Wall Street bailout fails, stocks crash

The white house of cards comes tumbling down…….call the suicide prevention hot line. How long did whites think they could keep the charade up?

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US House of Representatives Monday dramatically rejected a 700-billion-dollar Wall Street bailout, sending stocks crashing to their worst single day loss ever and deepening the US financial crisis.

As a palpable sense of fear ricocheted through Washington, President George W. Bush said he was “disappointed” that the bailout foundered, as Democrats accused Republican conservatives of killing the bill for ideological reasons.

The president immediately summoned top advisers to tackle the latest crisis “head on,” and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was seen hurrying into the West Wing of the White House.

Shockwaves reverberated through the presidential race and congressional campaigns just five weeks before the November 4 general election, and a blame game erupted between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Amid panic selling on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 777.68 votes (6.98 percent) and the Nasdaq crashed 199.61 points (9.14 percent) to 1,983.73, its lowest since 2005.

In scenes of suspense, tension and shock rarely seen on the House floor, Republican foes of the bill and rebel Democrats combined to doom the bill by 228 votes to 205, after Bush had pleaded for its passage.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi pledged to go back to work to pass a new bill, but a senior Democratic lawmaker said nothing would happen until at least Thursday as many members had gone home for the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah.

The 15-minute vote was kept open for 40 minutes as Democratic and Republican leaders made desperate attempts to twist arms of lawmakers who voted no.

One senior Democrat said Republicans had reneged on a pledge to get 50 percent of their caucus plus one member to vote for the bailout, pointing out that 60 percent of Democrats backed the plan.

Leading Democrat David Obey reacted bitterly, saying Republican leadership, including the president and Republican presidential nominee John McCain, “have lost total control over their own party.”

“Evidently some of those guys would rather lose an economy than lose an election.”

House Republican Leader John Boehner blamed what he called a partisan speech to the House by Pelosi shortly before the vote.

“I don’t know that we know the path forward from this point. We need everybody to calm down and relax and get back to work.”

But Barney Frank, the top House Democrat in charge of negotiating the bill, dismissed such critics of Pelosi’s speech as pure “pettiness” and said Republicans were trying to cover up their embarrassment over the split party.

“Give me those 12 people’s names and I will go talk uncharacteristally nicely to them,” he said.

Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama meanwhile appealed for calm, seeking to stablize global markets and show composure-in-a-crisis leadership credentials.

“I’m confident that we’re going to get there but it’s going to be a little rocky,” he said in Colorado.

“It’s important for the markets to stay calm because things are never smooth in Congress and to understand that it will get done,” Obama said.

There was no immediate reaction from McCain, who had boasted that he had helped bring the rebel Republicans along to vote for the deal.

But his economic advisor Doug Holz-Eakin blamed Obama for politicizing the situation — an identical charge McCain critics threw at the Arizona senator last week after he injected himself into the process.

“Barack Obama failed to lead, phoned it in, attacked John McCain and refused to even say if he supported the bill,” Holz-Eakin said.

Republican Congressman Paul Broun from Georgia compared the bill to a “huge cow patty with a marshmallow stuck in the middle of it.”

Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, also a Republican, warned that the bailout ran counter to the principles of American government.

“Economic freedom means the freedom to succeed and the freedom to fail,” he said.

The bailout proposal would grant the Treasury secretary authority to buy up toxic mortgage-related assets in troubled banks in hopes of easing the flow of credit and reviving the moribund housing market.

The bill would have immediately released 250 billion dollars to enable the government to buy up troubled assets, and sets a ceiling for all purchases of 700 billion dollars.

It also prohibits “golden parachutes” for CEOs or other executives who lose or leave their jobs at companies participating in the plan as long as the Treasury holds equity in those firms.

Evangelist Alamo arrested in child sex probe

Praise the Lord! Why are white religious leaders prone to such behavior?

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – FBI agents arrested evangelist and convicted tax evader Tony Alamo at an Arizona motel Thursday, alleging days after raiding the Arkansas headquarters of his ministry that he took minors across state lines for sexual purposes.

Alamo was staying at a hotel in Flagstaff, Ariz., when arrested, said FBI spokesman Steve Frazier in Little Rock. The religious leader — who began his career as a California street preacher in 1966 — was scheduled for a federal court appearance Friday in Flagstaff.

Alamo is suspected of violating the Mann Act, which prohibits taking children across state lines for illegal purposes. Frazier described those purposes as “sexual activity.”

He said he didn’t believe any children were with Alamo at the time of his arrest but would give few other details.

Federal agents and Arkansas state police had raided the headquarters of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries in tiny Fouke on Saturday and removed six girls ages 10 to 17. They sought evidence that children there had been molested or filmed having sex.

Prosecutors sought Alamo’s arrest after interviewing the girls this week, but Frazier would not disclose what the children said.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, describes the ministry as a cult. Alamo’s church rails against homosexuals, Roman Catholics and the government, and Alamo has preached that girls are fit for marriage once they are sexually mature.

“Consent is puberty,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press last week while agents raided the compound. He denied any involvement with pornography.

An Arkansas judge has hearings set for Friday and Monday on whether the state Department of Human Services can keep custody of the six girls. The girls will attend the hearings.

“We will transport them to and from hearings. We will take part in any future hearings,” agency spokeswoman Julie Munsell said. “Our job right now is to basically take care of them.”

State Circuit Judge Jim Hudson said two hearings would be conducted Friday and the other four Monday in Texarkana.

The six hearings will be split among three judges who will decide whether the state had enough evidence to temporarily remove the children from their homes on the Fouke compound. If a judge rules against the state, the girls would be returned to the parents.

Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said tha no further arrests were planned that would involve his agency.

FBI agents and police in Arizona arrested Alamo as he was leaving the Little America Hotel, which is along Interstate 40, Frazier said. It wasn’t known where Alamo was headed when he was picked up.

The hotel, in Arizona’s northern mountains near the Grand Canyon, bills itself as a luxury resort. Fred Reese, a hotel spokesman, declined to comment.

Alamo and his late wife Susan were street preachers in Los Angeles before forming a commune near Saugus, Calif. Susan Alamo died of cancer in 1982; Alamo claimed she would be resurrected and kept her body on display for six months while followers prayed.

Alamo was convicted of tax-related charges in 1994 and served four years in prison after the IRS said he owed the government $7.9 million. Prosecutors in that case argued that Alamo was a flight risk and a polygamist who preyed on married women and girls in his congregation.

Since establishing his ministries in Arkansas, Alamo has been a controversial and flamboyant figure in the state. Snapshots often show him wearing large dark sunglasses, and he recently said he is legally blind.

In his autobiography, “My Life,” former President Bill Clinton, an Arkansas native, described Alamo as “”Roy Orbison on speed.”

Clinton recalled traveling in 1975 to see Dolly Parton sing at Alamo’s compound in the town of Alma. Remembering the fiasco after Susan Alamo’s death, Clinton wrote: “A couple of years later, he got involved with a younger woman. Lo and behold, God spoke to him again and told him Susan wasn’t coming back after all, so he took her out of the glass box and buried her.”

FBI documents identified Alamo by his birth name, Bernie Lazar Hoffman, and said he turned 74 the day of the raid. Alamo has said he was born Jewish but converted to Christianity.

White gunman goes on school shooting spree at school, kills 11

Yet another day at school. Why are white males predisposed to such violence?

A 22-year-old gunman who killed 10 people before killing himself Tuesday at a vocational school in Finland left notes saying he hated humankind, police said.

The shooter, who was a student at the school, left two handwritten notes in the dormitory, saying he had planned the attack since 2002 and he hated humanity, police said.

He also wrote that the solution was a Walther 22, referring to the .22-calibre pistol he used in the attack.

He fired on students who were taking an exam and then shot himself in the head, He was taken to hospital, where he died hours later.

The shooting occurred just before 11 a.m. local time at the Kauhajoki School of Hospitality, 290 kilometres northwest of Helsinki.

Finland’s Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said the man had been questioned by police on Monday but was released because police had no legal grounds to detain him.

Holmlund said the man was detained briefly because of YouTube postings in which he is shown firing a handgun at what appears to be a shooting range.

She said the man had obtained the licence for the gun in August.

Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen declared Wednesday as a day of mourning for the victims, with flags to fly at half-mast, and he expressed condolences to their families.

“We have experienced a tragic day,” he said.

Reijo Lindroos, chief correspondent for Radio Finland, told CBC News he believed many of the victims were women because the shooting took place in a domestic sciences building.

Dozens of shots fired

Witnesses said the gunman was hooded as he made his way into the school and panic spread as he opened fire.

“Within a short space of time, I heard several dozen rounds of shots. In other words, it was an automatic pistol,” school janitor Jukka Forsberg told broadcaster YLE.

“I saw some female students who were wailing and moaning, and one managed to escape out of the back door.”

The attacker walked into the school armed with a pistol and what appeared to be explosive devices that were used to start a fire, police spokesman Jari Neulaniemi said. Some of those he killed were burned beyond recognition, Neulaniemi said.

Jussi Muotio, superintendent of the Kauhajoki police, said: “The incident is over now.”

Finnish tabloid Ilta-Sanomat identified the gunman as Matti Juhani Saari, but police would say only that he was born in 1986 and was a student at the school.

In one of the YouTube videos brought to the attention of police, a young man wearing a leather jacket fires several shots with a handgun in rapid succession, Finnish media reported.

The posting, made five days before Tuesday’s shooting, gives its location as Kauhajoki.

The posting includes the message: “Whole life is war and whole life is pain. And you will fight alone in your personal war.”

Nearly a year ago, gunman Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed eight people and himself at a school in southern Finland. Police at the time said Auvinen, 18, was bullied and a social outcast.

Auvinen killed six students, a school nurse and the principal before killing himself with a gunshot to the head on Nov. 7, 2007.

Police have said Auvinen left a suicide note for his family and posted videos to YouTube before his attack.

There are 1.6 million firearms in Finland. After the shooting last year, the government pledged to raise the minimum age for buying guns from 15 to 18 but made no promises about making major changes its gun laws.

White terrorists kill 60 year old grandmother

And whites ask why they are hated…

GAZA CITY — “They killed my mom in cold blood,” cried a tearful Heba. “They knocked her to the ground and left her bleed to death.”

Mariam Ayyad, a 60-year-old grandmother, was minding her own business when armed-to-the-teeth Israeli soldiers raided her building in the village of Abu Dis, east of occupied Al-Quds, on Sunday, September 21.

The Israelis hammered the door and stormed their way into the building.

She pleaded with them not to terrorize children and women in their sleep but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

“The occupation forces stormed their way to detain students from Al-Quds University stay in the same building,” recalls Heba with tears strolling down her face.

“When their went to the direction of my brother’s flat my mom rushed and blocked their way with her fragile body. She told them that only his kids and wife were sleeping inside,” she adds.

“They started cursing and beating. Suddenly the soldiers pushed her down the stairs,” said the grieving daughter choking to the memory.

Ayyad’s head hit the ground and her blood soon painted the floor.

“I was speechless and motionless. There my mom was lying in her own blood on the floor,” said Heba growing hysterical.

“I collected my self and rushed to the door to call an ambulance but the Israeli soldiers prevented me,” she added.

“They forced me to stay indoor at gunpoint. They prevented me from saving her.”

The director of the clinic where Ayyad was eventually later taken said she arrived dead, with a broken skull and possible internal bleeding.

But the Israeli military, as always, denied responsibility saying she only fell on a stairway.

No `Eid

The tragic death of Ayyad is casting a gloomy shadow over not only her immediate family, but the entire village.

“I can not imagine our life without her,” Heba tells mourners who flock to the family’s house to show solidarity.

“Her laugh echo in my ears and I can see her in every inch of the house.”

Ayyad’s forced absence is leaving a huge vacuum.

“How would we spend the rest of Ramadan? Who will wake us up for suhur and Fajr,” cried her daughter.

“Who would play with the kids and buy them new clothes for `Eid?”

`Eid Al-Fitr, one of the two main religious festivals on the Islamic calendar, marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

“Why did they kill her?” Heba says gazing at her mom’s picture on the wall.

White Evangelist’s compound raided in child porn case

Faith and pornography…sounds like white washed religion.

Evangelist rejects allegations, calls government anti-Christian

FOUKE, Ark. – FBI agents and state police raided an evangelist’s headquarters Saturday as part of a child pornography investigation, and social workers interviewed children who live at the complex in southwestern Arkansas to find out whether they were abused.

The raid at the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries south of Texarkana started an hour before sunset, but state police said no one was arrested. Armed guards regularly patrol the headquarters of the group — which critics call a cult — but there was no resistance as agents moved in, state police said.

Tom Browne, who runs the FBI office in Little Rock, said the investigation involved the Mann Act, which prohibits the transportation of children across state lines for criminal activity.

“Children living at the facility may have been sexually and physically abused,” Browne said.

In a phone call to The Associated Press from a friend’s house in the Los Angeles area, Tony Alamo — who was once accused of child abuse and has been convicted of tax evasion — denied involvement in pornography.

“We don’t go into pornography; nobody in the church is into that,” Alamo said. “Where do these allegations stem from? The anti-Christ government. The Catholics don’t like me because I have cut their congregation in half. They hate true Christianity.”

Children interviewed
About 100 state and federal law officers raided the 15-acre compound housing the ministry, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as a cult that opposes homosexuality, Catholicism and the government.

The ministry’s Web site says it is “dedicated to spreading the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the winning of souls worldwide.”

John Selig, head of the Arkansas Department of Human Services, said state workers were talking to children.

“I can’t say whether we will be removing any children,” Selig said, adding that he did not know how many lived there.

U.S. Attorney Bob Balfe said before the raid that he expected an arrest warrant would be issued later for Alamo.

The FBI and state police issued a statement saying that every minor at the Alamo complex would be interviewed and that officials hoped to reunite children with parents at the site as quickly as possible.

School bus arrives
Shortly after the raid began, a sport-utility vehicle hauling a trailer backed up to the ministry building’s front door. FBI vehicles blocked off a dead-end road.

A Fouke School District bus also arrived and pulled up near 12 unmarked vans, SUVs and sedans parked alongside the low-slung ministry headquarters along U.S. 71 just inside the city limits of tiny Fouke.

Alamo’s church is in a single-story building that looks like a strip mall. A white cross stands atop the structure, with a small steeple to the right side. A helicopter circled overhead, and onlookers stopped along the two-lane highway to watch the raid.

Alamo was once accused in California of directing the beating of a church member’s 11-year-old son. In 1994, he was sentenced to six years in prison on tax evasion charges filed in Memphis, Tenn.

The judge in the tax case ordered him held pending sentencing after prosecutors argued that the evangelist was a flight risk and a polygamist who preyed on married women and girls in his congregation. U.S. District Judge Jon McCalla said he was concerned over “the very great control Mr. Alamo has over a number of people.”

Alamo told the AP on Saturday that he believed the raid was part of a push by the federal government to make same-sex marriage legal while outlawing polygamy.

Poll: Racial views steer some white Dems away from Obama

Tolerance is skin deep…

WASHINGTON (AP) — Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks — many calling them “lazy,” “violent,” responsible for their own troubles.

The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 — about two and one-half percentage points.

Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He’s an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation’s oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.

More than a third of all white Democrats and independents — voters Obama can’t win the White House without — agreed with at least one negative adjective about blacks, according to the survey, and they are significantly less likely to vote for Obama than those who don’t have such views.

Such numbers are a harsh dose of reality in a campaign for the history books. Obama, the first black candidate with a serious shot at the presidency, accepted the Democratic nomination on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, a seminal moment for a nation that enshrined slavery in its Constitution.

“There are a lot fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn’t mean there’s only a few bigots,” said Stanford political scientist Paul Sniderman who helped analyze the exhaustive survey.

The pollsters set out to determine why Obama is locked in a close race with McCain even as the political landscape seems to favor Democrats. President Bush’s unpopularity, the Iraq war and a national sense of economic hard times cut against GOP candidates, as does that fact that Democratic voters outnumber Republicans.

The findings suggest that Obama’s problem is close to home — among his fellow Democrats, particularly non-Hispanic white voters. Just seven in 10 people who call themselves Democrats support Obama, compared to the 85 percent of self-identified Republicans who back McCain.

The survey also focused on the racial attitudes of independent voters because they are likely to decide the election.

Lots of Republicans harbor prejudices, too, but the survey found they weren’t voting against Obama because of his race. Most Republicans wouldn’t vote for any Democrat for president — white, black or brown.

Not all whites are prejudiced. Indeed, more whites say good things about blacks than say bad things, the poll shows. And many whites who see blacks in a negative light are still willing or even eager to vote for Obama.

On the other side of the racial question, the Illinois Democrat is drawing almost unanimous support from blacks, the poll shows, though that probably wouldn’t be enough to counter the negative effect of some whites’ views.

Race is not the biggest factor driving Democrats and independents away from Obama. Doubts about his competency loom even larger, the poll indicates. More than a quarter of all Democrats expressed doubt that Obama can bring about the change they want, and they are likely to vote against him because of that.

Three in 10 of those Democrats who don’t trust Obama’s change-making credentials say they plan to vote for McCain.

Still, the effects of whites’ racial views are apparent in the polling.

Statistical models derived from the poll suggest that Obama’s support would be as much as 6 percentage points higher if there were no white racial prejudice.

But in an election without precedent, it’s hard to know if such models take into account all the possible factors at play.

The AP-Yahoo News poll used the unique methodology of Knowledge Networks, a Menlo Park, Calif., firm that interviews people online after randomly selecting and screening them over telephone. Numerous studies have shown that people are more likely to report embarrassing behavior and unpopular opinions when answering questions on a computer rather than talking to a stranger.

Other techniques used in the poll included recording people’s responses to black or white faces flashed on a computer screen, asking participants to rate how well certain adjectives apply to blacks, measuring whether people believe blacks’ troubles are their own fault, and simply asking people how much they like or dislike blacks.

“We still don’t like black people,” said John Clouse, 57, reflecting the sentiments of his pals gathered at a coffee shop in Somerset, Ohio.

Given a choice of several positive and negative adjectives that might describe blacks, 20 percent of all whites said the word “violent” strongly applied. Among other words, 22 percent agreed with “boastful,” 29 percent “complaining,” 13 percent “lazy” and 11 percent “irresponsible.” When asked about positive adjectives, whites were more likely to stay on the fence than give a strongly positive assessment.

Among white Democrats, one third cited a negative adjective and, of those, 58 percent said they planned to back Obama.

The poll sought to measure latent prejudices among whites by asking about factors contributing to the state of black America. One finding: More than a quarter of white Democrats agree that “if blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as whites.”

Those who agreed with that statement were much less likely to back Obama than those who didn’t.

Among white independents, racial stereotyping is not uncommon. For example, while about 20 percent of independent voters called blacks “intelligent” or “smart,” more than one third latched on the adjective “complaining” and 24 percent said blacks were “violent.”

Nearly four in 10 white independents agreed that blacks would be better off if they “try harder.”

The survey broke ground by incorporating images of black and white faces to measure implicit racial attitudes, or prejudices that are so deeply rooted that people may not realize they have them. That test suggested the incidence of racial prejudice is even higher, with more than half of whites revealing more negative feelings toward blacks than whites.

Researchers used mathematical modeling to sort out the relative impact of a huge swath of variables that might have an impact on people’s votes — including race, ideology, party identification, the hunger for change and the sentiments of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s backers.

Just 59 percent of her white Democratic supporters said they wanted Obama to be president. Nearly 17 percent of Clinton’s white backers plan to vote for McCain.

Among white Democrats, Clinton supporters were nearly twice as likely as Obama backers to say at least one negative adjective described blacks well, a finding that suggests many of her supporters in the primaries — particularly whites with high school education or less — were motivated in part by racial attitudes.

The survey of 2,227 adults was conducted Aug. 27 to Sept. 5. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.

White terrorists kill displaced family of 8

Winning hearts and minds as usual….

Early this morning US forces surrounded a home in a small village near the Iraqi town of Tikrit and destroyed it with an air strike, killing eight people. According to Iraqi police and neighbors, all those killed were civilians. One of the neighbors reported his home was also raided during the operation and that American forces “ordered people not to leave their homes” during the attack.

Large crowds of angry Iraqis reportedly marched through the streets after morning prayers, condemning the attacks and chanting “America is the enemy of God”. The new civilian deaths are likely to further complicate the already stalled Status of Forces Agreement with Iraq. The Iraqis have insisted on jurisdiction over US contractors and military personnel largely because of the number of civilians being killed by the forces.

The US forces issued a statement after the incident, and as is so often the case their story contradicts the reports from the scene. According to the US the raid targeted a “suspected al-Qaeda operative,” and he and three other militants were killed, along with three women. They also claimed to have rescued a child from the rubble.

The US said the deaths of the women they killed in the air strike were further proof of al-Qaeda’s willingness to “repeatedly risk the lives of innocent women and children to further their evil work”.

Italian model plans to sell virginity for 1m euros

Its called prostitution. Surely white woman can find better ways to make a living…

Showgirl and men’s magazine model Raffella Fico, 20, told an Italian magazine: “I can’t wait to see who’s going to pull out the money to have me.”

Miss Fico, who appeared in the Italian version of Big Brother earlier this year, said she would use the cash to buy a house in Rome and pay for acting classes.

“I don’t know what it’s like to have sex,” she told the magazine, Chi, adding that if the man who bought her virginity was ugly then she would quickly get over it.

“If I don’t like him I’ll just have a glass of wine and forget about it,” said the aspiring actress from Naples – hometown of screen siren Sophia Loren.

Her family insisted that despite her good looks and sexy image, she remained a virgin.

“She’s never had a boyfriend. I swear on my mother’s grave. She’s a devout Catholic and prays to Padre Pio every night,” her brother told the magazine.

She is the not the first woman to auction her virginity for a large sum. An 18-year-old US student in San Diego, Natalie Dylan, recently told the Howard Stern show she would have sex for the first time for $1 million to pay her college fees.

In 2005 a Peruvian model, also 18, put herself up for sale to help pay her family’s medical bills but ended up having second thoughts and turning down $1.5 million.

Swiss restaurant to serve meals cooked with human breast milk

I guess its a step up from eating placentas.

The owner of the Storchen restaurant in the exclusive Winterthur resort will improve his menu with local specialities such as meat stew and various soups and sauces containing at least 75 per cent of mother’s milk.

“We have all been raised on it. Why should we not include it into our diet?” Hans Locher, who has become Switzerland most controversial restaurant owner, said.

Mr Locher attracted the attention of the leading media of the German-speaking world this week after he posted ads looking for women donors, who will receive just over three pounds for 14 ounces of their milk.

He said: “I first experimented with breast milk when my daughter was born.

“One can cook really delicious things with it. However, it always needs to be mixed with a bit of whipped cream, in order to keep the consistency.”

The food control authority in Switzerland was initially confused by the apparent loophole in local legislation regulating the use of human milk and it was not clear whether Mr Locher could actually be banned from serving his specialities.

“Humans as producers of milk are simply not envisaged in the legislation.

“They are not on the list of approved species such as cows and sheep, but they are also not on the list of the banned species such as apes and primates,” Rolf Etter of the Zurich food control laboratory said.

Texas executes white man who raped, killed 93-year-old

Why was this man set loose in the first place despite having a long history of criminal acts?

HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A man who raped and murdered a 93-year-old woman in her Dallas-area home was executed Wednesday after he apologized to his victim’s relatives.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” William Murray told two nephews of Rena Ratcliff who watched him through a window in the death chamber. “I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me. The Lord has forgiven me.”

Murray then looked through an adjacent window where his mother and two brothers were among the witnesses and said: “I’ll be there waiting for y’all, all right? God bless.”

Eight minutes later at 6:20 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Murray, a former auto mechanic and laborer from Kaufman, was the ninth prisoner put to death this year in the nation’s most active death-penalty state.

Murray’s lawyer said appeals were exhausted. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the case earlier this year. In addition, a clemency bid to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was turned down this week.

“Yes, I did do this,” Murray told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “I’m not trying to blame this on somebody else. I want people to know I’m sorry for the crime. I pray to the Lord to forgive me and I’m asking them to forgive me. That’s all I can do.”

Murray blamed drug problems for committing at least a dozen burglaries, including the one in February 1998 where Ratcliff was awakened while he rummaged through her bedroom. The widow hit him with her cane or walker, surprising him, and he said after that he “went crazy.”

“I didn’t know she was in there,” he said. “I messed up. Somebody hit me from behind and I went off.

“I did what I did.”

He took about $10 in change from a jar and a knife he later traded for drugs.

Murray had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for burglaries, but was released on probation after three months. The Ratcliff slaying occurred three months after his release.

Besides the burglaries, his record showed he escaped from jail while awaiting trial and sexually assaulted two other inmates while he was locked up.

Power outages in the Huntsville area because of Hurricane Ike had no effect on the lethal injection. Officials said the procedures were not dependent on electricity although the Huntsville Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where executions are carried out, had normal electric service.

Whites refuse to evacuate as Hurricane Ike closes in on Texas

My moneys on the Hurricane in this fight. Why dont whites behave like adults and evacuate as instructed?

HOUSTON (AP) — Hurricane Ike, a colossal storm nearly as big as Texas itself, battered the coast Friday, threatening to obliterate waterfront towns and give the skyscrapers, refineries and docks of the nation’s fourth-largest city their worst pounding in a generation.

But even as towering waves crashed over the 17-foot Galveston seawall and floodwaters rose in low-lying areas, it became clear that many of the 1 million coastal residents who had been ordered to get out refused to do so and were taking their chances.

Authorities in three counties alone said roughly 90,000 stayed behind, despite a warning from forecasters that many of those in one- or two-story homes faced “certain death.”

“I believe in the man up there, God,” said William Steally, a 75-year-old retiree who planned to ride out the storm in Galveston without his wife or sister-in-law. “I believe he will take care of me.”

At about 600 miles across, the hurricane was a monster. As it zeroed in on the coast, it trapped 60 people who had to be rescued by helicopter from the floodwaters near Galveston, breached levees in rural Louisiana, and stranded 22 crewmen on a disabled 584-foot cargo ship in the Gulf.

Before sunset Friday, power had been knocked out to hundreds of thousands of customers in Louisiana and along the Texas coast. That number that was expected to climb quickly throughout the night, according to Centerpoint Energy, the primary electricity provider for the region.

As of 9 p.m. EDT, Ike was centered about 70 miles southeast of Galveston, moving at 13 mph. It was close to a Category 3 storm with winds of 110 mph, and was expected to strengthen by the time the eye hit land. Forecasters predicted it would come ashore somewhere near Galveston early Saturday and pass almost directly over Houston.

Because of the hurricane’s size, the state’s shallow coastal waters and its largely unprotected coastline, forecasters said the biggest threat would be flooding and storm surge, with Ike expected to hurl a wall of water two stories high — 20 to 25 feet — at the coast.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said more than 5.5 million prepackaged meals were being sent to the region, along with more than 230 generators and 5.6 million liters of water. At least 3,500 FEMA officials were stationed in Texas and Louisiana.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday asked President Bush for a “wide-reaching emergency declaration” in all 88 counties being affected. Perry said this declaration would ensure 100 percent reimbursement for all storm-related costs.

In Houston, authorities instructed most of the city’s 2 million residents to just hunker down to avoid highway gridlock.

Still, authorities warned the storm could travel up Galveston Bay and send a surge up the Houston Ship Channel and into the port of Houston, the nation’s second-busiest port — an economically vital complex of docks, pipelines, depots and warehouses that receives automobiles, consumer products, industrial equipment and other cargo from around the world and ships out vast amounts of petrochemicals and agricultural products.

The oil and gas industry was also closely watching Ike because it was headed straight for the nation’s biggest complex of refineries and petrochemical plants. Wholesale gasoline prices jumped to around $4.85 a gallon for fear of shortages.

The storm could also force water up the seven bayous that thread through Houston, swamping neighborhoods so flood-prone that they get inundated during ordinary rainstorms.

Bachir Annane, a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Hurricane Research Division, said Ike’s surge could be catastrophic, and like nothing the Texas coast has ever seen.

“Wind doesn’t tell the whole story,” Annane said. “It’s the size that tells the story, and this is a giant.”

Ike would be the first major hurricane to hit a U.S. metropolitan area since Katrina devastated New Orleans three years ago. For Houston, it would be the first major hurricane since Alicia in August 1983 came ashore on Galveston Island, killing 21 people and causing $2 billion in damage. Houston has since then seen a population explosion, so many of the residents now in the storm’s path have never experienced the full wrath of a hurricane.

In southeastern Louisiana near Houma, Ike breached levees, threatening thousands of homes of fishermen, oil-field workers, farmers and others.

Though Ike’s center was heading for Texas, it spawned thunderstorms, shut down schools and knocked out power throughout southern Louisiana on Friday. An estimated 1,200 people were in state shelters in Monroe and Shreveport, and another 220 in medical needs shelters.

High winds forced the Air Force and Coast Guard to abort plans to send aircraft to the Gulf of Mexico in a daring attempt to rescue 22 crewmen adrift on a stalled freighter in rough seas 90 miles off Galveston.

In Galveston, a working-class town of about 57,000, waves crashed over the 11-mile seawall built a century ago, after the Great Storm of 1900 killed 6,000 residents. That hurricane remains the nation’s deadliest natural disaster.

A boat and yacht repair warehouse caught fire and burned to the ground on Galveston Island because the streets were under at least 8 feet of water — too flooded for firetrucks to reach it, Galveston Fire Chief Michael Varela said. No one was believed hurt.

While the Galveston beachfront is dotted with new condominiums and some elegant beach homes on stilts, most people live in older, one-story bungalows. The National Weather Service warned “widespread and devastating” damage was expected.

In Surfside Beach, a town of 800, the police chief asked one stubborn couple, David and Dondi Fields, to write their names and Social Security numbers on their forearms with a black marker in case something bad happened to them.

Dondi Fields, 50, wrote “I heart U” and “for my kids” on her arm. But the couple finally decided to leave. Police used an aluminum boat to reach them, and a National Guard truck carried them to safety.

In Freeport, Drew Ryder, 47, took no chances. He left his plywood-covered home, heading north with coolers filled with food.

“It’s coming, so I’m going,” he said. “It’s not smart to be here.”

Houston’s streets were eerily quiet. Skyscrapers were darkened, and sandbags protected the lobby doors to some.

Gloria Dulworth, who lives on the seventh of a high-rise apartment building, refused to let the storm dampen her plans to celebrate her 81st birthday.

“We’re surrounded by glass, so I’m taking my crystal candlesticks down. It’s been suggested that we roll the rugs away from the door,” in case water seeps in. Other than that, said Dulworth, “I’m going to get some fresh veggies. I have cereal and canned milk. I anticipate being without air conditioning for a couple of weeks, but you can’t do much.”

Stupid White inventions : Upside down houses

Flushing the toilet should be interesting.

A house that is entirely upside-down opened its doors to the public on the northern German island of Usedom this week.

The family-sized house, designed by Polish partners Klausdiusz Golos and Sebastian Mikiciuk for the Edutainment exhibition company, is furnished with chairs, tables and carpets stuck to the ceiling.

“We didn’t do it for a reason. We just wanted to do something different,” Mikiciuk told Reuters on Friday.

Over 100 people have inspected the house since it was opened on Thursday.

Upon entering the construction, visitors have reported feeling dizzy and disorientated. Although the house is safe, Mikiciuk said nobody would inhabit it permanently and it was meant purely as an exhibit.

“It was very difficult to make, and we financed it ourselves without the help of sponsors,” Mikiciuk says.

They were inspired by a range of similar buildings in Spain and America, in which the exterior of the house is upside-down, but not the interior.

White woman auctions virginity for college tuition

Whatever happened to the good old days of white woman stripping to pay for college? Prostitution for a mediocre education?

On his radio show today, Howard Stern will interview a 22-year-girl who is selling her virginity to the highest bidder on an auction site. Who said romance was dead? Goodbye virginity, hello prostitution!

The chick who is going by the fake name of “ Natalie Dylan” is going to use the money to pay for her college education. Okay, if you’re going to go by a fake name, why choose Natalie Dylan? Her marketing efforts are already failing! She should have picked something “flashier.” I’m thinking “Poppy My Cherry.”

Rush & Molly reports that Howard introduced Natalie to Dennis Hof, the creepy fat dude who owns the Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Nevada. The auction will take place on bunnyranch.com and the winner will take Natalie’s v-card at the ranch. Natalie’s sister already works there.

Natalie said she’s been forced to sell her cherry, because her stepfather took out a student loan in her name, so she’s unable to finance her education. She said, “I don’t have a moral dilemma with it. Why shouldn’t I be allowed to capitalize on my virginity? I understand some people may condemn me. But I think this is empowering. I’m using what I have to better myself.”

In order to prove that she’s a virgin, Natalie will take a lie-detector test and undergo a gynecological exam. She’s not just choosing any dick either. The highest bidder won’t necessarily be the one she does bloody sexy times with. She’s going to screen the bidders and find a dude she’s happy with.

Natalie already has her bachelor’s in women’s studies from Sacramento State. In January she starts working on getting her master’s in marriage and family therapy. HA!

Heidi Montag better step up her hooker game. It looks like she has some serious competition for the title of world’s greatest feminist hero.

Whites charged in killing of immigrant

Will Justice be done? They’ll probably get off with a slap on the wrist.

POTTSVILLE, Pa. – Authorities in Pennsylvania say a fourth teenager has been charged in the fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant.

Schuylkill County prosecutors charged the teen in juvenile court Friday with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other offenses. His name and age are not being released.

Three others are charged as adults in the July attack in the town of Shenandoah on 25-year-old factory worker Luis Ramirez.

Homicide charges are filed against 16-year-old Brandon Piekarsky and 17-year-old Colin Walsh. Eighteen-year-old Derrick Donchak faces aggravated assault and other charges.

A local school district has agreed to provide Piekarsky and Walsh with 12 hours of in-home education per week while the case against them is pending.

White nudist vows to hike on after jail

Why do whites desire to behave like primitive cavemen?

BERLIN (Reuters) – A naked German hiker has vowed to carry on rambling in the nude despite spending 10 days in jail for breaking public nudity laws

Thomas Kranig, a spokesman for the administrative court in Ansbach, said Siegfried Grawert went to jail because he “refused to pay a fine of 500 euros assessed for violating the public nudity code.”

Grawert, a janitor, told a local German newspaper he planned to continue campaigning for the right to partake in organized all-natural hikes despite his troubles with the law.

Naked hiking has gained a following since the German Society of Nudists joined the German Sports Association.

Nude bathing is accepted and allowed in parts of Germany, especially on designated beaches on the Baltic Sea coast. But naked joggers have been fined in the past for running through forests wearing nothing but socks and shoes.

White motorcyclist dies in Utah speed record attempt

Ever heard of the speed limit?

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (AFP) – A motorcyclist was killed after losing control of his bike at 385 kilometers (239 miles) per hour and crashing on Utah’s famous Bonneville Salt Flats, authorities and reports said Thursday.

The American Motorcyclist Association said in a statement on its website that 49-year-old Cliff Gullett of Montana was killed in an accident during a time trial at the location, around 185 kilometers (115 miles) west of Salt Lake City.

The AMA said Gullett was competing in the 500cc class during a time trial speed racing event when his bike crashed. Reports said Gullett was aiming to set a record for the fastest two-stroke, two-cylinder motorcycle.

The Salt Lake Tribune cited police investigators as saying Gullett was travelling at 239 miles per hour before the crash.

The Bonneville Salt Flats have been used as a speed testing ground since 1896 and became famous in 1935 when British motorsport legend Malcolm Campbell broke the world land speed record at the site.

White woman race, in stilettos

The latest ploy to gain attention?

The world record for the number of high-heeled sprinters in a race has been broken by a group of women in Australia.

A total of two hundred and sixty-five women dashed their way around the 80m track at Sydney’s Circular Quay wearing three-inch heels.

The race was won by 400 metre professional hurdler Brittney McGlone who was victorious by several clear lengths and took home $5,000 Australian dollars, or £2,500, and a pair of gold stilettos.

The 18-year-old left the other competitors in her wake as many fell, suffering scratches and scrapes to knees and hands.

Other sprinters had to be treated for bruises, it was reported.

Former Australian sprinter Melinda Gainsford-Taylor inspected the athletes and ensured they were wearing the mandatory three-inch heels.

“All the girls were pumped,” she told Australian media.

“I don’t think I’ve experienced such energy since my racing days,” Australia’s Age reported her as saying.

A spokeswoman for the event said the world record had topped the previous world record of 150 which was made in Holland.

“It looks like Australia has smashed the current world record and should now hold the title for the most number of people ever to participate in a stiletto sprint,” Australian representative for Guinness World Records, Chris Sheedy, told The Age.

White terrorist returns home, kills girlfriend

Practice makes perfect. Pleading insanity to escape the death penalty no doubt.

Orange County deputies found the woman beaten and unconscious in the couple’s San Clemente condo; she later died. Relatives say John Needham has been deeply troubled since returning from the war.

John Wylie Needham was known as an easygoing surfer who liked to paint and play guitar and bounced from job to job. He knew he needed direction in life. So two years ago he joined the Army and eventually shipped off to Iraq.

This, he thought, would make his family proud.

Late Monday night, when Orange County sheriff’s deputies responded to a complaint about an argument at Needham’s San Clemente condo, the 25-year-old veteran answered the door naked. He was belligerent and needed to be subdued with a Taser, deputies said. And in a bedroom they found his 19-year-old girlfriend, Jacqwelyn Joann Villagomez, severely beaten.

By Tuesday morning, Villagomez was dead and Needham was charged with murder and was being held in lieu of $1-million bail.

The alleged slaying capped a tumultuous period during which Needham was wounded in combat and returned home late last year with severe mental problems, his family said. He was still in pain from the shrapnel in his legs and back. He struggled with nightmares that left him screaming. He had been hospitalized and medicated, had consulted with therapists and had reached out for help.

But it was Needham himself who appeared to know how fast he was spiraling downward.

“I’m falling apart by the seams it seems the days here bleed into each other I have to find the will to live,” he wrote in a rambling posting on his MySpace page. “These walls are caving in my despair wraps me in its web, I feel I’m sinking in, throw me a lifesaver throw me a life worth living.”

Needham’s family knew he was struggling. But never did they foresee this.

“I can’t see him doing this,” said his brother Mike Needham. “I know he went through a lot in Iraq. But this is just not him. . . . You can’t believe how happy he was until he came back from Iraq.”

Needham served in Iraq last year and was awarded a Purple Heart for his combat injury, said Army spokesman Master Sgt. Keith O’Donnell. He was discharged for unspecified medical reasons, O’Donnell said. Additional details about his service were not immediately available.

Villagomez, known to friends as Jacque, was born in the Central Valley. She was raised in Turlock by her grandmother from the age of 6, after her mother died and her father moved to Guam, friends said. She ran track at Pitman High School before moving with a boyfriend to Orange County, where she graduated from El Toro High School in Lake Forest.

Thad Moren, her track coach at Pitman, said Villagomez was a very good student and that she still holds the high school’s records for the 100- and 300-meter hurdles. She was heavily involved in the drama program, winning parts in many school plays, Moren said. She had moved out of her grandmother’s home and was living with a teammate’s family when she made the decision to leave Turlock.

“She was a bright young lady,” Moren said. “When she left, she seemed like she was on the right track. We hoped everything would turn out OK.”

Slim and toned from her running days, Villagomez dreamed of being a model, friends said. On a local modeling website she wrote:

“I have a passion for modeling. I guess it runs in the family, my mom was an amazing model. I have done small fashion shows, more when I was younger but I’m willing to learn and grow in the business!”

Needham met Villagomez a few months ago at a mutual acquaintance’s birthday party. His family described their relationship as turbulent and said he had been trying to break up with Villagomez for several weeks.

Another brother, Matt, told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that the relationship was putting additional strain on his brother.

“I knew that if they didn’t break up the proper way that, you know, it could be a bad breakup. But no one figures a bad breakup is like this,” he said. “I never saw this coming. But I’ll tell you what, with my brother . . . the mental state he’s in since Iraq, nothing would surprise me.”

Erik Krecu, 20, who said he was the victim’s ex-boyfriend, said she called him Monday evening to say Needham had tried to choke her. He said she told him Needham had become violent and aggressive in recent days. At one point, she used pepper spray against him, he said.

“We had no idea it would have turned out like this or we would have come and got her,” said Krecu’s mother, Debbie Krecu.

Authorities said the violence may have erupted after another woman arrived at Needham’s condo and became involved in a fight with Villagomez. Officials said that Needham apparently broke up the fight and that the visitor called 911 after she left the residence.

Stephen Singleton, 38, a neighbor of Needham, said he met Needham and Villagomez about a month ago as they lounged by the pool. They were friendly and seemed extremely happy, he said. He said Needham told him he had just come back from Iraq and was taking pain medication for an injury he suffered there.

Needham told him he was trying to “live each day one at a time,” Singleton said. “He wasn’t complaining about his pain. He seemed very happy.”

On Tuesday, friends gathered outside the condominium complex where Needham lived with Villagomez, his father and his brothers. Mourners created a makeshift memorial to the victim, with candles and flowers beneath yellow crime scene tape.

“He’s been no good since he got back, I’ll be honest,” Matt Needham said. “I mean, he’s my brother, we grew up in the same crib together, I love him like no one else, and it’s sad to know the person who means the most to me, to completely write them off because they’re crazy.”

Whites murder 16 year old foreign exchange student

Sad, but not shocking. Foreign students should strongly reconsider continuing their education elsewhere, away from volatile white nations. The suspects are out on bail already. Talk about hospitality.

A foreign student aged 16 was killed by a mob of drunken racist thugs in a sickening seaside attack outside a kebab shop.

Mohammed Al Majed, who was visiting the UK from Qatar to learn English died last night in hospital from severe head injuries two days after the savage gang beating in Hastings, East Sussex.

Mohammed – described by friends as ‘like a brother to everyone’ – is believed to be the son of a wealthy family in the oil-rich Gulf state.

He and his group were set upon – apparently for looking and sounding different – as they left a social club for foreign students shortly before midnight on Friday night.

The youngsters were beaten, kicked and pelted with glass bottles by the baying mob, who stamped repeatedly on Mohammed’s head before leaving him for dead and launching further assaults on his terrified pals.

Police are probing Mohammed’s death as a racially motivated murder.

Three men aged 17, 18 and 20 have been arrested and quizzed over the attack. The trio were later bailed.

Mohammed had been socialising at club run from the USA Fried Chicken and Kebab House.

At the back of the shop there is a large licensed bar area with pool tables, arcade machines and couches, which is used as a regular hangout by foreign students who study English each summer at the nearby EF Languages School.

Owner Remzi Tanriverdi, 43 said trouble started after a pair of local thugs aged between 19 and 22, who are well known to Mr Tanriverdi as regular troublemakers, turned up at the kebab shop and started drinking cans of lager at the picnic benches outside.

Murder hunt: The attack happened at the popular seaside resort of Hastings

They were soon joined by two more hoodie-wearing louts and two girls, all of whom were guzzling beer and bottles of alcopop.

Dr Tanriverdi, a doctor of political science with two degrees who moved to England from Turkey five years ago, asked them to leave but they refused and hurled abuse at him.

The former National Project Co-ordinator for the UN in Turkey said: ‘As soon as I saw them, I knew those boys would cause trouble. Whenever they turn up, trouble soon follows.

‘After I asked them to leave, I noticed a police car pull up outside, so I went over and spoke to the officers. I asked them to keep an eye on the boys, and they said they would – then left.

‘Less than an hour later, Mohammed – who was like a brother to everyone here – had been beaten to death by those boys.

‘It’s so sad, there are no words that can describe the horror of what happened – and for nothing. The attack was completely unprovoked and without reason.’

Dr Tanriverdi – known to the Arabic students as Uncle Remzi – has himself been physically attacked more than 25 times since he bought the kebab shop in 2005.

He added: ‘Those boys would never hurt a fly. They come from a culture where this sort of thing does not happen.

‘This incident will be disastrous for Britain’s relationship with the United Arab Emirates.

Shocked:  Remzi Tanriverdi owns the kebab shop outside which Mohammed was beaten and left for dead

‘What parent will want to send their children here for the summer when they know things like this are happening?’

A Sussex Police spokesman said today: ‘Police are currently treating his death as a murder inquiry, and are investigating it as racially motivated at this time.’

CI Natalie Carron, from East Sussex Division, added: ‘The young man had spent about five weeks in Hastings and was due to return home next weekend. His death is incredibly sad.

‘We will have a uniformed presence in the area to reassure people and will continue to work with the language schools to address any issues.

‘Enormous numbers of foreign students come to Hastings and Rother each summer, in the region of 30,000 to 50,000.

‘The problems and issues they are involved in are very few in comparison to these large numbers.

‘Not withstanding this, no matter how rare an incident like this is, the effect on the young man’s family and tragic consequences can only be imagined.’

‘We will have a uniformed presence in the area to reassure people and will continue to work with the language schools to address any issues.

Hastings attracts up to 50,000 foreign students to its English summer schools each year.

‘The problems and issues they are involved in are very few in comparison to these large numbers,’ said Ms Carron.

‘Notwithstanding this, no matter how rare an incident like this is, the effect on the young man’s family and tragic consequences can only be imagined.’

What are White people afraid of?

Peaches

Pickles

Cotton balls

Balloons

Chicken