ANTIOCH, Calif. – Jaycee Lee Dugard has been subjected to what police say was nearly a lifetime of torment in a backyard compound set up by a religious zealot with a rap sheet dating to the 1970s. Prosecutors say she was raped and had two children by her captor, who hid her from the outside world.
But it became increasingly clear Friday that this 18-year nightmare did not have to be for Dugard, with new details surfacing that authorities blew numerous chances to catch her alleged captor.
Neighbors complained to law enforcement that a psychotic sex addict was in their midst, alarmed that Phillip Garrido was housing young girls in backyard tents. A deputy showed up to investigate, but never went beyond the front porch.
Probation officers showed up at the home, too, but had no inkling that his back yard was actually a labyrinth of tents, sheds and buildings that were Dugard's prison. They did not even know he had children on the premises.
Garrido also wore a GPS-linked ankle bracelet that tracked his every movement, the result of his sex-crime convictions that sent him away to Leavenworth for a 50-year stint, only to get paroled after 10 years.
"Why is he out and about?" said Dan DeMaranville, who investigated Garrido in the 1970s rape case in Nevada. "If he's on lifetime parole, where was his parole officer? The guy was a sick puppy, and should have been neutered before he was paroled."
The outrage came as a sheriff's department acknowledged that it missed an opportunity to arrest Garrido in 2006 after the neighbor complaint about children in the yard.
"We missed an opportunity to bring earlier closure to this situation," Contra Costa County Sheriff Warren E. Rupf said. "I cannot change the course of events but we are beating ourselves up over this and continue to do so."
"We should have been more inquisitive, more curious and turned over a rock or two."
Garrido and his wife pleaded not guilty Friday to a total of 29 counts, including forcible abduction, rape and false imprisonment. Phillip Garrido appeared stoic and unresponsive during the brief arraignment hearing. His wife cried and put her head in her hands several times.
Garrido gave a rambling, sometimes incoherent phone interview to KCRA-TV from the county jail Thursday in which he said he had not admitted to a kidnapping and that he had turned his life around since the birth of his first daughter 15 years ago.
Meanwhile, Garrido came under suspicion in the unsolved murders of several prostitutes in the 1990s, raising the prospect he was a serial killer as well. Several of the women's bodies — the exact number is not known — were dumped near an industrial park where Garrido worked during the 1990s. Police executed a search warrant at his home Friday in the investigation.
Dugard, now 29, was reunited with her family and said to be in good health, but feeling guilty about developing a bond with Garrido over the years. Her two children, 11 and 15, remained with her.
"Jaycee has strong feelings with this guy. She really feels it's almost like a marriage," said Dugard's stepfather Carl Probyn, who was there when little Jaycee was snatched from a bus stop in 1991.
Probyn has been in constant contact with Dugard's mother, his ex-wife Terry Probyn, since she found out her daughter was alive on Wednesday.
Probyn said both mother and daughter are trying to avoid the public eye for now. After not seeing each other for 18 years, Dugard greeted her mother by saying, "Hi, mom, I have babies," according to Probyn. Dugard had her two daughters with her at the reunion, and it appears she never told them she was kidnapped by their father, he said.
She is now free thanks in large part to two quick-thinking police employees at the University of California, Berkeley who came across a rambling Garrido this week, with Dugard's two daughters in tow. He was on campus because he wanted to hold some sort of religious event.
Garrido seemed incoherent and mentally unstable, and the girls wore drab-colored dresses, were unusually subdued, had an unnaturally pale complexion and appeared robotic and rehearsed when they spoke, said Lisa Campbell. They said they were home-schooled by their mother and had a 29-year-old sister at home.
"They seemed a little out of touch with reality and robotic," said Campbell's colleague, Ally Jacobs. "I just got a weird uneasy feeling."
She ran a background check on Garrido and notified his probation officer. On Wednesday, Garrido arrived at the probation officer's building with his wife, the two girls and a woman who initially identified herself as Allissa. She turned out to be Dugard and investigators said Garrido confessed to the kidnapping.
The authorities say they do not yet know whether she ever tried to escape or to alert anyone of her whereabouts, but she had chances to escape Garrido, who did a stint behind bars during the period of captivity.
Authorities had a chance to catch him, too.
Garrido met with his parole agent several times each month and was subject to routine surprise home visits and random drug and alcohol tests, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokesman Gordon Hinkle said. The last unannounced visit by a team of local police agencies was conducted in July 2008.
"There was never any indication to my knowledge that there was any sign of children living there," Hinkle said.
As it turns out, Dugard and her two children were living there as prisoners, authorities say. The heavily wooded compound was arranged so that people could not view what was happening, and one of the buildings was sound-proofed and could only be opened from the outside.
Damon Robinson has lived next door to the Garridos for more than three years and his then-girlfriend in 2006 told him she saw tents in the backyard and children. Kids on the block called him "Creepy Phil."
"I told her to call police. I told her to call right away," he said.
Garrido was required to register as a sex offender because he was convicted in 1977 of kidnapping a 25-year-old woman from parking lot in South Lake Tahoe, the same town Jaycee Dugard lived in when she was kidnapped.
He was convicted of raping the woman multiple times at a Reno storage unit that the investigator from the case described as a "sex palace." It featured various sex aids, sex magazines and videos, stage lights, wine, and a bed, said DeMaranville.
He served about 10 years of a 50-year federal sentence for kidnapping, and less than a year for a concurrent Nevada sentence of five years to life in prison for sexual assault. He was paroled in 1988, said Nevada Department of Corrections spokeswoman Suzanne Pardee.
A violation of Garrido's parole conditions sent him back to federal prison from April to August of 1993. Dick Carelli, spokesman for the federal Office of Court Administration, did not know what Garrido did to violate parole.
Monica Adams, 33, whose mother lives on their street, said she knew Phillip Garrido was a sex offender and that he had children living with him. Other neighbors knew, too, but they assumed police were keeping tabs on him.
"He never bothered any one, he kept to himself," Adams said. "What would we have done? You just watch your own."
Probyn said he was frustrated to find out that a car matching the description of the one he saw speeding Dugard away in the day she was kidnapped was found in the yard of Garrido's home. Nancy Garrido also fits the "dead-on" description he gave of the woman who pulled her into the car, he said.
"He had every break in the world," Probyn said of Garrido's close encounters with the law.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090829/ap_on_re_us/us_kidnapped_girl_found
Friday, August 28, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Shisha 'as harmful as cigarettes'
Smoking a shisha pipe is as bad for people as smoking tobacco, the Department of Health and the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre has found.
People who smoke shisha, or herbal tobacco, can suffer from high carbon monoxide levels, its research revealed.
It found one session of smoking shisha resulted in carbon monoxide levels at least four to five times higher than the amount produced by one cigarette.
High levels of carbon monoxide can lead to brain damage and unconsciousness.
Shisha is a water-pipe, popular in many Arab countries, in which fruit-scented tobacco is burnt using coal, passed through an ornate water vessel and inhaled through a hose.
The Department of Health said it was difficult to know exactly how much carbon monoxide one cigarette produced, due to the differences in smokers' inhalations.
CO LEVELS - PARTS PER MILLION
Normal level: 3 ppm
Light smoker: 10-20 ppm
Heavy smoker 30-40 ppm
Faulty boiler/fire levels: Upwards of 100 ppm
Severe symptoms: 100 ppm
Lethal levels: More than 300 ppm
But measuring carbon monoxide in exhaled breath showed a normal non-smoker's level to be three parts CO per million parts of air (ppm) (less than 1% of blood not working properly), a light smoker to have 10-20 ppm (2-4% of blood not working properly), and a heavy smoker 30-40 ppm (5-7%).
The study found shisha smokers had 40-70 ppm of CO in their breath - affecting 8-12% of their blood.
Dr Hilary Wareing, director of the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre, told the BBC's Asian Network she was shocked by the results of the research.
"Our mouths opened at the level of harm - none of the tests we did showed anything other than shisha is hazardous to health."
Paul Hooper, regional manager at the Department of Health, said the findings made the dangers of shisha a "major issue".
He said many people regard shisha "as not even smoking".
Misconception
Shisha bars, which are typically decked out with low stools and soft cushions to create an inviting atmosphere, have become popular in cities across the UK, particularly in London, Manchester and Birmingham.
At the worst, shisha was 400 to 450 times more dangerous than having a cigarette
Dr Hilary Wareing
Tobacco Control Collaboration Centre
An activity largely associated with Middle Eastern customers and a young crowd, there is a growing trend of themed shisha parties.
Many people who go to "shisha evenings" think it is a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes.
"You never see it in the news - 'that is terrible, don't do it' - there's no shock tactics like (there is with) cigarettes," said one young woman.
"If my mum sees me smoking shisha, she isn't going to take it as seriously as if I was smoking cigarettes," said a British Pakistani man.
It was this misconception - and finding dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in a pregnant woman who had stopped smoking tobacco, but continued to smoke shisha - which prompted the research.
"We found one session of smoking shisha - that's 10 milligrams (of fruit tobacco) for 30 minutes - gave carbon monoxide levels that were at the lowest four and five times higher than having a cigarette," said Dr Wareing.
"But at the worst, shisha was 400 to 450 times more dangerous than having a cigarette," she added.
Informed choice
Man smoking shisha in Edgware Road
Edgware Road is home to a large number of shisha cafes or hookah bars
Shisha smokers in a cafe in Edgware Road, London, said the findings would make them think twice about smoking.
"You know you can die from cigarettes, but you don't know you can die from shisha," said one.
"I'm now going home to research it," said another.
But not everyone is convinced.
Akram, a 27-year-old who runs a restaurant and shisha bar in Birmingham, has his own views.
"There is a health risk but it's all down to consumption and all the evidence I've seen is that smoking shisha is nothing like smoking even one cigarette," he said.
He said he did not actually inhale shisha smoke.
It is not just the level of carbon monoxide that is causing concern.
Qasim Choudhory, a youth worker at the NHS Stop Smoking Service in Leicester, said sharing a shisha pipe could pass around infections.
"There's a heightened risk of getting TB, herpes and infections like that," she said.
"Now you know swine flu is on the top of the agenda right now - there's no kind of direct correlation, but at time when we're up on our hygiene, it's not the best type of activity to be taking part in."
Dr Wareing said more research on exactly how dangerous shisha was needed to be conducted to enable people to make an informed choice.
Paul Hooper said the department was working hard at "how best to get the message - that it is dangerous - across to the consumer".
"But how do you label the tobacco and the shisha pipe? It's not as simple as labelling a packet of cigarettes," he added.
Found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8214097.stm
People who smoke shisha, or herbal tobacco, can suffer from high carbon monoxide levels, its research revealed.
It found one session of smoking shisha resulted in carbon monoxide levels at least four to five times higher than the amount produced by one cigarette.
High levels of carbon monoxide can lead to brain damage and unconsciousness.
Shisha is a water-pipe, popular in many Arab countries, in which fruit-scented tobacco is burnt using coal, passed through an ornate water vessel and inhaled through a hose.
The Department of Health said it was difficult to know exactly how much carbon monoxide one cigarette produced, due to the differences in smokers' inhalations.
Normal level: 3 ppm
Light smoker: 10-20 ppm
Heavy smoker 30-40 ppm
Faulty boiler/fire levels: Upwards of 100 ppm
Severe symptoms: 100 ppm
Lethal levels: More than 300 ppm
But measuring carbon monoxide in exhaled breath showed a normal non-smoker's level to be three parts CO per million parts of air (ppm) (less than 1% of blood not working properly), a light smoker to have 10-20 ppm (2-4% of blood not working properly), and a heavy smoker 30-40 ppm (5-7%).
The study found shisha smokers had 40-70 ppm of CO in their breath - affecting 8-12% of their blood.
Dr Hilary Wareing, director of the Tobacco Control Collaborating Centre, told the BBC's Asian Network she was shocked by the results of the research.
"Our mouths opened at the level of harm - none of the tests we did showed anything other than shisha is hazardous to health."
Paul Hooper, regional manager at the Department of Health, said the findings made the dangers of shisha a "major issue".
He said many people regard shisha "as not even smoking".
Misconception
Shisha bars, which are typically decked out with low stools and soft cushions to create an inviting atmosphere, have become popular in cities across the UK, particularly in London, Manchester and Birmingham.
At the worst, shisha was 400 to 450 times more dangerous than having a cigarette
Dr Hilary Wareing
Tobacco Control Collaboration Centre
An activity largely associated with Middle Eastern customers and a young crowd, there is a growing trend of themed shisha parties.
Many people who go to "shisha evenings" think it is a safer alternative to smoking cigarettes.
"You never see it in the news - 'that is terrible, don't do it' - there's no shock tactics like (there is with) cigarettes," said one young woman.
"If my mum sees me smoking shisha, she isn't going to take it as seriously as if I was smoking cigarettes," said a British Pakistani man.
It was this misconception - and finding dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in a pregnant woman who had stopped smoking tobacco, but continued to smoke shisha - which prompted the research.
"We found one session of smoking shisha - that's 10 milligrams (of fruit tobacco) for 30 minutes - gave carbon monoxide levels that were at the lowest four and five times higher than having a cigarette," said Dr Wareing.
"But at the worst, shisha was 400 to 450 times more dangerous than having a cigarette," she added.
Informed choice
Man smoking shisha in Edgware Road
Edgware Road is home to a large number of shisha cafes or hookah bars
Shisha smokers in a cafe in Edgware Road, London, said the findings would make them think twice about smoking.
"You know you can die from cigarettes, but you don't know you can die from shisha," said one.
"I'm now going home to research it," said another.
But not everyone is convinced.
Akram, a 27-year-old who runs a restaurant and shisha bar in Birmingham, has his own views.
"There is a health risk but it's all down to consumption and all the evidence I've seen is that smoking shisha is nothing like smoking even one cigarette," he said.
He said he did not actually inhale shisha smoke.
It is not just the level of carbon monoxide that is causing concern.
Qasim Choudhory, a youth worker at the NHS Stop Smoking Service in Leicester, said sharing a shisha pipe could pass around infections.
"There's a heightened risk of getting TB, herpes and infections like that," she said.
"Now you know swine flu is on the top of the agenda right now - there's no kind of direct correlation, but at time when we're up on our hygiene, it's not the best type of activity to be taking part in."
Dr Wareing said more research on exactly how dangerous shisha was needed to be conducted to enable people to make an informed choice.
Paul Hooper said the department was working hard at "how best to get the message - that it is dangerous - across to the consumer".
"But how do you label the tobacco and the shisha pipe? It's not as simple as labelling a packet of cigarettes," he added.
Found at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8214097.stm
Swine flu could cause as many as 90,000 US deaths
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Swine flu could infect as much as half of the US population this fall and winter and cause up to 90,000 deaths, President Barack Obama's science advisors warned Monday.
A lab technician working on a swine-flu detection DNA test.
Swine flu could infect as much as half of the US population this fall and winter and cause up to 90,000 deaths, President Barack Obama's science advisors warned Monday.
Laying out a "plausible scenario" for the epidemic's impact in the United States, the report painted a grim picture of stress on the US health care system as it struggles to cope with a flood of flu patients.
The epidemic's resurgence could "produce infection of 30-50 percent of the US population this fall and winter, with symptoms in approximately 20-40 percent of the population (60-120 million people), more than half of whom would seek medical attention," the report said.
As many as 1.8 million people could be admitted to hospitals with up to 300,000 of them requiring treatment in intensive care units.
"Importantly, these very ill patients could occupy 50-100 percent of all ICU beds in affected regions of the country at the peak of the epidemic and could place enormous stress on ICU units, which normally operate close to capacity," it said.
The epidemic, it said, "could cause between 30,000 and 90,000 deaths in the United States, concentrated among children and young adults," it said.
That compares with 30,000 to 40,000 deaths from seasonal flu each year, mainly among people over age 65.
The report said the epidemic poses "especially high risks" for people with pre-existing conditions such as pregnant women and patients with neurological disorders, respiratory impairment, diabetes or severe obesity.
It also mentioned Native Americans as being at risk from the swine flu.
The flu's resurgence could occur as early as September when the school term begins, and peak in mid-October.
But a vaccine against the A(H1N1) virus is only projected to be available in mid-October, and it will take vaccinated individuals several more weeks to develop protective immunity, the report said.
"This potential mismatch in timing could significantly diminish the usefulness of vaccination for mitigating the epidemic and could place many at risk of serious infection," it said.
The report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) said that while the virus is "unlikely to resemble the deadly flu pandemic of 1918-19," the current strain still "poses a serious health threat."
According to the latest official US figures, the 2009 swine flu strain has already killed 522 people in the United States and hospitalized almost 8,000 people since it emerged in Mexico at the end of April.
The group recommended accelerating preparation of flu vaccines for distribution to high-risk individuals and clarifying guidelines for the use of antiviral medicines.
Advisors also called on the public to stay informed on A(H1N1)'s expected spread as the northern hemisphere's regular flu returns with the colder months.
These efforts involve using social networking sites on the Internet to propagate health messages and an "intensive public education" campaign to promote awareness to the threat.
The White House also needs to create a post that has "primary authority to coordinate key decisions" for fighting the pandemic, the report said.
Among other recommendations are for workplaces to "liberalize rules for absenteeism" so employees are not pressured to come to work when they feel sick.
Overall, the PCAST gave the administration positive reviews for its preparation.
"The Federal Government's response has been truly impressive and we've all been pleased to see the high level of cooperation among the many departments and agencies that are gearing up for the expected fall resurgence of H1N1 flu," said PCAST co-chair Harold Varmus.
"This virus has pulled us all together in common cause," said another PCAST co-chair, Eric Lander. "The preparations are the best ever for an influenza pandemic," he said.
Over 20 pharmaceutical companies around the world are racing to test, produce and distribute more than a billion doses of the vaccines in anticipation of the second wave of infection.
A(H1N1) has created a health crisis in Latin America throughout the southern continent's winter months, causing more than 1,300 deaths, according to an AFP tally of individual government tolls.
Source: http://health.yahoo.com/news/afp/healthfluuswhouse_20090824233142.html;_ylt=AnNMSdyfblExRJPNS_KtpndPj4t4
Swine flu could infect as much as half of the US population this fall and winter and cause up to 90,000 deaths, President Barack Obama's science advisors warned Monday.
Laying out a "plausible scenario" for the epidemic's impact in the United States, the report painted a grim picture of stress on the US health care system as it struggles to cope with a flood of flu patients.
The epidemic's resurgence could "produce infection of 30-50 percent of the US population this fall and winter, with symptoms in approximately 20-40 percent of the population (60-120 million people), more than half of whom would seek medical attention," the report said.
As many as 1.8 million people could be admitted to hospitals with up to 300,000 of them requiring treatment in intensive care units.
"Importantly, these very ill patients could occupy 50-100 percent of all ICU beds in affected regions of the country at the peak of the epidemic and could place enormous stress on ICU units, which normally operate close to capacity," it said.
The epidemic, it said, "could cause between 30,000 and 90,000 deaths in the United States, concentrated among children and young adults," it said.
That compares with 30,000 to 40,000 deaths from seasonal flu each year, mainly among people over age 65.
The report said the epidemic poses "especially high risks" for people with pre-existing conditions such as pregnant women and patients with neurological disorders, respiratory impairment, diabetes or severe obesity.
It also mentioned Native Americans as being at risk from the swine flu.
The flu's resurgence could occur as early as September when the school term begins, and peak in mid-October.
But a vaccine against the A(H1N1) virus is only projected to be available in mid-October, and it will take vaccinated individuals several more weeks to develop protective immunity, the report said.
"This potential mismatch in timing could significantly diminish the usefulness of vaccination for mitigating the epidemic and could place many at risk of serious infection," it said.
The report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) said that while the virus is "unlikely to resemble the deadly flu pandemic of 1918-19," the current strain still "poses a serious health threat."
According to the latest official US figures, the 2009 swine flu strain has already killed 522 people in the United States and hospitalized almost 8,000 people since it emerged in Mexico at the end of April.
The group recommended accelerating preparation of flu vaccines for distribution to high-risk individuals and clarifying guidelines for the use of antiviral medicines.
Advisors also called on the public to stay informed on A(H1N1)'s expected spread as the northern hemisphere's regular flu returns with the colder months.
These efforts involve using social networking sites on the Internet to propagate health messages and an "intensive public education" campaign to promote awareness to the threat.
The White House also needs to create a post that has "primary authority to coordinate key decisions" for fighting the pandemic, the report said.
Among other recommendations are for workplaces to "liberalize rules for absenteeism" so employees are not pressured to come to work when they feel sick.
Overall, the PCAST gave the administration positive reviews for its preparation.
"The Federal Government's response has been truly impressive and we've all been pleased to see the high level of cooperation among the many departments and agencies that are gearing up for the expected fall resurgence of H1N1 flu," said PCAST co-chair Harold Varmus.
"This virus has pulled us all together in common cause," said another PCAST co-chair, Eric Lander. "The preparations are the best ever for an influenza pandemic," he said.
Over 20 pharmaceutical companies around the world are racing to test, produce and distribute more than a billion doses of the vaccines in anticipation of the second wave of infection.
A(H1N1) has created a health crisis in Latin America throughout the southern continent's winter months, causing more than 1,300 deaths, according to an AFP tally of individual government tolls.
Source: http://health.yahoo.com/news/afp/healthfluuswhouse_20090824233142.html;_ylt=AnNMSdyfblExRJPNS_KtpndPj4t4
Friday, August 7, 2009
Statement on Missing US Hikers
On July 31, three Americans went missing while on a hiking trip in Iraqi Kurdistan and are presumed to be detained by Iranian authorities. One of them is Shane Bauer, a freelance journalist who has written for The Nation magazine ("Iraq's New Death Squad" June 22, 2009). Shane was not on assignment for The Nation at the time. Below is a statement by Shon Meckfessel, the fourth member of their party, who was not with them at the time of their disappearance.
Statement on Missing US Hikers
By Shon Meckfessel August 6, 2009
I'm writing this statement to help people understand what happened to my three friends, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal, who went missing by the Iran/Iraq border. I have been close friends with Shane and Sarah for years, and recently met Josh, a longtime friend of Shane. Shane is a language student and freelance journalist; Sarah is an English teacher, and Josh arranges student exchange trips. All of us have done some writing about our travels, and all of us share a deep appreciation for Middle Eastern cultures.
Share this article
*
*
*
* Add to Mixx!
*
*
* Related
* Also By
*
Where Have You Gone, William Safire?
Journalists & Journalism
Eric Alterman: Newsrooms' fears of misunderstanding the right leads to outsized coverage and attention.
*
Obama Trapped Behind Wall of Mideast Containment
Middle East
Ira Chernus: Why the Obama administration's efforts to achieve a Middle East peace between the Israelis and Palestinians are inextricably linked to its efforts to bring Iran to heel.
*
The Student Sex Column Movement
Youth, Education, & Children
Alex DiBranco: The explosion of student sex columns, as captivating as they are controversial, represents a campus movement possessed of the same subversive potential that fueled 1960s student activism.
» More
*
A Letter to Ahmadinejad
Iran
Shon Meckfessel : Nation writer Shane Bauer and his friends have been detained by Iran for almost 100 days. A fourth member of their party appeals directly to Iran's president for their release.
*
Statement on Missing US Hikers
Middle East
Shon Meckfessel : Three Americans, including Shane Bauer, a contributor to The Nation, went missing while on a hiking trip in Iraqi Kurdistan and are presumed to be detained by Iranian authorities. A fourth member of their party provides insight into their trip here.
In late July the four of us decided to travel from Damascus, Syria to Iraqi Kurdistan for a short vacation. Sarah had to return to work in a week. While going there might seem strange to Americans, the Kurdish territory is actually very beautiful and quite safe. Since the Kurds gained autonomy in 1992, no American has ever been harmed there. The city of Sulaimania is increasingly popular with tourists, and a friend of ours told us it was the most beautiful area he'd ever seen.
We arrived in Sulaimania the night of July 29 and stayed at the Hotel Miwan. Walking around town the next day, we asked a number of people--taxi drivers, hotel staff and people on the street--for good places to experience the mountainous terrain in the area. Every one of them told us to visit a place called Ahmed Awa. Not one of these people mentioned that Ahmed Awa was anywhere near the Iranian border. In fact, on the wall of our hotel there were three photos of tourists standing near the Ahmed Awa waterfall.
Ahmed Awa seemed the clear choice for appreciating the stunning natural beauty around Sulaimania, far from any sort of risk. However, it may have been unclear to the people who encouraged us to visit Ahmed Awa that we intended to go hiking in the area, rather than simply visiting the waterfall.
There is no Lonely Planet Iraqi Kurdistan, and Ahmed Awa was not on the map we'd printed out. My sense--wrongly as it turns out--was that Ahmed Awa lay northwest of Sulaimania, in the direction of Dokan Lake (and Dokan Resort), another scenic area we'd considered visiting during our trip through Kurdistan. On the evening of July 30, Josh, Shane and Sarah set out for Ahmed Awa with the plan to camp out. I stayed behind at our hotel because I was coming down with a cold and wanted a night to recuperate. We agreed to meet up the next day near Ahmed Awa. I purchased an Iraqi SIM card for my cell phone to make sure we could find each other the next day (providing the area had a signal, which very luckily it did).
I spoke with Shane twice that evening. I called him at around 8 PM and he told me they'd just been dropped off near a strip of restaurants in Ahmed Awa. A couple hours later he told me they had followed a trail up from the strip of restaurants to the waterfall, and were continuing on the same trail to camp in peace. On July 31, I woke up feeling better and decided to join my friends. At about 11:30 AM I called Shane. He told me the weather had been mild all night. That morning they had woken up early and resumed hiking along the same trail. Shane sounded very calm and content, happy to be in a beautiful environment, and made absolutely no mention of any risk whatsoever. I am absolutely certain that they had no knowledge of their proximity to the Iranian border or they would have never continued in that direction. Shane told me they were planning to turn around soon. He thought we could meet up near the waterfall.
I sent Shane two text messages, one at 12:50 PM and one at 1:22 PM, to which he did not respond. At 1:33 PM I received a call from Shane during which he told me that they were being taken into custody and that I should call the embassy.
I hope that people understand my friends' presence in the area for what it was: a simple and very regrettable mistake.
Source: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/meckfessel
Statement on Missing US Hikers
By Shon Meckfessel August 6, 2009
I'm writing this statement to help people understand what happened to my three friends, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal, who went missing by the Iran/Iraq border. I have been close friends with Shane and Sarah for years, and recently met Josh, a longtime friend of Shane. Shane is a language student and freelance journalist; Sarah is an English teacher, and Josh arranges student exchange trips. All of us have done some writing about our travels, and all of us share a deep appreciation for Middle Eastern cultures.
Share this article
*
*
*
* Add to Mixx!
*
*
* Related
* Also By
*
Where Have You Gone, William Safire?
Journalists & Journalism
Eric Alterman: Newsrooms' fears of misunderstanding the right leads to outsized coverage and attention.
*
Obama Trapped Behind Wall of Mideast Containment
Middle East
Ira Chernus: Why the Obama administration's efforts to achieve a Middle East peace between the Israelis and Palestinians are inextricably linked to its efforts to bring Iran to heel.
*
The Student Sex Column Movement
Youth, Education, & Children
Alex DiBranco: The explosion of student sex columns, as captivating as they are controversial, represents a campus movement possessed of the same subversive potential that fueled 1960s student activism.
» More
*
A Letter to Ahmadinejad
Iran
Shon Meckfessel : Nation writer Shane Bauer and his friends have been detained by Iran for almost 100 days. A fourth member of their party appeals directly to Iran's president for their release.
*
Statement on Missing US Hikers
Middle East
Shon Meckfessel : Three Americans, including Shane Bauer, a contributor to The Nation, went missing while on a hiking trip in Iraqi Kurdistan and are presumed to be detained by Iranian authorities. A fourth member of their party provides insight into their trip here.
In late July the four of us decided to travel from Damascus, Syria to Iraqi Kurdistan for a short vacation. Sarah had to return to work in a week. While going there might seem strange to Americans, the Kurdish territory is actually very beautiful and quite safe. Since the Kurds gained autonomy in 1992, no American has ever been harmed there. The city of Sulaimania is increasingly popular with tourists, and a friend of ours told us it was the most beautiful area he'd ever seen.
We arrived in Sulaimania the night of July 29 and stayed at the Hotel Miwan. Walking around town the next day, we asked a number of people--taxi drivers, hotel staff and people on the street--for good places to experience the mountainous terrain in the area. Every one of them told us to visit a place called Ahmed Awa. Not one of these people mentioned that Ahmed Awa was anywhere near the Iranian border. In fact, on the wall of our hotel there were three photos of tourists standing near the Ahmed Awa waterfall.
Ahmed Awa seemed the clear choice for appreciating the stunning natural beauty around Sulaimania, far from any sort of risk. However, it may have been unclear to the people who encouraged us to visit Ahmed Awa that we intended to go hiking in the area, rather than simply visiting the waterfall.
There is no Lonely Planet Iraqi Kurdistan, and Ahmed Awa was not on the map we'd printed out. My sense--wrongly as it turns out--was that Ahmed Awa lay northwest of Sulaimania, in the direction of Dokan Lake (and Dokan Resort), another scenic area we'd considered visiting during our trip through Kurdistan. On the evening of July 30, Josh, Shane and Sarah set out for Ahmed Awa with the plan to camp out. I stayed behind at our hotel because I was coming down with a cold and wanted a night to recuperate. We agreed to meet up the next day near Ahmed Awa. I purchased an Iraqi SIM card for my cell phone to make sure we could find each other the next day (providing the area had a signal, which very luckily it did).
I spoke with Shane twice that evening. I called him at around 8 PM and he told me they'd just been dropped off near a strip of restaurants in Ahmed Awa. A couple hours later he told me they had followed a trail up from the strip of restaurants to the waterfall, and were continuing on the same trail to camp in peace. On July 31, I woke up feeling better and decided to join my friends. At about 11:30 AM I called Shane. He told me the weather had been mild all night. That morning they had woken up early and resumed hiking along the same trail. Shane sounded very calm and content, happy to be in a beautiful environment, and made absolutely no mention of any risk whatsoever. I am absolutely certain that they had no knowledge of their proximity to the Iranian border or they would have never continued in that direction. Shane told me they were planning to turn around soon. He thought we could meet up near the waterfall.
I sent Shane two text messages, one at 12:50 PM and one at 1:22 PM, to which he did not respond. At 1:33 PM I received a call from Shane during which he told me that they were being taken into custody and that I should call the embassy.
I hope that people understand my friends' presence in the area for what it was: a simple and very regrettable mistake.
Source: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20090817/meckfessel
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Loss of Sense of Smell with Intranasal Cold Remedies Containing Zinc
FDA is alerting consumers that Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel, Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Swabs, and Zicam Cold Remedy Swabs, Kids Size, a discontinued product that consumers may still have in their homes, have all been associated with long lasting or permanent loss of smell (referred to as anosmia). These products, marketed by Matrixx Initiatives, are zinc-containing, nasal cold remedies used to reduce the duration and severity of cold symptoms. However, these products have not been shown to be effective in the reduction of the duration and severity of cold symptoms.
This advisory does not concern oral zinc tablets and lozenges taken by mouth.
FDA recommends that consumers stop using these products and throw them away. See the FDA website for How to Dispose of Unused Medicines.
For treating symptoms of the common cold, consumers can take a number of other over-the-counter drugs. However, the common cold goes away without treatment, usually within seven to ten days.
Since the introduction of Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel to the market in 1999, FDA has received more than 130 reports of anosmia associated with the use of Zicam zinc-containing intranasal products. The reports vary. Many people state that the loss of sense of smell occurred with the first dose of the Zicam product, although some people report it happened after later doses. The loss of sense of smell may be long-lasting or even permanent in some people.
Loss of the sense of smell may cause serious problems, such as failing to smell smoke, a gas leak, or spoiled food. Also, loss of the sense of smell is often linked with a loss of the sense of taste. People who cannot taste could unintentionally eat spoiled food and not appreciate flavors, and lose much of the pleasure of eating.
FDA recommends that consumers contact their healthcare provider if they experience loss of the sense of smell or taste, or experience other problems after using any zinc-containing nasal products.
Adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of this Product may be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail or by fax, using the contact information at the bottom of this sheet.
Source: http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PublicHealthAdvisories/ucm166059.htm
This advisory does not concern oral zinc tablets and lozenges taken by mouth.
FDA recommends that consumers stop using these products and throw them away. See the FDA website for How to Dispose of Unused Medicines.
For treating symptoms of the common cold, consumers can take a number of other over-the-counter drugs. However, the common cold goes away without treatment, usually within seven to ten days.
Since the introduction of Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel to the market in 1999, FDA has received more than 130 reports of anosmia associated with the use of Zicam zinc-containing intranasal products. The reports vary. Many people state that the loss of sense of smell occurred with the first dose of the Zicam product, although some people report it happened after later doses. The loss of sense of smell may be long-lasting or even permanent in some people.
Loss of the sense of smell may cause serious problems, such as failing to smell smoke, a gas leak, or spoiled food. Also, loss of the sense of smell is often linked with a loss of the sense of taste. People who cannot taste could unintentionally eat spoiled food and not appreciate flavors, and lose much of the pleasure of eating.
FDA recommends that consumers contact their healthcare provider if they experience loss of the sense of smell or taste, or experience other problems after using any zinc-containing nasal products.
Adverse reactions or quality problems experienced with the use of this Product may be reported to the FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program either online, by regular mail or by fax, using the contact information at the bottom of this sheet.
Source: http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PublicHealthAdvisories/ucm166059.htm
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Swine Flu Now Reported in All 50 States
TUESDAY, June 2 (HealthDay News) -- Swine flu cases have now been reported in all 50 states, with the total number of people infected probably surpassing 200,000, U.S. health officials said Monday.
"It's accurate to say that there are probably several hundred thousand people that have been impacted by this flu," said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "But that's in line with what we would see with seasonal influenza if we had the number of cases we are reporting right now."
And while the outbreak continues to wane, new cases will continue to emerge, Skinner said.
On Monday, the CDC was reporting a total of 10,053 cases in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, including 17 deaths. The agency has said in the past that confirmed cases of H1N1 swine flu represent about one in 20 of actual cases, bringing the total number of cases to about 200,000.
Infections with the H1N1 swine flu virus continue to be mild and recovery is fairly quick, as is the case with seasonal flu, officials said. Testing has found that the virus remains susceptible to two common antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, according to the CDC.
What has been different about the swine flu outbreak, Skinner said, is that activity picked up late in the typical flu season. "What was unusual was that in late March into April and late May we saw activity at a higher-than-expected level," he said.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim deputy director for science and public health program, said last week that the newly identified H1N1 swine flu virus continues to behave much like seasonal H1N1 viruses, which may partly explain why this flu strain affects more younger people. "Seasonal H1N1 often causes more disease in younger people, compared with the other strains that can be more common in older people," she said.
Some older people may have partial immunity to the H1N1 swine flu virus because of possible exposure to another H1N1 flu strain that circulated prior to 1957.
Schuchat said a vaccine for the swine flu virus could be ready in October, if research and testing proceed on pace this summer. Candidate viruses have been shipped to vaccine manufacturers, she said.
It's still not clear whether a swine flu vaccine is needed, Schuchat said. Any decision to move forward would be based on several factors, including the severity and spread of the virus and whether there's a safe and effective vaccine, she said.
During the next few months, scientists will be looking to see if the swine flu virus mutates or becomes resistant to antiviral medications, or is more easily spread among people, Schuchat said. The flu season is winding down in the Northern Hemisphere but is just beginning in the Southern Hemisphere.
Schuchat said there's no way to tell now if the H1N1 virus will be more virulent when -- and if -- it returns to the Northern Hemisphere with the approach of winter.
The World Health Organization said Monday that 53 countries have reported 15,510 cases of H1N1 swine flu, including 99 deaths, most of them in Mexico, where the outbreak began.
(story not over...scroll down a page)
U.S. Human Cases of H1N1 Flu Infection (As of June 1, 2009, 11:00 AM ET)
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
More information
For more on swine flu, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Found at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090602/hl_hsn/swineflunowreportedinall50states
"It's accurate to say that there are probably several hundred thousand people that have been impacted by this flu," said Tom Skinner, a spokesman for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "But that's in line with what we would see with seasonal influenza if we had the number of cases we are reporting right now."
And while the outbreak continues to wane, new cases will continue to emerge, Skinner said.
On Monday, the CDC was reporting a total of 10,053 cases in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, including 17 deaths. The agency has said in the past that confirmed cases of H1N1 swine flu represent about one in 20 of actual cases, bringing the total number of cases to about 200,000.
Infections with the H1N1 swine flu virus continue to be mild and recovery is fairly quick, as is the case with seasonal flu, officials said. Testing has found that the virus remains susceptible to two common antiviral drugs, Tamiflu and Relenza, according to the CDC.
What has been different about the swine flu outbreak, Skinner said, is that activity picked up late in the typical flu season. "What was unusual was that in late March into April and late May we saw activity at a higher-than-expected level," he said.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, the CDC's interim deputy director for science and public health program, said last week that the newly identified H1N1 swine flu virus continues to behave much like seasonal H1N1 viruses, which may partly explain why this flu strain affects more younger people. "Seasonal H1N1 often causes more disease in younger people, compared with the other strains that can be more common in older people," she said.
Some older people may have partial immunity to the H1N1 swine flu virus because of possible exposure to another H1N1 flu strain that circulated prior to 1957.
Schuchat said a vaccine for the swine flu virus could be ready in October, if research and testing proceed on pace this summer. Candidate viruses have been shipped to vaccine manufacturers, she said.
It's still not clear whether a swine flu vaccine is needed, Schuchat said. Any decision to move forward would be based on several factors, including the severity and spread of the virus and whether there's a safe and effective vaccine, she said.
During the next few months, scientists will be looking to see if the swine flu virus mutates or becomes resistant to antiviral medications, or is more easily spread among people, Schuchat said. The flu season is winding down in the Northern Hemisphere but is just beginning in the Southern Hemisphere.
Schuchat said there's no way to tell now if the H1N1 virus will be more virulent when -- and if -- it returns to the Northern Hemisphere with the approach of winter.
The World Health Organization said Monday that 53 countries have reported 15,510 cases of H1N1 swine flu, including 99 deaths, most of them in Mexico, where the outbreak began.
(story not over...scroll down a page)
| States | # confirmed/probable cases | Deaths |
| Alabama | 84 | |
| Alaska | 1 | |
| Arkansas | 7 | |
| Arizona | 547 | 4 deaths |
| California | 804 | |
| Colorado | 61 | |
| Connecticut | 196 | |
| Delaware | 121 | |
| Florida | 166 | |
| Georgia | 29 | |
| Hawaii | 73 | |
| Idaho | 13 | |
| Illinois | 1103 | 3 deaths |
| Indiana | 146 | |
| Iowa | 71 | |
| Kansas | 79 | |
| Kentucky** | 77 | |
| Louisiana | 122 | |
| Maine | 11 | |
| Maryland | 48 | |
| Massachusetts | 470 | |
| Michigan | 234 | |
| Minnesota | 60 | |
| Mississippi | 16 | |
| Missouri | 36 | 1 death |
| Montana | 14 | |
| Nebraska | 43 | |
| Nevada | 102 | |
| New Hampshire | 40 | |
| New Jersey | 74 | |
| New Mexico | 108 | |
| New York | 605 | 4 deaths |
| North Carolina | 14 | |
| North Dakota | 6 | |
| Ohio | 23 | |
| Oklahoma | 82 | |
| Oregon | 148 | |
| Pennsylvania | 123 | |
| Rhode Island | 14 | |
| South Carolina | 46 | |
| South Dakota | 7 | |
| Tennessee | 104 | |
| Texas | 1403 | 3 deaths |
| Utah | 247 | 1 death |
| Vermont | 3 | |
| Virginia | 31 | |
| Washington | 575 | 1 death |
| Washington, D.C. | 20 | |
| West Virginia | 3 | |
| Wisconsin | 1641 | |
| Wyoming | 2 | |
| TOTAL*(51) | 10,053 cases | 17 deaths |
| *includes the District of Columbia **One case is resident of Ky. but hospitalized in Ga. | ||
Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
More information
For more on swine flu, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Found at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090602/hl_hsn/swineflunowreportedinall50states
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Kan. abortion doc killed in church; suspect held
WICHITA, Kan. – Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation's few providers of late-term abortions despite decades of protests and attacks, was shot and killed Sunday in a church where he was serving as an usher.
The gunman fled, but a 51-year-old suspect was detained some 170 miles away in suburban Kansas City three hours after the shooting, Wichita Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said.Although Stolz refused to release the man's name, Johnson County sheriff's spokesman Tom Erickson identified the detained man as Scott Roeder. He has not been charged in the slaying and was expected to be taken to Wichita for questioning.
Police did not release a motive for the shooting. But the doctor's violent death was the latest in a string of shootings and bombings over two decades directed against abortion clinics, doctors and staff.
Long a focus of national anti-abortion groups, including a summer-long protest in 1991, Tiller was shot in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church. Tiller's attorney, Dan Monnat, said Tiller's wife, Jeanne, was in the choir at the time.
The slaying of the 67-year-old doctor is "an unspeakable tragedy," his widow, four children and 10 grandchildren said in statement. "This is particularly heart-wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace."
The family said its loss "is also a loss for the city of Wichita and women across America. George dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent threats and violence."
Stolz said all indications were that the gunman acted alone, although authorities were investigating whether he had any connection to anti-abortion groups.
Tiller's Women's Health Care Services clinic is one of just three in the nation where abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy. The clinic was heavily fortified and Tiller often traveled with a bodyguard, but Stolz said there was no indication of security at the church Sunday.
Anti-abortion groups denounced the shooting and stressed that they support only nonviolent protest. The movement's leaders fear the killing could create a backlash just as they are scrutinizing U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, whose views on abortion rights are not publicly known.
"We are shocked at this morning's disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down," Troy Newman, Operation Rescue's president, said in a statement. "Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning."
President Barack Obama said he was "shocked and outraged" by the murder. "However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence," he said.
At Tiller's church, Adam Watkins, 20, said he was sitting in the middle of the congregation when he heard a small pop at the start of the service.
"We just thought a child had come in with a balloon and it had popped, had gone up and hit the ceiling and popped," Watkins said.
Another usher came in and told the congregation to remain seated, then escorted Tiller's wife out. "When she got to the back doors, we heard her scream, and so we knew something bad had happened," Watkins said.
He said the service continued even after an associate pastor announced that Tiller had been injured. "We were just really shocked," he said. "We were kind of dumbfounded. We couldn't really believe it had happened."
Tiller had in the past endured threats and violence. A protester shot Tiller in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985. More recently, Monnat said Tiller had asked federal prosecutors to step up investigations of vandalism and other threats against the clinic out of fear that the incidents were increasing and that Tiller's safety was in jeopardy. Stolz, however, said police knew of no threats connected to the shooting.
In early May, Tiller had asked the FBI to investigate vandalism at his clinic, including cut wires to surveillance cameras and damage to the roof that sent rainwater pouring into the building.
In 1991, the Summer of Mercy protests organized by Operation Rescue drew thousands of anti-abortion activists to this city for demonstrations marked by civil disobedience and mass arrests.
Tiller began providing abortion services in 1973. He acknowledged abortion was as socially divisive as slavery or prohibition but said the issue was about giving women a choice when dealing with technology that can diagnose severe fetal abnormalities before a baby is born.
Nancy Keenan, president of abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, issued a statement praising Tiller's commitment.
"Dr. Tiller's murder will send a chill down the spines of the brave and courageous providers and other professionals who are part of reproductive-health centers that serve women across this country. We want them to know that they have our support as they move forward in providing these essential services in the aftermath of the shocking news from Wichita," Keenan said.
The last killing of an abortion doctor was in October 1998 when Dr. Barnett Slepian was fatally shot in his home in a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. A militant abortion opponent was convicted of the murder.
Tiller's clinic is fortified with bulletproof glass, and Tiller hired a private security team to protect the facility. Once outside the clinic, Tiller was routinely accompanied by a bodyguard.
At a recent trial, he told jurors that he and his family have suffered years of harassment and threats and that he knew he was a target of anti-abortion protesters.
Federal marshals protected Tiller during the 1991 Summer of Mercy protests, and he was protected again between 1994 and 1998 after another abortion provider was assassinated and federal authorities reported finding Tiller's name on an assassination list.
Tiller remained prominent in the news, in part because of an investigation begun by former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, an abortion opponent.
Prosecutors had alleged that Tiller had gotten second opinions from a doctor who was essentially an employee of his, not independent as state law requires. A jury in March acquitted Tiller of all 19 misdemeanor counts.
"I am stunned by this lawless and violent act, which must be condemned and should be met with the full force of law," Kline said in a statement. "We join in lifting prayer that God's grace and presence rest with Dr. Tiller's family and friends."
Wichita police say a 'high-profile individual in the community' has been shot and killed at the church where late-term abortion provider Dr. George Tiller attends.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tiller_shooting
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Four states adopt 'no-smiles' policy for driver's licenses
Stopping driver's license fraud is no laughing matter: Four states are ordering people to wipe the grins off their faces in their license photos.
"Neutral facial expressions" are required at departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) in Arkansas, Indiana, Nevada and Virginia. That means you can't smile, or smile very much. Other states may follow.
LICENSE FRAUD: States take steps to cut down fake IDs
The serious poses are urged by DMVs that have installed high-tech software that compares a new license photo with others that have already been shot. When a new photo seems to match an existing one, the software sends alarms that someone may be trying to assume another driver's identity.
But there's a wrinkle in the technology: a person's grin. Face-recognition software can fail to match two photos of the same person if facial expressions differ in each photo, says Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor Takeo Kanade.
Dull expressions "make the comparison process more accurate," says Karen Chappell, deputy commissioner of the Virginia DMV, whose no-smile policy took effect in March.
Elaine Mullen of Great Falls, Va., bristled at the policy while renewing her license until she heard the reasoning. "It's probably safer from a national-security point of view," she says.
Arkansas, Indiana and Nevada allow slight smiles. "You just can't grin really large," Arkansas driver services chief Tonie Shields says.
A total of 31 states do computerized matching of driver's license photos and three others are considering it, says the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Most say their software matches faces regardless of expressions. "People can smile here in Pennsylvania," state Transportation Department spokesman Craig Yetter says.
In Illinois, photo matching has stopped 6,000 people from getting fraudulent licenses since the technology was launched in 1999, says Beth Langen, the state head of Drivers Services.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-05-25-licenses_N.htm?se=yahoorefer
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Craigslist to drop "erotic services" ads
BOSTON (Reuters) - Online classified site Craigslist will replace its "erotic services" ads with a new adult category following pressure by state authorities after the murder of a masseuse who advertised on the site.
The "erotic services" section will end within seven days and be replaced by an "adult services" category where advertisements will be individually screened by Craigslist staff, Craigslist said in a statement on Wednesday.
The measures could set a precedent for similar sites, said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who led a 40-state task-force on Craigslist and campaigned publicly for tighter controls on the San Francisco-based service.
"Closing the erotic services section, a blatant Internet brothel, should lead to other blocking and screening measures, and set a model for other sites, if Craigslist keeps its word," he said.
Craigslist's sex-service listings have faced intense scrutiny since the April 14 murder of 25-year-old masseuse Julissa Brisman, who advertised on Craigslist in Boston.
Philip Markoff, a 23-year-old Boston University medical student, was charged with killing Brisman and with attacks on two other women he met through Craigslist ads.
Craigslist, a 14-year-old online bazaar that generates more than 20 billion page views per month in 50 countries with a staff of just 28 people, is partially owned by online auctioneer eBay, which bought 25 percent in 2004.
Along with free listings for everything from apartments and furniture to jobs and cars, Craigslist.com carries one of the largest and most controversial sex-service listings. Its rapid growth and low-cost business model have hurt newspapers by siphoning away advertising revenue.
Craigslist had already made some changes to curb illegal activity on its site. Under pressure from 40 U.S. attorneys general, the site agreed in November to charge people posting erotic ads $5-$10 by credit card and require them to submit a working phone number to use the site.
'HALF BAKED'
From Wednesday, postings to the "erotic services" section will no longer be accepted, Craigslist said. Postings to the new section, which opened immediately, cost $10. Once they are approved, they will be eligible for reposting at $5.
Not every state was satisfied. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has pressed Craigslist to go further by tracking computer IP addresses of suspected prostitution rings and take other safeguards.
"Several weeks ago, we informed Craigslist of an impending criminal case that implicated its website. Rather than work with this office to prevent further abuses, in the middle of the night, Craigslist took unilateral action which we suspect will prove to be half-baked," Cuomo said in a statement.
His office declined to elaborate on the criminal case.
In April, Blumenthal asked Craigslist officials to eliminate photographs in the "erotic services" and similar sections of the site, hire staff to screen ads that violate Craigslist rules and offer incentives for people who flag and report prostitution advertisements.
"We will be monitoring closely to make sure that this measure is more than a name change from erotic to adult and that the manual blocking is tough and effective to scrub prostitution and pornography," Blumenthal said.
Tabloids dubbed Markoff "the Craigslist killer."
The murder followed the killing of George Weber, a New York reporter knifed to death after responding to a personal ad he placed on Craigslist in March, and the early-April sentencing of Michael Anderson, a Minnesota man convicted of killing a woman who responded to a babysitting ad.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE54C4YP20090513?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true
The "erotic services" section will end within seven days and be replaced by an "adult services" category where advertisements will be individually screened by Craigslist staff, Craigslist said in a statement on Wednesday.
The measures could set a precedent for similar sites, said Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who led a 40-state task-force on Craigslist and campaigned publicly for tighter controls on the San Francisco-based service.
"Closing the erotic services section, a blatant Internet brothel, should lead to other blocking and screening measures, and set a model for other sites, if Craigslist keeps its word," he said.
Craigslist's sex-service listings have faced intense scrutiny since the April 14 murder of 25-year-old masseuse Julissa Brisman, who advertised on Craigslist in Boston.
Philip Markoff, a 23-year-old Boston University medical student, was charged with killing Brisman and with attacks on two other women he met through Craigslist ads.
Craigslist, a 14-year-old online bazaar that generates more than 20 billion page views per month in 50 countries with a staff of just 28 people, is partially owned by online auctioneer eBay, which bought 25 percent in 2004.
Along with free listings for everything from apartments and furniture to jobs and cars, Craigslist.com carries one of the largest and most controversial sex-service listings. Its rapid growth and low-cost business model have hurt newspapers by siphoning away advertising revenue.
Craigslist had already made some changes to curb illegal activity on its site. Under pressure from 40 U.S. attorneys general, the site agreed in November to charge people posting erotic ads $5-$10 by credit card and require them to submit a working phone number to use the site.
'HALF BAKED'
From Wednesday, postings to the "erotic services" section will no longer be accepted, Craigslist said. Postings to the new section, which opened immediately, cost $10. Once they are approved, they will be eligible for reposting at $5.
Not every state was satisfied. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has pressed Craigslist to go further by tracking computer IP addresses of suspected prostitution rings and take other safeguards.
"Several weeks ago, we informed Craigslist of an impending criminal case that implicated its website. Rather than work with this office to prevent further abuses, in the middle of the night, Craigslist took unilateral action which we suspect will prove to be half-baked," Cuomo said in a statement.
His office declined to elaborate on the criminal case.
In April, Blumenthal asked Craigslist officials to eliminate photographs in the "erotic services" and similar sections of the site, hire staff to screen ads that violate Craigslist rules and offer incentives for people who flag and report prostitution advertisements.
"We will be monitoring closely to make sure that this measure is more than a name change from erotic to adult and that the manual blocking is tough and effective to scrub prostitution and pornography," Blumenthal said.
Tabloids dubbed Markoff "the Craigslist killer."
The murder followed the killing of George Weber, a New York reporter knifed to death after responding to a personal ad he placed on Craigslist in March, and the early-April sentencing of Michael Anderson, a Minnesota man convicted of killing a woman who responded to a babysitting ad.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE54C4YP20090513?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true
Ivory sculpture in Germany could be world's oldest
BERLIN – A 35,000-year-old ivory carving of a busty woman found in a German cave was unveiled Wednesday by archaeologists who believe it is the oldest known sculpture of the human form. The carving found in six fragments in Germany's Hohle Fels cave depicts a woman with a swollen belly, wide-set thighs and large, protruding breasts.
"It's very sexually charged," said University of Tuebingen archaeologist Nicholas Conard, whose team discovered the figure in September.
Maria Malina, scientific employee, presents the photo of a carved ivory female figurine during its presentation in Tuebingen, southern Germany, Wednesday, May 13, 2009. The figurine, found in 2008 in a cave in Schelklingen, southern Germany is allegedly the world's oldest reproduction of a human with an estimated age of at least 35,000 years.
Carbon dating suggests it was carved at least 35,000 years ago, according to the researchers' findings, which are being published Thursday in the scientific journal Nature.
"It's the oldest known piece of figurative sculpture in the world," said Jill Cook, a curator of Paleolithic and Mesolithic material at the British Museum in London.
Stones in Israel and Africa almost twice as old are believed to have been collected by ancient humans because they resembled people, but they were not carved independently.
The Hohle Fels cave discovery suggests the humans, who are believed to have come to Europe around 40,000 years ago, had the intelligence to create symbols and think abstractly in a way that matches the modern human, Conard said.
"It's 100 percent certain that, by the time we get to 40,000 years ago in Swabia, we're dealing with people just like you and me," Conard told The Associated Press, referring to the southern German region where the sculpture was recovered along with other prehistoric artifacts.
Conard believes the 2.4-inch-tall (6-centimeter) figure may have been hung on the end of a string. The left arm is missing, but Conard said he hopes to find it by sifting through material from the cave.
The Hohle Fels sculpture is curvaceous and has neither feet nor a head, like some of the roughly 150 so-called Venus figurines found in a range from the Pyrenees mountains to southern Russia and dating back about 25,000-29,000 years.
But Cook warned against trying to draw any connections between the Venuses and the Hohle Fels figure, saying that would be like comparing Picasso to a classical sculptor — too much time had passed.
"I wonder whether at this point we're looking at figures which are unique within themselves and unique within the cultures that they're arising in," she said.
Archaeologist Paul Mellars, of the University of Cambridge, suggested a clearer continuum.
"We now have evidence of that sort of artistic tradition of Venus figurines going back 6,000 years earlier than anybody ever guessed," he said.
Neanderthals also lived in Europe around the time the sculpture was carved, and frequented the Hohle Fels cave. But Mellars said layered deposits left by both species over thousands of years prove the sculpture was crafted by humans.
"Nothing within a million miles of this has ever been found in a Neanderthal layer," Mellars said.
The archaeologists agreed the sculpture's age and features invite speculation about its purpose and the preoccupations of the culture that produced it.
Cook suggested it could be symbol of fertility, perhaps even portrayed in the act of giving birth.
Mellars suggested a more basic motivation for the carving: "These people were obsessed with sex."
Conard said the differing opinions reinforced the connection between the ancient artist and modern viewer.
"How we interpret it tells us just as much about ourselves as about people 40,000 years ago," he said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090513/ap_on_sc/eu_germany_oldest_sculpture
"It's very sexually charged," said University of Tuebingen archaeologist Nicholas Conard, whose team discovered the figure in September.
Carbon dating suggests it was carved at least 35,000 years ago, according to the researchers' findings, which are being published Thursday in the scientific journal Nature.
"It's the oldest known piece of figurative sculpture in the world," said Jill Cook, a curator of Paleolithic and Mesolithic material at the British Museum in London.
Stones in Israel and Africa almost twice as old are believed to have been collected by ancient humans because they resembled people, but they were not carved independently.
The Hohle Fels cave discovery suggests the humans, who are believed to have come to Europe around 40,000 years ago, had the intelligence to create symbols and think abstractly in a way that matches the modern human, Conard said.
"It's 100 percent certain that, by the time we get to 40,000 years ago in Swabia, we're dealing with people just like you and me," Conard told The Associated Press, referring to the southern German region where the sculpture was recovered along with other prehistoric artifacts.
Conard believes the 2.4-inch-tall (6-centimeter) figure may have been hung on the end of a string. The left arm is missing, but Conard said he hopes to find it by sifting through material from the cave.
The Hohle Fels sculpture is curvaceous and has neither feet nor a head, like some of the roughly 150 so-called Venus figurines found in a range from the Pyrenees mountains to southern Russia and dating back about 25,000-29,000 years.
But Cook warned against trying to draw any connections between the Venuses and the Hohle Fels figure, saying that would be like comparing Picasso to a classical sculptor — too much time had passed.
"I wonder whether at this point we're looking at figures which are unique within themselves and unique within the cultures that they're arising in," she said.
Archaeologist Paul Mellars, of the University of Cambridge, suggested a clearer continuum.
"We now have evidence of that sort of artistic tradition of Venus figurines going back 6,000 years earlier than anybody ever guessed," he said.
Neanderthals also lived in Europe around the time the sculpture was carved, and frequented the Hohle Fels cave. But Mellars said layered deposits left by both species over thousands of years prove the sculpture was crafted by humans.
"Nothing within a million miles of this has ever been found in a Neanderthal layer," Mellars said.
The archaeologists agreed the sculpture's age and features invite speculation about its purpose and the preoccupations of the culture that produced it.
Cook suggested it could be symbol of fertility, perhaps even portrayed in the act of giving birth.
Mellars suggested a more basic motivation for the carving: "These people were obsessed with sex."
Conard said the differing opinions reinforced the connection between the ancient artist and modern viewer.
"How we interpret it tells us just as much about ourselves as about people 40,000 years ago," he said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090513/ap_on_sc/eu_germany_oldest_sculpture
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Hobbits 'are a separate species'
Scientists have found more evidence that the Indonesian "Hobbit" skeletons belong to a new species of human - and not modern pygmies.
The 3ft (one metre) tall, 30kg (65lbs) humans roamed the Indonesian island of Flores, perhaps up to 8,000 years ago.
Since the discovery, researchers have argued vehemently as to the identity of these diminutive people.
Two papers in the journal Nature now support the idea they were an entirely new species of human.
The team, which discovered the tiny remains in Liang Bua cave on Flores, contends that the population belongs to the species Homo floresiensis - separate from our own grouping Homo sapiens .
They argue that the "Hobbits" are descended from a prehistoric species of human - perhaps Homo erectus - which reached island South-East Asia more than a million years ago.
Scientists on the discovery of the 'hobbit' in 2004
Over many years, their bodies most likely evolved to be smaller in size, through a natural selection process called island dwarfing, claim the discoverers, and many other scientists.
However, some researchers argued that this could not account for the Hobbit's chimp-sized brain of almost 400 cubic cm - a third the size of the modern human brain.
Disease theory
This was a puzzle, they said, because the individuals seem to have crafted complex stone tools.
They said the Hobbits were probably part of a group of modern humans with abnormally small brains.
One team led by William Jungers from Stony Brook University in the US analysed remains of the Hobbit foot.
They found that, in some ways, it is incredibly human. The big toe is aligned with the others and the joints make it possible to extend the toes as the body's full weight falls on the foot, attributes not found in great apes.
But in other respects, it is incredibly primitive. It is far longer than its modern human equivalent, and equipped with a very small big toe, long, curved lateral toes, and a weight-bearing structure that resembles that of a chimpanzee.
So unless the Flores Hobbits became more primitive over time - a rather unlikely scenario - they must have branched off the human line at an even earlier date.
In another study, Eleanor Weston and Adrian Lister of London's Natural History Museum looked at fossils of several species of ancient hippos. They then compared those found on the island of Madagascar with the mainland ancestors from which they evolved.
"It could be that H. floresiensis' skull is that of a Homo erectus that has become dwarfed from living on an island, rather than being an abnormal individual or separately-evolved species, as has been suggested," said Dr Weston, a palaeontologist at the museum.
"Looking at pygmy hippos in Madagascar, which possess exceptionally small brains for their size, suggests that the same could be true for H. floresiensis , and that (it could be) the result of being isolated on the island."
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8036396.stm
Texas police will return cash in case that prompted lawsuit
of unjustly taking valuables from motorists.
Authorities who seized $8,500 and assorted jewelry from a Tennessee man after a traffic stop in east Texas have agreed to return the property after his case drew attention from CNN.
Roderick Daniels said police in Tenaha, Texas, took the money in October 2007 after they stopped him for doing 37 mph in a 35-mph zone. He said police threatened him with money-laundering charges and promised not to prosecute if he signed over the cash, which Daniels said was to buy a new car.
Daniels and other motorists who have been stopped by Tenaha police are part of a lawsuit seeking to end what plaintiff's lawyer David Guillory calls a systematic fleecing of drivers passing through the town of about 1,000. On Friday, after Shelby County District Attorney Lynda Russell refused repeated requests to discuss cases like Daniels' with CNN, her office filed papers dropping its claim on his property.
"I just feel blessed," Daniels said. "I am happy everything is going good right now. ... I just want to celebrate."
Texas law allows police to confiscate drug money and other personal property they think is used in the commission of a crime. If no charges are filed or the person is acquitted, the property has to be returned.
Russell issued a statement through her attorneys denying impropriety, and George Bowers, Tenaha's longtime mayor, says his police follow the law. But Guillory, who brought the lawsuit challenging the seizures, called cases like Daniels' "a shakedown" and "a piracy operation."
Guillory said authorities in Tenaha, about 180 miles east of Dallas, seized $3 million from 2006 to 2008. In about 150 cases, virtually all involving African-American or Latino motorists, the seizures were improper, he said.
All defendants in the lawsuit deny wrongdoing. In a written statement, Russell's attorneys said the prosecutor "has used and continues to use prosecutorial discretion ... and is in compliance with Texas law, the Texas constitution and the United States Constitution."
But the attention paid to Tenaha has led to an effort by Texas lawmakers to tighten the state's forfeiture laws.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/06/texas.police.seizures/index.html?eref=rss_latest
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Brothels in Ecuador Skirt Law Banning Minors
Brothels in the petroleum port province of Esmeraldas provide an employment magnet for underage women. A significant number are lured into the work by a man they consider a romantic partner. Third of six on Ecuador's sex industry.
Brothel worker in Esmeraldas Quito Ecuador
ESMERALDAS, Ecuador (WOMENSENEWS)--The clients start filing in shortly after lunch. Beer flows. Women lead them into tiny rooms. A young woman sits to the side, forlorn, making no effort to get their attention.
"The hardest thing is when a drunken client comes in. They are rude and violent people," Jacklyn, who works in a brothel in Esmeraldas, told Women's eNews earlier this year.
Jacklyn said she is 22 years old, but doesn't look it. When pressed for her age, she admitted to entering the business at 15, but said a growing number in Esmeraldas are starting out as young as 12. That is three years younger than the national average age of minors who entered the sex industry in 2006.
This oil port, tourist destination and province bordering Colombia has a high concentration of formal and informal brothels.
It is one of the country's centers for the sexual exploitation of minors, according to a 2008 Organization of International Migration report. Three quarters of the teens and preteens trafficked in Ecuador pass through the brothels, bars, hotels and motels along this coastline, making the province a gateway for minors to join its sex industry.
Licensed centers of tolerance--a euphemism for brothels in Ecuador--conceal the trafficking and exploitation of minors for commercial sex. Local fishermen, migrant oil workers, police and military provide a steady clientele.
The age of consent is 14 in Ecuador and teenagers can start working age 15. But the country's new constitution, introduced last year, specifies that work for those under age 15 should not conflict with a child's right to education or put their development in danger. It explicitly calls for the protection of minors from sexual exploitation.
"The line between sex work and exploitation is blurred," Tania Moreno, a Quito-based sex crimes prosecutor told Women's eNews in February. "And teens are sadly the ones in highest demand in the sex market."
Reluctant Law Enforcers
In last year's report to the Organization of International Migration, Moreno detailed law enforcers' reluctance to interfere in brothels that hire or hide minors when the legal age to work is 15. He also noted the prevalent misconception that underage girls enter the sex industry out of enjoyment.
The reality, Moreno said in an interview, is that adolescent sex workers are children made vulnerable by their poverty. The majority leave school at 11 and often support entire families. Many, said Moreno, have a history of sexual abuse.
"'I was abused and not paid,' goes the logic," said Moreno. "So why not get paid?" The victim of sexual exploitation doesn't recognize herself as such because she has received money for the work she is doing so she doesn't see it as exploitation."
Jacklyn works at Las Hermanitas (The Little Sisters), one of two female-run brothels in Esmeraldas. It is sparse and overheated. Rooms offer three buckets instead of a sink for washing. Small corner shelves support personal belongings, ranging from vanity mirrors to condoms to nail polish.
She earns $500 per month, charging $6 for each 15 minutes of intercourse or "el punto." This is a high income compared to domestic worker wages. She pays a $1-per-client commission to the brothel owners and sends the balance to her sister-in-law who is caring for Jacklyn's two out-of-wedlock children. Jacklyn says the financial responsibilities of motherhood lock her into sex work.
'No-Fail' Business
"Girls do not enter this job because they like it," said Pavel Tenorio, a 22-year-old pimp working in Esmeraldas. "They do it out of need. This is a business that does not fail."
A 2008 survey of underage sex workers showed that the majority--42 percent--cited economic reason as a primary motivation for their activity. The second most common reason was fear of their partner, with 81 percent reporting a history of abuse. A quarter of underage sex workers hand over their income directly to the partner--often a chulo or pimp--who put them in the business.
One strategy pimps use is seducing a teenager and then forcing her into sex work.
Silvia Barragan is president of the shelter Foundation for our Young in Quito which offers shelter to victims of sexual exploitation or family violence from across the country.
"The hardest part of rehabilitating these girls is getting them to understand that they are victims, that these men do not love them and that they should not go back into the business," said Barragan.
In 37 percent of cases, the pimp or trafficker is a friend, classmate or boyfriend of the sex worker. The recruiter is a young adult, typically between the ages of 19 and 25, according to a summary of investigations in the first half of 2008, included in a database maintained by the shelter.
Brother Owner Expresses Shock
"As a mother, I am shocked to see girls come in at 14," said Lucia Quinonez, owner of Las Hermanitas. "But their 'husbands,' boyfriends, pimps--assholes--get them false documents and put them to work. Authorities try to control it but can't overcome the mafias. And us owners, some close our eyes. Others open them."
Quinonez, age 46, said she runs a tight ship at Las Hermanitas and handpicks her workers to avoid minors. But Quinonez said brothel owners who try to work within the law are facing a surge of false documents and minors who lie about their age.
Quinonez said she can spot a minor. Shaking or trembling are two give-away signs of inexperience. She added the majority of these adolescents robotically repeat that they are over 20 when asked for their age and identification papers. A few cry, sigh, and finally break down, saying they came into the business because they were forced by a boyfriend or because they have a family to support.
Quinonez said she turns them away but admits that mistakes can be made.
In December, a young woman entered Las Canitas--a brothel run by Quinonez's sister-- wearing a blonde wig. Quinonez told Women's eNews that she suspected the girl was a minor but the young woman insisted she was 19.
Maruja, Quinonez's sister, hired her. She ended up in the emergency room, with her vagina ripped apart by her 22nd client.
Source: http://www.womensenews.org/story/the-world/090506/brothels-ecuador-skirt-law-banning-minors
ESMERALDAS, Ecuador (WOMENSENEWS)--The clients start filing in shortly after lunch. Beer flows. Women lead them into tiny rooms. A young woman sits to the side, forlorn, making no effort to get their attention.
"The hardest thing is when a drunken client comes in. They are rude and violent people," Jacklyn, who works in a brothel in Esmeraldas, told Women's eNews earlier this year.
Jacklyn said she is 22 years old, but doesn't look it. When pressed for her age, she admitted to entering the business at 15, but said a growing number in Esmeraldas are starting out as young as 12. That is three years younger than the national average age of minors who entered the sex industry in 2006.
This oil port, tourist destination and province bordering Colombia has a high concentration of formal and informal brothels.
It is one of the country's centers for the sexual exploitation of minors, according to a 2008 Organization of International Migration report. Three quarters of the teens and preteens trafficked in Ecuador pass through the brothels, bars, hotels and motels along this coastline, making the province a gateway for minors to join its sex industry.
Licensed centers of tolerance--a euphemism for brothels in Ecuador--conceal the trafficking and exploitation of minors for commercial sex. Local fishermen, migrant oil workers, police and military provide a steady clientele.
The age of consent is 14 in Ecuador and teenagers can start working age 15. But the country's new constitution, introduced last year, specifies that work for those under age 15 should not conflict with a child's right to education or put their development in danger. It explicitly calls for the protection of minors from sexual exploitation.
"The line between sex work and exploitation is blurred," Tania Moreno, a Quito-based sex crimes prosecutor told Women's eNews in February. "And teens are sadly the ones in highest demand in the sex market."
Reluctant Law Enforcers
In last year's report to the Organization of International Migration, Moreno detailed law enforcers' reluctance to interfere in brothels that hire or hide minors when the legal age to work is 15. He also noted the prevalent misconception that underage girls enter the sex industry out of enjoyment.
The reality, Moreno said in an interview, is that adolescent sex workers are children made vulnerable by their poverty. The majority leave school at 11 and often support entire families. Many, said Moreno, have a history of sexual abuse.
"'I was abused and not paid,' goes the logic," said Moreno. "So why not get paid?" The victim of sexual exploitation doesn't recognize herself as such because she has received money for the work she is doing so she doesn't see it as exploitation."
Jacklyn works at Las Hermanitas (The Little Sisters), one of two female-run brothels in Esmeraldas. It is sparse and overheated. Rooms offer three buckets instead of a sink for washing. Small corner shelves support personal belongings, ranging from vanity mirrors to condoms to nail polish.
She earns $500 per month, charging $6 for each 15 minutes of intercourse or "el punto." This is a high income compared to domestic worker wages. She pays a $1-per-client commission to the brothel owners and sends the balance to her sister-in-law who is caring for Jacklyn's two out-of-wedlock children. Jacklyn says the financial responsibilities of motherhood lock her into sex work.
'No-Fail' Business
"Girls do not enter this job because they like it," said Pavel Tenorio, a 22-year-old pimp working in Esmeraldas. "They do it out of need. This is a business that does not fail."
A 2008 survey of underage sex workers showed that the majority--42 percent--cited economic reason as a primary motivation for their activity. The second most common reason was fear of their partner, with 81 percent reporting a history of abuse. A quarter of underage sex workers hand over their income directly to the partner--often a chulo or pimp--who put them in the business.
One strategy pimps use is seducing a teenager and then forcing her into sex work.
Silvia Barragan is president of the shelter Foundation for our Young in Quito which offers shelter to victims of sexual exploitation or family violence from across the country.
"The hardest part of rehabilitating these girls is getting them to understand that they are victims, that these men do not love them and that they should not go back into the business," said Barragan.
In 37 percent of cases, the pimp or trafficker is a friend, classmate or boyfriend of the sex worker. The recruiter is a young adult, typically between the ages of 19 and 25, according to a summary of investigations in the first half of 2008, included in a database maintained by the shelter.
Brother Owner Expresses Shock
"As a mother, I am shocked to see girls come in at 14," said Lucia Quinonez, owner of Las Hermanitas. "But their 'husbands,' boyfriends, pimps--assholes--get them false documents and put them to work. Authorities try to control it but can't overcome the mafias. And us owners, some close our eyes. Others open them."
Quinonez, age 46, said she runs a tight ship at Las Hermanitas and handpicks her workers to avoid minors. But Quinonez said brothel owners who try to work within the law are facing a surge of false documents and minors who lie about their age.
Quinonez said she can spot a minor. Shaking or trembling are two give-away signs of inexperience. She added the majority of these adolescents robotically repeat that they are over 20 when asked for their age and identification papers. A few cry, sigh, and finally break down, saying they came into the business because they were forced by a boyfriend or because they have a family to support.
Quinonez said she turns them away but admits that mistakes can be made.
In December, a young woman entered Las Canitas--a brothel run by Quinonez's sister-- wearing a blonde wig. Quinonez told Women's eNews that she suspected the girl was a minor but the young woman insisted she was 19.
Maruja, Quinonez's sister, hired her. She ended up in the emergency room, with her vagina ripped apart by her 22nd client.
Source: http://www.womensenews.org/story/the-world/090506/brothels-ecuador-skirt-law-banning-minors
Friday, April 3, 2009
Pictured: The credit crunch tent city which has returned to haunt America
A century and a half ago it was at the centre of the Californian gold rush, with hopeful prospectors pitching their tents along the banks of the American River.
Today, tents are once again springing up in the city of Sacramento. But this time it is for people with no hope and no prospects.
With America's economy in freefall and its housing market in crisis, California's state capital has become home to a tented city for the dispossessed.
Rich and poor: The tents and other makeshift homes have sprung up in the shadow of Sacramento's skyscrapers
Shanty town: The tent city is already home to dozens of people, many left without jobs because of the credit crunch
Those who have lost their jobs and homes and have nowhere else to go are constructing makeshift shelters on the site, which covers several acres.
As many as 50 people a week are turning up and the authorities estimate that the tent city is now home to more than 1,200 people.
In a state more known for its fantastic wealth and the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, the images have shocked many Americans.
Conditions are primitive, with no water supply or proper sanitation.
Many residents have to walk up to three miles to buy bottled water from petrol stations or convenience stores.
Ben Cardwell, carries supplies to his tent at a homeless settlement
Tammy Day, a homeless woman, cooks potatoes on a campfire at the site
At other times, charity workers arrive to hand out free food and other supplies.
Joan Burke, who campaigns on behalf of the homeless, said the images of Americans living in tents would shock many.
'It should be an eye- opener for everybody,' she said. 'But we shouldn't just be shocked, we should take action to change things, because it's unacceptable.
'It is unacceptable that in this day and age we have gone back to a situation like we had during the Great Depression.'
Homeless: Keith and Tammy Day cook dinner
Authorities in Sacramento, where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has his office, admit the sight of families living in such poverty is not pretty.
But faced with their own budget crisis and a £30billion deficit, they have had little choice but to consider making the tent city a permanent fixture.
The city's mayor Kevin Johnson said: 'I can't say tent cities are the answer to the homeless population in Sacramento, but I think it's one of the many things that should be considered and looked at.'
Shanty towns sprung up during the Great Depression as people lost their jobs and homes
Migrant Mother: Dorothea Lange's famous photograph from the Great Depression features Florence Owens Thompson, 32, a mother-of-three who had just sold the family's tent to buy food
As America's most powerful state California had the same gross domestic output as Italy and Spain, but it has been among the hardest hit by the recession and housing crisis.
Foreclosure rates last year rocketed by 327 per cent, with up to 500 people a day losing their home.
Coupled with massive job cuts that have seen one in ten workers laid off, many people who once enjoyed a middle class existence are now forced into third world conditions.
Former car salesman Corvin and his wife Tena are among the newest residents of the tent city.
Tent city residents queue up to receive supplies handed out by a local charity
The couple, who are in their fifties, lost their home and jobs around the same time.
With homeless shelters full in Sacramento, they had little choice but to use what savings they had left to buy a tent.
The couple admit they have yet to tell their grown-up children about their hand-to-mouth existence.
Tena said: 'I have a 35-year-old son, and he doesn't know. I call him, about once a month and on holidays, to let him know that I'm well and healthy.
'He would love me anyway, but I don't want to worry him.'
The shame of Sacramento's tent city was given a much wider airing after it was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show which is watched by more than 40million people a week.
Many of those who have found themselves homeless worked in the building trade.
But with no new home builds and as many as 80,000 people losing their job every month, there is little chance of employment. Governor Schwarzenegger last month approved a budget to address the state's deficit, ending a three-month stalemate among lawmakers.
As well as increasing taxes, he has imposed drastic cuts in education, healthcare and services that will affect everyone living in the state.
Many of those living in the tent city are pinning their hopes on President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package which is aimed at rescuing the economy and creating jobs.
The President has also announced plans to save the homes of nine million people from foreclosure by restructuring their mortgage debt.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1159677/Pictured-The-credit-crunch-tent-city-returned-haunt-America.html
Today, tents are once again springing up in the city of Sacramento. But this time it is for people with no hope and no prospects.
With America's economy in freefall and its housing market in crisis, California's state capital has become home to a tented city for the dispossessed.
Those who have lost their jobs and homes and have nowhere else to go are constructing makeshift shelters on the site, which covers several acres.
As many as 50 people a week are turning up and the authorities estimate that the tent city is now home to more than 1,200 people.
In a state more known for its fantastic wealth and the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, the images have shocked many Americans.
Conditions are primitive, with no water supply or proper sanitation.
Many residents have to walk up to three miles to buy bottled water from petrol stations or convenience stores.
At other times, charity workers arrive to hand out free food and other supplies.
Joan Burke, who campaigns on behalf of the homeless, said the images of Americans living in tents would shock many.
'It should be an eye- opener for everybody,' she said. 'But we shouldn't just be shocked, we should take action to change things, because it's unacceptable.
'It is unacceptable that in this day and age we have gone back to a situation like we had during the Great Depression.'
Authorities in Sacramento, where Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has his office, admit the sight of families living in such poverty is not pretty.
But faced with their own budget crisis and a £30billion deficit, they have had little choice but to consider making the tent city a permanent fixture.
The city's mayor Kevin Johnson said: 'I can't say tent cities are the answer to the homeless population in Sacramento, but I think it's one of the many things that should be considered and looked at.'
As America's most powerful state California had the same gross domestic output as Italy and Spain, but it has been among the hardest hit by the recession and housing crisis.
Foreclosure rates last year rocketed by 327 per cent, with up to 500 people a day losing their home.
Coupled with massive job cuts that have seen one in ten workers laid off, many people who once enjoyed a middle class existence are now forced into third world conditions.
Former car salesman Corvin and his wife Tena are among the newest residents of the tent city.
The couple, who are in their fifties, lost their home and jobs around the same time.
With homeless shelters full in Sacramento, they had little choice but to use what savings they had left to buy a tent.
The couple admit they have yet to tell their grown-up children about their hand-to-mouth existence.
Tena said: 'I have a 35-year-old son, and he doesn't know. I call him, about once a month and on holidays, to let him know that I'm well and healthy.
'He would love me anyway, but I don't want to worry him.'
The shame of Sacramento's tent city was given a much wider airing after it was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show which is watched by more than 40million people a week.
Many of those who have found themselves homeless worked in the building trade.
But with no new home builds and as many as 80,000 people losing their job every month, there is little chance of employment. Governor Schwarzenegger last month approved a budget to address the state's deficit, ending a three-month stalemate among lawmakers.
As well as increasing taxes, he has imposed drastic cuts in education, healthcare and services that will affect everyone living in the state.
Many of those living in the tent city are pinning their hopes on President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package which is aimed at rescuing the economy and creating jobs.
The President has also announced plans to save the homes of nine million people from foreclosure by restructuring their mortgage debt.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1159677/Pictured-The-credit-crunch-tent-city-returned-haunt-America.html
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Fiancé Drops Engagement Ring Off Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge's pedestrian walkway while proposing.
Imagine saving enough money to buy the love of your life a beautiful diamond ring only to drop it off the Brooklyn Bridge just as she agrees to marry you.
A local groom-to-be experienced the horror for himself.
Don Walling planned the day with the precision of a classroom lesson. He would propose to his girlfriend, Gina Pellicani, on the Brooklyn Bridge’s pedestrian walkway. His family would be looking on and his sister-in-law would videotape the whole thing.
But at the moment of truth – with ring in hand – disaster struck, and it wasn’t because Gina refused to say, “I do.” Walling dropped the ring through a crack in the pedestrian bridge and into traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge roadway below.
“I got on one knee, proposed and it just flew out,” Walling said. “I watched it fall through the crack on the bridge, right between the wood planks.”
But he didn’t let his shock sway him for long. Walling swung into action.
“I kissed her, said I was sorry and told her I am going to get that ring back,” Walling said.
The groom-to-be jumped onto the bridge's roadway and began looking for the ring. Miraculously, he found it, with the help of his family and fiancée looking on from above.
Pellicani couldn’t wear the ring because the band bent in the fall, but the diamonds were intact -- not bad for falling onto traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge.
The ring is being repaired and will be restored to its former luster, but Walling said the next time he gives it to his fiancée, it will be in the safety of his home.
Source: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Oops-Fiancee-Drops-Engagement-Ring-Off-Brooklyn-Bridge.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
