ÐØRÇHÁ =^..^=

Book cover

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:19:41 GMT

Today I was looking at Google books, which I dun like because they just give you a preview, and I found this book cover painting for The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot (free download at gutenberg.org). I like the painting. :)

Irish church and police covered up child sex abuse, says report

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:28:59 GMT

Devastating report on abuse of children by clergy from 1975 to 2004 accuses church and Garda of colluding to cover up scandal. Roman Catholic church in Ireland hid decades of child abuse by its leaders to protect the church's reputation, inquiry found.

Henry McDonald
Guardian
26 Nov 2009

Ireland's police colluded with the Catholic church in covering up clerical child abuse in Dublin on a huge scale, according to a damning report on decades of sex crimes committed by priests.

The devastating report on the sexual and physical abuse of children by the clergy in Ireland's capital from 1975 to 2004 accuses four former archbishops, a host of clergy and senior members of the Garda Síochána of a cover-up.

The three-volume report found that the "maintenance of secrecy, the avoidance of scandal, the protection of the reputation of the church and the preservation of its assets" was more important than justice for the victims.

Four former archbishops in Dublin – John Charles McQuaid, who died in 1973, Dermot Ryan, who died in 1984, Kevin McNamara, who died in 1987, and retired Cardinal Desmond Connell – were found to have failed to report their knowledge of child sexual abuse to the Garda from the 1960s to the 1980s. But the report added that all the archbishops of the diocese in the period were aware of complaints.

The report, launched today by the Irish justice minister, Dermot Ahern, also concluded that the vast majority of priests turned a "blind eye" to abuse, although some individuals did bring complaints to superiors, which were not acted upon.

The report, commissioned by the government, strongly criticises the Garda and says senior members of the force regarded priests as being outside their investigative remit. The relationship between some senior gardai and priests and bishops in Dublin was described as "inappropriate".

Rather than investigate complaints from children, gardai simply reported the matter to the Dublin Catholic diocese, the report says. The Garda Síochána is accused of connivance with the church in stifling at least one complaint of abuse and letting the alleged perpetrator flee the country.

Ahern said there should be no hiding place for abusers. "The persons who committed these dreadful crimes will continue to be pursued. They must come to know that there is no hiding place. That justice – even where it may have been delayed – will not be denied," he said.

He told a press conference: "I read the report as justice minister. But on a human level – as a father and as a member of this community – I felt a growing sense of revulsion and anger at the horrible, evil acts committed against children."

The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre welcomed the report, saying it was "another acknowledgment of the abject failure of our society to take care of our children".

The report states that senior clerical figures covered up the abuse over nearly 30 years and that the structures and rules of the church facilitated that cover-up. It says that state authorities facilitated the cover-up by allowing the church to be beyond the reach of the law.

The Murphy Commission of Inquiry into the abuse of children in Dublin identified 320 people who complained of child sexual abuse between 1975 and 2004. It also stated that since May 2004, 130 complaints against priests operating in the Dublin archdiocese had been made.

The report details the cases of 46 priests guilty of abuse as a representative sample of 102 priests within its remit. But it concludes that there was no evidence of an organised paedophile ring in the Dublin archdiocese, although it says there were worrying connections. One priest admitted abusing more than 100 children. Another said he had committed abuse every two weeks for more than 25 years.

The report highlights the case of a Father Carney and Father McCarthy who it claims in one case both abused the same child. The abuse by Carney often occurred at swimming pools, sometimes when he was accompanied by another priest.

The report states that it was not until 1995 that the archdiocese began to notify civil authorities of complaints of abuse. The commission concludes that in the light of this and other facts, every bishop's primary loyalty was to the church itself.

A move by the archdiocese to take out insurance against potential compensation claims arising from abuse, according to the report, proved knowledge of child sexual abuse as a potential major cost.

The Garda Síochána's current commissioner, Fachtna Murphy, said the report made for "difficult and disturbing reading, detailing many instances of sexual abuse and failure … to protect victims."

Pope Benedict was urged today to go to Ireland and apologise for his clergy's behaviour. John Kelly, of Irish Survivors of Child Abuse, said only a papal visit would exonerate the worldwide church in the abuse scandals.

Abuse reports

Since June 1994, when paedophile priest Father Brendan Smith was sentenced to four years in prison for the abuse of children in Northern Ireland, there have been three major reports into the abuse of children at the hands of Ireland's Catholic clergy:

• October 2005 the Ferns report detailed extensive child abuse and the cover-up of paedophile activity in the south-east of Ireland.

• November 2005 Judge Yvonne Murphy was appointed to head a commission of investigation into clerical child abuse in the Dublin diocese, which concluded today.

• May 2009 the Ryan report detailing abuse at orphanages and industrial schools run by Catholic religious orders across the state was published.

Report by Commission of Investigation into Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 21:11:21 GMT

www.justice.ie

Report by Commission of Investigation into the handling by Church and State authorities of allegations and suspicions of child abuse against clerics of the Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin.

Cover Part 1 (PDF - 161KB)

Signature Page (PDF - 111KB)

Part 1 Beginning (PDF - 39KB)

Part 1 (PDF - 161KB)

Cover Part 2 (PDF - 167KB)

Part 2 (PDF - 2.04MB)

Cover Appendices (PDF - 163KB)

Appendices (PDF - 965KB)

Posting this again - Rats: Small Angels in Disguise

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 17:24:59 GMT

The Animal Rescue Site $100,000 Shelter+Challenge

Click on that link and type in Small Angels for the shelter name and MD for the state (drop down box). Then click on Search and when the page comes back for the foster group Small Angels, VOTE and confirm your vote. You can do this every day. It will help my friends' group. They foster wee homeless pet rats and other small creatures.

The site still needs your help. :)

If you would like to read their wonderful blog, go to Rat in a Box

'The Fisherman' by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:42:35 GMT

The water roared, the water swelled;
a fisherman sat beside,
gazing calmly at his fishing line,
cool to his very heart.
And as he sits there and as he listens,
the waves split
and from the turbulent water
a watery woman bursts up.

She sang to him, and spoke to him:
"Why do you lure my children
with your human wit and cunning,
up here to this deadly glow?
Ah, if you only knew how pleasant the tiny fish
find it below the surface,
you would come down, just as you are,
and you would be well for the first time.

Does not the dear sun refresh itself
and the moon as well, in the sea?
Do they not turn their faces, breathing the waves
and thus becoming doubly fair?
Aren't you tempted by the deep sky,
the moist and transfiguring blue?
Aren't you tempted by your own face
shining in the eternal dew?"

The water roared, the water swelled,
and moistened his naked foot;
and his heart filled with the longing
that he felt at the greeting of his beloved.
She spoke to him, and sang to him;
then all was done for him;
half pulled by her and half sinking himself,
he went down and was never seen again.

--English translation from here

Painting of 'The Fisherman and the Syren' by Frederic Leighton

To sleep, perchance to dream

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:09:56 GMT

'Flaming June' by Frederic Leighton - 1830-1896

'You're Gonna Miss Me'

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:28:11 GMT

My friend Varsava introduced me to this group, and I went looking for a video. I like this one. :)

Watch video

The 13th Floor Elevators

Noir

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:25:59 GMT

Image

How the US army protects its trucks – by paying the Taliban

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:47:37 GMT

Guardian

Insurance, security or extortion? The US is spending millions of dollars in Afghanistan to ensure its supply convoys get through – and it's the Taliban who profit

Your Homeland Security is the shits

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:58:59 GMT

Americans, you can sleep easy at night, knowing that your FBI and military officials are totally NOT on the ball.

I do not believe in this corrupt war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I would not serve in a military who waged it, and if I found myself being deployed against my will, I would refuse to go and end up on the run or court-martialed. However, I certainly would NOT kill my fellow soldiers like Hasan allegedly has done either. But the comments coming out about his behaviour in the months leading up to the shootings tell you just how incompetent the FBI, other officials and the military are in dealing with security breaches. It defies belief.

Details behind the cut:

Warning signs were there as killer strove to leave military

By Tim Reid in Washington
Independent.ie
Saturday November 07 2009

His name appears above radical internet postings discussing Islamic suicide bombers in a favourable light -- something the FBI was alerted to six months ago.

He became involved in frequent arguments with soldiers at Fort Hood because of his declarations that fellow Muslims "should stand up and fight against the aggressor", and his vocal opposition to US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He even appeared to celebrate the shooting death of a soldier at an Army recruiting centre in Arkansas in June, carried out by a Muslim convert. He said at the time that Muslims should strap on suicide bombs and detonate them in New York's Times Square.

These extraordinarily provocative statements and actions by US army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan came months before his massacre at Fort Hood, which began with him shouting "God is Great" in Arabic.

The apparently clear signs of Hasan's growing anti-Americanism prompted questions and anger yesterday over why he was never investigated -- an action that could have prevented Thursday's tragedy at the Texas army base.

Hasan (39), an American-born Muslim who grew up in the Washington suburbs and joined the army out of patriotic duty, told relatives he had been harassed because of his religion after the September 11 attacks, and called derogatory names such as "camel jockey".

"Some people can take it and some people cannot," his aunt, Noel Hasan, said. "He had listened to all of that, and he wanted out of the military." Hasan spent months trying to leave the army, also hiring a lawyer. He offered to pay back the money the army spent sending him to university and medical school, but to no avail.

His cousin, Nader Hasan, said he had recently expressed deep concern about being deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq -- where he was due to go at the end of this month. He did not want to go because of his recent experience.

For the past six years as an army psychiatrist, he had counselled soldiers returning home with post-traumatic stress disorder.

"He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy," Nader Hasan said. "He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there. He was doing everything he could to avoid that. He wanted to do whatever he could within the rules to make sure he wouldn't go over." Going to Iraq or Afghanistan had become his cousin's "worst nightmare".

Yet it also appeared likely yesterday that his fear of being deployed was probably due to a revulsion of being part of an operation in which fellow Muslims would be killed.

Hasan's faith had intensified in recent years, first after the deaths of his parents in 1998 and 2001, and then with his mounting opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Colonel Terry Lee, who worked with Hasan in Fort Hood's psychiatric unit, said his colleague had begun making "outlandish" comments about the American presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"He said, precisely, that maybe the Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor," Colonel Lee said, adding that after Barack Obama was elected, Hasan expressed hope that the new President would end both wars.

When that did not happen, Colonel Lee said, Hasan, who he described as a loner, "became more agitated about the conflicts". He got into frequent arguments with soldiers because of his opposition to the wars.

After the shooting in Little Rock, Colonel Lee added: "He seemed happy about it. He said . . . maybe we should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan. He said maybe . . . people should strap bombs on themselves and go into Times Square."

Six months ago, the FBI was alerted to a posting on a website called Scribd.com, under the username "NadalHasan", comparing the actions of an American soldier who threw himself on a grenade in Iraq with those of Islamist suicide bombers.

"He intentionally took his life for a noble cause, saving the lives of his soldier. To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. It's more appropriate to say he is a brave hero," Nadal Hasan wrote.

"If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard, that would be considered a strategic victory."

US officials said the FBI looked into the posting but had not begun an official investigation by the time of the shooting.

Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque where Hasan worshipped in the Washington suburb of Silver Spring, said he often spoke with him about his desire to find a wife. Hasan had filled out a form at the mosque for those who were seeking a wife.

Mr Khan said Hasan was a devout Muslim, and would pray every day, seven days a week, often in military uniform.

"I got the impression he was a committed soldier. We hardly ever got to discussing politics. Mostly we were discussing religious matters, nothing too controversial, nothing like an extremist," Mr Khan added.

Hasan was born in northern Virginia, close to Washington, to parents who had immigrated to America from the small West Bank town of el-Bireh near Jerusalem. His parents owned restaurants and a shop.

He is single, and has two brothers, one of whom has returned to Jerusalem, where he is married to a Palestinian. The other brother lives in Virginia. The family prospered in the US, with various Hasans entering banking, medicine and the law.

He received an undergraduate degree in biochemistry in 1997 from Virginia Tech university, scene of the massacre of 32 people in 2007, and his medical degree at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, just outside Washington. (© The Times, London)

- Tim Reid in Washington
Irish Independent

Building with whole trees

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 17:45:50 GMT

Building With Whole Trees - NYTimes.com

'Starry Night over the Rhone'

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:00:18 GMT

'For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.'
--Vincent Van Gogh

Click on image for large size.

'Portrait of a Girl' by Mikhail Nesterov

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:01:31 GMT

Study for 'Youth of St. Sergiy Radonezhsky'. 1890-91. Oil on panel. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Olga's Gallery

Alfred Hitchcock film scenes recreated in Plexiglas and paper tape

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:47:34 GMT

Times
2 Nov 09

The scene from Spellbound, made of paper tape on clear plastic - (Mark Khaisman/BNPS)

The monochrome world of Hitchcock’s Spellbound has been revisited in a new artistic medium — layers of brown parcel tape stuck on to a 4ft-high sheet of clear plastic through which light is shone.

The scene, taken from the director’s 1945 drama starring Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, was created by Mark Khaisman, who sells his works for up to $10,000 (£6,000).

Mr Khaisman, 51, from Philadelphia, previously worked with stained glass before switching to parcel tape.

“The work is made from layer upon layer of translucent packing tape, applied to clear Plexiglas and placed in front of a light box to give shadow and depth,” said Mr Khaisman. “My art is a conversation with light.”

Night Witches: Audio slideshow

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:11:33 GMT

BBC
2 November 2009

**This is a really cool automatic slideshow of images of these amazing women. WWII is one of my interests, particularly aerial bombing missions. I love history. Click the link at the top of the photo to go to the BBC article where you can start the slideshow. Details for listening to the BBC Radio 4 programme are below.

Night Witches

Russia's three all-female air regiments flew more than 30,000 missions along the Eastern Front in WWII. At home they were known as 'Stalin's Falcons', but terrified German troops called them the 'Night Witches'.

Here - with the help of archive images - Radio 4's Lucy Ash tells their story, and discovers that their extraordinary exploits have inspired others decades later.

Images courtesy RIA Novosti, Getty Images, Anna Yegorova, Garth Ennis and Russ Braun.

Night Witches will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 2002 on Monday 2 November 2009. It will then be available for seven days on >>the BBC iPlayer.

Slideshow production by Paul Kerley

urbanaztec

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:16:01 GMT

I think you will be quite amazed at the intricacy of his art when you see the large version of 'Lamp' (click on image).

urbanaztec

San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Breaks

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:03:34 GMT

View of the bridge in better times

**Read about the bridge at Wikipedia

'High winds caused a steel crossbeam and two steel tie rods to snap off the Bay Bridge's eastern span and fall to the upper deck, Caltrans officials said today as commuters unable to drive over the closed bridge jammed alternative routes and crowded onto BART in record numbers.

The three pieces were part of an emergency repair that workers made on the bridge over the Labor Day weekend after discovering a crack in a structural beam on the cantilever section. The repair held for just seven weeks, until the parts came crashing to the upper deck at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, damaging three vehicles and injuring one motorist.

Crews worked all night on fresh repairs after authorities closed the bridge, but Caltrans was giving no estimate for when the span might reopen. Local transit officials said they were being told to plan as though the bridge will be closed through the end of the week.

The National Weather Service said gusts in the San Francisco area hit 30 mph Tuesday. Caltans said that was enough to cause a 20-foot tie rod, which goes through load-bearing steel saddles on the cantilever section, to move back and forth, and eventually snap.'

Highway to Heaven or Hell?

Westbound Highway 92 (left) slows as commuters, at mid-morning, cross over the high rise section of the San Mateo Bridge into Foster City on Wednesday. Photo: Michael Macor

--Story from San Francisco Chronicle

The artist on his art

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:01:51 GMT

Citarella - 2001 - Oil on canvas - By Richard Estes

"I think the popular concept of the artist is a person who has this great passion and enthusiasm and super emotion. He just throws himself into this great masterpiece and collapses from exhaustion when its finished. It’s really not that way at all. Usually it's a pretty calculated, sustained, and slow process by which you develop something. The effect can be one of spontaneity, but that’s part of the artistry. An actor can do a play on Broadway for three years. Every night he’s expressing the same emotion in exactly the same way. He has developed a technique to convey those feelings so that he can get the ideas across. Or a musician may not want to play that damn music at all, but he has a booking and has to do it. I think the real test is to plan something and be able to carry it out to the very end. Not that you’re always enthusiastic; it's just that you have to get this thing out. It's not done with one's emotions; it’s done with the head."

Richard Estes

San Francisco Street

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:41:11 GMT

By Nancy Merkle

The Rise of the All-Day Pyjama Syndrome

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 01:40:40 GMT

I saved these two pieces by Robin Livingstone, and I am glad I did as their original source links are now defunct (if anyone has any viable links, please let me know). I also had them on a blog which packed up and left me without warning as well, so this is why I archive whole articles. Robin is an editor at Andersonstown News in Belfast. He has a biting wit and sarcastic view of life which I find hilarious. He frequently writes under the guise of 'Squinter'.

I've posted this once before, but something Jadiem wrote reminded me of it.

NIGHT AND DAY IN YOUR PJs

12 July 2003
Squinter

The time has come the walrus said, to talk of many things, of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings...

And much as Squinter has tried to put it off, much as he has wrestled with his conscience over the advisability of bringing this particular topic on to a public stage, the day was always going to come when the truth would have to be told, and it is this: women in Ballymurphy/Turf Lodge don’t get dressed any more.

Now that doesn’t mean that they run about naked, or in their underwear. No, it means that they spend all day in their pyjamas. Nothing wrong with that, the cry goes up, everyone dosses about the house in their PJs occasionally, which is undeniably so. But we’re not talking about a lazy day off here, or an extended lie-in. Squinter was in Turf Lodge one afternoon last week – around 2.45pm, it was. And in one stretch of road he saw seven women going about their daily business in their pyjamas. Not standing at the door talking to the neighbour, not nipping out to pick up the milk – actually doing the everyday things that normally require a person to get dressed.

Two women were walking through Norglen Gardens, proceeding to who knows where with that peculiar shuffle that fluffy mules necessitate. Both sets of pyjamas were pink, silk(y) and baggy, both twentysomethings had blonde hair and big golden hoops in their ears, both had their arms folded with a ten-deck of Regal tucked in their armpits.

Inside a nearby newsagents another two women – one in her twenties the other perhaps 40 – were picking up a few items: the older woman browsing for a newspaper, the younger buying crisps and chewing-gum. Again, the pyjamas were silk(y) and baggy – one pair pink, the other yellow. Both had fluffy mules, big earrings and cigarettes.

Squinter was considering the import of all this when across the street another of the pyjama women hailed a black taxi and climbed in, which seemed much more shocking because she was leaving a district in which her mode of (un)dress was the order of the day to travel to another part of the city – the city centre, for all Squinter knew.

Because it's his job, Squinter has been making inquiries since he stumbled on this modern wonder and it appears that the phenomenon is not confined to Turf Lodge/Ballymurphy, although that would seem to be the epicentre of it. Pyjama Women are also to be seen, Squinter's assured, roaming the lower Falls.

Just as Margaret Mead's landmark 'Coming of Age in Samoa' redefined the science of anthropology, so Squinter's forthcoming 'Night and Day: Getting Up in Turf Lodge' is expected to send shockwaves through the staid community of people-watchers. A learned German professor has been engaged as co-author and he has already visited the area twice.

'Ziss is very interestink & a fine example of vot ve in ze business call 'Counter-Clothing Syndrome.' And it is not, as some people beleef, nihilistic or negative. On ze contrary, ze women in pyjamas zat I haff seen wear haff put on ze make-up and wear lots of rings und necklaces. In ze summer time zey haff sometimes even got shorts instead of ze long bottoms.'

_______________

Pyjama-mamas on fashion frontier

Squinter
8 June 2007
Originally from Irelandclick

Squinter wonders how many of the mothers of the super-smicks featured guzzling al fresco in Monday’s Andersonstown were sitting on the sofa in their jimjams watching Big Brother when their little dears were out roaming the street like packs of hyenas.

Quite a few, you have to think.

Not that every woman who leaves junior to school in her satin pyjamas and a pair of pink fluffy mules is a bad parent, it’s just that it would appear to be self-evident that women who don’t bother getting dressed are going to find it that wee bit harder to drive home the message to their children that a little self-respect and dignity goes a long way in life.

Children tend not to work that out for themselves until way past P3.

Squinter’s with Joe McGuinness, headmaster of St Matthew’s in the Short Strand, who wrote in the school bulletin about the reservations he has concerning mothers dropping off and picking up their children in pyjamas (the mothers, that is, not the children; although it can only be a matter of time before they don’t bother dressing their children either).

We’ve received a big number of texts on the subject, some of them in the paper today. A few have a go at Joe, far more back him up. Which is probably an accurate reflection of where society stands on the issue of women going about all day in the synthetic top and trousers that they spent the night in particularly a hot night in August wearing a pound shop made-in-Taiwan, avoid-naked-flame special.

Squinter has learned from an impeccable source (bloke down the pub) that not all pyjama-mamas are wearing garments that are a little bit manky.

It seems that some of the more discerning mums will change into another set of pyjamas if they detect a bit of a pong as they head out the door, or if the sweat is conducting the static electricity to an extent that endangers the life of parent, child, or both.

Not freshly laundered pyjamas, obviously – that would be too much work. Rather, they hoke about for a bit in the Ali-Baba basket until they find a pair from last week that don’t stand up on their own.
Quick squirt of Charlie and you’re out the door. Sorted.

Meanwhile, Squinter has been doing a little research on the subject in order to gauge whether pyjama-mamas are indeed part of the fabric of the community, and if so, whether they’re Egyptian cotton or polymerised acrylonitrile. Out and about, he asked a representative sample of 50 pyjama-mamas whether they routinely wear scrim-scrams to the following locations..

Hairdressers: 99% say yes, 1% say what’s a hairdressers?
Pub: 25% say yes, 75% per cent say only if the place sells WKD
Church: 10% say yes, 90% say it would be a sacrilege and a housecoat would definitely be worn on top
School: 50% say yes, 45% say a definite no, 10% say they’re keen for their kids to get a good education
Shop: 95% say yes, 5% say only when the hole in the wall is paying out double
Taxi/bus: 40% say yes, 60% say not until the DLA car is taken away
Work: (n/a)
Dole office: 99.999% say yes, .001% say only once a fortnight

Tell me Evil doesna live: Richard Ramirez - The Night Stalker

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:08:25 GMT

Because this article came out today in the San Francisco Chronicle about 'The Night Stalker's' DNA link to yet another murder and rape victim, a wee 9 year old S.F. girl, I decided to post his story for those of you not familiar with Ramirez's reign of pure murderous terror.

Richard Ramirez - The Night Stalker

--A look into the rape and killing spree of Satanic worshipper and serial killer, Richard Ramirez, who terrorized Los Angeles in 1985

By Charles Montaldo

Ricardo Leyva a.k.a. Richard Ramirez (photo at left) was born in El Paso, Texas, on February 28, 1960, to Julian and Mercedes Ramirez. Richard was the youngest child of six, epileptic, and described by his father as being "a good boy," until his involvement with drugs. Richard admired his father, but at the age of 12, he found a new hero, his cousin, Mike, a Vietnam veteran and ex-Green Beret.

Ramirez Finds a Hero

Mike, home from Vietnam, shared gruesome pictures of rape and human torture with Richard, who became fascinated with the pictorial brutality. The two spent a lot of time together, smoking pot and talking about war. On one such day, Mike's wife began to complain about Mike's laziness. Mike's reaction was to kill her by shooting her in the face, in front of Richard. Because of Mike's war record, he was sentenced to seven years for the killing.

Drugs, Candy and Satanism

By the age of 18, Richard was a habitual drug user and chronic candy eater, resulting in tooth decay and extreme halitosis. He also became involved in Satan worshipping and his general poor appearance enhanced his satanic persona. Already arrested on numerous drug and theft charges, Ramirez decided to move to southern California. There he advanced from simple theft to breaking and entering into homes. He became very proficient at it and eventually began to linger in the homes of his victims.

Pure Evil

On June 28, 1984, his burglaries turned into something far more evil. Ramirez entered through an opened window of Glassel Park resident, Jennie Vincow, age 79. According to Philip Carlo's book, 'The Night Stalker,' he became angry after not finding anything of value to steal, and began stabbing the sleeping Vincow, eventually slitting her throat. The act of killing aroused him sexually, and he had sex with the corpse before leaving.

Savored Memories Fade

Ramirez remained quiet for eight months, but the memory he savored of his last killing had run dry. He needed more. On March 17, 1985, Ramirez jumped 22-year-old Angela Barrio outside her condo. He shot her, kicked her out of the way, and headed into her condo. Inside, was roommate, Dayle Okazaki, age 34, who Ramirez immediately shot and killed. Barrio remained alive out of pure luck. The bullet had ricocheted off the keys she held in her hands, as she lifted them to protect herself.

The Thirst for More

Within an hour of killing Okazaki, Ramirez struck again in Monterey Park. He jumped 30-year-old Tsai-Lian Yu and pulled her out of her car onto the road. He shot several bullets into her and fled. A policeman found her still breathing, but she died before the ambulance arrived. Ramirez's thirst was not quenched. He then murdered an eight-year-old girl from Eagle Rock, just three days after killing Tsai-Lian Yu.

Post-mortem Mutilations Become His Mark

On March 27, Ramirez shot Vincent Zazarra, age 64, and his wife Maxine, age 44. Mrs. Zazzara's body was mutilated with several stab wounds, a T-carving on her left breast, and her eyes were gouged out. The autopsy determined that the mutilations were post-mortem. Ramirez left footprints in the flower beds, which the police photographed and cast. Bullets found at the scene were matched to those found at previous attacks, and the police realized a serial killer was on the loose.

Ramirez's MO - Kill the Man Quickly

Two months after killing the Zazzara couple, Ramirez attacked again. Harold Wu, age 66, was shot in the head, and his wife, Jean Wu, age 63, was punched, bound, and then violently raped. For unknown reasons, Ramirez decided to let her live. Ramirez's attacks were now in full throttle. He left behind more clues to his identity, and was named, 'The Night Stalker,' by the media. Those who survived his attacks, provided the police with a description - Hispanic, long dark hair, and foul smelling breath.

Pentagrams Found at the Crime Scene

On May 29, 1985, Ramirez attacked Malvial Keller, 83, and her invalid sister, Blanche Wolfe, 80, beating each with a hammer. Ramirez attempted to rape Keller, but failed. Using lipstick, he drew a pentagram on Keller's thigh and on the wall in the bedroom. Blanche survived the attack. The next day, Ruth Wilson, 41, was bound, raped, and sodomized by Ramirez, while her 12-year old son was locked in a closet. Ramirez slashed Wilson once, and then bound her and her son together, and left.

His Killing Spree Terrorized Los Angeles: Ramirez's 1985 killing and rape spree continued:

• June 27 - Ramirez raped a 6-year-old girl in Acadia.

• June 28 - Patty Higgins, age 32, was beaten and her throat slit.

• July 2 - Mary Cannon, age 75, was beaten and her throat slit.

• July 5 - Deidre Palmer, age 16, survived being beaten with a tire iron.

• July 7 - Joyce Lucille Nelson, 61, was bludgeoned to death.

• July 7 - Linda Fortuna, 63, was attacked and Ramirez tried to rape her, but failed.

• July 20 - Maxson Kneiling, 66, and his wife Lela, also 66, were shot and their corpses, mutilated.

• July 20, Chitat Assawahem, 31, was shot and his wife Sakima, 29, was beaten then forced to perform oral sex. Ramirez then collected $30,000 in valuables, but before leaving, he sodomized the couple's eight-year-old son.

• August 6 - Ramirez shot both Christopher Petersen, 38, and his wife, Virginia, 27, in the head. Both somehow survived.

• August 8 - Ramirez shot Ahmed Zia, 35, and raped and sodomized his wife, Suu Kyi, 28, and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

On Aug. 24, 1985, Ramirez traveled 50 miles south of Los Angeles, and broke into the home of Bill Carns, 29, and his fiancée, Inez Erickson, 27. Ramirez shot Carns in the head and raped Erickson. He demanded she swear her love for Satan and afterwards, forced her to perform oral sex on him. He then tied her and left. Erickson struggled to the window and saw the car Ramirez was driving.

A teenager wrote down the license plate number of the same car, after noticing it cruising suspiciously in the neighborhood.

The information from Erickson and the young man enabled police to locate the abandoned car, and get fingerprints from inside. A computer match was made of the prints, and identification of the Night Stalker became known. On August 30, 1985, the arrest warrant for Richard Ramirez was issued and his picture released to the public.

A Face Revealed

On August 30, 1985, an arrest warrant for Richard Ramirez was issued and his face revealed to the public. Ramirez, unaware that his picture was all over the newspapers, got off of a Greyhound bus, and walked into a liquor store. The woman working inside recognized him and began yelling that he was the Night Stalker. Shocked, he quickly fled the store and headed toward the heavily populated Hispanic area of east Los Angeles. A small mob had formed and were following close behind him.

Captured by a Mob

Ramirez tried to steal a car, but the owner was underneath it doing repairs. When Ramirez started the engine, the man pulled out from beneath the car and began chasing Ramirez. The mob that was in pursuit of Ramirez, now armed with steal rods, caught up with him. He was subdued, while some of the mob beat him, until the police arrived. Reportedly, Ramirez raised his hands to the police, begging for protection, and identified himself as the Night Stalker.

Endless Appeals

Because of the endless appeals on the part of the defense, the Ramirez trial did not end for over four years. One such appeal was to overturn the decision by a judge, for refusing to remove Judge Tynan from the case. In addition, defense attorney, Daniel Hernandez, suffered from stress, which resulted in numerous medical delays.

Haunts of the Charlie Manson Trial

During the trial, Ramirez attracted several groupies who wrote to him regularly. The trial scene had haunts of the Charlie Manson trial, with women hanging around, clad in black robes. When one of the juror's failed to show up one day, and was discovered dead in her apartment from a gun shot wound, many wondered if some of Ramirez's followers were responsible. But in actuality, it was the woman's boyfriend who killed her, during an argument that erupted while discussing the Ramirez case.

The Virgin Doreen

In 1996, Ramirez tied the knot with one of his groupies. She is 41-year-old Doreen Lioy, who has described herself as a virgin, prior to her marriage to Ramirez. Since death-row inmates are not permitted to have conjugal visits, then she may still be a virgin, not that anyone would care, other then Ramirez, who said her virginity is what attracted him to her.

Doreen Lioy believes her husband is innocent of the charges against him. Lioy, who was raised as a Catholic, respects Ramirez's Satanic worship. This was demonstrated when she gave him a silver wedding band to wear, since Satanic worshipers do not wear gold.

Sentenced to Die

On September, 20, 1989, The Night Stalker, Richard Ramirez, was found guilty on 43 counts in Los Angeles County, including 13 murders, and charges including burglary, sodomy, and rape. He was sentenced to death on each count of murder. After receiving his sentence, Ramirez responded, "Big deal," he said. "Death always went with the territory." and told reporters, "I'll see you in Disneyland." Currently Ramirez is in San Quentin Prison, where he sits on death row, until he is out of appeals.

During the sentencing stage, it was reported that Ramirez did not want his attorney's to beg for his life. It will be interesting to see if this same bravado will be demonstrated by him on the day he dies.

He has already outlived some of the victims that survived his attack.

Sources:

The Night Stalker by Philip Carlo
Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us by Robert D. Hare
Notorious: The Night Stalker: Richard Ramirez - The Biography Channel

Pie-splattered comedian Soupy Sales dies at 83

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:20:39 GMT

By DAVID N. GOODMAN, Associated Press Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
Friday, October 23, 2009

Soupy Sales, the rubber-faced comedian whose anything-for-a-chuckle career was built on 20,000 pies to the face and 5,000 live TV appearances across a half-century of laughs, has died. He was 83.

Sales died Thursday night at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, said his former manager and longtime friend, Dave Usher. Sales had many health problems and entered the hospice last week, Usher said.

Soupy Sales, born Milton Supman

At the peak of his fame in the 1950s and '60s, Sales was one of the best-known faces in the nation, Usher said.

"If President Eisenhower would have walked down the street, no one would have recognized him as much as Soupy," Usher said.

At the same time, Sales retained an openness to fans that turned every restaurant meal into an endless autograph-signing session, Usher said.

"He was just good to people," said Usher, a former jazz music producer who managed Sales in the 1950s and now owns Detroit-based Marine Pollution Control.

Sales began his TV career in Cincinnati and Cleveland, then moved to Detroit, where he drew a large audience on WXYZ-TV. He moved to Los Angeles in 1961.

The comic's pie-throwing schtick became his trademark, and celebrities lined up to take one on the chin alongside Sales. During the early 1960s, stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis and Shirley MacLaine received their just desserts side-by-side with the comedian on his television show.

"I'll probably be remembered for the pies, and that's all right," Sales said in a 1985 interview.

Sales was born Milton Supman on Jan. 8, 1926, in Franklinton, North Carolina, where his was the only Jewish family in town. His parents, owners of a dry-goods store, sold sheets to the Ku Klux Klan. The family later moved to Huntington, West Viriginia.

His greatest success came in New York with "The Soupy Sales Show" — an ostensible children's show that had little to do with Captain Kangaroo and other kiddie fare. Sales' manic, improvisational style also attracted an older audience that responded to his envelope-pushing antics.

Sales, who was typically clad in a black sweater and oversized bow-tie, was once suspended for a week after telling his legion of tiny listeners to empty their mothers' purse and mail him all the pieces of green paper bearing pictures of the presidents.

The cast of "Saturday Night Live" later paid homage by asking their audience to send in their joints. His influence was also obvious in the Pee-Wee Herman character created by Paul Reubens.

Sales returned from the Navy after World War II and became a $20-a-week reporter at a West Virginia radio station. He jumped to a DJ gig, changed his name to Soupy Heinz and headed for Ohio.

His first pie to the face came in 1951, when the newly christened Soupy Sales was hosting a children's show in Cleveland. In Detroit, Sales' show garnered a national reputation as he honed his act — a barrage of sketches, gags and bad puns that played in the Motor City for seven years.

After moving to Los Angeles, he eventually became a fill-in host on "The Tonight Show."

He moved to New York in 1964 and debuted "The Soupy Sales Show," with co-star puppets White Fang (the meanest dog in the United States) and Black Tooth (the nicest dog in the United States). By the time his Big Apple run ended two years later, Sales had appeared on 5,370 live television programs — the most in the medium's history, he boasted. He had a pair of albums that hit the Billboard Top 10 in 1965; "Do the Mouse" sold 250,000 copies in New York alone.

Sales remained a familiar television face, first as a regular from 1968-75 on the game show "What's My Line?" and later appearing on everything from "The Mike Douglas Show" to "The Love Boat." He played himself in the 1998 movie "Holy Man," which starred Eddie Murphy.

He joined WNBC-AM as a disc jockey in 1985, a stint best remembered because Sales filled the hours between shock jocks Don Imus and Howard Stern.

Sales is survived by his wife, Trudy, and two sons, Hunt and Tony, a pair of musicians who backed David Bowie in the band Tin Machine.

'Pumpkin Madness'

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 05:08:17 GMT

Hashi made this background on a programme called Bryce. Click the pick to visit his deviantART and download it for your computer wallpaper/screensaver. :)

bigcatpants.deviantart.com

Kow Korner

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:42:43 GMT

By Perry Woodfin

'Blue Fox' Drive-in

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:32:59 GMT

By Perry Woodfin