the lugubrious blog: June 2009

A tormented soul can, now, finally be at peace...
with himself - with everything else.
R.I.P. M.J.

Michael Jackson feared he'd "end up" like Elvis: Lisa Marie
In a touching online confession (made via her MySpace page - the blog portion of it, I do believe) the ex-Mrs. Jackson, daughter to one king and now widow of another, revealed just how tormented the king of Pop truly was...
Too bad she was too 'shook up' to show up and perform a little something at the tribute afterwards, hmm.
Still - as I commented on the spot, I add here:
Kudos to Lisa Marie for coming forth with all that she declared on her MySpace - it takes courage. Most of all, it takes a heart.
POSTED BY: LUCE on FRI, JUN 26, 2009 06:47 PM -0500

M.J. must have been weeping the horrible demise of these Mexican children, just before his own untimely demise...
Deaths rise to 41 children in Mexico day-care fire
(...) Pope Benedict said he was "deeply pained" and sent his condolences to the victims' families, saying he would pray for them.
Smoke inhalation killed many of the children, who ranged in age from a few months to three. (...)
More...

M.J. wasn't the only one capable and prone to make children's wishes come true, though; PIXAR made Colby Curtin's dream -a simple one, really- a reality just in time too... Just before the young girl passed away.
Pixar flies employee, DVD to dying 10-year-old Calif. girl whose final wish was to see 'Up'
You've gone up now yourself, Colby Curtin - upper than anything Pixar can even begin to fathom...
Another angel gained by Heaven - to add to all those Mexican-born ones...

M.J. liked animals too: he must have lamented this Miami tragedy as well, before leaving...
Psychiatric evaluation ordered for South Florida teenager accused of mutilating cats
Mon Jun 15, 7:37 PM
By Sarah Larimer, The Associated Press
MIAMI - A teenager accused of killing and mutilating cats in two South Florida communities must undergo a psychiatric evaluation before he is released from jail, a judge ruled Monday.
Tyler Hayes Weinman, 18, appeared at an afternoon hearing in a Miami-Dade County courtroom via videoconference, wearing a sleeveless, blue vest reserved for prisoners on suicide watch.
Judge Mindy Glazer ruled Weinman must also wear an electronic monitoring device if he is released on bond, which was set at $249,500. (...)
This crazed kid had gone on this anti-feline campaign throughout the Miami-Dade communities - making all cat persons there fear for their precious kitties' lives.
Blame it all on Garfield, I say.
(That is, of course, if Weinman is truly responsible for the cat carnage here...! If it's a cult's doing - Garfield is off the hook. Cultists do not watch cartoons; only slasher flicks. But that is another story.)
Meanwhile, they nabbed a "suspect" and seem to have all the "evidence" they need - making said suspect so morose while he's in custody that he's even become suicidal now.
But have no fear - Judge Mindy is on the case... The kid won't be allowed to off himself so easily! As for the kitties - all of their nine lives have expired.

As mesmerizing it may be to see the king of pop pass away so suddenly and unexpectedly, the most fascinating departee this month has to be one named Neda...
In Iran, One Woman's Death May Have Many Consequences
By ROBIN WRIGHT – Sun Jun 21, 1:10 am ET
Iran's revolution has now run through a full cycle. A gruesomely captivating video of a young woman - laid out on a Tehran street after apparently being shot, blood pouring from her mouth and then across her face - swept Twitter, Facebook and other websites this weekend. The woman rapidly became a symbol of Iran's escalating crisis, from a political confrontation to far more ominous physical clashes. Some sites refer to her as "Neda," Farsi for the voice or the call. Tributes that incorporate startlingly upclose footage of her dying have started to spring up on YouTube.
Although it is not yet clear who shot "Neda" (a soldier? pro-government militant? an accidental misfiring?), her death may have changed everything. For the cycles of mourning in Shiite Islam actually provide a schedule for political combat - a way to generate or revive momentum. Shiite Muslims mourn their dead on the third, seventh and 40th days after a death, and these commemorations are a pivotal part of Iran's rich history. During the revolution, the pattern of confrontations between the shah's security forces and the revolutionaries often played out in 40-day cycles. (See pictures of terror in the streets of Tehran.)
The first clashes in January 1978 produced two deaths that were then commemorated on the 40th day in mass gatherings, which in turn produced new confrontations with security forces - and new deaths. Those deaths then generated another 40-day period of mourning, new clashes, and further deaths. The cycle continued throughout most of the year until the shah's ouster in January 1979.
The same cycle has already become an undercurrent in Iran's current crisis. The largest demonstration, on Thursday of last week, was called by opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to commemorate the deaths of protesters three days after they were killed.
Shiite mourning is not simply a time to react with sadness. Particularly in times of conflict, it is also an opportunity for renewal. The commemorations for "Neda" and the others killed this weekend are still to come. And the 40th day events are usually the largest and most important.
"Neda" is already being hailed as a martyr, a second important concept in Shiism. With the reported deaths of 19 people Saturday, martyrdom also provides a potent force that could further deepen public anger at Iran's regime. (See the Top Ten Players in Iran's Power Struggle.)
The belief in martyrdom is central to modern politics as well as Shiite tradition dating back centuries in Iran. It too helped propel the 1979 revolution. It sustained Iran during the eight-year war with Iraq, when over 120,000 Iranians died in the bloodiest modern Middle East conflict. Most major Iranian cities have a Martyrs' Museum or a Martyrs' cemetery. (...)
View this article on Time.com
Neda Farsi's violent demise was captured on video; this makes it all the more striking. Her death is senseless and it should not have happened at all. What's more, her blood is on Mahmoud's hands - dying because you protest some gloryhound's suspicious re-election is NOT admissible.
But so is the lot of the martyrs - they die when they have all the right to live, for they are RIGHT.
'Neda' death video steps up pressure on Iran over protests
Mon Jun 22, 3:43 PM
PARIS (AFP) - A video of a blood-drenched young woman, purportedly killed in the Tehran protests, has become an Internet symbol of the demonstrations and heightened pressure on Iran in its battle with foreign media.
The video, showing blood pouring from the nose and mouth of the young woman, was placed online Saturday and has since been viewed hundreds of thousands of times around the world. So far, she has only been identified on the Internet as Neda.
International media have taken pictures from the film which has inspired an avalanche of blog and twitter comment, mainly against Iran's hardline government.
After a call spread by Internet to rally at Haft-e Tir square in Tehran to pay tribute to Neda, police on Monday broke up a gathering of about 1,000 people there.
Later Monday at a press conference in Washington, the son of the late shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, produced an image of the slain protester from his pocket alongside pictures of his family.
"I have added her (Neda) to the list of my daughters. She is now forever in my pocket," the former crown prince of Iran told AFP, fighting back tears.
The film reportedly shows Neda moments after she is hit in the chest by a shot while watching the protests on Saturday with her father on a Tehran street.
Bystanders desperately tend to the woman who wears jeans, a black jacket and an Islamic headscarf. Her eyes roll back as blood spreads across her face. People around her scream and a white haired man desperately tells her: "Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid!"
There have been mass protests in Tehran against the disputed president election victory of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (...)
That white-haired oldtimer was wise to tell you that, Neda: and you know now, better than anyone else, that there is no reason to be afraid, indeed.

Air France probe studies speed monitors
Sun Jun 7, 11:42 AM
PARIS (AFP) - Salvage crews found bodies and a wing section from an Air France jet which plunged into the Atlantic, as investigators probed Sunday a possible link between false speed measurements and the crash.

Six days after AF 447 from Rio to Paris disappeared while flying through violent storms in the middle of the night with 228 passengers and crew on board, speculation is focusing on its airspeed monitors. (...)
Two bodies were found that day - and more would be found shortly; may they all rest in peace after the shocking and surprising end that they never expected to be met with...
One young girl miraculously survived it all though - enough children had ded this month, one must have thought, up in the Heavens above...
More...

Another 'Airport' hero... In New York too!
Trans-Atlantic flight lands safely after pilot dies
Thu Jun 18, 6:28 PM
NEW YORK (AFP) - A Continental passenger plane en route from Brussels to New York landed safely at Newark airport Thursday after the pilot died during the flight in a rare mid-air drama, officials said.
The Boeing 777 flight, carrying 247 passengers, was guided down by two co-pilots around midday (1600 GMT) at the New Jersey airport, its final destination which is one of three main airports serving New York City. (...)
With 21 years of experience and at 61 years of age, the pilot died a veteran hero - and he died of "natural causes" too, according to sources. If only Alain Delon had perished so, too, while filming that horrid "Airport - Concorde" atrocity, back in the late seventies...!
R.I.P. - real-life pilot. Fly on.

Suicide truck bomber kills 67 in northern Iraq
Sat Jun 20, 4:05 PM
By Khalid al-Ansary
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed 67 people on Saturday as they left a mosque, shortly after a speech in which the prime minister urged Iraqis not to lose faith if a U.S. military pull-back sparked more violence. (...)
They keep on truckin' down there - as if lives counted for absolutley nothing... hmm?
(Sorry, Khalid; I had to help your sentence out a bit, in bold, so it would make more sense...!)

U.S. drone strike kills 45 in Pakistan
Tue Jun 23, 3:27 PM
By Alamgir Bitani
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A U.S. drone killed at least 45 Pakistani Taliban militants on Tuesday when it struck after a funeral of an insurgent commander killed earlier in the day, Pakistani intelligence officials said.
U.S. ally Pakistan officially objects to the strikes by pilotless U.S. aircraft though the attack came as the Pakistani army is preparing an offensive against Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in South Waziristan on the Afghan border.
The military went on the offensive against Taliban fighters allied with Mehsud in the Swat Valley, northwest of Islamabad, in May and are in the final phase of that operation.
And since everyone loves continuity, a cliffhanger and all - the article mentions, in passing, that Mehmud is indeed the next target too!
That killer all-american drone is gunning for more, yet...! And it knows how to pick its spots too: wow, after FUNERALS...!
Lugubrious to the infinite degree.

Ancient mass grave found on Olympics site
Fri Jun 12, 10:44 AM
By Stefano Ambrogi
LONDON (Reuters) - An ancient burial pit containing 45 severed skulls, that could be a mass war grave dating back to Roman times, has been found under a road being built for the 2012 British Olympics.
Archaeologists, who have only just begun excavating the site, say they do not yet know who the bones might belong to.
"We think that these dismembered bodies are likely to be native Iron Age Britons. The question is -- how did they die and who killed them," said dig head, David Score, of Oxford Archaeology.
"Were they fighting amongst themselves? Were they executed by the Romans? Did they die in a battle with the Romans?
"The exciting scenario for us possibly is that there were skirmishes with the invading Romans and that's how they ended up chopped up in a pit," he told Reuters. (...)
Historian moi cannot pass this one in silence - of course!
Perhaps knowing for sure that they are competing on top of a grave where many true warriors were lumped together after one battle-too-many, one can hope that this knowledge will bring out the very best in today's competitors now? That "olympic spirit" is great, sure - but back in the Iron Age, they were far more pragmatic than that...! Maybe we want to get back to basics too; especially as long as it is NOT a question of "life or death" - yet! But merely "gold or silver... or bronze!"
A true return to the Iron Age tendencies is inevitable enough anyway - in time...

And speaking of Iron Age methods...
Crown asks for 20 years no parole for N.L. man who dismembered dead girlfriend
Fri Jun 26, 12:17 PM
By The Canadian Press
ST. JOHN'S, N.L. - A Newfoundland man who strangled his girlfriend and "butchered" her body last year should have to serve 20 years in prison before he is eligible for parole, the prosecution argued Friday.
CAUTION To READERS : This story contains graphic content. Some readers may be offended.
Crown lawyer Phil LeFeuvre said Warren White's crimes had devastated the victim's family and "horrified" the public.
White "literally butchered" Amanda Power, 29, in an attempt to get away with murder and lacked remorse for his actions, LeFeuvre said.
"These are the actions of somebody who does not want to be caught," he said.
"One can only imagine the pain Ms. Power's death has caused her loved ones."
But defence lawyer Lori Marshall argued that White was under a "vast quantity of drugs" when he choked Power to death, adding that his taped confession to police - in which he repeatedly apologizes to Power and ponders suicide - is evidence he was remorseful.
"It took approximately 90 seconds for Amanda Power's life to end, and the nightmare of Warren White's to begin."
Marshall is calling on Justice James Adams of the Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court to allow White parole eligibility after serving 12 years in prison.
Last month, White pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and interfering with a dead body after most of Power's remains were found in June 2008.
White, 36, faces a mandatory life sentence.
Power's lower torso was found inside a suitcase by children who were playing in the backyard of White's apartment in a leafy St. John's neighbourhood.
Her upper torso was discovered in a hockey bag nearby and h er head was wrapped in grocery bags inside White's freezer.
White admits in an agreed statement of facts that he cut off her limbs, put them into two backpacks and threw them into a river that leads into the city's harbour.
They've not been recovered.
R.I.P. Amanda Power - you didn't know how to pick them but at least, now, you cannot make the wrong choice and not choose the Light.
Go to It.
More...

Murder victims, especially when they are very young or very righteous, appear to have been so very unjustly targeted by their slayers, whom we immediately label as monsters, with good reason. Some other victims, though, may leave us wondering "was there something we couldn't know about underneath that vestal façade"... hmm?
Several hundred mourners attend vigil for slain Iowa football coach
by Nigel Duara, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jun 24, 11:15 pm EDT
PARKERSBURG, Iowa - Several hundred mourners gathered Wednesday at a rural Iowa stadium named for a popular high school football coach who authorities said was gunned down by a former player who was to have been taken to a psychiatric ward days before. (...)
"Lord, we summon you as people and a community that is bruised and battered," said Phillip Jensen, pastor at First Congregational Church, where Thomas served as a church elder. Parkersburg recently commemorated the first anniversary of a tornado that wiped out about a third of the town, killing six people and destroying the high school and football field.
(...)
Thomas' shooting stunned the community and reverberated through NFL circles, where he also was remembered as much for his faith as his winning record.
"His legacy for many will be associated with his tremendous success as a football coach," said Green Bay Packers linebacker Aaron Kampman. "However, I believe his greatest legacy comes not in how many football games he won or lost but in the fact that he was a committed follower of Jesus Christ."
Besides Aaron Thomas, Ed Thomas also is survived by his wife, Jan, and another adult son, Todd.
(Associated Press writers Michael J. Crumb, Melanie S. Welte and Luke Meredith in Des Moines contributed to this report.)
My condolences to the Thomas family - and apologies for being such a... doubting Thomas.

I've an inquisitive mind - what can I say beyond that?

Billy Mays, known for hawking cleaning products, found dead at Florida home
Sun Jun 28, 4:33 PM
By Mitch Stacy, The Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. - Billy Mays, the burly, bearded television pitchman whose boisterous hawking of products such as Orange Glo and OxiClean made him a pop-culture icon, has died. He was 50.
Tampa police said Mays was found unresponsive by his wife Sunday morning. A fire rescue crew pronounced him dead at 7:45 a.m.
Oxi-Clean container made of gold, as an urn for the ashes - would that be too much?
UPDATE: after further autopsies and inquiries, it was revealed that Mr. Mays had some other whitish substance in his system: cocaine.
One will never look at Oxi-Clean the same way again.
R.I.P. Billy.

Roméo LeBlanc, former governor general, dies at 81
PM hails longtime Liberal MP as 'passionate Canadian'

'He was a deeply committed Acadian, but he was motivated by living with the majority in a community spirit.'
—Donald Savoie, University of Moncton

Roméo LeBlanc, the former governor general, died Wednesday morning in his home in southeastern New Brunswick after a lengthy illness. He was 81.
LeBlanc was the first Acadian to hold the post, serving from 1995 to 1999. A state funeral is planned for Memramcook, N.B., but there are no further details.
His son, Liberal MP Dominic LeBlanc, now holds the Beauséjour riding his father once occupied.
Dominic LeBlanc told CBC earlier this year how the family slowly came to terms with the fact the former governor general had Alzheimer's disease.
In a statement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he was saddened to learn of LeBlanc's death and hailed him as a "passionate Canadian who served his country with distinction and honour."
"He profoundly believed Canadians should know more about their own extraordinary, everyday courage," the prime minister said.
Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean expressed her condolences to LeBlanc's family and praised him as "a man known for his simplicity, his serenity and his generosity."
"He carried in him a love of the French language, in particular the accents, colours and rhythms of his Acadian roots, where he took his last breath, facing the ocean that cradled him in his youth," Jean said Wednesday in a statement.
'Deeply committed Acadian'
In an interview with CBC News, Liberal MP Justin Trudeau described the close bond that LeBlanc had with his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.
"Roméo was one of the rare, real friends to my father ... and that is something that I knew both of them held in high value throughout their lives, the close personal friendship that they had," Trudeau said.
"The real connection was the genuine closeness and belief in Canadians. Roméo was someone who was always willing to take the time to chat with people, to listen to them to share with them, to connect on a real personal level." (...)
Romeo Leblanc is the former Speaker of the Senate of Canada, and a Senator in his own right. He was a Liberal Cabinet Minister that was respected by all government parties. Mr. Leblanc was a Privy Council and the Governor General of Canada (Holding the highest office in Canada representing The Queen)
Romeo LeBlanc, RIP.
Comments and sympathy poured from all over; this bit was the best, in my estimation:
Kahlest wrote:
Posted 2009/06/25
at 12:02 PM ETMr. LeBlanc was the type of politician we will never see again. We will never again have politicians run who have ONLY the people of Canada as their motivating factor. Now it is driven by greed and special interest groups. The question is can we ever go back? Is it possible to go back to a time when politicians didn't fight dirty, didn't look out only for themselves etc.? I would like to think so but I doubt it.
Assorted headlines that came with this particular bit of sad news:
New Brunswick Headlines
Top Headlines
LeBlanc's state funeral draws thousands
Former governor general Roméo LeBlanc was remembered during his state funeral Friday in Memramcook, N.B., as a devoted journalist and politician who worked to improve the lot of the less fortunate.
No solution in sight for tracking 911 calls on cellphones
Couples cutting wedding costs
The sagging economy has prompted a resurgence in frugality, as well as creativity, for couples making preparations for their big day, a New Brunswick wedding planner told CBC.
Doctors take N.B. government to court over fee freeze
The New Brunswick Medical Society has taken its fight against the provincial government's two-year fee freeze to the next level by launching its promised court action.
Remains of MP's daughter could return from England
An Ontario member of Parliament and a relative of a New Brunswick woman who died in London nearly a century ago are trying to bring her remains to the family burial plot near Sussex, N.B.
Susan Bonner reports: Romo LeBlanc, former governor general, dies at 81
Man, Bonner - you're a Canadian, in the media, sworn to uphold the semblance that, in this country, there are TWO official languages: English AND French! And yet your laptop obviously has the elementary typeface deficiency of lacking an "é" (commonly called an "e accent aigu") - turning the name of the man here into "Romo" instead of "Roméo"...
Have some respect for the dead, PLEASE; get their names right!)
Canada Headlines
Top Headlines
Ramp ceremony held for fallen Canadian soldier
About 2,000 soldiers have paid their respects to Cpl. Nick Bulger, killed in Afghanistan on Friday, as his casket was loaded onto a plane for the journey home to Canada.
6th bomb at B.C. pipeline causes gas leak
EnCana Corp.'s natural gas pipeline in northeastern B.C. sprang a small leak after being targeted by a sixth bomb Saturday, the second case of what the RCMP describe as 'domestic terrorism' in less than a week.
Roméo LeBlanc's state funeral set for July 26.
A state funeral is being organized for former governor general Roméo LeBlanc in his hometown...
R.I.P. Mr. Leblanc. And Cpl. Bulger.

Now I am afraid I have to file the next two news bits under "trivial and totally avoidable" - so I'll refrain from eulogizing much afterwards...
Tributes flow for 3 teens killed in Yorkton, Sask., crash
Mon Jun 15, 9:19 PM
SASKATCHEWAN (CBC) - Residents of Yorkton, Sask., are in mourning following the deaths of three local teenagers in a car crash on the weekend.
Lucas Puchala, 16, Alex Robichaud, 17, and Mason Shore, whose age wasn't available, died Friday night after the car they were in hit a curb, left the road, and struck a tree. (...)
As George of the Jungle learned so well, but failed to pass on to these kids, somehow, "watch out for that tree"...
Sad to see a fellow L.P. pass on so early in life - man, at sweet'n'sour sixteen, I hadn't even BEGUN to suffer...! Or had I? It's all a blur now, somehow...
Some are not born to run - these three were not born to drive, methinks... They will not be making any roadkills now, at least.
If the families affected have faith - they'll be relieved, in a way, that the teens' mistakes have been cut short; and they know that they'll see them again... SOON... in the afterlife.

Taser inquiry delayed to Sept. after explosive email suggests officers lied
Fri Jun 19, 7:11 PM
By James Keller, The Canadian Press
VANCOUVER, B.C. - A single sentence contained in an email between RCMP brass in the weeks after Robert Dziekanski died has derailed a public inquiry, raising questions yet again about the testimony of four police officers and prompting calls for further investigation of the national police force. (...)
In that electronic piece of incriminating evidence, the four coppers apparently joked (as I do all the time in this very blog) about using excessive force... Maybe they were not joking either; who knows. They deny having made any plans to use the taser that proved to be fatal for poor Bob D. there; but if there were plans formulated ahead of time for the use of the taser, then we have the all-incriminating PREMEDITATION factor here...! Imagine that - cops actually thinking; while eating a donut? Easy joke to make - I know.
And besides - proving they had thought of zapping Bob with the taser ahead of time will not bring Bob back; so just make sure these lazy cops are denied access to the toy forevermore and it will be great already...

Siblings, ages 4 and 5, found dead in car trunk on hot day in US
Tue Jun 16, 4:56 PM
By The Associated Press
SPRINGDALE, Arkansas - A young brother and sister were found dead in the trunk of their family's car about an hour after they slipped out of their mother's view on a hot afternoon.
Temperatures Monday had climbed into the mid 30s Celsius in the northwest Arkansas town of Springdale.
Detectives were interviewing neighbours and relatives Tuesday.
Police said the mother reported the children missing 45 minutes after she last saw them. Authorities searched about a half-hour before finding them in the closed trunk.
The boy is 5 years old and his sister, 4. Names were not released.
Sgt. Shane Pegram told Fayetteville television station KFSM that the kids might have been playing but a thorough investigation will be done to rule out foul play.
And they called M.J. a "bad parent"...
Either this is a game of "hide and seek" that turned horribly wrong; or Fayetteville's finest are as dumb as they get...!
Two new cherubs recruits for Heaven - pending their genes' compatibility with angelic chores?

Two new swine flu deaths in Canada
Tue Jun 16, 5:15 PM
MONTREAL (AFP) - Two new swine flu-related deaths in Canada's Quebec province were announced Tuesday, bringing the nationwide death toll from the A(H1N1) virus to nine, officials said. (...)
A quick stopover at morbid Montreal - where swine better not sneeze or they'll be destroyed.
It's either that or the Lafleur slaughterhouse, anyway: no-win situation either way.
Okay - enough of my sarcasm - we all know now that the H1N1 virus has nothing to do with pork meat! (Just feel relieved I left a certain poor ol' chronic LOONEY stutterer out of this...!)

And, in other celebrity horrid endings, this month:

Farrah Fawcett finally succumbs to cancer

"Kung Fu" actor Carradine found hanged in Thai hotel

Ed McMahon died at 86 after battling a series of illnesses in recent months.

I am absolutely certain that you'll find the related articles all on your own - on the vastness of the world wide web.

May all three rest in peace too.

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