)
POSTED BY: Mic D on MON, NOV 26, 2007 05:58 PM -0500
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R.I.P.
BOB
The Pigs only took you down because they had you badly outnumbered...!
Many questions after southern Alberta man dies in Mexican resort
Fri Nov 23, 10:20 PM
By Shannon Montgomery,
The Canadian Press
CALGARY - Family and friends of a southern Alberta man who died while on vacation at a Mexican resort are looking for answers amid conflicting reports about his death.
Chris Morin, a 30-year-old resident of Okotoks south of Calgary, fell to his death early Thursday morning from a fourth-floor balcony. The Cancun newspaper Novedades de Quintana Roo reported that Morin fell after a night of drinking with a friend.
Local authorities were investigating whether Morin may have been pushed off the balcony or whether he jumped, according to the paper.
A Mexican deputy state prosecutor told the Associated Press that authorities suspect Morin's death was a suicide. Luis Canche said forensic scientists found alcohol, cocaine and marijuana in Morin's blood.
"The tourist abused illegal substances and we believe that influenced his fatal decision," he said.
However, Joseph Clayton, a friend who was travelling with Morin, was quoted by the Cancun paper as saying that just before he fell asleep he heard Morin arguing with someone.
Morin's brother-in-law, Kevin Brown, told Calgary radio station CHQR that Morin may have been involved in some sort of dispute at a bar earlier in the evening.
"Our biggest concern is to make sure the investigation goes properly down there ... so if there's any foul play or if there was an accident, or what happened, we just want to make sure we find out."
Brown said the family has tried to enlist the help of the Canadian consulate and local politicians in an attempt to get more information.
"It's not like there was an accident in your hometown and everybody can come together to see what happened," he said.
"You're dealing with another country and it's really hard to get information and find out what's happening now."
Ted Menzies, Member of Parliament for the Alberta riding of Macleod, said he has spoken with Morin's family and with Canadian consular affairs in Mexico. He said he will keep in contact to ensure the family remains fully informed.
"The concerns of the family need to be addressed in their time of grief," he said.
"It's a very difficult time, especially when the family member is out of the country, it makes it even more difficult."
A manager at the hotel where Morin was staying, the Barcelo Costa Maya Hotel, said he wasn't on duty the night the young man died and no one could comment. An officer from the police branch that patrols the hotel district also had no information.
Friends and relatives of Morin's flocked to a Facebook tribute page to post their condolences and seek answers. Some wondered how the man with the "awesome sense of humour" and deep dimples who was a fixture on the Calgary punk scene could be gone.
Morin's death is the latest in a number of high-profile crimes and fatal accidents that have befallen Canadians in Mexico.
Dominic and Nancy Ianiero from Woodbridge, Ont., died in February 2006 after their throats were slashed in their Cancun hotel room. Police have never found their killer.
In January, Woodbridge teenager Adam DePrisco was an apparent hit-and-run victim in Acapulco, although his parents have speculated his death was not an accident.
In another incident, a Canadian couple were wounded in a shooting in an Acapulco hotel.
Just six months ago, another Albertan died after what authorities said was an apparent fall from a resort balcony in Cancun.
An initial autopsy on the body of Jeff Toews confirmed injuries consistent with a fall, including severe head injuries, skull fractures and severe abdominal injuries. But his family has always suspected the 34-year-old man was the victim of a horrific beating.
Toews's brother, Murray, said in an interview Friday that Canadians planning to travel to Mexico should take precautions.
"I'm saying they should understand the risk and how, in the last year, how Mexico and the Cancun area has changed because of the Colombian drug trade and the type of money that's around there", he said.
"They should always be travelling in pairs, they should have a buddy system in place. They should know that in the event of an emergency that the people don't speak English well, you can't understand the doctors, you need a translator. There's a lot of things you should know."
STORY WAS
First Recommended By
Yahoo! user damesbond007
damesbond007 had this to say, 3 days ago:
"I'm a realist. I don't live in the fantasy world of political correctness that alot of you inhabit."
Hmm... OK.
My - she's a kindred spirit!
A Peel to my Steed...?!?
Naaaaaaah...
Let's move on...
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
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Been going to Mexico for over 20 years, and no problems whatsoever. But I have seen countless people, especially young men and women, getting hammered stupid (drunk), or stoned and acting in a way they never would at home. We need to take responbility for our actions, especially when in another country.
POSTED BY: Katone on MON, NOV 26, 2007 09:06 PM -0500
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Hi gang, just got in...did someone say #1 Country girl was doing crack in St.Lucia...
POSTED BY: whathe16 on MON, NOV 26, 2007 03:40 AM -0500
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The facts: This guy had weed and coke traces in his blood. OK nothing wrong with a bit of weed, but its a safe bet that a stranger offering you any dope in a foreign country is not doing it out of friendship and by accepting you're automatically putting yourself in a dangerous position, with them and the local law. Would you buy off a stranger at home? Mexico is a great place. Some idiots like this guy go on vacation to get hammered, suicide or murder, who knows, but a fool he definitely was.
POSTED BY: statiaman on SUN, NOV 25, 2007 12:43 PM -0500
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Just to clarify..I am not blaming "the locals". Just saying that the Canadians who seem to end up ten feet under are choosing the bottom feeders to associate with. No surprise they end up in trouble.. (BTW, I go to Mexico every year..have for over 15 years. Never a problem.)
POSTED BY: ebayby2003 on SAT, NOV 24, 2007 07:59 PM -0500
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CountryGirl get your caps lock off and stop shouting at everyone.I agree with statiaman.I have travelled extensively for years.I have also followed most if not all of the stories of Canadians who get jacked in Mexico.Most of the victims had disagreements with locals in bars prior to their demise, were involved with drugs or naively got themselves involved with unsavory characters on the streets.For the most part, it's not where you go..it's what you do and how you act when you're there.
POSTED BY: ebayby2003 on SAT, NOV 24, 2007 07:55 PM -0500
1 - 5 of 105 | More...
(Oh, and in case anyone has wondered "where do we get "more..." wonderful comments like those anyhow?!?" Well - the easy answer is evidently NOT HERE! *lol*
And the not-so-easy answer... turns out to be real easy too: just click here!)
R.I.P.
C.M.
Every great high
comes with its low...
That goes also for any Morin Heights aficionado...
My condolences to the family.
+++
Two deaths in the world of sports within 24 hours really...
One makes everyone realize that this little buzz over the Patriots' videotape collection is really nothing at all...
What really is something is how vulnerable we all are to such an unlikely thing (apparently) as BEING SHOT.
Even NFL stars.
Evn overpaid athletes, yes.
And even in the comfort of their own home, to boot.
The Redskins' Sean Taylor is actually the fourth horseman of a quatuor of football (argh - American football, I should say; for real football is the European variety! Ok - let's just say "NFL") players who have all died at the exact same VERY PREMATURE AGE OF 24...
The Patriots' Marquis Hill drowned.
The Broncos' Damien Nash overexerted himself at a charity basketball game, collapsed and died.
And the Broncos lost another player for *all seasons* when Darrent Williams was ALSO shot and killed (in very different circumstances than Sean Taylor - but the end result is the same.)
All four who were 24 will now play four quarters forevermore on the gridiron of dreams, I wager...
The second death in the world of sports, though, is only thinly related to it: the father of Gatorade is no more of this plane of existence. He was 80 though - not 24 anymore.
Dr. Bob Cade was also the father of six children (six - some egghead he was!) who are pleased as (not Hawaiian) punch that their dad was cool (not kool) enough as an egghead to conceive of "Gatorade" - which they now will continue to reap the rewards from...
Did he have it in him?
Probably not - at his age, he didn't drink that stuff anymore, I would think!
But even if he did have it in him - this obviously proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that the foul concoction known as some form of "ade" will not grant you immortality.
And not even the stamina of an olympian god either - one could ask the four NFLers about this, for they surely drank the stuff while in college, at least...
But that is another story...
NFL's newest dark cloud
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
For the NFL, 2007 has been a year of tragedy and scandal, ugliness and senselessness, each month seeming to bring worse stories of off-field trouble that stand in stark contrast with an on-field product that is running on all cylinders.
The latest, and hopefully last, came Monday when the Washington Redskins' Sean Taylor was gunned down during a home invasion. He died Tuesday.
It was brutal and sad, the snuffing out of a talented and promising life made even worse by the realization that he is the fourth active NFL player to die this year alone. Combine that with high-profile legal issues, major injuries to current players and a bitter pension fight involving former ones and you have a year to forget.
Things are so bad, the depths so low, the pain so real, it's overshadowed a season that, on the field at least, should be one to remember.
The Indianapolis Colts, featuring the popular Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy, finally won the Super Bowl. The New England Patriots have emerged as perhaps the greatest team of all time this season, chasing both a perfect team record and a book full of individual marks. Big fan base franchises such as the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers are having great years while a number of other franchises have been rejuvenated.
The league has not just an array of great young talent (Adrian Peterson, et al) but a rebirth of some older ones (Brett Favre, Terrell Owens, Randy Moss). When the Colts and Patriots met earlier this month, it was the latest matchup of unbeaten teams since the 1970 merger. The game then actually lived up the hype.
So too, perhaps, will the rare late season matchup of one-loss teams, the Cowboys and Packers, Thursday.
That is, if anyone even remembers to watch.
The thing is: as great as the action has been, as great as the story lines have played out, as perfect as heroes and villains have taken their roles, '07 has been a disaster in every other measurable way. One horrible tale replacing another.
Taylor's murder this week was an all-too familiar one.
The year started bad when, during the early morning hours of Jan. 1, the Denver Broncos' Darrent Williams was shot and killed by a passing gunman while riding in a limo after an altercation at a local nightclub.
Less than two months later, Broncos running back Damien Nash collapsed and died after playing a charity basketball game in his hometown of St. Louis.
In March, the Patriots' Marquise Hill accidentally drowned after falling off his jet ski in his native Louisiana.
All four men were just 24.
The offseason was also plagued with high-profile legal trouble. It started with the Tennessee Titans cornerback Pacman Jones' involvement in a gentlemen's club shooting in Las Vegas that left a bouncer paralyzed.
Then the Atlanta Falcons' Michael Vick, the league's highest paid and one of its highest-profile players, was arrested in connection with a dog-fighting ring on property he owned in rural Virginia. Vick pled guilty and is serving time in advance of his sentencing in early December.
Even O.J. Simpson is in trouble again.
Meanwhile, former NFL players continued to fight the league for improved pension and health benefits while spinning terrible tales of woe and making the NFLPA look like a heartless organization. It helped draw attention to the massive physical injuries, particularly concussions, which NFL players deal with after their playing days.
That hit home on the league's opening weekend when the Buffalo Bills' Kevin Everett suffered a severe spinal injury on a simple kickoff play. At least there is some bright light here. Everett is out of the hospital and doctors believe he may even walk again one day.
You can't blame the NFL for wondering what possibly could be next?
There is no simple conclusion to draw here. Each situation is different, each tragedy its own. But sometimes bad things seem to come in waves and the NFL is certainly dealing with that now.
If the league was just about football, then the worst thing to happen all year was the Patriots' "Spygate" scandal, which, in truth, just helped create more interest and excitement for the product on the field.
That's the kind of controversy that professional sports like.
Not endless funerals, court proceedings and Congressional hearings.
Not superstars behind bars. Not all these 24-year-olds gone forever.
The people to remember in thoughts and prayers are the families and friends of those dealing with death and injury, with life-altering moments that they had nothing to do with and almost certainly can't make sense of.
Roger Goodell would be the first to tell you that, the first to tell you to think of those folks.
But here in 2007, in the new commissioner's first full year on the job, it's OK to acknowledge all that has been thrown at him and his NFL.
And then hope we never see another year like it.
Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports' national columnist. Send Dan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
Updated on Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007 4:01 pm, EST
Dr. Robert Cade, University of Florida researcher who invented Gatorade, dies at 80
By RON WORD,
Associated Press Writer
November 27, 2007
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- Dr. J. Robert Cade, who invented the sports drink Gatorade and launched a multibillion-dollar industry that the beverage continues to dominate, died Tuesday of kidney failure. He was 80.
His death was announced by the University of Florida, where he and other researchers created Gatorade in 1965 to help the school's football players replace carbohydrates and electrolytes lost through sweat while playing in swamp-like heat.
"Today with his passing, the University of Florida lost a legend, lost one of its best friends and lost a creative genius," said Dr. Edward Block, chairman of the department of medicine in the College of Medicine. "Losing any one of those is huge. When you lose all three in one person, it's something you cannot recoup."
Now sold in 80 countries in dozens of flavors, Gatorade was born thanks to a question from former Gators Coach Dwayne Douglas, Cade said in a 2005 interview with The Associated Press.
He asked, "Doctor, why don't football players wee-wee after a game?"
"That question changed our lives," Cade said.
Cade's researchers determined a football player could lose as much as 18 pounds -- 90 to 95 percent of it water -- during the three hours it takes to play a game. Players sweated away sodium and chloride and lost plasma volume and blood volume.
Using their research, and about $43 in supplies, they concocted a brew for players to drink while playing football. The first batch was not exactly a hit.
"It sort of tasted like toilet bowl cleaner," said Dana Shires, one of the researchers.
"I guzzled it and I vomited," Cade said.
The researchers added some sugar and some lemon juice to improve the taste. It was first tested on freshmen because Coach Ray Graves didn't want to hurt the varsity team. Eventually, however, the use of the sports beverage spread to the Gators, who enjoyed a winning record and were known as a "second-half team" by outlasting opponents.
After the Gators beat Georgia Tech 27-12 in the Orange Bowl in 1967, Tech coach Bobby Dodd told reporters his team lost because, "We didn't have Gatorade ... that made the difference."
Stokely-Van Camp obtained the licensing rights for Gatorade and began marketing it as the "beverage of champions." PepsiCo Inc. now owns the brand, which has brought the university more than $150 million in royalties since 1973.
Cade said Stokely-Van Camp hated the name "Gatorade," believing it was too parochial, but stuck with it after tests showed consumers liked the name.
Gatorade held 81 percent of the $7.5 billion-a-year U.S. sports drink market in 2006, according to John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest.
"Gatorade is the clear granddaddy of those drinks," Sicher said.
Cade said he thought the use of Gatorade would be limited to sports teams and never dreamed it would be purchased by regular consumers.
"I never thought about the commercial market," he said. "The financial success of this stuff really surprised us."
Cade, who was the University of Florida's first kidney researcher, also said he was proud that Gatorade was based on research into what the body loses in exercise. "The other sports drinks were created by marketing companies," he said.
Since its introduction, Cade said the formula changed very little. An artificial sweetener has replaced sugar.
Instead of the original four flavors, there are now more than 30 available in the United States and more than 50 flavors available internationally.
Born James Robert Cade in San Antonio on Sept. 26, 1927, Cade, a Navy veteran, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.
Cade was appointed an assistant professor in internal medicine at UF in 1961. He worked until he was 76, retiring in November 2004 from the university, where he taught medicine, saw patients and conducted research.
Cade and his wife, Mary, had six children.
Updated on Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007 4:53 pm, EST
R.I.P.
S.T.
R.I.P.
DR. CADE
My condolences to the Taylors and the Cades and everyone near and dear to the two gents.
+++
Missing student's body apparently found
By ROXANA HEGEMAN,
Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 29, 6:54 PM ET
EL DORADO, Kan. - A body found in Kansas appears to be that of a missing college student who led a secret life as an Internet porn star, police said Thursday.
Authorities said the preliminary physical description of the body found about 50 miles east of El Dorado matches that of missing college student Emily Sander.Investigators refused to give details about the state of the body or how it was found.
Sander's case drew wide attention after it was revealed that she appeared nude on a popular adult Web site under the name Zoey Zane. That site was temporarily inaccessible Thursday, as were several sites that bill themselves as "fan" sites of Zane.
But Police Chief Tom Boren insisted Thursday that Sander's Internet activity had no connection to her disappearance.
"The issue of the Internet and the spinoff of that has been literally crippling our investigation," Boren said.
Boren said the cause of death was not yet known. An autopsy is planned.
Sander, 18, was last seen leaving an El Dorado bar Friday with a man who has been the focus of a nationwide search since police found large quantities of blood in a Kansas motel room where he was staying.
Prior to finding the body, investigators said they had not found a link between Sander and her activities as Zoey Zane. But publicity about her explicit photos brought a flood of tips, many of them false leads.
Sander, who attended Butler Community College, left the bar with Israel Mireles, 24. Authorities are looking for him and his 16-year-old pregnant girlfriend.
The rental car Mireles was driving was found abandoned Tuesday in Vernon, Texas, where he has relatives. Investigators interviewed family members and planned to bring the vehicle back to Kansas for processing.
"We feel they know where he is at, but they haven't shared that with us," Boren said.
On Thursday, searchers on foot and all-terrain vehicles were checking the tall grass along each side of Highway 54 near Neal, Kan., as they traced the route Mireles may have taken Saturday on the way to Baxter Springs to pick up his girlfriend.
So far searches using dogs, planes, underwater equipment and divers at the Walnut River dam have yielded no new evidence.
"We have about exhausted a lot of the resources we have until we can focus on a particular area," Boren said.
Sander's grandmother, Shirley Sander, said the discovery of a body would "very definitely" bring closure to the family.
"We had to know one way or another," she said in a telephone interview.
Autopsy slated for secret porn star
By ROXANA HEGEMAN,
Associated Press Writer
42 minutes ago
EL DORADO, Kan. - The search for a missing college student who led a secret life as an Internet porn performer turned into a homicide case after her body was apparently found.
Authorities said the preliminary physical description of the body found Thursday about 50 miles east of El Dorado matches that of Emily Sander, who was last seen leaving a bar here a week ago with a man who stayed in a motel room where police found large quantities of blood. An autopsy was planned for Friday.
Investigators refused to give details about the state of the body or how it was found. Police Chief Tom Boren said the cause of death was not yet known.
Sander's case drew wide attention after it was revealed that she appeared on a popular adult Web site under the name Zoey Zane. In some photographs, she appears merely scantily clad in lingerie or cowgirl outfits. Other pictures, some of which require viewers to pay for, are more explicit, showing her nude, fondling herself and posing with other women.
The 18-year-old Butler Community College student was last seen Nov. 23 with Israel Mireles, 24. Authorities are looking for him and his 16-year-old pregnant girlfriend.
The rental car the pair were driving was found abandoned Tuesday in Vernon, Texas, where Mireles has relatives.
"We got no information from them at all and very little cooperation," Boren said of Mireles' family.
The search for Sander gripped this small community, and the apparent discovery of her body left only memories to comfort her friends and family.
"She was probably the most independent girl I know," said Nikki Watson, a close friend. "She was so anxious to get out on her own and make something of herself. She was ready to take on life."
Former boyfriend Michael McAllister, 20, said Sander moved in with him when she was 17.
"It was the best time of my life, and I hope it was the same for her," McAllister said.
He helped her finish high school, and she encouraged him in college. They bought pink and white Denver Broncos jerseys for themselves and their dog, Zan, that they wore on game days. She loved to dance to hip-hop music.
"She wanted to choreograph music videos. That is the only reason she did the Internet thing — to get a little exposure," McAllister said.
They broke up in September after she started posing for nude photos, he said.
Watson said the attention over Sander's Web site has upset her friends.
"She never referred to it as her porn site," she said. "It was just her Web site. She didn't make it into this big thing."
Police insisted that Sander's Internet activity had no connection to her disappearance. "The issue of the Internet and the spinoff of that has been literally crippling our investigation," Boren said.
The body was found as searchers on foot and all-terrain vehicles were checking the tall grass along each side of Highway 54 as they traced the route Mireles may have taken Saturday on the way to Baxter Springs to pick up his girlfriend.
Sander's grandmother, Shirley Sander, said the discovery of a body would "very definitely" bring closure to the family.
"We had to know one way or another," she said in a telephone interview.
R.I.P.
Emily Sander
My condolences
to your family.
It takes an LP to top another LP - and there is one LP who did not miss nor omit the untimely passing of one rock star...
Somehow, that wasn't me
(the LP who did not miss nor omit - not the rock star who passed on!)
And so, I have to make amends now and mention it here, now...
For the full 'scoop' and pictures, go here.
What can I say - Lyndsey Parker cannot miss a beat - since it is her beat indeed to cover music bands! Luciano Pimentel does not cover just that - thus, I am bound to make some oversights...
Mea culpa.
Nov. 26-Dec. 3:
Birth, Death, And Jacko
Posted Thu. Nov 29, 5:16 PM ET
by Lyndsey Parker
Well, it's been another sad seven days here at That's Really Week--and no, we're not talking about Melanie Brown losing on Dancing With The Stars, though sure, that was a bummer. No, we're referring to much more serious matters here: the untimely and shrouded-in-mystery deaths of two very different, but equally deceased, rock stars.
First there was the tragic passing of Casey Calvert, the 25-year-old guitarist for Dayton-based emo band Hawthorne Heights, whose dead body was discovered on Hawthorne Heights' tour bus in D.C. on the second night of the band's tour. Sadly, Hawthorne Heights were already quite familiar with adversity: In 2005, an auto accident killed their tourmate, John "Beatz" Holohan of Bayside, on the unfortunately named "Never Sleep Again" tour; then, in 2006, Hawthorne Heights very publicly and bridge-burningly split from their label, Victory Records. However, this latest setback is obviously the group's worst yet. Posting on their official website, they stated:
"Today is probably the worst day ever. It's with our deepest regrets that we have to write this. Casey Calvert passed away in his sleep last night. We found out this afternoon before soundcheck. We've spent the entire day trying to come to grips with this and figure out as much as possible. At this time we're not sure what exactly happened. Just last night he was joking around with everyone before he went to bed. We can say with absolute certainty that he was not doing anything illegal. Please, out of respect to Casey and his family, don't contribute or succumb to any gossip you may hear. We don't want his memory to be tainted in the least. Casey was our best friend. He was quirky and awesome and there will truly be no others like him! His loss is unexplainable. As soon as we know more we will let you know."
The other big death of the week was that of Kevin DuBrow, the zebra-pants'd lead singer of '80s hair metal band Quiet Riot, who was found dead in his Las Vegas home at age 52. True, Quiet Riot had been pretty, well, quiet as of late (their 2006 album Rehab failed to generate as much excitement or publicity as the Amy Winehouse song of the same name), and rumors/vicious tell-all Behind The Music interviews indicate that Kevin may not have been, um, the nicest man in metal (we didn't know him personally, so we'll refrain from repeating some of the less-than-flattering things we've heard said about the allegedly cantankerous frontman). But regardless, Kevin and Quiet Riot will always have a place in music history, because their 1983 release Metal Health was the very first heavy metal album to top the pop charts. Not only did Metal Health sell more than 6 million copies, it did what seemed impossible at the time: It actually ended the jillion-week run at #1 for Michael Jackson's Thriller, temporarily knocking it to the #2 spot. Plus, Quiet Riot's smash-hit cover of the rock 'n' roll anthem "Cum On Feel The Noize" and equally misspelled subsequent single "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" resurrected the career of the Slade, the '70s glam band that originally recorded both tunes. So that's got to count for something.
Casey and Kevin, you shall be missed.
R.I.P.
Casey Calbert
Mea Culpa - redux
'Twas a typo, this time... :(
What can I say - I had a shot of brandy tonight...!
So then...
Once again...
R.I.P.
Casey Calvert
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Memorial held for Polish man who died in Taser incident
Sat Nov 17, 3:05 PM
VANCOUVER (CBC) - A Kamloops, B.C., funeral home was packed for a memorial service on Saturday for a Polish man who died after RCMP jolted him with a Taser at Vancouver International Airport last month.
Musical tributes and a video montage put together by friends back in Poland were played at Robert Dziekanski's service. Photographs were also displayed, including one showing Dziekanski as a child, smiling and standing next to his mother, with trees and mountains in the background.
"I hope that everyone will remember my son, Robert, as a good, loving boy - a good, loving human being," said Zofia Cisowski, who thanked people for a "beautiful ceremony."
Although hundreds of people expressed interest in attending the service, the home was able to seat about 240 people. Funeral home manager Lawrence Schrader, who donated his business's services, said many people called him to express their outrage at the RCMP and ask how they could help Dziekanski's mother.
Dziekanski planned to live with his mother in the B.C. Interior, but he died soon after being zapped by a Taser and pinned down by four RCMP officers in the Vancouver airport's international arrivals area on Oct. 14.
He had been at the airport for about 10 hours and, unable to speak English, became confused and agitated while waiting for his mother to pick him up.
She was supposed to meet her 40-year-old son after he arrived from his first plane trip, but they never connected.
A Canadian traveller at the airport recorded Dziekanski's final moments with his video camera.
Relatives have portrayed him as a gentle, courteous man who enjoyed collecting and studying maps, including those of Canada.
Jurek Baltakis, a family friend who spoke at Saturday's service, said he never had the opportunity to meet Dziekanski, but learned that he was an intelligent man with a thirst for knowledge.
"He was a geography freak. He knew the names of major rivers, mountains and capitals of the countries on every continent on the Earth," Baltakis told the crowd. "And you know what? He was buried with two front pages of the National Geographic. One of them was showing Poland and one of them, beautiful British Columbia."
On Friday, His uncle, Zdzislaw Dziekanski, told the Globe and Mail newspaper that his nephew had a special fondness for Canada.
He described him as a calm and peaceful man who was well cared for by his mother and wanted to start a new life with her and her Polish-Canadian husband.
A candle-lit vigil was to be held at Vancouver International airport to coincide with the Kamloops memorial service.
A public inquest into the incident is expected to begin next spring or early next summer, according to the B.C. Coroners Service.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
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just take a look at what the police do in Caledonia,that gives you a good idea of what kind of a police state we live in
POSTED BY: riversogrand on SUN, NOV 18, 2007 03:54 PM -0500
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Some people are forgetting some important things when defending the RCMP: 1) How could he be armed when he came through 2 security sections in two airports. 2)He wasn't harming himself or others. The room was empty besides him. 3) They ignored the fact that he needed an interperter more than a policeman. 4) No attempt to revive him was made by the RCMP. 5) The customs staff never made any attempt to contact an interperter. They would have had to have his passport and known where he was from.
POSTED BY: jacobite30 on SUN, NOV 18, 2007 03:33 PM -0500
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From what i am reading i would say that Canada isn't morally dead.Lots of you have expressed outrage over this incident and deservedly so .I'm happy to see REAL CANADIANS come out and speak against such conduct by our police forces. But one thought does come to mind with this story.What if no one had recorded this incident and how many more have gone unreported?
POSTED BY: GodlessPeace on SUN, NOV 18, 2007 03:22 PM -0500
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Doesn't this just make you look forward to flying to Vancouver to attend the 2010 Olympics. Well done RCMP.
POSTED BY: sliceomatic on SUN, NOV 18, 2007 02:53 PM -0500
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The question that remains in my mind is who was the man that took his pulse and seemed to indicate that he was dead? And as it appeared that this same man had some medical training, which was indicated by the manner in which he took the pulse, why did he not perform CPR when he realized that Robert was no longer breathing? I find this extremely puzzling.
POSTED BY: gail d on SUN, NOV 18, 2007 02:34 PM -0500
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Popular bodybuilder killed in Winnipeg nightclub stabbing
Second violent incident in as many months
Last Updated: Monday, November 19, 2007 | 1:50 PM CT
CBC News
The father of a Winnipeg man killed in a fight in a nightclub over the weekend is calling for tighter security in local bars.
Jeff Engen, 24, was stabbed in the upper body after a fight broke out at the Empire Cabaret in Winnipeg's Exchange District just before 2 a.m. CT Sunday.
Police have not made any arrests or identified any suspects.
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'I don't understand how people can be so vicious.'
—Darrell Engen,
victim's father
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Darrell Engen, father of the victim, said his son and a friend had stopped in at the Empire Cabaret for a drink before meeting their girlfriends at another club. They never made it.
"In my younger day, I used to go out to the bars and stuff. There would be the odd fight, there was just fists, that's about it," he said.
"You look at it today, it's guns and knives. I don't understand how people can be so vicious. You know, like, what do you have a knife for? To scare the person? Well, it got out of hand."
Engen said his son, a bodybuilder, had a bright future ahead of him. He was enrolled in a welding course at Red River College and hoped to open his own business one day.
"No matter where we went, someone knew him. And they were nice to him," he said, his voice breaking with emotion. "He was very popular."
An autopsy is being carried out on his son's body, so Engen said it was not yet clear when funeral services will take place.
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'A lot of blood'
Roger Regnier, a first-aid instructor who was in the club with his girlfriend at the time, provided medical assistance to the victim.
"As I walked over, I noticed the guy was lying on the ground and there was a lot of blood," Regnier said.
"I called 911, spent a couple of minutes on 911, and then somebody said that he stopped breathing, so [I] pulled out my pocket mask, put on my gloves and started CPR."
Regnier continued CPR until paramedics arrived. However, the young man died in hospital.
The stabbing came less than a month after four people were shot in the same nightclub. Management at the club had said security was increased after the shooting.
Engen wondered how the knife that killed his son got past security.
"It seems like anybody can go into this bar, plus they have the patios — even if you do get by the security, you can go on the patios for a cigarette and have a weapon passed through the fence. So that's a bit of a joke," he said.
Bar staff has claimed patrons returning from the patio are checked with a metal detector wand. They have refused to comment on the weekend killing.
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Metal detectors in use
Regnier confirmed that metal-detecting wands were in use Saturday night and people were being patted down before they entered.
"I figured if it happened a couple of weeks ago and they bumped up security, it'd be a safe place to go — probably the safest place to go. And no. It turned out to be a bad choice," he said.
"It could have just as well happened at another bar. It's one of those random things," he added, but noted he would probably not return to the club.
"I have a little girl at home, and the only thing I can think of is getting home to her."
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Neighbourhood safe, insists BIZ
In the wake of the recent shooting, bar management blamed police for turning down their repeated requests to have officers on patrol inside the club.
Police characterized the club's accusation as "ludicrous," suggesting the Empire was responsible for hiring its own private security guards if it was having problems.
After Sunday's stabbing, police suggested the club may not be safe.
"I think that just the recent releases that we've made kind of shows that … possibly this establishment isn't the safest nightclub in the city of Winnipeg," Sgt. Kelly Dennison said.
Brian Timmerman, director of operations for the Exchange District Business Improvement Zone, was stunned to learn of the latest incident in what he considers a safe area.
"I couldn't believe the coincidence, that it happened at the same location again, and so close together," he told CBC News on Monday morning.
A 41-year-old woman and three men — one age 35 and two others age 32 — were injured when someone opened fire in the Empire early on Oct. 21.
At the time, police said they believed someone had pulled out a gun and fired several shots during a fight between two groups of men. None of the victims was believed to be involved in the altercation.
Last week, police said they were looking for a 22-year-old man in the shooting.
Timmerman insisted the neighbourhood is safe despite the recent violence, noting that thousands of people go to the Exchange District every weekend without encountering problems.
"What you're seeing nowadays is we're still getting the fights in the bars and outside the bars, but there's a certain element of our society that are so determined to escalate it by bringing in these weapons," he said.
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And, in a related story
left over from last month...
Winnipeg nightclub personnel blame police for latest shooting
Clubs are responsible for their own security, say police
Last Updated: Monday, October 22, 2007 | 4:55 PM CT
CBC News
Officials with the Empire Cabaret are blaming a lack of police presence in the downtown nightclub for a weekend shooting that injured four club patrons.
Standing on the steps of the club — near a bloodstain that remained on the Main Street sidewalk as a visible reminder of the shooting — the club's events co-ordinator made a brief statement to the media Monday afternoon.
"Police presence is the only effective way to deter this violence," Tina Rosenberg said. "We need help. When will Winnipeg police services wake up and deal with this problem?"
Rosenberg would not address how the gun got into the club, but said the Empire recently increased security and has "fully operational, state-of-the art" metal detectors in place.
"We have been requesting uniformed officers from Winnipeg police services at our expense for our establishment for five years," she said.
"We have been turned down numerous times and told that this service is not available due to lack of manpower."
Special-duty police officers are available for some special events, she said, adding that officials at the club believed its situation was no different.
"If 25 police can attend a crime scene, why can't two be present regularly?" she asked.
In August, the owners of clubs and bars in the Exchange District and downtown met with city officials and police after a string of violent incidents, including two shootings outside nightclubs in July.
Rosenberg said the club owners predicted more violence would take place without a greater police presence.
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'Ludicrous' suggestion: police
At a hastily arranged press conference Monday afternoon, Deputy Chief Menno Zacharias of Winnipeg police said the club's accusations — that police are to blame for the weekend shooting — are "ludicrous," suggesting the Empire is responsible for hiring more private security guards if it is having problems.
Allowing clubs to hire police on a regular basis would create two levels of policing, he said: one for those who can afford to pay officers, and another for those who can't.
Police badges are not for sale, Zacharias said, adding that an officer's job is to patrol the streets, not provide private security for nightclubs.
Police spokesman Sgt. Kelly Dennison said officers arrived on the scene of the shooting within minutes.
"Our cruiser cars, our street crimes unit, was a block away when this whole thing happened. I believe they were actually making sure that they were around this specific bar when it closed, just because of some of the history," he said.
"However, that doesn't change the fact that these incidents occur whether we're there or not."
1 victim remains in hospital
A 41-year-old woman and three men — one 35 years old and two others age 32 — were shot in the Empire Cabaret in Winnipeg's Exchange District neighbourhood around 2 a.m. CT Sunday.
Three of the injured club patrons have since been released from hospital, while one man remains there in stable condition.
"When the shots were fired, everyone was just shocked, and after that, everyone just started screaming and crying and stuff like that," said Kevin Olid, who was in the club at the time.
"I just see two men running in, and then the other guy shot the other guy, and then everyone just scrambled. Everyone ran out, and then cops came in and that was it."
DJ Paul Arnold was spinning records at the club when he heard popping sounds.
"I was just playing music with the headphones on, heard a couple of noises and thought it was the stereo system, you know, a popping sound. Lights came on and they told us to leave."
Police have not identified any suspects, but investigators believe someone pulled out a gun and fired several shots during a fight between two groups of men in the club.
"The victims in this were not part of that altercation. They were not part of the two groups that were arguing or fighting in the cabaret," Dennison said on Sunday.
"At this point, it's looking like they were just innocent bystanders."
In the wake of this weekend's violence, Arnold said he's reconsidering his job in local clubs.
"It's scary … all that shooting going on. I don't want to jump into the middle of this just to play music for an hour. It's not worth it."
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And another update on that...
Police nab suspect in Winnipeg nightclub shooting
Last Updated: Thursday, January 3, 2008 | 2:04 PM CT
CBC News
A suspect in a shooting at a downtown Winnipeg nightclub last year has been arrested, despite attempting a brazen escape from police.
A 22-year-old man was charged Wednesday with four counts of attempted murder, four counts of aggravated assault, as well as a variety of weapons offences and assaulting a police officer in connection to a shooting at the Empire Cabaret.
A 41-year-old woman and three men — one age 35 and two others age 32 — were injured when someone opened fire in the club early in the morning of Oct. 21.
The police street crimes unit found the suspect Wednesday at an apartment building on Jefferson Avenue near McGregor Street.
Sgt. Kelly Dennison said the man did not surrender without a fight.
"When they entered to place this individual under arrest, he basically broke free from officers and attempted to jump off the fourth-floor balcony," he said.
Continue Article
The gun used in the shooting was later found behind a building on nearby McDermot Avenue, police said. The suspect was identified in November, but he was not located until Wednesday.
The same nightclub was the scene of another violent incident last November. Jeff Engen, 24, died after being stabbed by another patron.
No suspects have been identified in Engen's death, which reportedly involved a fight in the club.
The nightclub has been closed since the stabbing, and faces a review of its licence by the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission next week.
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