Crime

In Israel a man committed (or may have) a sex crime called "rape by deception". This involved a Palestinian man who convinced an Israeli woman to have sex with him by telling her he was Jewish, single and "interested in a relationship". It appears he was none of those things and mearly wanted to have sex. He was in fact convicted of the crime mentioned above and sentenced to 18 months in jail and fined $ 2500.

(Source: "Sex, lies and 'rape by deception'" by Amy Teibel of The AP. In The Record on 7/29/10

Lockerbee Scotland Bombing

It was reported on NBC nightly news on 7/15/10 that there might have been a deal between the UK and Libya to release the convicted Libyan bomber of that plane in exchange for a favorable oil deal with Libya. BP may have negotiated the deal. The bomber himself was released-we were told-because he was dying of prostate cancer and had only two months to live. A year later and he is still alive. (This will require more research).

Civil Case Rules

In a traffic accident case in Bergen County recently a formula for determining degree of guilt or liability was described. In this case the pedestrian that was killed while crossing a parking lot "street" was deemed to be 51 % responsible for the accident that cost her life. The driver of the car who hit her and killed her was considered to be 10 % responsible and the shopping mall where it happened was held to be 39 % responsible for the woman's death. I do not report this here for the purpose of agreeing or disagreeing with the verdict but to note the "formula" the jury arrives at to determine liability. If the plaintiff-or in this case the plaintiffs family-is held to be responsible by more than 50 % then there is not monetary award granted to the plantifff. Thus no penalty to the other parties to the accident.

(Source: "Pedestrian faulted for death" by Kimbret Marhos of The Record on 7/16/10).

Sit-ins

The AARP Bulletin had an interesting short history of the use of the sit-in as a means of protest. The first seems to be the "Woolworth's Sit-In" in Greensboro, NC in 1960. There was "Atlanta Sit-In" in 1961 protesting city segregation. A "Free Speech Sit-In" occured at Berkley, California in 1964 and 1965 protesting First Amendment restrictions. At Berkley in 1965 there was also a "teach-in" protesting the war in Vietnam. A "Human Be-In" took place in San Francisco n 1967 protesting the state's ban on LSD (0nly in California). The list also includes a TV program. "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" was on the TV from 1968 to 1973 inspiring an FBI investigation after the show made fun of J. Edgar Hoover. In Amsterdam and Montreal in 1969 there was a "Bed-Ins for Peace" protesting the Vietnam war. This source noted the last such "In" was a "Ladies Home Journal Sit-In" in 1970 that protested sexism in magazines. (More research is needed on this but I found it interesting so I included it here).

(Source: "Social Change-In" by Betsy Towner in the AARP Bulletin in July and August of 2010).

Korean War

A government commission has been investigating claims that government forces, with US help, murdered "tens of thousands of South Korean detainees" during the war there between 1950 to 1953. A number of mass graves have been uncovered over the years and relatives of possible victims have been pushing the government for an accounting. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2005 under a liberal government that was to cover "human rights abuses from Korea's pre 1945 Japanese colonial period through South Korea's military dictatorships into the 1980". The commission has ended its investigation, as ordered by a more conservative government, and has stated that "the US military's large scale killing of refugees during the Korean War arose from military necessity". "Collateral damage may be inevitable" says the present commission chairman.

(Source: "Korean War abuse panel is shut down" by Charles J. Hanley and Hyung-Jin Kim of the AP. In The Record on 7/11/10)

Oath Keepers

The Washington Spectator for July 1, 2010 made mention of the Nevada Republican primary which was won by Sharron Angle. She beat the GOP establishment candidate and will now face Harry Reid in November. She is a Tea Party candidate and is also defined at a member of the "Oath Keepers", a "national political cult". I googled the organization for more information. They are a "right wing patriot" organization whose membership consists of military, former military and police members. They are pledged to protect the Constitution by refusing to obey orders from the federal government they consider "unconstitutional". They are preparing for the day President Obama "declares martial law". So says Mother Jones magazine. They were founded by Steward Rhodes-a former staffer for Ron Paul-in March of 2009 with a membership that may be 200,000. Dave Love, writing in The Progressive says the organization is "concerned about a coming dictatorship, concentration camps, and a 'New World Order'. And they regard President Obama as 'an enemy of the state'". (More research will be needed)

(Source: The Washington Spectator from July 1, 2010. Google report on Mother Jones from February 22, 2010 and The Progressive-date unknown).