Daily Rotten Archives February 23, 2004 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 Total Information Awareness never actually killed Shawnee News-Star | Submitted by: A. P. Palled "The government is still financing research to create powerful tools that could mine millions of public and private records for information about terrorists despite an uproar last year over fears it might ensnare innocent Americans. Congress eliminated a Pentagon office developing the terrorist tracking technology because of the outcry over privacy implications. But some of those projects from retired Adm. John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness effort were transferred to U.S. intelligence offices... In addition, Congress left undisturbed a separate but similar $64 million research program run by a little-known office called the Advanced Research and Development Activity (ARDA) that has used some of the same researchers as Poindexter's program. 'The whole congressional action looks like a shell game,' said Steve Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, which tracks work by U.S. intelligence agencies. 'There may be enough of a difference for them to claim TIA was terminated while for all practical purposes the identical work is continuing.'" Read article... Catholic priest blames pederasty on the '60s ABC News | Submitted by: Pat "The interim head of the Diocese of Springfield said the sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic church in recent years stems from a belief once held by some priests that having sex with young men was acceptable. Monsignor Richard S. Sniezyk said that as a seminarian and a young priest in the 1950s and early 1960s, he heard of priests who had sex with young men, but 'no one thought much about it.' 'They did good ministry, they were good to their people, they were kind, compassionate, but they had no idea what they were doing to these young men that they were abusing," Sniezyk told The Boston Globe on Sunday... The Rev. James Scahill, a priest at St. Michael's Parish in East Longmeadow, disputed Sniezyk's comments. 'He's saying priests were that lame in the brain not to know this was wrong?' [Rev. James Scahill] told the newspaper. 'Any sensible person would know this is evil.'" Read article... and This article... 46% of Americans crave PPV Osama, Saddam executions MSNBC | Submitted by: Amnesty International Rules! "Two-thirds of Americans polled last month said they support the idea of televising executions - and 21 percent said they’d pay to watch Osama bin Laden put to death. Eleven percent said they would pay to see Saddam Hussein executed... Thirty-seven percent of those polled said they did not think executions should be televised. And 54 percent said they wouldn’t watch an execution on television." Read article... Canada offers WW2 guinea pigs $24K Canada.com | Submitted by: Gorg "[Jack Coleman] was exposed to poisonous gases in 1942, one of 3,500 Canadian veterans who were unwitting guinea pigs in their own government's chemical weapons experiments during the Second World War... On Thursday, Prime Minister Paul Martin announced a $50-million compensation package for those subjected to the secret tests. Each veteran would receive $24,000... Coleman spent more than a week at the military testing site at CFB Suffield, Alta., in 1942. He recalled a plane releasing a poisonous substance on himself and other soldiers lined up in a field... Len Link of Saskatoon also spent time at Suffield in 1942... In one instance, officers used an eyedropper to dot his arm with mustard gas. 'They kept asking us, "Does it burn, does it burn, does it burn?"' he remembered... A sore on Link's right arm still flares up every few months because he didn't wipe away one of the droplets quickly enough. Twice since 1942, his left leg has gone numb and his toenails have fallen off, stumping doctors." Read article... O.J. unwilling to pay civil judgment St. Louis Post-Dispatch | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "At 2:30 p.m. Saturday, attorney Katharyn Davis tracked down O.J. Simpson on the fifth floor of the Embassy Suites in Bridgeton and had him served with a writ claiming for Sharon Rufo any money he earned here. But Simpson says he won't pay anyone a dime. Rufo, of west St. Louis County, is the mother of Ronald Goldman, who was fatally stabbed along with Nicole Brown Simpson, O.J. Simpson's ex-wife, on June 12, 1994. In October 1995, a jury acquitted Simpson of both murders. In February 1997, a jury in a wrongful death suit found against Simpson. Rufo has yet to collect any of the $1.27 million she was awarded from that suit... [Simpson] told KTVI (Channel 2), 'They said I was innocent. I will do what the law says, but outside of that, I wouldn't go out of my way to give them a dime.'" Read article... and This article... Woman admits decapitating mother WAVE-TV 47 Louisville | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "A woman told police she used a pitchfork and two knives to kill and decapitate her 81-year-old mother, a court document filed Monday said. Margaret Church, 54, said that on Feb. 13, she dragged her bedridden mother, Margaret Jansky, out of bed and onto the floor face up, a probable cause affidavit said. Church then placed the pitchfork on Jansky's throat and stepped on it, trying to decapitate her mother, the affidavit said. When the pitchfork did not work, she used two kitchen knives to cut off Jansky's head and put it in a plastic bag." Read article... Miwok tribe population suspiciously explodes CNN | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "A once-tiny, nearly destitute American Indian tribe is pushing hard to build a $100 million casino - but it's not traditional tribal members gunning for riches. Hundreds of people have been newly added to the Ione Band of Miwok Indians' membership rolls, which were opened up by regional Bureau of Indian Affairs officials. Among the new members are several BIA employees and dozens of their relatives. Four congressmen have called for an investigation, though federal officials have so far declined to intervene. Rep. Nick Rahall, ranking Democrat on the House Resources Committee, called the BIA's move an apparent 'coup d'etat' that should make other tribes 'tremble with fear.' ... Matt Franklin, the new tribal chairman recognized by the BIA, said he could provide documents proving the legitimacy of the tribe's expanded membership. However, Franklin did not produce the documents after repeated requests from The Associated Press over several weeks." Read article... Australia ripe for cyberattack The Age | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Australia's critical information infrastructure is still vulnerable to cyber attack, with the communications network underpinning the $50 billion Chinese gas deal particularly 'fragile,' a former defence department strategist warns. Dr Adam Cobb, who warned of Australia's key vulnerabilities to information attack in 1999, says Australia is still wide open... 'While the general terrorist threat against Australia has increased dramatically, it remains to be seen to what extent groups like al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiah will turn to cyber attack as a modus operandi.'" Read article... American soldier flees to Canada Guardian | Submitted by: A. P. Palled "Jeremy Hinzman fought in Afghanistan and considers himself a patriot. But when his unit was ordered to Iraq, he refused to go and embarked on a radical journey that could make legal history. Private first class Hinzman left the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, taking his wife and son to Canada. Officially, he is AWOL (absent without leave), and, instead of fighting insurgents, he is battling the US military in the Canadian courts. This month Pvt Hinzman, 25, filed legal papers to become the first US soldier objecting to the Iraq war to be granted refugee status in Canada. His case is expected to be a test of new Canadian immigration laws and the country's traditional role of accepting refugees from the US military." Read article... Boston launches 10-week pimp-proofing program Boston Globe | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "In an experimental venture that gained urgency earlier this month when a prostitute was found dead in Roxbury, outreach workers have been teaching vulnerable girls in the Boston area to be on the lookout themselves... 'A pimp doesn't walk up to you and tell you all the bad stuff they're going to do; they give you all the good stuff,' said Denise Williams, 43, an ex-prostitute... Williams is co-author and one of the presenters of the new anti-pimp curriculum, 'My Life, My Choice: The Massachusetts Prostitution Prevention Project.' Some 40 girls ages 13 to 19 have completed the 10-week street-smart seminar." Read article... Ethiopian bride explodes during wedding AIM Today | Submitted by: Charlie "A grenade exploded at a wedding in eastern Ethiopia, killing the bride and three other people... In Ethiopia's remote, rural communities it is not uncommon for guests to fire their guns in the air at weddings in wild jubilation, although incidents involving grenades are rare. 'A grenade fell from a belt of an individual during a group dance at a wedding ceremony at Hamyao Sera farmers' community in eastern Ethiopia killing four persons including the bride who was participating in the dance last Saturday.'" Read article... Iranian asylum seekers stitch mouths shut BBC | Submitted by: smuj83 "Three failed asylum seekers have sewn up their mouths and gone on hunger strike in Glasgow. Farouk Haidari, Farnborz Gravandk and Mokhtar Haydary arrived in Scotland three years ago claiming they had been beaten up in jail. Their appeals for refugee status have failed and the men have now been told they will be sent back to Iran. Supporters said the men had not consumed food or water since Thursday and would rather die than go home." Read article... Nonwhite ejected from white supremacist rally Phoenix New Times | Submitted by: Sexual Potato "Aryanfest's gates opened at noon, and about an hour later, the gathering assemblage gradually hushed as all eyes turned upon the young man who had just paid his entrance fee... He was in his late teens or early 20s, had a shaved head and sported Nazi and white power tattoos on both arms, in addition to wearing the white tee shirt with bold, black script. He would have fit in just fine, except for one thing: He wasn't white. Not even close. There was at least half a cup of Kahlúa in his cream... celebrity racist Tom Metzger cackled and said, loudly but to no one in particular, 'Well, what in the hell do you suppose that spic was thinking?'" Read article... Vets claim dogfucking simply infeasible News 24 South Africa | Submitted by: optional "Two animal experts on Monday dismissed allegations that a Gauteng girl's employers could have forced her to have sexual intercourse with a dog... Brother and sister Cheri Wang, 24, and Ken Wang, 26, are accused of beating up their domestic worker, Emilia Sithole. They also allegedly shot her and then forced her to have sexual intercourse with their black Rottweiler in April 2003... He said a male dog cannot be changed to perform sexual intercourse with a human female. The dog would have to be masturbated, held under appropriate restraints and forced by a human to enter a female vagina. A minimum of six men would be required for such an exercise." [Uh huh. A quick visit to some bestiality sites would disprove that assertion.] Read article... Drunks ruin Korea's reputation Chosun Ilbo | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Late last year, the Korean Embassy in Manila sent an official request asking Korean Air and Asiana to 'excercise self-restraint in serving alcohol to passengers.' This is because heavy-drinking Korean passengers were causing disturbances on planes. Last Feb. 3, a dead-drunk Korean passenger caused such a disturbance upon arriving at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport - he went so far as to take off his pants in the airport - that within an hour, he was put on plane straight back to Korea... In late 2001, in the middle of Indonesia's Ramadhan holiday season, Koreans at a karaoke club in Jakarta, after getting smashed on boilermakers, tried to coerce the club's female workers to engage in sexual relations with them. When they were refused, the ensuing riot was widely broadcast on local news." Read article... Diamond thief sentenced WEWS-TV 5 Cleveland | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "A woman pleaded guilty to charges of stealing diamonds from an Akron jewelry store, and has now been sentenced to three years in prison, NewsChannel5 reported Monday. Farrah Daly was caught on a surveillance camera at Sterling Jewelers, where she worked as a diamond sorter... When confronted, Daly initially said the diamond got caught on the bottom of her shoe, but when confronted with the surveillance camera evidence, admitted to smuggling 80 stones over the past four years, worth about $800,000. The stolen stones were then sold at Akron-area pawnshops, such as Sam's Emporium and Akron Coin and Jewelry, by Daly's husband, Michael Daly... According to court testimony, the Dalys used the money from the diamonds to purchase things such as horses, a new kitchen, jet skis, and breast implants. If Daly had not dropped the diamond, prosecutors believe she would have went on stealing indefinitely." Read article... Bush cabinet member calls NEA a 'terrorist organization' CNN | Submitted by: Reid Fleming "Education Secretary Rod Paige called the National Education Association a 'terrorist organization' Monday as he argued that the country's largest teachers union often acts at odds with the wishes of rank-and-file teachers regarding school standards and accountability. Paige later issued a written release saying that statement, made during a conversation with governors, 'was an inappropriate choice of words' but reiterated his criticism of the NEA and its Washington lobbyists... 'It was an inappropriate choice of words to describe the obstructionist scare tactics the NEA's Washington lobbyists have employed against No Child Left Behind... But, as one who grew up on the receiving end of insensitive remarks, I should have chosen my words better.'" [No shit?] Read article...