He was a quiet boy... A San Francisco man has been convicted of murder and mayhem for using a meat cleaver to castrate and kill his father, whom he blamed for coddling him and fostering his drug addiction, authorities said Tuesday. It's not my fault! I have issues!!
After deliberating three days, a San Francisco jury on Monday found Jan Erickson, 28, guilty of second-degree murder and aggravated mayhem in the Oct. 10, 2004, attack on Stephen Erickson, 65. ...AND aggravated mayhem?
Residents of the Graywood Hotel on Mission Street heard the father's screams for help in the midst of the savage attack. He was stabbed 37 times, castrated and his eyes stabbed in a case that police said was one of the most horrific crime scenes in recent memory. The defendant, who did not testify at the trial, freely admitted killing his father out of rage. His attorney, Stephen Rosen, did not return calls seeking comment. Probably trying to forget he ever met this guy.
According to prosecutors, the family did everything they could for Jan Erickson to have a better life. His parents, wanting the best education for their children, moved to Kentfield in suburban Marin County. The father sold health food supplements, and the family lived in a rental unit. Jan Erickson graduated from Redwood High in Larkspur with a B average. His older sister, Ava, went on to college and is now a graduate student at UC Berkeley. She declined to comment Tuesday. In court, she testified that the family had a nice life in Marin. She said her brother was in a high school band and was jealous of his peers for having more money. Here's an idea, kid. Get a friggin job!
The parents divorced when he was 17 and, once out of school, he began to drift. At age 24, he became addicted to crack cocaine, prosecutors say. Nonetheless, the father, then a cab driver who lived in a single residency hotel in the city, let the troubled, unemployed son get free rent and food. The defendant's mother, who is on disability, testified that she too indulged her son. She said that while she shopped and went job hunting with him, she also used methamphetamine with him and took him to solicit transvestite prostitutes. Sound like Mother of the Year...for San Francisco.
The slaying came as the father was sleeping in the room's bunk bed. Jan Erickson, allegedly high on crack cocaine, attacked the sleeping man in the lower bunk, the same bed the son sometimes slept in, prosecutors say. While the defendant did not testify, he told psychiatrists that he hated his father for not being more strict with him while his life fell apart to drugs. Aw, Jeez. Can ya blame him?
He provided a variety of other explanations. He said he loved his father but was tired of his own plight, sick of fighting people in the neighborhood and sick of his father's lectures. At the same time, he resented his father taking care of him and blamed his father for his troubles. ...and Bush. I blame Bush, too.
"The defendant, unquestionably, had some mental issues,'' said Assistant District Attorney Bob Gordon. "But we were able to show that he intended to kill his father. He freely admitted to killing his father.'' Erickson's defense portrayed him as having an unspecified psychotic disorder. Note to defense lawyers: Always SPECIFY your client's psychotic disorder.
At the end of the trial, the defendant was prevented from hugging his mother, who was standing with open arms to embrace her son. With the jury watching, the defendant had an outburst, he struck a bailiff in the face with an open palm, shouted abuse, and had to be restrained. Awwwwwwwwww. Who's ma gonna do methamphetamine with now?
In the end, the jury returned its verdict of second-degree murder on Monday after three days of deliberation. Erickson was found not guilty of torture. A date for sentencing has not been set. He faces a sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Make sure you pull your "poor little me" act inside, Jan. They just eat that shit up.
#1
I certainly hope this ungrateful bastard rots in a cell for the rest of his life. To kill your own father just because his best wasn't good enough for you? Despicable.
Posted by: Charles ||
04/06/2006 12:14 Comments ||
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#2
"Erickson was found not guilty of torture."
Whos says the whole plea bargain system doesn't work?
#4
While the defendant did not testify, he told psychiatrists that he hated his father for not being more strict with him while his life fell apart to drugs.
Heck, and during that time, he'd have fought his dad tooth and nail.
Apple Computer Inc., abandoning its historic practice of running only its own operating system on its personal computers, yesterday rolled out software enabling buyers of Apple's new Intel-based Macintosh computers to install the Windows platform built by rival Microsoft Corp.
But God help you if you try to run OS X on a non-Apple pc.
The move, which caught much of the technology world by surprise, was seen as a bid to boost Apple's share of the PC market -- estimated at less than 5 percent -- by reaching beyond its base of Mac loyalists to the larger universe of ordinary computer users more familiar with the ubiquitous Windows. ''It's a huge departure," said Ted Schadler, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge. ''It's a big deal. But it's tied to their business model: Apple is a hardware company."
Schadler, who posted a blog entry yesterday titled ''Apple Runs Windows, Pigs Fly," projected that Apple could double its market share by appealing to consumers who first learned Windows on office computers and later bought home computers powered by Windows. Many have been drawn to Apple Stores over the past few years to buy iPod music players and have admired Mac designs, but they are intimidated about switching to Mac OS. Down the road, Apple could target the bigger market of businesses and other enterprises by licensing, supporting, and pre-installing Windows on future Macs, Schadler suggested.
OK, explain why I'd want to pay a lot more for a Mac computer to run Windows?
Happy to answer that, m'boy:
Mac OS X is simply better. You're not waiting for Vista, are you? OS X doesn't crash, doesn't get infected, doesn't spawn gigabytes of crap, etc.
Macs are sleek, clean, uncluttered, and have everything you need. I have an iMac intel (with both systems installed as of last night) at home and a Mac dual G5 at work. They simply are designed better.
Intel-based Macs cost little more than an Intel-based PC (comp specs, of course) -- for that modest upcharge you get 1) both operating systems 2) better industrial design and 3) oh, did I mention it was a Mac?
Posted by: Steve ||
04/06/2006 09:51 ||
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#1
If one doesn't like Windows, then the ability to run something one doesn't like is useful only when one HAS to run a Windows-only app, and if one likes Windows, seems to me that PCs are more customized towards Windows than Macs, considering that the Mac build and the Mac OS have grown up together like PCs and Windows have.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
04/06/2006 10:57 Comments ||
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#2
OK, explain why I'd want to pay a lot more for a Mac computer to run Windows?
Price performance is now fairly comparable. Ease of use, reliability, elegance and simplicity are the primary reasons.
I use both and prefer the Mac more with each Windows release. I look forward to seeing if Vista is worth installing.
#3
I think it's about gamers, the big selling pc games take ages to get ported over to Mac, if at all.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/06/2006 11:10 Comments ||
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(1) Knowing there will be head-to-head competition on exactly the same hardware Microsoft will tweak their OS to work better on that hardware (they can't tweak for the billion other changing hardware variations but they can tweak for one). If you like stability it could be worth paying more. (2) If you wanted to go Apple but have lots of legacy apps for the PC you are unwilling to part with you might now consider Apple hardware as an option. This is particular important for corporations. (3) Assume you have a Windows box but mostly run Linux on it and use the Windows side for games. You've wanted a full blown BSD Unix but the Mac has no games. Now you have an option.
And from the Mac side there has always been a select number of programs (Games primarily although few admit it) that are Windows only. This allows you to have the games without buying a seperate box or dealing with the gimped down Softwindows or other emulators.
#5
I like the idea. I like the looks and some of the technical features of Apples, but have a large investment in Windows software. I would like to see how they perform price / performance / ergonometrically. I like their hugish 16:9 screens, I don't like the mice, etc. The consumer comes out the winner here, if only from the point of view that it broadens choices. That may sound motherhood and apple pie-ish, but I think it is still true.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
04/06/2006 11:20 Comments ||
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#6
Notice there really aren't any Microsoft computers. Other people make the hardware. You can still go down to local shops to get a customized box. You can buy an average bundled off the shelf system for around $500.
For all the continued hype about Apple, they're still locked into a proprietary box. They sell hardware. The only thing that keeps them from scalping the consumer even more on price is the competition from the Intel world of MSBorg.
So now post about how incredably terrible the MS-Intel systems are. Yep, beta was better than VHS. There were a lot of 'better' technologies out there which in the end lost because of incompetent marketing strategies and corporate egos.
#7
but games always come out on Macs a year to late!!! thats what stops me from wanting one as great as they are all the games are always delayed from when PC games are out :(
#8
OK, explain why I'd want to pay a lot more for a Mac computer to run Windows?
I agree...whats the point? The attraction to Mac, for some, is the OS. Partitian the hard drive and run dual OS. It's really not all that expensive, complicated, or cumbersome.
Game companies are expecting such higher levels of sales for the console games (Xbox and Playstation) that the PCs are the new Macs when it comes to game sales (and Macs fall off the chart totally).
#11
My Powerbook and I survive quite nicely in the Windowed halls of corporate America. The only Windows only app that I have to put up with is Microsoft Project. For that, I use Virtual PC. The advantage accruing to the Mac is that not having to worry about the constant barrage of viruses that infest our PC networks. Not an inconsequential consideration. Nevertheless, I will probably upgrade to an intel based MacBook Pro when the next operating system (Mac OS 10.5 aka Leopard) comes out in August with the capability to dual boot, Windows when I have to and Leopard the rest of the time.
#12
#9 Really? Civ4 has redeemed that franchise, Galciv2, the Sims2, Simcity4, Children of the Nile, AOE3, Rome Total War, Europa Universalis 3 coming, I mean this is going to be looked at as the golden age of PC gaming.
#13
Liberalhawk, nice list of strategy games, notice that there are no First Person shooters or sports games on that list. Also note that Xbox 360 is still trickling out and the Playstation is coming soon. I think you're seeing the last hurrah.
Strategy games may survive on the PC because the nature of game play doesn't sit well with a game controller, but that's not the largest segment of games and I think second place is warranted.
#14
With the Intel chip on a Mac, how long would it be before some third-party technology allowed dual-booting of any OS anyone desired? This was a pre-emptive move by Apple, and a smart one at that. Good for them. Previously I wouldn't have considered a Mac, but now it's an option.
#17
I have a 17" PowerBook 1GB/80GB G4 with Tiger and it is, by far, the best computer I have ever had (4th MAC along with 8 or so PCs). Apples are elegant, well-designed, relaible, fully-featured, advanced, in short, everything a laptop should be. And yes, Apple is overpriced.
Apple OS X is based on BSD 4.3 UNIX and it is, to say the lease, a robust OS. I know as I run a lot of alpha and beta publishing software tests and I can count the number of crashes on one hand. On OS 9, one could easily have 5-10 crashes a day (yes, we were pushing them beyond their limits) Compared to Windows or OS 9, OS X is a freaking M1A2 Abrams tank. Invincible and indefatigable. And the MAC still has a 'personality', i.e. the image of a bomb when older OS versions crashed! Sa-weeet. Does soul-less WINTEL offer this?
And when I pull it out in the airport, everyone with their little Dells and HPs furtively look over and wonder: "Who IS that guy?". Sa-weeet!
While there are some applications I don't have (IE, MS-MessenegerEntourage, not Outlook, etc), I NEVER have to worry about viruses, registry problems, spyware, MS holes everywhere, etc. Unless, of course, one installs a dual boot version. *SIghs*
Even if a MacBook Pro is $2500 full-boat, at least $1000 more than a comparable PC box, it is well worth it. You will live in OS X and only use XP when you have to. It is that good, my friends.
I will be getting my new (work) MacBook Pro with 2GB/100GB/g wireless/bluetooth/FW400/built-in webcam. It will be going in as a dual boot, for sure. Wish me luck!
AUSTRALIA faces having a very limited renewable energy sector because of the Federal Government's decision to block a proposed wind farm, the peak industry body said today.
The Australian Wind Energy Association (AWEA) said it was puzzled the Government had decided to knock back an application by developer Wind Power to build 52 turbines at Bald Hills, near Tarwin Lower in East Gippsland.
The decision sparked a state rights brawl between Canberra and Victoria.
Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell blocked the project this week, citing concerns about the endangered orange-bellied parrot species.
The report said only between 99 and 200 of the adult birds remained in Australia, and the wind farm could kill one of the parrots a year due to projected wind turbine collisions. I think the subtext here is that the government is showing the greenies that laws to protect the environment have consequences. Also there is probably an element of frustrating urban greenies, who want 'clean' energy from wind farms as long as they are far away from them. The rural communities that get stuck with the wind farms, hate them.
#2
5,000 windmills at Altamont are *claimed* to clip 4,700 birds a year. including 500 raptors such as golden eagles, red-tail hawks and burrowing owls..
the older designed mills are more problematic for our feathered friends, you'd think there should be some work arounds for the boids..like signage for instance.
#3
Birds are actually pretty smart - after a few get whacked by the windmills, the rest (except for a few slow learners) would figure it was better to go around. I mean, the crows learned real fast that if I came out of the house carrying the .22 it was time to flee, but otherwise, 'party on, the garden is great'.
#6
wow solar tower? never heard of that but i heard of a space elevator - but thats got nothing to do with it. I'm gonna go find out about this solar tower - sounds like a cool place to live too.
A man pleaded guilty to weapons of mass destruction charges for sending a mail bomb to a Chicago surgeon he said botched his penile enlargement surgery, though his attorney questioned whether the charges fit the offense.
Brett R. Steidler, 25, of Reamstown, Pa., mailed the explosive device in February 2005 because he was "extremely unhappy with the results" of the $8,000 surgery, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams said in court filings.
But Steidler alerted authorities before the bomb arrived and it was retrieved from the mail and disarmed. His attorney, Luis A. Ortiz, said Steidler is mentally ill and noted the difference between the roughly 2-year sentence for mailing a letter bomb and the 4- to 8-year sentence for using a weapon of mass destruction.
"You shouldn't group this guy with people who drive truck loads of explosives to buildings or gather anthrax or do things for political reasons," Ortiz said.
Sentencing is scheduled July 7 before U.S. District Judge Lawrence F. Stengel.
Posted by: Captain America ||
04/06/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Figures...give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile!!
#2
If an explosive device the size of a letter is a WMD then Saddam must have had thousands, or more, weapons of mass destruction. Obviously, WMD needs to be better defined.
#5
Well, perhaps this guy's penis is now bloated, crimson with engorged black-blue veins, in constant erection, and painfully sensitive, BUT, it is quite *longer*.
Abdul Lateef Naushad, 34, who was languishing in a Dammam jail for partially blinding a Saudi national, has been released following a royal pardon. Naushad, according to Indian Ambassador M.O.H. Farook, was taken directly from the jail to the Dammam airport to board a Gulf Air flight bound for the southern Indian city of Trivandrum last night.
Naushad, who hails from Kerala, was jailed for damaging the eye of the Saudi national during a scuffle at a petrol pump where the former was employed. The incident took place in April 2003. The Saudi man reportedly lost sight in one eye several weeks later. Naushad was sentenced by a court to have one of his eyes gouged out. The victim, Naif Al-Otaibi, a computer professional, pardoned Naushad making the granting of clemency possible following appeals by the Indian government. The workers wife and mother petitioned Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah during the kings visit to India earlier this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2006 00:00 ||
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Oh-oh. Looks like all is not well in Hugoland...
CARACAS, Venezuela - Troops fired tear gas in Venezuela's capital to disperse protesters demanding a crackdown on crime following the slayings of three young Canadian brothers, while the justice minister acknowledged police forces were in need of sweeping reforms.
Protests erupted in five parts of Caracas on Wednesday. In one of the demonstrations, hundreds gathered to block a highway near the affluent neighborhood of Altamira in eastern Caracas, a stronghold for opponents of President Hugo Chavez. As the protesters were pushed back, some set tires and trash bins afire on nearby roads.
"Chavez always criticizes the United States and talks about thousands of innocent people killed in Iraq, but what about the thousands who are killed here," said protester Gustavo Marin, 26.
The unrest was touched off by the discovery Tuesday of the bodies of the three Faddoul brothers John, 17, Kevin, 13, and Jason, 12, with dual Canadian-Venezuelan citizenship. The bodies of the boys, who were shot in the head and neck, were found outside Caracas more than a month after they were kidnapped at a bogus police checkpoint on their way to school.
The body of their 30-year-old driver was also found. The possibilty that they were actual cops hasn't been ruled out.
Justice Minister Jesse Chacon said every police force in the crime-ridden South American nation needed to be purged of corrupt cops. He urged Venezuelans to unite against violent crime, but not to turn the incident into a politically motivated attack against the Chavez government. CIA inspired riots charges in 3..2...
Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez said investigators have questioned two police officers in the killings, which drew widespread mourning and a sudden outburst of frustration at the constant anxiety Venezuelans feel over their security.
"Today it was them, but tomorrow it could be my sister and me," said Fady Rahal, a 16-year-old classmate of John, as she spoke through tears at a protest. "What kind of a country is this?"
A Venezuelan photographer died after being shot on his way to cover a protest Wednesday at the Central University of Venezuela. The photographer, Jorge Aguirre of the newspaper El Mundo, was approaching the university when an unidentified man on a motorcycle tried to stop his car, then shot him and fled, said Jose Gregorio Yepez, an editor at the paper.
Aguirre managed to take a picture of his killer's back as the man wearing a blue jacket and helmet rode away. Chacon said the photograph would help solve the crime.
Earlier Wednesday, some 400 demonstrators halted traffic at a different spot on the highway. As two police on a motorcycle approached, the crowd chanted "Respect!" and "We want justice!" while other police holding gas masks looked on from a distance.
About 200 protesters also gathered in front of the Justice Ministry in downtown Caracas, accusing authorities of failing to fight crime effectively. Dozens of cars and buses passing through downtown had "mourning" scrawled in white shoe polish across their windows.
Earlier, dozens of the boys' classmates some with black ribbons tied on their wrists shed tears after a Mass at their Catholic school. The Venezuela-born brothers lived with their Canadian father and Venezuelan mother, both of Lebanese descent, in a gated community in an upscale Caracas neighborhood.
The boys were abducted Feb. 23 when unidentified men dressed as police stopped their car at a roadside checkpoint on their way to school. Officials said the kidnappers demanded more than $4.5 million a ransom too steep for the parents to pay, their lawyer, Santiago Georges, said.Two of the victims were still clad in their school uniform beige shirts, Federal Police Chief Marco Chavez said.
Violent robberies, kidnappings and murders are frequent in Venezuela, which has a population 25 million. There were 9,402 homicides reported in 2005, down slightly from 2004, according to government statistics.
Kidnappings also rose from 51 in 1995 to 201 in 2002, according to the latest government statistics available. Independent observers believe the real figures are much higher because many do not report kidnappings for fear of endangering their families. No wonder they all want AK-47's.
April 6, 2006: After receiving initial deliveries of Russian AK-103 assault rifles, the Venezuelans quickly discovered that some of the weapons are not new, but older models "remanufactured" to newer standards. As a result, they have suspended the contract (for 100,000 rifles). The Russians have long pulled stunts like this, and have acquired a shady reputation as a result. Even some of their major customers, like India, get hit, and come back with lawsuits and cancellations and renegotiations. Apparently the Russian arms industry can't resist any opportunity to put one over on a customer. These scams often work, but when they don't, the blowback is ugly.
In this case, the Russians may believe that that Venezuelan president Chavez has alienated too many other weapons suppliers, and will tolerate some Russian skullduggery. Apparently the Russians missed all the Chinese arms merchants visiting Venezuela lately.
Posted by: Steve ||
04/06/2006 09:26 ||
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#1
I got a bunch of stuff to sell Chaves,but only if he opens it himself!!!!
#5
My guess is this is not about rooski scamming, but more to do with the fact that the concept of customer service and satisfaction did not exist on Soviet Russia. The old 'we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us'.
"Go ahead and ship it, Boris. If they wanted working guns, they would have said so on the purchase order."
#6
You mean we haven't accumulated nearly a half a million of those little pop guns by now with all the colorful tourist packages in Afghanistan and Iraq? Me Ghads. I'd dump a million of those things in Venezuela along with about a hundred rounds apiece into the country, just not to the select 100 thousand that Hugo baby wants to have them.
#7
It's the same the world over. I remember being grossed out from an Alaskan friend when they provided canned salmon for a Russian contract--made from *lake* salmon, half-rotted and falling apart in chunks. At one point the canners quit because the smell was so intense.
lovely. So much for their vaunted neutrality and moral superiority
Sweden helped the Nazis stop Germans and Jews marrying and suppressed criticism of Hitler and reports of atrocities, according to new research suggesting neutral Sweden accommodated the Nazis more than previously thought.
"We are finding new areas of collaboration which we didn't know about," said Stockholm University historian Klas Amark, who coordinated the research commissioned by Prime Minister Goran Persson in 2000 in connection with a Holocaust conference.
The series of studies released yesterday into Sweden's Nazi links shows it did not just avoid invasion by selling iron ore to Adolf Hitler and letting his troops through to invade Norway. Swedish pastors stopped marriages between "Aryan" Germans and Swedish Jews for violating the Nuremberg laws promoting Aryanism. This was done on the advice of the foreign ministry.
"From 1937, Swedes wanting to marry Germans of so-called Aryan blood had to give assurance that none of their grandparents belonged to the Jewish race," reads a study on Sweden's church by Anders Jarlert of Lund University.
Newspapers gagged criticism of Hitler, of the occupation of Norway or the murder of millions of Jews in concentration camps, while cultural links between the Nazis and Sweden flourished.
"The government and authorities did what they thought was necessary to keep peace but I think they did more than was necessary," Amark told Reuters in an interview. There was not much rationale for a German attack as Germany got what it wanted from Sweden," he said. It was easier to buy iron ore from Sweden than invade and risk it sabotaging iron mines.
He blamed Sweden's attitude to Hitler on the ruling class's links with Germany and on anti-Semitism that meant Sweden had - and still has today - its own small National Socialist party.
Jacques Chirac, the French president, has been issued a deadline of April 15 to surrender repeal a youth jobs law, French trade unions said. Amid continuing mass protests, students on Wednesday blockaded roads in several cities a day after at least one million people joined marches and threatened to force Dominique de Villepin's conservative government to back down on the law.
Scrapping the law could be the last nail in the coffin for Villepin's premiership. His authority is under heavy public pressure, the government has suffered sliding poll ratings, and his arch rival, Nicolas Sarkozy - interior minister and the main conservative rival for the 2007 presidential elections - is gaining political capital from Villepin's misfortune. Union leaders held talks with conservative legislators after Chirac last week effectively took Villepin off the case and promised parliamentary amendments to soften the "easy hire, easy fire" law in the euro zone's second-largest economy.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
And thus France begins a new chapter in it's glorious history - Chapter 13
#2
LeftSocialist nations around the world are demographically suffering/dying becuz thier ideo is telling economy-dependent/competitive males women, Guvmint, and society, etc. in general don't need them or want them for squat, that someone else or some other entity will take care of everything and anything, everyone and anyone. French Muslims, students, and now Unions are demanding Paris make promises everyone knows can't be afforded or kept.
MULTAN: On the intervention of Sardar Ziaullah Khan Jatoi, the brother-in-law of the Muzaffargarh district nazim, kidnappers freed a woman, Jindo Mai, who had been kidnapped and raped six days ago. Jatoi police took her to Civil Hospital where Dr Saadia examined her and sent her internal and external swabs to medical examiner for analysis. Police failed to arrest all kidnappers and only one of them was caught. Inspector General of Police Maj (r) Ziaul Hassan has called a report from the Muzaffargarh district police officer and ordered him to arrest all kidnappers involved in the crime. Police confirmed the release of Jindo-Mai on Wednesday.
Jindo told police that the kidnappers kept her in a cottage in the middle of River Indus and did not take her to Rajanpur or any other area. She said they raped her every day to avenge the elopement of one of the kidnappers daughter, Shahida. The kidnapper suspected that Shahida had eloped with Jindos brother.
A first information report states that at least 20 armed men brok into the house of a farmer, Muhammad Nawaz, in his absence in Joiya (Rampur) in Jatoi on March 28 night and gang raped his two daughters, Jindo and Sughran, at gunpoint. Later they took them to River Indus where they stripped Sughran and let her go home. The attackers suspected that Shahida, the daughter of Amir Bukhsh, had eloped with Muhammad Javed Joiya, the son of Muhammad Nawaz. Nawaz told reporters that he and his son were away from home, when Muhammad Essa, Khalil Ahmed, Bashir Ahmed, Muhammad Ismail, Malik Sawan, Muhammad Ashiq, Muhammad Abbas, Riaz Ahmed, Wazir Ahmed, Ghulam Fareed and their 10 accomplices broke into his house. Three of them, Khalil, Essa and Khalid, raped his daughter, he said. This incident took place near Meerwala, the native village of Mukhtar Mai.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Perfect graphic, even though this is beyond primitivism. I suspect hunters-gatherers treated their wimmen much better than thoses warped people. Takes some efforts to be as evil.
There is a good chance that Mukhtar Mai will be murdered, it was claimed by New York Times columnist Nicholas D Kristof on Tuesday. In a piece datelined Meerwala, Kristof, who has become an ardent fan of Mai and who has helped her get famous in this country through his columns, quotes Mai as saying, The traditional landowners want me dead. And the government doesnt want me around either.
Kristoff writes, President Pervez Musharraf is a modern man, and Im sure he is privately repulsed by acid attacks and rapes. In some respects, hes doing a fine job above all, hes presiding over a stunning eight percent economic growth. But Mr Musharraf seems to feel that Mukhtar is casting a spotlight on Pakistans dark side, so he is leading an effort to bully her into silence. The authorities confiscate Mukhtars mail and feed vicious propaganda to sympathetic journalists, portraying her as a liar, a cheat and an unpatriotic dupe of India (and of me). Kristof goes on to charge that a top police official has threatened to imprison her for fornication, which would discredit her and remove her from the scene. He does not name the police official. According to him, Mukhtar Mai told him, For the first time, I feel that the government has a plan to deal with me, the plan being to kill her or throw her into prison.
According to Kristof, The threats have come from high up. He says that a top intelligence official, a buddy of President Musharrafs, travelled to Lahore in December to deliver a personal warning. He met Dr Amna Buttar, an American citizen who has interpreted for Mukhtar in the US and heads a Pakistani-American human rights organisation that is supporting her. According to Dr Buttar, this official started by defending the Presidents record on womens rights. But then, alluding to a planned visit by Mukhtar to New York, he added, We can do anything We can just pay a little money to some black guys in New York and get people killed there.
Daily Times phoned Dr Buttar on Wednesday to confirm if that was what she had told Kristof. Yes, she responded, I was in Lahore last December when this official came to my family home to meet me. He expressed displeasure at the role that she (Dr Buttar) was playing in bringing a bad name to Pakistan by highlighting cases such as those of rape victim Mukhtar Mai. He told me that he knew everything about me and even when I had arrived in Pakistan and my movements subsequently. Then he said that it was very easy for him to pay money to a few blacks in New York to have Mukhtar Mai killed there.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/06/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
One can't expect Musharraf to crack down on Lashkar, Sipah-e-Sahaba and the rest when dangerous terrorists like Mukhtar Mai are still loose and threatening the nation.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/06/2006 4:21 Comments ||
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#2
Hi, Mr. Moloney, welcome back for your second coming here (hé!), after an another comment a little ago. I was always impressed by your extensive knowledge of the byzantine pakistani political maze, nice to have you back, if only shortly.
And, yes, what's happened and is happening to this woman is a shame, and a stain on Pakistan's honor. Oh, wait... did I say "honor"? I meant "feodalistic, primitive, repressed society".
#3
Thanks 'anonymous5089', I didn't actually go anywhere, I just don't have the opportunity to read the burg during the day so I usually end up skimming over the previous days posts at home.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
04/06/2006 5:07 Comments ||
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#4
above all, hes presiding over a stunning eight percent economic growth.
(a) doctored statistics - Pak for instance claims imports of used cars as "industrial machinery imports"
(b) inflated by infusions of billions in American aid money
(c) "equal-equalitis" - the Pak need to be somehow the equal of India - in all spheres.
If India has >8% economic growth, so must Pakistan
Posted by: john ||
04/06/2006 7:24 Comments ||
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#5
Well by dingy, Paul, we just have to fix that! :-)
As a sidenote, why can't we give Dr. Mai asylum in the U.S.?
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/06/2006 11:56 Comments ||
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#6
IIRC, we buckled to Pak gov't types the last time she was here. She was prevented from addressing the UN so she wouldn't embarass Perv.
I'm going to get in trouble for this, I just know it.
A toned-down edition of Playboy will go on sale tomorrow in mostly Muslim Indonesia, defying protests from Islamic leaders who have called on the government to ban the magazine. The magazine does not feature nude women, and its photos of female models are much less risque than those in other magazines already for sale in the country.
I can't wait for the "Jihad Girls Gone Wild" issue
Avianto Nugroho, the magazine's promotion manager, said the magazine would go on sale tomorrow.
#8
In the early 70s the wife graduated from college and went to be with her father who was building a huge factory in Indonesia. They spent a long time touring Bali as the rural women were still topless in those days and her dad liked looking...
She swore that they had the most beautiful breasts on the planet. She's never showed me any photos to prove that statement.
I guess this Islamic Playboy won't be printing rural scenes from Bali.
(Of course Bali is Hindu and Buddhist with only minor Islamic population)
An odalisque was a female slave or concubine in the Ottoman Seraglio, tending to the harem of the Turkish sultan. The word appears in a French form, and originates from the Turkish odalık, meaning "chambermaid", from oda, "chamber" or "room". Various writers spell the word as odahlic, odalisk, and odaliq.
An odalisque was not a concubine of the harem, but she could possibly become one. Odalisques were the virgin slaves of the harem, where they were at the bottom of the social ladder, serving not the sultan himself but rather his concubines and wives as personal chambermaids. Odalisques were usually given as gifts to the sultan, and many Georgian and Caucasian families even urged their daughters to enter the harem as slaves in the hopes that they would become a palace concubine, favored slave, or wife of the sultan.
An odalisque was generally never seen by the sultan, but instead was under the direct supervision of the Valide sultan. If an odalisque was of extraordinary beauty or had exceptional talent in dancing or singing, she would be trained as a possible concubine. If called for, an odalisque trained as a concubine would serve the sultan sexually, and only after such sexual use would she change in status, becoming thenceforth a concubine. In the Ottoman Empire, concubines provided the equivalent of a one-night stand in modern times, and would only see the sultan again if they were especially skilled in dance, singing, or the sexual arts, and had thus caught his attention. If by chance the concubine's time with the sultan resulted in the birth of a son, she would become one of his wives.
In popular usage, the word odalisque may also loosely refer to a mistress, concubine, or paramour of a wealthy man.
* In Western culture odalisques became common 19th century fantasy figures in the artistic movement known as Orientalism; they feature in many erotic paintings from that era.
* A song by The Decemberists speaks of the Odalisques with some fairly provocative lyrics: "Lay your belly under mine/Naked under me, under me/Such a filthy dimming shine/The way you kick and scream, kick and scream"
#11
Article: An odalisque was generally never seen by the sultan, but instead was under the direct supervision of the Valide sultan. If an odalisque was of extraordinary beauty or had exceptional talent in dancing or singing, she would be trained as a possible concubine. If called for, an odalisque trained as a concubine would serve the sultan sexually, and only after such sexual use would she change in status, becoming thenceforth a concubine. In the Ottoman Empire, concubines provided the equivalent of a one-night stand in modern times, and would only see the sultan again if they were especially skilled in dance, singing, or the sexual arts, and had thus caught his attention. If by chance the concubine's time with the sultan resulted in the birth of a son, she would become one of his wives.
This practice may have been imported from China, where it was the norm for thousands of years until the abolition of the Chinese monarchy in 1911. It was also widely copied by China's neighbors, including Japan, Korea and Vietnam. The hugely-popular (among East Asian countries) Korean costume drama Dae Jang Geum (available with English subs) provides an entertaining look at the court politics surrounding the king's women, essentially indentured servants - those who were neither concubine nor consort - during the Choson dynasty 400+ years ago. Emperor Hirohito was the first Japanese emperor not to have a harem. Both of his parents were the issue of concubines.
This practice wasn't limited to the royal family. Members of the nobility and wealthy individuals of common birth had the same traditions. It is only with the wholesale adoption of Western mores a century or so ago that polygamy in the Far East was abolished both for members of the royal family and commoners.
Pretty stupid move. If the West wants to win over the largest Moslem nation in the world, I suggest they show more respect for Indonesian social mores and customs. It would be different if the mag was generated by Indonesians, but it will be seen as an offense at bes,t and as an outright encroachment and attack on the society, at worst-- and the extremists will use it to justify trouble--which will be blamed on every Westerner, regardless. And look at Thailand. Porn leads to child porn. It's the nature of the industry. Too bad IMO.
Thailand has appointed a new interim prime minister a day after the resignation of Thaksin Shinawatra, but uncertainty remains over the country's political future. Chidchai Vanasatidya, Thaksin's former deputy, will take up the office while Thaksin is "taking a rest", a government spokesman said on Wednesday.
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Heads Up, Border Patrol!
WASHINGTON - Senate Republicans and Democrats closed in on a last-minute compromise Thursday on legislation opening the way to legal status and eventual citizenship for many of the 11 million immigrants living in the United States illegally.
President Bush praised the lawmakers' efforts, noting the details were unfinished, and encouraged them "to work hard and get the bill done." Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said he had been assured the president supports the emerging measure. I'm telling you, Bush is losing me more and more every day.
As outlined, it would provide for enhanced border security, regulate the future flow of immigrants into the United States and offer legalized status to the millions of men, women and children in the country unlawfully. "Unlawfully"? That's a new one. "Illegally" too...yucky?
"We've had a huge breakthrough" overnight, said Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, agreed, but cautioned that the agreement had not yet been sealed. More "Profiles in Courage"...
Even so, the presence of both leaders at a celebratory news conference underlined the expectation that the Senate could pass the most sweeping immigration bill in two decades, and act before leaving on a long vacation at the end of the week. So you know it'll be a done deal by then.
The developments marked a turnaround from Wednesday, when it appeared negotiations had faltered. The key sticking point involved the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, and the struggle to provide them an opportunity to gain legal status without exposing lawmakers to the political charge that they were advocating amnesty for lawbreakers. Which...they are.
While final details were not available, in general, the compromise would require illegal immigrants who have been in the United States between two years and five years to return to their home country briefly, then re-enter as temporary workers. They could then begin a process of seeking citizenship.
Illegal immigrants here longer than five years would not be required to return home; those in the country less than two years would be required to leave without assurances of returning, and take their place in line with others seeking entry papers. Let's see, 11 million illegals in the country, and since they're "undocumented", I will guess that...11 million of them have been here longer then five years. And they'll all of a sudden have the "documents" to prove it. There'll be forgers who can retire by the time this is all over.
Standing before television cameras after an appearance Thursday in Charlotte, N.C., Bush said he was pleased that Republicans and Democrats were working together. "I appreciate their understanding that this needs to be a comprehensive immigration bill," the president said. "I recognize that there are still details that need to be worked out. I would encourage the members to work hard to get the bill done prior to the upcoming break." ...more and more, every day.
Not everyone was satisfied.
"I'm not impressed," said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who has criticized earlier versions of the measure as too lenient on lawbreakers. Sens. John Cornyn of Texas and Jon Kyl of Arizona joined him in criticizing the measure, as did Georgia Republicans Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson.
Beyond the illegal immigrants, there were other thorny issues to be clarified. Senate leaders had yet to publicly unveil draft legislation to make sure that only legal workers were hired in the future, for example. Yep, when we're back from vacation. We'll get right on that. We'll include it in the new immigration bill in about 4 or 5 years when we'll need another one.
Nor was it clear what type of assurances, if any, Democrats had received from the White House and Republicans about compromise talks with the Republican-controlled House later this year. The House has approved legislation limited to border security, and while GOP leaders have signaled support for a broader measure, Democrats have expressed concern in recent days that they will be pressured to make unacceptable additional concessions to achieve a final compromise. Maybe they'd be happy if we put carpool lanes through the "wall"?
The breakthrough occurred overnight, after Frist had unveiled a revised Republican proposal that he credited to Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Mel Martinez of Florida. Officials said McCain and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., who have long been trying to show the way toward bipartisan agreement on the issue, spoke by phone several times to review potential changes.
"Our plan is tough and fair, and I'm encouraged that the President now supports it," said Kennedy in a statement. "The American people have made their voices heard in their churches, in their schools and in the streets and the Senate has listened," he added, referring to the large rallies in recent weeks by protesters calling for rights for immigrants. Well, Ted, if this has your seal of approval, it must be total bullshit. That's one of my "control factors".
The closed-door negotiations proceeded as the Senate moved toward a test vote on an earlier, Democratic version of immigration legislation. Democrats needed 60 votes to prevail, and as expected, they fell far short. The attempt gained only 39 votes, while 60 senators were opposed.
In an ironic juxtaposition, the vote unfolded at the same time Frist, Reid and more than a dozen other senators were celebrating the breakthrough at the news conference.
"While it admittedly is not perfect, the choice we have to make is whether it is better than no bill, and the choice is decisive," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The issue has exposed divisions within both political parties and already left an imprint on the midterm election campaigns for control of Congress.
Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles provided evidence of the emotion it has generated from 3,000 miles away when he urged Catholics to pray for passage of legislation allowing illegal immigrants to gain citizenship. The debate marks "one of the most critical weeks in the history of our country," he said. ...and another "Great Moment in Catholicism".
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gold futures in New York shot to a 25-year high atop $600 an ounce Thursday morning, while silver climbed a 22-year peak at $12 an ounce a down dollar and rising oil prices fueled buying by investors and speculators. By 8:35 a.m. EDT, gold for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division edged back to $598.50 for a gain of $6. It traded from $592 to $601.90 which marked the loftiest level for futures since January 1981. COMEX May silver was up 25.5 cents at $11.96 after rising as high as $12.08 in the early going. It's hard to believe this is based on inflationary expectations, so who is buying and what do they expect?
#1
Iranian gold reserves withrawn, etc. I expect many Iranian overseas assets (most Iranian private assets are held offshore) are being converted to something that can't be frozen.
That and maybe Arabs expecting trouble. They flee to gold quickly.
#4
"the loftiest level for futures since January 1981"
Seems like gold peaks every time The Great Satan and the Mad Mullahs are about to duke it out in the Persian Gulf.
#5
United Arab Emirates, in particular Dubai, have been steadily buying up gold over the last year. Don't know what's driving their decision. Preparations for what? A global economic collapse due to a crash of our stock market in response to another attack here at home?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A San Francisco man has been convicted of murder and mayhem for using a meat cleaver to castrate and kill his father, whom he blamed for coddling him and fostering his drug addiction, authorities said Tuesday. 
Apple Computer Inc., abandoning its historic practice of running only its own operating system on its personal computers, yesterday rolled out software enabling buyers of Apple's new Intel-based Macintosh computers to install the Windows platform built by rival Microsoft Corp. 
A man pleaded guilty to weapons of mass destruction charges for sending a mail bomb to a Chicago surgeon he said botched his penile enlargement surgery, though his attorney questioned whether the charges fit the offense.
Abdul Lateef Naushad, 34, who was languishing in a Dammam jail for partially blinding a Saudi national, has been released following a royal pardon. Naushad, according to Indian Ambassador M.O.H. Farook, was taken directly from the jail to the Dammam airport to board a Gulf Air flight bound for the southern Indian city of Trivandrum last night.
Jacques Chirac, the French president, has been issued a deadline of April 15 to 
MULTAN: On the intervention of Sardar Ziaullah Khan Jatoi, the brother-in-law of the Muzaffargarh district nazim, kidnappers freed a woman, Jindo Mai, who had been kidnapped and raped six days ago. Jatoi police took her to Civil Hospital where Dr Saadia examined her and sent her internal and external swabs to medical examiner for analysis. Police failed to arrest all kidnappers and only one of them was caught. Inspector General of Police Maj (r) Ziaul Hassan has called a report from the Muzaffargarh district police officer and ordered him to arrest all kidnappers involved in the crime. Police confirmed the release of Jindo-Mai on Wednesday.
There is a good chance that 
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gold futures in New York shot to a 25-year high atop $600 an ounce Thursday morning, while silver climbed a 22-year peak at $12 an ounce a down dollar and rising oil prices fueled buying by investors and speculators. By 8:35 a.m. EDT, gold for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division edged back to $598.50 for a gain of $6. It traded from $592 to $601.90 which marked the loftiest level for futures since January 1981. COMEX May silver was up 25.5 cents at $11.96 after rising as high as $12.08 in the early going.
