Daily Rotten Archives January 1, 2004 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 Ritual abuse case officially bullshit Saskatoon StarPhoenix | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Richard Klassen and 11 other plaintiffs wrongly accused of ritual abuse against three foster children in the early 1990s were victims of malicious prosecution, a Court of Queen's Bench judge has ruled... The bizarre allegations included detailed accounts of satanic ritual abuse, which included animal and human sacrifice, as well as claims the children had been forced to eat feces and drink urine... The children later recanted almost all of what they had alleged, and the oldest foster child, Michael Ross, was found to be abusing his younger twin sisters, Michelle and Kathy." Read article... Girl allegedly spikes mom's gatorade with bleach KFMB-TV 8 | Submitted by: Rio "The teen allegedly served her 37-year-old parent a tainted glass of Gatorade with dinner at their apartment in the 1500 block of East Main Street in El Cajon about 7:30 Tuesday night, said Lt. Mike Moore of the El Cajon Police Department. The woman drank some of the concoction, realized something was wrong and made a 911 call, Moore said... Police arrested the teen and took her to juvenile hall for booking on suspicion of facilitating a poisoning." Read article... Neil Bush: genius with own money, lousy with others' Guardian | Submitted by: anyone other than Bush in '04 "Presidential brother Neil Bush made at least $798,218 on three stock trades in a small U.S. high-tech company where he had been a consultant, according to his tax returns, including $171,370 buying and selling the company's shares in a single day... Bush's returns, as well as records that have come to light in Bush's divorce case with his wife, Sharon, show that since his controversial tenure with the failed Silverado Banking, Savings and Loan Association of Denver, more than a decade ago, he has become a globe-trotting businessman with a variety of consulting deals." Read article... Europe's own Enron Guardian UK | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Italian police arrested seven more suspects in the snowballing Parmalat fraud scandal yesterday as reports suggested the bankrupt food giant may soon turn to the banks for a multi-million pound rescue package to stay in business. Two Italian executives of the global auditing firm Grant Thornton, two former Parmalat financial chiefs and the lawyer of the jailed Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi, were among the seven new suspects arrested in Milan, Parma and Como... The Grant Thornton executives, branch president Lorenzo Penca and partner Maurizio Bianchi, have been accused by a Milan judge of falsely certifying Parmalat's balance sheets, which listed up to 10bn non-existent euros in the group's accounts. The judge has also accused the auditors of suggesting ways for the company to commit fraud." Read article... Queen Elizabeth ineligible to rule Sunday Telegraph | Submitted by: Soylent "Medieval scholar Dr Michael Jones says he can prove Queen Elizabeth's claim to the throne is illegitimate and it should belong to Michael Abney-Hastings... Mr Jones, one of Britain's leading historians, believes he has proved through painstaking research that the Royal Family's right to rule is based on a lie. He says King Edward IV, who reigned from 1461 to 1483, was not of royal blood; he was the illegitimate son of a French archer. Sitting in his home in Jerilderie, 640km southwest of Sydney, in a T-shirt and shorts with a can of beer after a hard day at the wheel of a forklift truck, is the man who it is claimed should by rights be King Michael I of England." Read article... Unemployment rate actually getting worse CBS News | Submitted by: Frem "A falling unemployment rate may be spurring President Bush's prospects for reelection, but it is masking millions of Americans who do not have full time jobs, a newspaper reports. The Los Angeles Times reports that while the nation's unemployment rate of 5.9 percent is relatively low, it fails to include the 4.9 million people who want full-time positions but are working part-time jobs. The figure also omits 1.5 million people who have stopped looking for work. Taken together, the total number of jobless reaches 15.1 million - or 9.7 percent, up from 9.4 percent a year ago, the Times reports... since the recession began in March 2001, the country has lost 2.35 million payroll jobs. And in a significant change from past downturns, workers who lost their jobs have stayed unemployed far longer." Read article... University professor suspended for blasphemy PakTribune | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Kuwait University has taken a quick decision by suspending professor A.Z. accused of contempt of the Holy Quran, sources said. The sources pointed out those further investigations are still underway with the professor to verify whether he had any accomplices in this terrible crime. The professor of the faculty of Arts was arrested Monday for contempt of the Holy Quran. The sources elaborated that the man, in his late sixties, suffered some psychological disorders leading him to commit the crime that was discovered by his building janitor." Read article... Daredevils continue to eat cow-brain sandwiches South Florida Sun-Sentinel | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "'Mad cow has me a little shaky,' [Mike Volkman] said recently while seated at a corner table at the Hilltop Inn, looking at a plate-sized brain sandwich. 'But, no guts, no glory.' ... [Benjamin Boone], who eats the sandwich three times yearly, said he thought about the threat from mad cow before placing his order. 'But on the same token, I believe in God and I think he'll take care of me,' he said." Read article...