Five years after the most devastating disaster in modern history, most survivors of the Indian Ocean tsunami have managed to pick up their lives.

The Huffington Post reports…In Aceh, the area hardest hit by the giant wave, homes have been rebuilt, families reunited and a stable government installed in a province that was battling a deep separatist conflict prior to the tsunami. The city has recovered so well that most of the international aids organizations have pulled up stakes and gone home.

Some aid workers still idle about town, bringing small dollars to the dozens of businesses born when volunteer numbers reached into the thousands. But among Aceh’s residents, concerns have shifted from fears of another disaster to fears about job opportunities. SOURCE-http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-schonhardt/learning-from-acehs-recov_b_402693.html

The giant wave swept away loved ones, homes, livelihoods and in some cases entire communities.

A view of the city previously devastated by the 2004 Boxing Day earthquake and subsequent tsunami, on December 24, 2009 in Kuala, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Aceh was the worst hit location, being the closest major city to the epicentre of the 9.1 magnitude quake, suffering a huge hit from the following tsunami and resulting in around 130,000 deaths.

Throughout the affected region of eleven countries, 230,000 people in total were killed, making it one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.

Tsunami survivor Fatimah, aged 24, does the wash at the temporary housing camp on the fifth anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day earthquake and subsequent tsunami, on December 24, 2009 in Bakoy Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

In the days and weeks following the tsunami, there were hundreds of impromptu weddings and adoptions.

Widowers found women who had lost their husbands and married them. Children were taken in by mothers who lost their sons and daughters to the water.

Life miraculously always finds a way to continue.

Follow this story here….

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/24/AR2009122402172.html

David Goldman will  have a Merry Christmas as he finally has won his five-year international custody legal battle and has been reunited with his now 9-year old son, Sean Goldman.

Sean was taken away from his father by his mother Bruna Bianchi, by lying about a trip to visit her relatives in her native country of Brazil, for what was to be a two-week visit in 2004.

She remained in Brazil and remarried, keeping Sean with her,which is a kidnapping.

She tragically died in child-birth, and it has been reported that Bianchi made her new husband promise to keep Sean in Brazil, for some unknown reason.

Even after her death the family in Brazil would not release Sean to his father,and relentlessly fought to keep Sean in bondage away from his loving and kind American father.

The Brazilian family was very indignant and spiteful after losing the custody battle, and set out to make today’s release of Sean as much of a media spectacle as possible.

The Bianchi family maintained it would traumatize Sean if he was removed from what has been his home for five years,and they kept that reprehensible promise.

Their torture of Sean by parading him through the phalanx of media should be vilified, and shunned by all civilized human beings on the planet.

That is hate, not love!

Sean was seen crying as his step-father helped him through the crowd as guards had to “violently push back photographers and TV cameramen,”

Sean Goldman Rescued From Brazilian Kidnappers By His Dad.

Reuters is reporting that…at times, Sean covered his face from cameras. His teary-eyed Brazilian grandmother, who has campaigned publicly for the right to raise the boy herself and appealed to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to intervene, entered separately without comment.

Goldman, who has seen Sean only in brief visits to Brazil since 2004, cried out, “They’re hurting my son!” upon seeing the scrum, a witness said.

Ambassador Hillary Rodham Clinton made the following statement….

“I am thrilled that 9-year-old Sean Goldman was reunited with his father David Goldman earlier today in Rio de Janeiro and that they are flying home to New Jersey,” Clinton said Thursday in a statement.

“I want to thank everyone who helped bring this long process to a successful conclusion, including a number of members of Congress and many concerned parties both here and in Brazil.

“We also appreciate the assistance and cooperation of the government of Brazil in upholding its obligations under the Hague Convention on International Child Abduction. I offer my warmest wishes for father and son as they celebrate their first holiday season together in five years.”

The Goldman’s arrived back in the USA tonight safely…right in time to celebrate a very Merry Christmas.The Goldman’s will spend their first holiday season together in five years at Disney World.

Good luck to all!!!

Happy Dad and Sean!!!..finally safe at home together.

Source-

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BN1MJ20091225

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2009/12/24/victory-for-nj-dad/

U.S. President Barack Obama, backed by Vice President Joe Biden, speaks after the U.S. Senate passed its version of the health care reform bill on Christmas Eve in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on December 24, 2009.

Many Republicans intentionally dragged out a debate on a defense spending bill, hoping that in turn would hold up the health care bill Democrats want to pass before Christmas.

The Senate and House bills will need to be reconciled and final passage may occur in late January or early February 2010.

Let’s all hope for Healthcare for all, including the devout Republicans that will receive a little help out of this highly compromised bill.

Merry Christmas Joe and wife…you killed meaningful healthcare reform and you might as well have killed Christmas too…but some one got there before you two traitors.

An escaped prisoner from England, is on the run, but he is still finding time to update his Facebook status!

CNN.com is reporting that...Craig Lynch, 28, escaped Hollesley Bay open prison near Suffolk, eastern England, back in September, but has continued to update his Facebook status regularly — describing everything from his meals to who his next girlfriend will be.

Even though he is updating his status, and letting us all know what he will do next,..the authorities still seem to find him to be elusive.

Maybe he is lying about what he is actually up to, just like so many people on Facebook, just to throw the police off.

I think they would be wise to be skeptical about the truthfulness of his post, and do some real police work and find him.

Other than that, this takes the term ‘cyber-criminal’ to a whole different level!

Read the full story here….

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/12/23/uk.fugitive.facebook.prison/index.html

The Colorado man who carried out the balloon boy hoax choked back tears as he apologized for the stunt, before a judge read out his punishment for the hoax.

Richard Heene has been sentenced to 90 days in jail.

I think he needed a little time-out to reflect on his crime.

I am wondering what effect this will have on his kids. It will be a different kind of Christmas gift for them…free from dad for a few months…

So ends the saga of the Balloon Boy!!!

SOURCE-

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-balloon-boy24-2009dec24,0,2155885.story

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/21/balloon-boy-parents-acted_n_400119.html

Vets in New York have reportedly diagnosed the first known case of H1N1 Swine Flu in a dog.

The LA Times reports…The virus has been found before in other pets, including at least three ferrets, several cats and pigs and a cheetah named Gijima at a wildlife preserve in Santa Rosa.

A couple of the cats died, but most of the animals recovered.

Full story here-http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-sci-swine-flu-dog23-2009dec23,0,2022503.story

They say we should not be alarmed by this alarming development. Reportedly it is a “rare” occurence.

What do you think? …how are we going to get the dogs and cats to wash their hands?

I am kind of concerned, lots of dogs around here!….

i have always hated phoning strangers – like most people. to pretend to be psychologically analytical for a moment, i think it probably stems from my childhood when my hearing impairment made it impossible to hear what anyone was saying over the phone.

this has, for the past year, been continuously in my thoughts.

in fact, i’ve been reviewing all my social skills given that it will probably play a large part of my future journalism degree assessment and, you know, life in general. therefore i’ve been a little worried about my approaching first year at uni.

but lately i have realised i can actually make really good, casual small talk with adults over the phone and in person. the kind that leaves me wanting to do a little kick in the air and blast my little red boots off around the globe.

my real concern for my social skills is the kind of conversation i make with people my age. sometimes i can be too weird. i’m not trying to pretend i’m oh-so-alternative, you know, one of those quirky girls that guys adore. i’m one of those inappropriate, borderline socially inept kinds. the kind no guys like and the kind who embarrasses everyone within a 10 metre radius of the conversation.

i try to stimulate conversation, but when i’m talking to awkward types (i.e. 80% of all 17-18 year olds) my conversation falls flat and i resort to questions that ruin the conversation. i’ve noticed most people say ‘what music do you like?’ to someone they have just met, if: a) they really like the person b) they’re an absolute music nut c) they’re an awkward type. either way, unless the person you’re talking to is ALSO a) or b), you’re out of luck and you have probably just slaughtered the conversation.

this may not reign true for people who have an excellent small-talk history, who are probably scoffing at this in their superiority that i am completely jealous of, but i have certainly found it to be the case for me.

i’m really fucking confused as to what my personality is. to sound even more idiotic, in my mind i always have some sort of forecast as to how i will act when i’m going out to a party or even out with friends.

i try to develop some different persona. i could be ingeniously cynical, or mysteriously whimsical, borderline conservative, reliably positive or embarrassingly drunk (these are not a string of words, they’re actual types of people).

and yet i seem to continuously repel people and embarrass myself.

whilst this does seem like a girl whinging about her problems as brought about by a confusing childhood and low-self esteem, it is really just me pretending to be a psychologist.

improperly divided paragraphs. my favourite.

Several callers to the Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department in North Carolina describe the scene where Cincinnati Bengals player Chris Henry was injured falling off a moving pickup truck.

This sounds like a very heated and crazy moment that led to Chris Henry’ untimely demise.

Here is a link to the full story…http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/bengals/2009-12-17-chris-henry-mainbar-charlotte_N.htm

The AP is reporting that a serial rapist responsible for more than a dozen sexual assaults along the East Coast in the last 12 years has been linked to the rapes of two teenage trick-or-treaters on Halloween in Virginia, police said Wednesday.

Manassas, Virginia police  said the suspect’s DNA has been found at 13 crime scenes in four states. In addition to the Halloween assaults, he has attacked four women in Fairfax County, one in Leesburg and seven in Prince George’s County, officers said. Some of the crimes had more than one victim.

Most of the rapes occurred between 1997 and 2001 in the D.C. suburbs. After a five-year hiatus, the man was linked by DNA to a peeping-tom incident in 2006 in Rhode Island and a 2007 rape in Connecticut.

Police said the individual confronted three teenage girls on Halloween night as they were headed home from trick-or-treating. The man, who was wearing a ski mask and armed with a gun, then raped two girls, ages 16 and 17, before fleeing.

The descriptions that victims have provided of their attacker are vague: black male, medium build, in his 30s or 40s. The man was often masked or wore a hoodie, and many of the assaults occurred in the dark. Officers have not released a sketch of the suspect because they haven’t been able to produce one they think is reliable. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/16/AR2009121604242.html?hpid=topnews

Fairfax County Police Chief David M. Rohrer told the Post the Halloween attacks were the suspect’s first attacks in nearly three years.

“This violent offender is now back,” Rohrer said. “We are asking the public to think and look at people they know, whether it is a loved one, a friend, a family member.”

Police are saying that the suspect is armed and dangerous, and should be approached with caution.

Sources…

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/17/Suspect-in-Va-rapes-tied-to-other-attacks/UPI-75971261070467/

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-dc-suburbs-rapist,0,1768773.story

James Bain,54, was wrongly convicted in December of 1974 for the rape and kidnapping of a 9-year-old little boy. Bain had been in prison since the Nixon presidency, just to give you some perspective.

The Innocence Project,  is a national organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing, was responsible for aggressively getting Bain’s DNA tested, which led to his exoneration.

In 2001 a Florida statute was passed allowing cases to be reopened for DNA testing,and Bain immediately filed to have his DNA tested, but was turned down 4 times. It was only after he presented his case to the Court of Appeals that he was granted a hearing.

Polk County State Attorney Jerry Hill told the judge that DNA testing had excluded Bain from the crime.

“He’s just not connected with this particular incident,” Hill said.

James Bain-released-from-prison after 35 years

“Mr. Bain, I’m now signing the order, sir,” the judge said, referring to an order vacating the judgment and sentence.

The first thing he did was to call his mom on a cel phone, which was the first time that he had ever used one, as they did not exist before he was imprisoned, and they did not have access to them in jail.

I can not imagine what it must be like to spend that much time in prison labeled a pedophile, as well as knowing that you are innocent. James Bain says that his faith in God pulled him through, and that he holds no ill will towards anyone involved in his incarceration.

 He says he’s not angry and is looking forward to eating fried turkey, drinking Dr. Pepper and hopefully going back to school.

The Houston Chronicle reports…He was convicted largely on the strength of the victim’s eyewitness identification, even though testing available at the time did not definitively link him to the crime. The boy said his attacker had bushy sideburns and a mustache. The boy’s uncle, a former assistant principal at a high school, said it sounded like Bain, a former student.

The boy picked Bain out of a photo lineup, although there are lingering questions about whether detectives steered him.

The jury rejected Bain’s story that he was home watching TV with his twin sister when the crime was committed, an alibi she repeated at a news conference last week. He was 19 when he was sentenced.

The victim is currently 44 years old, and has been informed of James Bain’s release from prison.State investigators have taken more DNA from both Bain and the victim for additional testing.

It is being reported that Florida State  has passed a law  that automatically provides $50,000 in compensation for every year an innocent person has spent in prison,and James will be entitled to the award.http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1377187.html

The Innocence Project is a non-profit legal clinic affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and created by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld in 1992. The project is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. As a clinic, law students handle case work while supervised by a team of attorneys and clinic staff.  http://www.innocenceproject.org/

His mother, Sarah Reed, has been in and out of hospitals in recent years. She said she is putting her house and her car in her son’s name. “I want him to have something by himself. He’s suffered enough,” she said.

This case serves as a beam of hope for those that are falsely imprisoned throughout our country, and to those heartless fools that believe everything the police say is true. The sad truth is that black men are in prison for crimes they did not commit, at a rate three times that of white men, who have the nerve to blame us for their heinous crimes, knowing that the culture is primed in bigotry and hatred to believe such lies about our people.

We are being kidnapped by the judicial system, because we are behind enemy lines.We only have our selves to rely upon, to stay strong and healthy, so that we can eventually be freed, and our good names restored, just like James Bain.

I can only imagine the level of racial injustice that was pervasive in South Florida in the 1970’s could only have fanned the flames of hatred that ultimately led to James wrongful conviction.

Just think about it…only a decade earlier, James would have been lynched in that county, as had happened there so many times in the past,…and the mob would have murdered an innocent man.

As it stands, the white man who raped and kidnapped the 9-year-old victim, got away with it, by relying upon the racism that most non-black people use to convict and kill innocent young black men.

Justice was not served here…only racism.

Follow the story here…

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/17/florida.dna.exoneration/

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6775155.html

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=113973&sectionid=3510203

Fathers Rights and Mom's Rights should always be a 50/50 split...

CNN is reporting that a vengeful, mad dad, has been succesful in tricking a San Antonio judge into issuing a court order, that allowed the dad to kidnap the child, with the assistance of law enforcement.

CNN/Headline News has been running a powerfully disturbing video of the police extracting the child from his school bus, that had been stopped, while the child was on his way to school. It was taken from the school bus camera that is in place to record the behavior of the bus driver, as well as the students.

On the video, you can see the child resisting, and screaming that …”He is not my dad”…and ”I do not want to go with him, I want to stay with my mom”…

When he runs to the back of the bus, which is filled with his fellow students who are stunned, and traumatized, the little boy is asked by the police officers,…”why is he not your dad”…the frustrated and terrified child tells them…” because he beats me and hits me all the time”…

Unfortunetly, his pleas are to no avail, and the police grab him and forcibly pull him off of the bus, delivering him into the arms of his vengeful father.

MySanAntonio.com is reporting…The Bexar County district attorney’s office obtained felony arrest warrants Monday for a man accused of using the civil court system to help abduct his 10-year-old son from the boy’s mother, who had legal custody of him.

Jean Philippe Lacombe, 41, is wanted on charges of kidnapping and aggravated perjury, both third-degree felonies, as well as a charge of interference with child custody.

Authorities say Lacombe presented incomplete and misleading Mexican court documents to state District Judge Sol Casseb on Oct. 15 stating that he had rightful custody to his son, Jean Paul. The boy had moved to San Antonio with his mother, Berenice Diaz.

In reality, however, the Mexican court system had given Diaz custody in 2005 after he failed to follow the court’s visitation orders, according to prosecutors.

Lacombe, also charged with interference with child custody, have never been seen again. They have been missing since he was taken from the school bus on October 16th.

The boy’s name is Jean Paul and he is 10 years old.

It wasn’t the first time Lacombe was accused of abducting his son.

Diaz attorney Miguel Ortiz says Lacombe, who is from France, is wealthy and could go anywhere with the boy.

Bernice Diaz, the mother of the child, adds some more disturbing details of the police assisted kidnapping that she reported to the San Antonio Express News…

“He was on his knees, shouting and crying, ‘Don’t let me go with him,’ ” Diaz said of her son, who realized his father was with the uniformed men.

The mother eventually persuaded a constable to let her approach her son. She hugged him, and the two cried together.

“Please don’t take him,” she pleaded with the officer, who replied that they had a court order and told her she could see her son again in court on Monday.

“You’re making this harder,” she recalled hearing him say.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-legalabduct_07tex.ART.State.Edition1.4bba11a.html

If convicted, Lacombe could face up to 10 years in prison.

I personally support the rights of fathers to receive custody of their children, because that is in the best interest of the child. I have always been confused as to why the only place that a woman is given preference over a man, for no other reason than being a woman, that they should be preferred over a man, in custody cases.

Most of the time women complain about being treated unequally to men, but they readily accept the bias in Family Court matters, because the bias is in their favor, which is hypocritical.

The unfairness has caused some men to make terrible decisions, because they emotionally can not accept the bias, as well as the fact that they are also liable for all of the child’s expenses, but are deemed unfit to have custody of the child because they are a man…

Whatever the case may be, we do know that in many cases the man, as in this case, probably should not have custody of the child.

I feel that no matter how unfair the child custody arrangement may be, kidnapping, murder, violence and any level of breaking the law is unacceptable, and if a person can get so frustrated as to have any of the violence present itself as a remedy to the legal custody arrangements, then that is evidence that the parent is unfit to raise the child.

Most men in this case, will just deal with the in justice and unfairness, based on the bias in favor of women in family custody court, pay the child support extortion,alimony if you were married, and deal with it for at least 18 years.

Kidnapping and violence does not help out the situation, …it is never an option.

I recommend these organizations that advocate for fathers rights, and fathers rights are in the best interest of the child, as much as the rights of the mothers. At some point, 50/50 split in custody, support, and all other legal matters associated with the child has got to be the basis for all Family court arrangements, or in effect, the court is deeming the woman a second class citizen based on their historical bias in these matters…

http://www.fathersrights.org/

http://www.fatherscustody.org/

http://www.divorce-lawyer-source.com/html/custody/rights.html

I condemn this kidnapping, and in no way am I presenting a rationale for it.I basically believe this case will make it worst for all the good dads out there that should receive equal custody of their child, but will be denied legally,because of irrational father’s like this one.

Source-

http://www.elpasotimes.com/texas/ci_14000023

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/79265352.html

A Milwaukee city school teacher has assaulted a little first grade African-American girl in front of her class, by aggressively cutting off her French braids because she wanted the child to stop playing with her hair!

What is more surprising about this story is that her mother calmly went to the school to discuss the assault on her child, and when the teacher became indignant, she quietly left the classroom, to discuss the matter competently with the principle.

That is a good thing, and a good example for us all,…especially me. I commend her in her measured approach to this assault on her daughter’s hair.

I say this because, I probably would have handled it differently.

I remember a situation that happened to my brother, when he was in elementary school.

Apparently, the principle at his school, had taken it upon himself to spank my brother with a paddle, for some minor infraction, and to top that off, he was spanked in front of his classroom.My brother was in the third grade, and this was the late 60’s, not that long after black people had received our civil rights.

My dad , upon learning of this news, rushed to the school, that was not too far from our house, and immediately began a violent beat down of the principle, because he was upset over what he saw as a physical attack on my brother.

It was a traumatic situation for all involved, but no one was incarcerated  for any of it, the principle was reassigned,and I believe that my father got his point across.

My dad became a neighborhood legend for that beat down, and people still talk about it to this day.

Now, this assault on little Lamya Cammon, has similar overtones.

Lamya has a french braid hairstyle, quite nice I must say,…and she has a lot of beautiful beads that adorn her braids, and they dangle. Being a 7-year-old child, Lamya would twist twirl and fidget with the beads, like a little kid would do.

Lamya Cammon...teacher assaulted her and cut off her hair

The teacher, having a bad day, asked her to stop playing with her hair, and Lamya probably did not at the level that satisfied the teachers demands.

Lamya Cammon says the teacher called her up to the front of the class at Congress Elementary, took a classroom scissors and snipped the beaded braid that frames her face.

“I went to my desk and cried. They was laughing.  She threw it away.” Cannon said.

The teacher also went on to ridicule Lamya, and mocked her by telling her …..”now you can go home and tell your mother I did it”….and…”what you going to tell your mom now”… just to taunt her.

Cammon’s mother,Helen Cunningham, is furious. She went to the school and confronted the teacher, and she was able to keep her composure, unlike the approach that my father employed.

“I said, ‘Well, you know, you cut a lot of her hair off.’ And she was like, ‘Well, I do apologize.’ She said, ‘But I was frustrated,’” Cammon’s mother, Helen Cunningham, said.

Frustrated?…a first grade teacher at a public elementary school will be frustrated from time to time, because that goes along with the territory of teaching little kids.

I would hope that the teacher could source some patience and professionalism, and above all, keep their hands off of the children. There is no school district that I know of in America, that continues to spank children as a disciplinary action.

I find it highly inappropriate for any teacher to lay their hands on a child in their class, and in turn the students have no right to disrupt the class or physically abuse anyone there.

The teacher should have called Lamya’s mother, way before she resorted to cutting off her hair.

A report from Chicagonow.com states that… the teacher may face disciplinary action, but has not been removed from the classroom.

When the District Attorney’s Office said there were not grounds for criminal charges, police issued the teacher a $175 dollar ticket for disorderly conduct.

Ironically, the teacher received that weak punishment, but Lamya  has been moved to another class which separates her from her school friends, that she has bonded with for the past 2 years.

I call for the dismissal of this unnamed teacher, and I believe that if spitting at someone is a felony assault, then cutting ones hair , a physical crime, is far worse than that.

The school system has made statement about budget cuts causing mounting frustrations on the teachers, as a rationale for the assault.I say that if this is the case, then that school system should be taken over by the feds, so that they can put in place some competent oversight of the school system, and to hire some professionals to teach the children there.

As it stands now, Lamya has received the short end of the stick,and I have to wonder that if she was not black, then this  assault on a child by a teacher would be an even bigger story, with the appropriate charges, not this non-charge, being levied on this rogue teacher.

I see that for $175.00, which is the fine for a disturbing the peace ticket in Milwaukee, that the teachers there can physically assault and abuse our children at will.

I believe that my father’s approach, although not as refined as some would prefer, got more effective results from the school system, and served as a better deterrent than $175.00…which, even in these times of recession, still is not a lot of money.

I want the mother’s out there to comment on this case. What would you do if this were your daughter?….regulate the situation like my father….or what?…I do not think this minor fine will serve as any deterrent for this form of physical humiliation and assault on a little girl, to happen again.

Sources…

http://blogs.bet.com/news/newsyoushouldknow/frustrated-teacher-cuts-students-hair/

http://www.wkowtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=11677405

http://www.chicagonow.com/blogs/message-from-montie/2009/12/seven-year-old-lamya-cammon-gets-hair-cut-off-by-milwaukee-teacher.html

Legendary televangelist Oral Roberts 91, died today, a day after he fell at his California home and was hospitalized for broken bones and pneumonia, in Newport Beach, Calif., according to his spokesman, A. Larry Ross.

A statement released Monday says Roberts fell on Saturday and was being treated for broken bones and a slight case of pneumonia. It says he was listed in stable condition at the hospital near his home in California.

Oral Roberts...dead at 91

Roberts founded Oral Roberts University  in Tulsa, Okla., in 1963 and served as its president until 1993. His son Richard followed his dad as the second president of the university, and subsequently had to step down following a financial scandal that tarnished the reputation of the school.

Richard Roberts and his wife have denied accusations that they spent university money on vacations, home remodel and other luxuries at a time ORU was $55 million in the red.

Oral Roberts returned to the campus this year to install the Universities third president Mark Ruthland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_Roberts_University

Mark Ruthland, Ph.D., President of Oral Roberts University said that “Chancellor Roberts was one of the brilliant spiritual lights of the 20th century and a giant of the Christian faith.  At the core of his legacy is a great university that bears his name.  Like millions worldwide, I am mourning his passing and am grateful for his visionary life and contributions.”

“Oral Roberts was the greatest man of God I’ve ever known,” said his son, Richard Roberts, according to Tulsa TV station KTUL. “A modern-day apostle of the healing ministry, an author, educator, evangelist, prophet, and innovator, he was the only man of his generation to build a worldwide ministry, an accredited university, and a medical school.”

Oral Roberts was the son of a preacher and started traveling the country staging charismatic revivals out of a tent, and later he did the same revival style meetings, but on TV.

I remember growing up in the 70’s, and we would watch his program every Sunday, because a family friend, Carlton Pearson,was a singer in the Oral Roberts Chorale that used to deliver rousing choreographed numbers on the series, which was one of the highlights of that show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlton_Pearson

Carlton Pearson former protegé of Oral Roberts

Carlton Pearson was the only black male member of that group, at a time when it was rare to see black men on TV at all. Better yet, it was Carlton, who was a role model for all the kids at Jackson Memorial C.O.G.I.C. in San Diego, because he was within our peer group, and he represented to us, a path and direction that we all could possibly follow, so that we could eventually go to college and get out of San Diego.

When Oral Roberts put Carlton on his show, he definitely advanced race relations here in the US, by showing us, especially in San Diego, that we could actually get out of that city and become national figures.

He was also a good friend and confidante of the late Bishop Blake, whose work here in Southern California to elevate the black man and all of our fellow-men, has only been rivaled by his son Bishop Charles Blake of the West Angeles Church of God In Christ in Los Angeles.

Charles Blake jr. is also an alumnus of Oral Roberts University ,so the impact on our family and the whole Church of God in Christ has been significant. For many years, Carlton Pearson was on the board of trustees for ORU, and the love and support from Oral Roberts was a big reason for his past success.

Unfortunetly, a change in beliefs for Pearson, forced a falling out between the two.

The AP reports that Oral Robert’s had survived two heart attacks in the 1990s and a broken hip in 2006. Roberts was a pioneer who broadcast his spirit-filled revivals on television, a new frontier for religion when he started in the 1950s. He was also a forerunner of the controversial “prosperity gospel” that has come to dominate televangelism. The evangelist’s “Seed-Faith” theology held that those who give to God will get things in return.

On a personal note, I always respected Oral Robert’s because of his dedication to his causes. Many outside the faith may not have understood him, but really, they would not understand any preacher, simply because of his beliefs.

The legacy that I will alway’s remember Mr Robert’s for, would be the fact that he assisted black people to attain our civil rights, and for his bold move to put Carlton Pearson on TV.

When he did that, he let me know that we could do anything that we set out to do.

Our C.O.G.I.C.has been promising a college of our own in Memphis, All-Saints University, for well over 40 years now, to no avail, but Oral Roberts opened his campus in 1963, with a lot less members…and ironically, a lot of our children have gotten education from him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_God_in_Christ

Oral Roberts was in part a Native American, and he was proud of that fact, just like many African Americans. He stepped down from a pentecostal organization as a preacher, so he could grow his own ministry more effectively, and more aggressively.

Funeral services are pending at this time, and will be announced at a later date.

For more information about Oral Roberts follow this link- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_Roberts?loc=interstitialskip

I am saddened by the death of minister Roberts as I was when Reverend Ike passed away a few months ago, but I must also celebrate his life…

May he rest in peace.

Oral Roberts University

For more reports on the death of this legendary man of God, click on these trusted sources….

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/12/16/2773000.htm

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/15/oral-roberts-dead-televan_n_393118.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g8-DEMtAE9q4i4ySQ0eV_qZefmRQD9CK058G2

The strangulation death of 100-year-old Elizabeth Barrow at first was suspected to be a suicide, but upon further investigation, it has been discovered that she was murdered by her roommate, 98-year-old Laura Lundquist.

On Friday, the 98-year-old Laura Lundquist was indicted on a second-degree murder charge that alleges she strangled her 100-year-old nursing home roommate after making the victim’s life “a living hell” because she thought the woman was “taking over the room.”

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/state/x1903562906/98-year-old-charged-with-killing-100-year-old-roommate

Laura had lived in that room for several years with her deceased husband, who had passed away in the bed by the window, that Mrs Barrow had been living in ever since Laura’s husband had died.Laura had a developed a very sentimental feeling towards that room because of the memory of her husband.

The women had been sharing a room for about a year before the murder occurred.

Apparently, the motivation for the murder was that Laura Lundquist wanted Mrs Barrow’s bed by the window in the nursing home room, and had tried to make Barrow’s life a living hell in order to get it.

When she did not give in to the constant harassment by the younger Lundquist, this frustrated Mrs Lundquist and that is when she decided to kill her roommate Mrs Barrow in order to get the bed by the window. Her rationalization for the murder is that Mrs Barrow was trying to …”take over the room”…

The two had quarreled the night before Barrow’s death over a table Lundquist had placed at the foot of the victim’s bed, blocking her access to the bathroom.

“When the nurse moved the table from the location, Ms. Lundquist, the defendant, assaulted her by punching her. She stated at that time, Ms. Lundquist that is, that ‘She [Barrow] might as well have the whole room.’

Upon further investigation by the District Attorney’s office , under questioning by an investigator, it was revealed that  the defendant harbored hostility towards the victim because she believed the victim, Ms. Barrow, was taking over the room they shared at the nursing home. The defendant made statements prior to the victim’s death that she would get the victims bed eventually, by the window, because she was going to outlive her,” said District Attorney Samuel Sutter, in a news conference Friday.

A Superior Court judge ordered Ms Lundquist to be sent to Taunton State Hospital for a mental competency evaluation.

When she appears in court, she will be the oldest defendant  in state history, but might never go to trial because of her mental health issues.

The D.A.  said he wrestled with whether he should bring murder charges against a 98-year-old woman, but in the end, believes it is the right thing to do.

Unfortunetly for Mrs Lundquist, her actions have to be prosecuted because the family of Mrs Barrow’s, no matter how old she was, deserves justice for her murder, it is just an unfortunate set of circumstances for all involved.

It is being reported that Laura Lundquist has a history of paranoia and dementia, so the murder could not have been premeditated, a prerequisite for a first degree murder charge.

This is why the indictment is for a second degree murder charge.

Elizabeth Barrow

Sources-

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO131601/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8409246.stm

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ifKAF_3IYYJSjhD-NDlGGU3ZjRRAD9CHE36G0

The AP is reporting that in the same week that President Barack Obama accepted the Nobel Peace prize, the military was actively striking out at one of the leaders of the terrorist group al-Qaeda, organized and financed by Osama Bin Laden.

Senior al-Qaeda operations planner Saleh al-Somali was responsible for the terror group’s operations outside the Afghanistan-Pakistan region, reaching into activities in Africa. The official said al-Somali was believed to have been involved in plotting attacks against the United States and Europe. He was killed by an unmanned drone missile Tuesday.

Saleh Al-Somali was part of al-Qaeda’s senior leadership circle and had connections to other Pakistan-based extremists. His role was to take guidance from senior leaders and develop plans for prospective terrorist attacks, the official said.

Too late now.

Previously, al-Somali had worked in tribal areas of Pakistan with newly arrived Westerners recruited by al-Qaeda.

Unmanned drone missile attacks have increased over the year under the Obama administration.

One down…more to go.

One More To Go...

Source-

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gBPkqlbYFAsre3cNERv-qx56OqngD9CHDHEG0

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/10/senior-al-qaida-member-ki_n_387699.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/world/asia/12drone.html

Recently a very scholarly Jewish friend of mine was surprised to hear from me that there are in existence a whole community of black Ethiopian Jews that live about a block down the street from him in Southern California.

He was resisting the fact that black Jews existed, but did not want to acknowledge that they existed at all, and lived close to him.

If you consider the full history of the Jewish faith, and the fact that Israel is in Northern Africa,…it is hard for me to believe that there could be that much pervasive ignorance in this religion, as it is in the Christian religion.I say Northern Africa, because I still know a ‘continent’ to be a vast continuous land mass separated by an Ocean, and not the political trickery that has been promoted to us for so long…BY DEFINITION, THERE ARE REALLY ONLY 4 CONTINENTS-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continent

Here is a quote from a website by black Jews…There is no firm estimate on how many American Jews are black, but several sociologists have placed the figure at about 50,000. As Rabbi Levy writes on his Web site, “We exist both within our own congregations and in predominately white congregations. Some of us have converted to Judaism, others are products of intermarriages, and yet others have been in this way of life for generations. The amount of diversity within our group is as varied as the colors in a rainbow.”

http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=26506

All things considered, it simply sounds like a racist agenda to me, when ANY religion can exclude the minority population from their ”full” status.

I am proud of my son and his mom being practicing Jews, and I look forward to a time when our Jewish friends stop asking them why they are wearing the star of David.

The answer is the same reason that they are wearing it,…and their reaction and motivation for their question has nothing to do with Judaism, but everything to do with racism,and ignorance.

I encourage all people to study the true history of your religion, so we can weed out any racial bias that may construct a pecking order based on race within all religions, or at least acknowledge that the religion is multi-cultural and diverse. Would it be that earth shattering to find out that black jews have existed for centuries, and to wonder why they have been shunned for so long by their own faith….

Why is that?…please enlighten me.

Happy Hannakuh to all who practice the Jewish faith, just like my own son.

Let me know what you think….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Israel

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/ejhist.html

Former Gold Medal Olympian Calvin Harrison...currently homeless

Calvin Harrison (born January 20, 1974) was a former Olympic gold medalist, famously winning the 4×400 relay with his twin brother Alvin, and legendary sprinter Michael Johnson, at the 2000 Summer Olympic games that were held in Sydney,Australia.  At the 2000 Olympics, Alvin Harrison and Calvin Harrison made history by becoming the first twins ever to compete and win Olympic gold medals together on the same relay team since the inception of the modern Olympic Games.

In fact ,Calvin Harrison  ran the third leg of the 4×400 meter relay, eventually handing the baton off to Michael Johnson for the gold.

After those great Olympics, Calvin and Alvin were the toast of the town, as they were celebrated for being the champions that they are. America consistently loves our gold medal winners, and all the riches that go along with that prestigious title, were bestowed upon them.

The brothers, who had been homeless for a time while growing up, as well as when they attended college, had a compelling story to tell about believing in yourself, and overcoming insurmountable odds to achieve success.

They wrote a book entitled ”Go to Your Destiny”, which debuted on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2001, and is a very inspirational tome that is designed to motivate people to achieve their success, even if the current situation appears to be impossible to overcome. http://www.amazon.com/Go-Your-Destiny-Alvin-Harrison/dp/0786867884

I read it, and I can attest to the fact that it is an awesome story that is the hallmark of American success.

This is why the news concerning Calvin’s current homelessness is distressing.

Local San Diego news is reporting that Calvin Harrison is broke and homeless living on the streets of San Diego with his wife and 5 children. To be accurate, they are currently living in a homeless shelter, after being on the streets.

Watch video report here- http://www.webcastr.com/videos/news/gold-medal-olympian-now-homeless.html

Luckily for them, after sleeping on the streets, they were able to get accepted into a homeless shelter that allows families to stay together,which many do not. Calvin’s youngest child is just 5 months old.

Calvin’s current dilemma started with him testing positive for a banned stimulant in 2004, which got him a two-year suspension from track and field events, and he also had to return all of his medals and prize money he won from the events that he tested positive in.

He also was stripped of the Olympic gold medal from the Sydney Olympic, when it was discovered that a team-mate on the relay team, Antonio Pettigrew, admitted to taking banned steroids to assist him in the competition. The whole team was asked to return the medals, but Calvin gave his to his father.All of the other members of that relay team returned their medals, even though none of them had taken steroids.

Calvin subsequently spent his whole life’s savings on a failed legal battle to clear his name, which he lost. He was not allowed to compete in the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, Greece due to the suspension, and in turn, lost the ability to make a living doing what he knows best, and that is track and field.

Ironically, the substance that he was banned for taking, is no longer on the illegal substance list, since it is a common ingredient in over the counter cough medications.

Calvin, faced with mounting bills, a wife, and children to support, did what men do, and that is going to work.

He traveled the country working in construction jobs, and eventually landed a steady job as a personal trainer at a gym in Arizona, that supported him at the level to pay his rent and to feed his family.

Due to the recession, he was laid off from that job,…and like many Americans today, he was unable to pay his rent, and soon found his family evicted and on the street.

They moved to San Diego in the hopes of finding steady employment, but soon found out that it is as bad in California as it is in Arizona.

Calvin  made the following statement to NBC San Diego…”I’m in a position now where I do need to ask, and I’m not afraid of the pride being in the way,” Harrison said. “Before I was. I didn’t want to ask, wanted to do it on my own, but I’m in a position now where I do need some help.”

To read the full story about Calvin’s dilemma, click on this link to NBC San Diego… http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/sports/Gold-Medal-Olympian-Now-Homeless-79007597.html

This is a hard story to report on, because there are so many people who are in this position because of the recession that never had the opportunities that Calvin had, even though he had a challenging time to get there, but I do not have all the facts about his case, and it is not my place to judge his actions.

I am certain that Calvin would make different choices in retrospect, we all could say that, but now he has to deal with the future.The future for his wife and minor children rest on what he is able to do next.

His wife Charlotte made this statement in reference to their future…”I’m just hoping for an awesome job and to be able to get a house,” Charlotte said. “I know it’s big hopes, but we’re just dreaming of a house and a place for our kids to grow up in.”

I do not know what type of marketable skills the two of them have outside of the track and field game, but if they do get assistance, hopefully they will get help with some job training so they can develop some marketable skills that will support their family in the long run.

If you are able to help, and want to help Calvin and his family, they are currently living at the YWCA Cortez Hill shelter in San Diego. The contact information for the shelter is:

I hope it all works out for Calvin and his family, as well as all the other Americans that find themselves in need of assistance from their fellow-man.

Happy Holidays…

For more information on Calvin and this story, click on these sources…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvin_Harrison

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/11/former-olympic-gold-medal_n_389106.html

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/08/03/SPGOP81HVQ1.DTL

President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama were in Oslo today to accept his Nobel Peace Prize award. President Obama stated that  he is humbled by the award and receives it with an ‘acute sense’ of the cost of war.

”To say that force  may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism …but an acknowledgement of history”…and as a head of state, he must defend our nation”…

I give it to the President , for I too hate war, but sometimes war comes too you, whether you like it or not.

Congratulations Mr.President, because I am sure that the truth hurts to hear, as well as it is to say….

Os seres humanos se dividem em dois grandes grupos: os quantitativos e os verbais. Os primeiros são bons em números, e os segundos, hábeis na fala. É a grande divisão do ensino: exatas versus humanas, clássico versus científico. Os bons de fala irão tornar-se advogados, jornalistas, sociólogos, economistas governamentais, políticos. Tendem a ser românticos e de esquerda, a acreditar na autoridade da palavra e nas soluções de cima para baixo. Os bons em números irão tornar-se engenheiros, cientistas, químicos, empresários, contadores, administradores. Tendem a ser pragmáticos, apolíticos e a acreditar nas soluções de baixo para cima. Falam mal, escrevem pior ainda, têm pouca influência política. (Stephen Kanitz)

http://www.kanitz.com/veja/faltam_engenheiros_governo.asp

This story proves the fact that once a pedophile, always a pedophile.

The state of New York is set to release upon the citizens an unrepentant, unapologetic 100-year-old convicted child molester out-of-state custody, so he can prey upon and victimize more innocent young victims, as he has promised to do.http://www.wgrz.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=72641&catid=13

Theodore Sypnier...pedophile

He has pledged to attack his own great-grandchildren, and will petition the state to allow him to be able to have contact with them, as he is currently restricted. He figures that this is the best time to try to get permission from the state to attack them, as they are the ones that are dumb enough to release him, just because he is 100.

Pedophile Theodore A. Sypnier is a century old, but he is highly alert, physically active and very capable of living alone and taking care of himself. He is also physically able to prowl around our neighborhoods to rape, sodomize, and sexually abuse little children.

Sypnier has been in prison for most of the last nine years and is soon to be released into a one-room apartment in Buffalo to live on his own.

If ever there was a person who should be permanently confined, even after serving out his prison term, police and experts say, it is Sypnier.

He has been convicted at least twice of molesting children and suspected in other cases over the last six decades in the Town of Tonawanda and Buffalo, and psychologists, police and others say he is likely to molest children again.

UPI.com reports that…”Mr. Sypnier is the personification of evil and should be removed from civilized society permanently, until the day he dies,” Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita III said. “He is an unrepentant child molester who has been doing this or trying to do this for 60 years. He can’t be cured. He’s not sick. He’s evil. He’s not old. He’s evil.”

The Rev. Terry King, operator of Saving Grace halfway house, said he only allowed Sypnier to stay there because the alternative was a mission where he would have had no supervision for part of the day.

 Authorities have said he will be closely checked when he is in his own apartment.

I wonder how long it will take for him to isolate a child, kidnap, and molest him or her. Only time will tell, but the tragic reality here is that this monster, of any age, will actually be allowed to act upon his evil plan…all with the assistance of the failed New York penal system.

I can only hope that some responsible party in New York will block this release, and allow him to die in prison, out of the reach of the children in our society.

If not, then the blood of his next innocent victim will be on the hands of the State of New York. I don’t care how old he is, he should have been eliminated years ago.

When will we learn…hopefully before this idiot molest another child.

Let me know your reactions here.

The 100-year-old pedophile...BEWARE

Sources…

http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/886612.html

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2009/12/08/Century-old-child-molester-out-of-prison/UPI-63931260334671/

From Baghdad comes a sobering report that a coordinated series of attacks in Baghdad killed more than 127 people and wounded hundreds on Tuesday. Five separate attacks created the worst wave of violence to strike the Iraqi capital in more than a month.

It is the third time in four months that a coordinated wave of bombers has defeated Baghdad’s security and dealt a blow to the Iraqi government’s claims to have made the country’s streets safer.

The bombs detonated within minutes near the city’s main courthouse and the public works and finance ministries. The finance ministry had only recently moved to the site after its main headquarters was levelled by a truck bomb in August.

The President has condemned the bombings and has declared it as another attempt to topple the Iraq government, and to stifle peaceful progression of the nation.

I wonder, as we move our military forces into Afghanistan, how are we going to keep the peace in Iraq,or is this just a sign of what is to come when we evacuate the country…I guess only time will tell.

What do you think?

Read the full article here…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/08/baghdad-bombings-kill-at_n_383686.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/08/bagdad-car-bombs-iraq

A 35-year-old New Zealand man is facing up to 14 years in prison for sentencing his wife to a lifetime of pain and suffering, when he forcibly injected her twice with a sewing needle that he had soaked and dipped in HIV tainted blood.

The diseased blood came from his own body, and he injected his 33-year-old unsuspecting wife while she was sleeping next to him in their marital bed.

It is being reported that the man injected her with the disease because his wife decided to abstain from sex with him…because he was HIV positive, which only makes good sense.

If he truly loved her, he would not want to subject her to his disease, and he should have been appreciative that she decided to support him.

But no…this man is a self obsessed narcissist, and the he only cares about his own self-gratification, and is devoid of love. Unfortunetly for his wife, she realized this far too late for her to preserve her health.

The man claimed that he did it so that his wife would start having sex with him again, as she had refused to do so out of fear of contracting the disease. He gave her the virus by pricking her with a sewing needle tainted with his blood.

The Telegraph.co.uk reports that…His wife told a New Zealand court that she discovered a sting-like mark on her left thigh in May last year. Later that day, when she returned home unexpectedly, she saw her husband in the bedroom with a syringe full of blood.

Two days later she awoke to a stinging feeling in her leg, the Australian Associated Press reported. He denied pricking her, but later she found evidence of “blood sprinkles” on the duvet.

In September, when her doctor suggested a test at a routine checkup, she found she was HIV-positive.

This definitely gives us all something to think about, as this is one of those crimes of passion that seems to rate as an attempt on her life.

This is a case of ‘’slow murder” that is premeditated ,coupled with biological warfare. Life in prison would be a more likely charge in my opinion,but he will soon die from his disease.

I hope that they do not treat him for it, and with hold his medication so he can suffer before he dies. It sure seems like he had a good and loyal wife, who does not deserve what she is going through.

Police charged the man in October of last year. Keep the needles to yourself…and leave them to those that need them in order to survive, but absolutely not to kill, as in this case of marital abuse…

Mainlining... Shooting Up...

Read the full story here,and let me know your reactions to this sick crime…

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/newzealand/6752023/HIV-positive-man-infects-sleeping-wife-with-virus-in-needle-attack.html