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Billy Gardner

Knitted Down there, Sewn to the boundless black stitches In our white spotted blanket. Creatures, Atop brown threads Puncturing the blue. The knots inside their tops Can't unravel what's true.

Dalai Lama Appearances Say It All

1 year after suicides

The Dalai Lama made an appearance at San Diego State’s campus in hopes raising awareness for his protest against China’s rule over Tibet.

The appearance came just a year after 30 Tibetans lit themselves on fire in protest. Chinese authorities blame the 20 deaths that ensued on the Dalai Lama, which were done by members of the Buddhist clergy. The Dalai Lama on the other hand blames China’s harsh rule over Tibet and that frustration led to the suicides.

The Dalai Lama, who won the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, went on campus and spoke of the climate change, “This blue small planet is only our home, no other planet so far,” he said. “This is our planet, our home. We have to take care of it.” Around 4,700 hundred people were in attendance.

The Dalai Lama also spoke of “genuine peace” in these trying times through education, awareness and understanding inner working, “Genuine peace must come from inner peace, not out of fear, not out of superficial appearance,” he told the audience.

Although the focus of the lecture and appearance was for spiritual purposes, the Tibetan issue looms large overhead. Chinese officials are usually enraged by an appearance of the Dalai Lama in the United States. He commented at a news conference that although China has voiced no response to his appearance, the non-response is not an indication that the relations that forced him into exile are improving.

After San Diego and Long Beach, the Dalai Lama will speak in Chicago at appearances set for April 25 and 26.
 

Trayvon Martin Judge Steps Down: then another right after that

See what their conflicts of interest were

Florida Circuit Judge Jessica Rocksiedler removed herself on Wednesday from presiding over the second degree murder trial of George Zimmerman.

Zimmerman is on trial for killing the Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. The Trayvon Martin Judge, Rocksiedler, stepped down from the trial due to a conflict of interest, because her husband’s law partner had been previously contacted by Zimmerman to defend his case.

The next Trayvon Martin judge in line to preside over the case also had to deny due to a conflict of interest. Judge John Galluzzo passed the case down yet again because he used to practice law with George Zimmerman’s attorney, Mark O’Mara.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. will now take over as the Trayvon Martin judge, in a case which is sure to cause a media uproar.

The entire case of the neighborhood watchmen George Zimmerman rests on his claims of self-defense. Under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law, if a person feels their life or harm to their body is evident they can then use deadly force to get out of the situation. Much media speculation has debated over the injuries of George Zimmerman that he claims were inflicted by Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman’s friends and neighbors backed his injury claims, “He was beaten to a bloody pulp that night, and he’s lucky to be alive. There’s proof of that,” said one friend of Zimmermans. “He took the pictures himself…to protect himself. He knew they would come back for him. He had a good idea this wasn’t over. He’s not a dumb man.”

The media attention has caused many to think the death of Trayvon Martin was race related but Zimmerman’s friend says evidence will prove otherwise, “You (the media) are going to feel pretty stupid when you see them,” he said. “Soon enough everyone will see the damage this kid did to his head. A lot of people are going to have egg on their faces.

A bond hearing is set for Zimmerman on Friday at 9 a.m. pending the availability of Judge Lester. 

Etan Patz: search continues for first missing child to go on milk carton

Police to dig up concrete floor of apartment

Federal agents and New York City police officers have been led to a New York City basement, searching for clues about a decades-old investigation into the disappearance of Etan Patz.

Etan Patz disappeared without a trace in 1979. He was 6-year-old and his parents let him take the short walk to the bus stop alone for the first time. That would be the last time they ever saw their son.

Etan Patz stirred the media throughout the country with his disappearance. He was the first missing child to be placed on a milk carton and has changed the way in which authorities and citizens deal with child abduction cases.

The apartment building is a block and a half from Etan’s bus stop and was on his route there. Investigators plan to search the building for clues and bodily remains and will excavate the concrete floor and sift through it.

Reports have stated that a handyman worked at the apartment building and often gave Etan Patz a $1 to help him do some work. Around the same time of Patz’s disappearance, the handyman put down a concrete floor in the basement of the apartment building. This will be the first time that concrete has been broken.

No one has been prosecuted for the disappearance of Etan Patz but in more recent years, Etan’s father Stanley Patz sued Jose Ramos who had been dating Etan’s babysitter at the time. Ramos is an admitted child molester but denied killing of Etan Patz. He is currently in jail for abusing an 8-year-old child and is set to be released this year. Authorities are hoping to find more evidence into Etan Patz’s disappearance before that date comes.
 

Brittany Killgore's body identified, suspects in custody

Part of dangerous sex ring, says neighbor

The body of a woman was found in Tuesday near Lake Skinner in Riverside County, Cal. has been positively identified as Brittany Killgore.

Killgore, 22, had been missing since Friday and filed for divorce with her husband, also 22, Lance Cpl. Cory Killgore just days before her disappearance. Cory Killgore was serving a military tour in Afghanistan but returned to search for his wife.

Jessica Lynn Lopez, 25, is the number one suspect in the killing and was held on suspicion of first degree murder. Charges have yet to be filed, and Lopez has been released.

Police found the body of Brittany Killgore through a suicide note Lopez had written. Authorities found Jessica Lopez with self-inflicted lacerations at the Ramada Inn hotel in San Diego and found an apparent suicide not explaining what happened to Brittany Killgore and where her body could be found. One officer described the scene on the police scanner, “Lacerations at the Ramada limited. … The female is conscious and breathing. Medics are en route.”

Many allegations have placed Lopez and Killgore as members of a dangerous sex ring, “They were into the sex slave things,” the neighbor said. “I tried not to judge… but that’s what they were into.”

Police said Killgore was planning to head to San Diego’s Gaslamp district but never made it there. They believe she was in the company of 45-year-old Marine Staff Sgt. Louis Ray Perez and was set to attend a dinner cruise with the active marine.

Perez was picked up on suspicion of possessing a stolen AR15 assualt rifle, and Police have stated he has been less than cooperative, “Based on the totality of the circumstances — the fact that (Killgore) is in constant contact with her friends, she has not been heard from since Friday, the fact that Mr. Perez was less than forthcoming in his interview with us, we believe there is foul play involved in this case,” Lt. Larry Nesbit told KTLA.

Detectives are still working on the relationships of Brittany Killgore, Lopez and Perez.

Perez is in being held on $500,000 bail for the weapons charge.

Adastra Yacht costs $15 million and is pretty cool

See what beats it out below

On Friday, China launched the Adastra Superyacht into China’s Pearl River. The boat is $15 million, 140-feeet long and looks like something out of Star Trek rather than China.

Anto Margen, a Hong Kong shipping industry billionaire, commissioned John Shuttleworth Yacht Designs to build the superyacht “unlike anything the world has ever seen. Margen watched Friday as his money was well spent.

The Adastra is the second largest of its kind and took four years to build. It houses nine guests, six crew members, and travels at 22.5 knots. Its illustrious interior is complete with a dining area and each sleeping space has full bathroom with a shower, not to mention the thing is fuel efficient, with the ability to travel 4,000 miles without stopping for gas.

The most absurd feature though, is the customized app that comes along with it. From up to 164ft away, an iPad can steer the boat and flick various switches.

Anto Marden, according to the Daily Mail, plans on sailing the boat with his wife back and forth from the two Indonesian Island’s they own.

The Adastra Superyacht is futuristic and fuel efficient, yes, but pales in comparison to the most expensive yacht in the world. An anonymous Malaysian business man, according to Business Insider, dropped a cool $4.8 billion on a solid gold yacht. Take that Adastra.

With that being said Adastra is spoken for but the unique design could be a template for superyachts to come.

See the video of Adastra’s features:

Mel Gibson rant released by Joe Eszterhas

What is it this time, jews, women, both?

Mel Gibson has been in the media more for personal issues than for his career in recent years. Here comes yet another example.

Joe Eszterhas published a nine-page letter through The Wrap on April 11 claiming the Braveheart actor was engaging in anti-Semitic, sexist and hate-filled speech. He claimed to have proof against the allegations and has now brought that evidence to light. Eszterhas posted a recording to The Wrap of Mel Gibson. The recording was made by his frightened 15-year-old son while he was over at the Gibson residence in Costa Rica on Dec.7, 2011.

In the audio clip below you can hear the enraged Gibson talking about his wife Oksana Grigorieva. “I’m earning money for a filthy little c***sucker who takes advantage of me!” Amongst many other vicious comments, the Lethal Weapon star seems to scream incoherently at times.

Mel Gibson was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and rage issues during his custody battle with his wife years ago. One source said, “It’s clear to me from listening to the recently released tapes that he most likely isn’t taking his medication, which is sad because when he was taking it he was so much calmer and rational.”

In the explicit audio released in 2010, Gibson was heard in a voicemail on Gregorieva’s cellphone calling her a “f***ing slut” and said the f-word 23 times in two minutes.

“The bottom line is it shows to me he badly needs help … My interest isn’t to damage him with this tape but to prevent damage being done to others, starting with Jews, including Oksana and now, I’m sure, me. I strongly believe that unless he seeks and receives some kind of psychiatric help, someone is going to get hurt,” Eszterhas told The Wrap.

Gibson is now seeking a way to sue Eszterhas under Costan Rican law that his “basic human right” was violated while being recorded in the privacy of his home.

Hear Eszterhas’ audio release:

N.J. Bully Punch Returns $4.2 Million Settlement

Sawyer Rosenstein is paralyzed from the waste down but now advocates for anti-bullying

A New Jersey school district has agreed to pay a $4.2 million settlement lawsuit to the family of a middle school student who was punched in the stomach and paralyzed by another student.

Sawyer Rosenstein was punched on May 16, 2006 and went home that day complaining of pain in his back but nothing that seemed to serious, said Joel Rosenstein to The Record of Woodland Park.

Two days later the middle school student screamed out in his bedroom from pain, “We picked him up and called an ambulance,” the father told the newspaper. “He hasn’t walked since.”

The punch had caused a blood clot that inhibited blood running to Sawyer’s spine and left the boy paralyzed from the waist down.

Prior to the N.J. bully punch, there were claims the bully had violent tendencies and punched another student in the face that same year. The school district failed to keep record of the instance and the attacker was not subject to discipline.

Sawyer Rosenstein even wrote an email to the school about the problems going on, “I would like to let you know that the bullying has increased,” he wrote to his guidance counselor at Eric Smith Middle School. “I would like to figure out some coping mechanisms to deal with these situations, and I would just like to put this on file so if something happens again, we can show that there was past bullying situations.”

Rosenstein is now an 18-year-old freshman majoring in communication at Syracuse University. Sawyer now focuses on raising awareness to the consequences of bullying in schools.

“I think I became something greater than I ever could have become without it,” he said.

Rosenstein’s lawyer, Jeffrey Youngman said “it is a story of triumph and moving on,” adding that Rosenstein refused to “make this a story of ‘woe is me.'”

The Ramsey Board of Education released a statement Wednesday denying any wrongdoing and it was the district insurance carriers that decided to move forward in the settlement.

“The district’s character education and harassment/intimidation/bullying initiatives and reporting practices are leading edge,” the statement said. “All programs in this area far exceed all of the criteria established by the state of New Jersey.”

Ted Nugent is conservative, safe to say

“A life and death vote”

Ted Nugent will meet with the secret service after the conservative rock star made comments at a National Rifle Association convention last week severely criticized President Barack Obama.

Nugent told the NRA last week that he would be “dead or in jail” if Obama were to get re-elected. He will meet with the secret service today and went on Glenn Beck’s radio show last night. “We actually have heard from the Secret Service, and they have a duty, and I salute them. I support them and I’m looking forward to our meeting tomorrow,” Nugent said on the show.

Ted Nugent, who is also a sheriff’s deputy, called the November election “a critical life and death vote” but later claimed he was nonviolent, “The bottom line is, Glenn, I’ve never threatened anybody’s life in my life.” He continued, “I don’t threaten. I don’t waste breath threatening.”

Ted Nugent is known for his defense of America’s gun laws and hunting rights, and this is not the first time he spoke out towards Barack Obama. At a concert in 2007 he said, “Obama’s a piece of s***, and I told him to suck on my machine gun” and even more comments came at a Republican event earlier this year, “The whole world sucks, but America still sucks less,” followed by, “But with this administration, we are catching up.”

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney also spoke at the same NRA convention that Nugent attended, the guitarist endorsed Romney earlier on.

“We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November,” Nugent later said at the convention.

Ted Nugent has caused an uproar by many, democrats and republicans, who condemn violence, but Nugent backed up his comments on the Glenn Beck show, “Every reference I made, whether it’s a shot across the bow or targeting the enemy, it always ended the sentence with ‘in November at the voter booth.”

Sledge Hammer: adult film star dies after being hit by police with taser gun

See why the cops responded

The porn actor Marland Anderson, known professionally as Sledge Hammer, died after being shot with a stun gun by police in an incident last week.

Los Angeles police officers responded to the scene initially when Sledge Hammer attempted suicide at a home in Reseda. When paramedics and police officers arrived, they found Sledge Hammer’s girlfriend and Anderson himself with a knife injury.

Lt. Andrew Neiman said Anderson’s girlfriend called the police after he tried to hurt himself with the knife. Officers handcuffed him to a gurney inside an ambulance. Sledge Hammer who is described with a muscular build, broke from the handcuffs and the gurney. One officer on board the ambulance attempted to restrain him, another cop eventually joined in, as yet another shot him with a taser.

The taser, said Neimen, hit an officer who complained of being stun.

Along with more shots from the taser, it took “Six to eight [officers] eventually managed to control him,” Neiman said.

AVN quoted adult film actor Stoney Curtis on the confrontation, “When the cops arrived, Anderson’s height (6-foot-4) and bulk intimidated them, and rather than try to subdue him with the manpower available, they began shooting him with their Tasers—”excessively,” according to Curtis—to the point where he suffered a heart attack and for all intents and purposes died for 10 minutes until the EMTs were able to restart his heart.”

Sledge Hammer’s girlfriend, Alexa Cruz, wrote in an email, “This was not a domestic violence situation at all so I want to make that totally clear. This man was being tortured by his own mind and suffering from severe insomnia.” Anderson had depression, anxiety and was believed to suffer from a mild case of schizophrenia, all of which were impacted by marijuana use. 

Neiman said that Sledge Hammer was conscious when he was restrained and place back in the ambulance headed to the hospital.

Anderson eventually lost consciousness and died Friday morning, five days later.
 

Bill Cosby interview on Stand Your Ground Law and Trayon Martin case

As Zimmerman now has witnesses claiming he was injured

Sanford, Florida- Witnesses have supported George Zimmerman’s claim that he was injured on the day he shot and killed African American Florida teenager Trayvon Martin.

Zimmerman recently turned himself in after being charged with second degree murder by special prosecutor Angela Corey. He was treated by police for injuries including a broken nose, but a video released later on had a Zimmerman with no signs of injury. His neighbors have come to his side, claiming they saw George Zimmerman the day after the confrontation with bandages on his nose and the back of his head while being interviewed by a police detective.

Zimmerman’s father and brother have also supported his claim that he was in fear for his life after being beaten by Trayvon Martin and was forced to discharge his registered his gun on the teen. The case holds a strong point under Florida’s Stand Your Ground Law, if in fact, bodily injury had occurred on George Zimmerman. Death by necessary force could be deemed permissible for the neighborhood watchman.

The elephant in the case is the racial uproar behind the melting pot of a United States stirred by media. Comedian Bill Cosby says the problem lies elsewhere from race but rather, on “that gun” George Zimmerman was carrying, “I’m a person who believes that that gun, that gun, all around this United States- when a person has a gun sometimes their mind clicks that this thing is, it will win arguments and straighten people out, and then in the wrong hands and the wrong mind, it’s death,” said Cosby on CNN’s State of the Union Sunday about the influence of the Stand Your Ground Law on a certain murder suspect. The murder might not have happened if George Zimmerman didn’t have a gun in his hands and a law that says I could get off for “protecting myself.”

The neighbors of George Zimmerman reported to the Sanford Police and the FBI but failed to remember an interview from Corey. 

See Bill Cosby on CNN: