MONDAY, MARCH 3, 2014


NEWS CLIPS FOR THE DAY


North Korea releases Australian missionary – CBS
AP March 2, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea on Monday deported an Australian missionary detained for spreading Christianity in the country, saying he apologized for his anti-state religious acts and requested forgiveness.

Authorities in North Korea have been investigating John Short since his arrest for secretly spreading Bible tracts near a Buddhist temple in Pyongyang on Feb. 16, the birthday of late leader Kim Jong Il, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.

The report said that Short, 75, admitted he committed a crime that hurt the Korean people's trust in their leaders and apologized for his behavior.

"I now realize the seriousness of my insult to the Korean people on February 16th because I made the Korean people angry and for this I truly apologize," Short was quoted as saying in a written apology, according to separate KCNA report. "I am willing to bow down on my knees to request this tolerance of (North Korea) and the Korean people."

KCNA says North Korea decided to expel him thanks to the tolerance of the country's laws and in consideration of his age.

Short arrived later Monday on a flight to Beijing, where he declined to speak to reporters, saying he was tired. He was escorted to a vehicle from the Australian Embassy, which declined to comment on the matter.

North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the government. Defectors from the country have said that the distribution of Bibles and secret prayer services can mean banishment to a labor camp or execution.

North Korea typically frees foreign detainees after they've admitted their crimes but many say after their releases that their confessions were given involuntarily and under duress. Last week, North Korea presented to the media a detained South Korean Baptist missionary who apologized for allegedly trying to reach Pyongyang with Bibles, Christian instructional materials and movies in October.

North Korea has been holding a Korean-American missionary, Kenneth Bae, since November 2012. Bae, sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for hostile acts, held a similar news conference to apologize his behavior.

KCNA on its website posted video showing a calm-looking Short, dressed in a black jacket, reading what appears to be his written apology before taking a quick bow at a room.

Kim Jong Il's birthday and that of his father and North Korea founder Kim Il Sung are the nation's biggest holidays. Kim Jong Il died in late 2011 and his son Kim Jong Un took over power.

Short, from Barmera, South Australia state, has been arrested multiple times while evangelizing in mainland China, according to a biography on a Christian website, Gospel Attract.

He was banned from entering China for nearly two years after his second arrest in 1996. Authorities later let him back in and he was arrested several more times for "speaking out about the brutality against Chinese Christians," said the site.
Short has lived in Hong Kong for 50 years.

According to his written apology published by the KCNA, Short said he also visited North Korea in August 2012 to spread Bible tracts.




“Short, 75, admitted he committed a crime that hurt the Korean people's trust in their leaders…. North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the government.” This is the only time I have ever seen a logical and truthful reason given for the withdrawal of religious freedom.

We have done the same thing at times in this country when the practices or precepts of the religion are considered dangerous to American society or government. Animal or human sacrifice, as has been practiced by satanic cults, and multiple marriages have been suppressed, though an offshoot of the Mormon Church to this day practices polygyny in some Western states. The cult called the Branch Davidians were attacked by federal forces because they were thought to be anti-government and practicing child abuse. In cases like that I agree with government suppression. Citizens' rights are not unlimited, and can't be in a law abiding society.

Christianity, at least in some of its branches, considers it to be a mandate that their members will proselytize in an effort to “carry the message.” They consider themselves to be “saving souls from Hell.” I must say that when I see the Christian activist at my door on Sunday morning, I am not welcoming, though hopefully I'm not rude either, but I have a church of my own, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't want someone to try to “convert” me. A change of mind on any subject is a gradual, internal process. That's why I don't argue much about politics with people who have other beliefs unless they start to argue with me, when I will state my own beliefs.

The Christian Church, however, has been one of the main means of leading other cultures to Western ways, and is more effective than warfare in turning their minds around. It's not going to work in a totally militant and closed society like North Korea, though, or apparently China either. I am glad Short was released, even if he did have to apologize. Maybe he won't go back in there again, and will go to some more open country to preach instead. Sometimes I admire people's courage, but not their wisdom or lack thereof.





Supreme Court to consider death row inmate's IQ scores – CBS
AP March 3, 2014

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court is hearing an appeal from a Florida death row inmate who claims he is protected from execution because he is mentally disabled.

The case being argued Monday at the court centers on how authorities determine who is eligible to be put to death, 12 years after the justices prohibited the execution of the mentally disabled.

The court has until now left it to the states to set rules for judging who is mentally disabled. In Florida and certain other states, an intelligence test score higher than 70 means an inmate is not mentally disabled, even if other evidence indicates he is.

Inmate Freddie Lee Hall has scored above 70 on most of the IQ tests he has taken since 1968 but says ample evidence shows he is mentally disabled.
A judge in an earlier phase of the case concluded Hall "had been mentally retarded his entire life." Psychiatrists and other medical professionals who examined him said he is mentally disabled.

As far back as the 1950s, Hall was considered "mentally retarded" - then the commonly accepted term for mental disability - according to school records submitted to the Supreme Court.

He was sentenced to death for murdering Karol Hurst, a 21-year-old pregnant woman who was abducted leaving a Florida grocery store in 1978.

Hall also has been convicted of killing a sheriff's deputy and has been imprisoned for the past 35 years. He served a prison term earlier for assault with intent to commit rape and was out on parole when he killed Hurst.

Hall's guilt is not at issue before the high court.
The Florida Supreme Court has ruled that the state law regarding executions and mental disability has no wiggle room if an inmate tests above 70.
Psychiatrists and psychologists who are supporting Hall say an IQ test alone is insufficient for a diagnosis of mental disability. They say there's a consensus among the mental health professions that accurate diagnosis must also include evaluating an individual's ability to function in society, along with finding that the mental disability began in childhood.

They and Hall also contend that an IQ score is properly read in a range because the results are generally reliable, but not 100 percent so. The range takes into account a margin of error, a feature of all standardized testing.
The case is Hall v. Florida, 12-10882.




I wish they would rewrite the laws about the death penalty if the standards of what "mentally disabled" entails are left up to the state rather than being universal. Psychiatry and psychology have improved, too, since the seventies when this crime occurred, and a new diagnosis would probably be more fair and accurate. I don't think the mentally disabled nor the mentally disturbed should be executed. That's what mental asylums for the criminally insane are for. I understand they need more hospital beds, but we should be building more of them as needed. That's what I think. Hopefully the Supreme Court will overrule the State system and make them give him a life sentence instead, if such is possible, or a new trial if not.






100-year-old piano player captivates S.C. nursing home residents – CBS
CBS News March 3, 2014

At a Columbia, S.C., nursing home, a 100-year-old woman has been putting on impromptu piano shows for the residents living there.

You wouldn't know it to look at her, and you couldn't tell by hearing her play. But Rosalind Gardner is 100 years and 8 months young.

"In a nutshell, yes, she is one tough cookie," her daughter, Rosalind Funk, told CBS Affiliate WLTX correspondent Dakarai Turner.

Gardner has been captivating audiences with her music skills since she was 7, and is still doing so.

Funk enjoys listening to her mother play the piano, as does Gardner's grandson, Charles Funk. "First of all, it's amazing that she remembers music to be so familiar in her age."

The draw of her music attracts many of the residents and staff at Columbia's Life Care Center, where she lives.

"Most of the time when I come in and I hear her playing, I'll stop, stand there, and listen to her play," said Christine Lykes, a nurse at the facility. "It brings a smile on my face."

Rosalind has been playing without sheet music, letting only her mind guide her hands across the keyboard the same way her whole life.

"I heard on TV and I'd copy that, just listening to it, and so everything I play is by ear," she told Turner.

But after a fall (which caused her mobility issues), and memory loss that has recently started running its course, her grandson says the sound of that music has taken a turn.

"Yeah, I can hear a difference between when she was 80 years old, you know, and that's just probably the mind at 100-plus," he said.

But it was before those notes began changing, that the music she made with her husband and three daughters gave her so much joy. That's when they traveled to the VA hospital during the 1940s and '50s, something Gardner loved so much that she only stopped playing for cancer patients at Palmetto Richland Hospital last year.
She brought music to the ears of the patients there after beating breast cancer herself 20 years ago.

"It's so ingrained as part of who she is, and it's her way of expressing herself," said Rosalind Funk.

Even after her husband died in 1959, following 19 years of marriage, she never stopped playing.

Now crowds gather at the nursing home each time she sits at the piano.
So maybe the music isn't changing after all. Like Rosalind, it only seems to be getting better with age.



http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=115

According to this article, even when other abilities are severely affected, many people still enjoy activities relating to music. Musical memory is often retained when other memories are lost. There are many ways to enjoy music, including listening, singing, following the rhythm and moving to the music. Evidence suggests that music can improve someone's mood, behaviour and wellbeing. Physically responding to the music (through dance or movement to rhythm) can offer a chance for exercise and non-verbal communication. Favourite songs or pieces of music can also be powerful prompts for reminiscence.




This CBS article didn't indicate that Rosalind has a severe degree of dementia, but that she may be becoming affected by it. This clip from the alzheimers article above does say that many patients retain musical memory though they are losing some other abilities. There were many articles on the net under the heading of music therapy, which is very effective for alzheimers patients, and the same is true for other artistic endeavors such as painting. Those things do slow down the progression of alzheimers dementia. I have also heard that many musicians tend to live longer than most other people. At any rate, this story is cheerful and increases my optimism.





Conn. dad jailed after toddler left alone in car causes crash – CBS
By Crimesider Staff CBS/AP March 3, 2014

WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - A Connecticut man is in custody after police say he left his 2-year-old daughter alone in his idling car and she put the vehicle into drive, smashing it into parked cars.

West Hartford Police arrested 33-year-old Oscar Chicas on Saturday afternoon and charged him with risk of injury to a minor. He is being held on $15,000 bond.
It was not known Monday if Chicas is represented by a lawyer.

Authorities say Chicas' daughter was left in a running car and managed to shift it into drive. The car struck two other vehicles, causing minor damage.

CBS affiliate WFSB reports that Chicas was located nearby, working with his brother to fix a disabled vehicle.

The girl was not injured. Police say the state Department of Children and Families was notified and the girl was left with her uncle.




A two year old child is no longer exactly an infant. They can talk, listen to what you are saying and imitate your swear words, run, climb, jump and pull hot pots off the stove top if they can reach up that high. They are famous for tantrums. That is because they have a will of their own by around 18 months and are very curious. They should not be underestimated. Besides, no baby or very young child should be left alone in a car, whether or not it is running, because they have occasionally been kidnapped in the parents absence and have suffocated or died from heat prostration if the windows are rolled up. Every year there are new cases of it in the news, and every year people do it again anyway. It's just like that warning to drivers against driving through standing water that covers the whole road. There may be a hole in the road which will trap the car, or the strength of the water may be enough to float the car or flood it. Don't do these things!





Osama bin Laden son-in-law goes on trial in NYC – CBS
CBS/AP March 3, 2014

NEW YORK -- Jury selection got underway Monday in the terrorism trial of Osama bin Laden's son-in-law on charges that he conspired to kill Americans as al Qaeda's spokesman after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the highest-ranking al Qaeda figure to face trial on U.S. soil since the attacks, listened to an interpreter as Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan began questioning prospective jurors. Many of about two dozen people who claimed hardships said long commutes to court would make it too difficult for them to serve.

Opening statements are expected to begin later this week.
Prosecutors will try to prove to the anonymous jury that the one-time terrorist network spokesman tried to rally others to kill Americans.

Prosecutors plan to show jurors during their opening statement a picture of Abu Ghaith seated with bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders on the day after Sept. 11, 2001, as they make statements about the attacks. They say Abu Ghaith described the circumstances of the filming in his post-arrest statement.

Prosecution evidence also will include post-9/11 videos in which the charismatic bearded man promises more attacks on the United States as devastating as those that destroyed the World Trade Center.

"The Americans must know that the storm of airplanes will not stop, God willing, and there are thousands of young people who are as keen about death as Americans are about life," Abu Ghaith said in an Oct. 9, 2001, speech.

In one widely circulated propaganda video, Abu Ghaith can be seen sitting with bin Laden and current al-Qaedaleader Ayman al-Zawahri against a rocky backdrop.
Defense lawyers for the balding and bearded defendant asserted last week that some of the government's evidence relates to a detainee at Guantanamo Bay with a similar name to Abu Ghaith rather than to the defendant, who has pleaded not guilty. U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on Friday called the mistaken identity claim "utterly meritless."

Abu Ghaith's attorneys are also trying to enlist help from professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed to bolster the case for acquittal, though it hasn't come fast enough for them to gain permission from Kaplan for Mohammed to testify, perhaps through a video link to Guantanamo Bay. If convicted, Abu Ghaith could face life in prison.

Defense attorneys said Friday that Mohammed had provided a 14-page response to written questions, but his lawyer was refusing to turn it over unless there was a guarantee that military lawyers at Guantanamo wouldn't review it. The judge refused to consider the matter further.

The Kuwaiti-born defendant was flown to the United States a year ago from Jordan, where he was captured as he headed to Kuwait, which had revoked his citizenship after 9/11.

The CIA's Bin Laden group was able to track Abu Ghaith's movements to a luxury hotel in downtown Ankara. Abu Ghaith hoped to get help from the al Qaeda network to move to another country, but the CIA was working with the MIT, Turkey's national intelligence service, and they arrested Abu Ghaith.

While in Turkish custody, he was interrogated by a U.S. multi-agency group known as the High-Value Interrogation Group, or the HIG. They gathered hours of intelligence from Abu Ghaith which was eventually summarized in a 22-page document.

In an affidavit filed last year as he tried to suppress the 22-page statement he made to authorities, Abu Ghaith said he left Afghanistan in 2002 and entered Iran, where he was arrested and held in prisons and interrogated extensively.

Abu Ghaith said he was released from Iranian custody on Jan. 11, 2013, when he entered Turkey, where he was detained and interrogated before his Feb. 28, 2013, release. He said he was heading home to Kuwait on a plane to see family when the flight landed instead in Amman, Jordan, where he was handcuffed and turned over to American authorities.

Abu Ghaith is married to bin Laden's eldest daughter, Fatima, one of nearly two dozen children bin Laden was believed to have fathered before he was killed in Pakistan by U.S. special forces in 2011.

Before heading to Afghanistan in 2000, Abu Ghaith was an imam at a Kuwaiti mosque and taught high school religion classes.




His religion failed to teach him not to cooperate with those who are going to blow up buildings and kill thousands of people. Not all Islam follows that route, but the extremists do. Extremist Christians have burned people at the stake and crushed them with huge rocks, but that was three hundred years ago. I think the inner spirit of each person is supposed to arise in disgust at such things and refuse to do them. I think if a baby is brought up by firm but gentle parents who teach him the way to go in peace in the world, his spirit will move toward goodness, and he will refuse even to follow orders that he should slaughter people (or animals, for that matter.) I don't trust religion alone to teach goodness, and I think without an emotional pull toward kindness within a person he will not be trustworthy and turn away from things like ethnically based hatred and its results. I hope he is convicted and spends the rest of his life in prison. I doubt that there has been a case of mistaken identity.




Russia setting ultimatums in Crimea struggle, Ukraine claims – CBS
CBS/AP March 3, 2014

Russia issued fresh ultimatums to Ukrainian forces in Crimea Monday, according to Ukrainian officials, adding to an already tense atmosphere following the occupation of the strategic peninsula by the Russian military.

While Russia has officially denied setting deadlines for Ukrainian surrender of land or military resources, the U.S. State Department said it would hold Russia directly responsible if it has threatened use of force against Ukrainian military. Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, however, that she could not confirm if Russia had in fact made such threats.

CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer, reporting from a Ukrainian air base, said that Russian soldiers had been at the base's gate for some time and had demanded that the soldiers leave the base by Monday.

Nobody knew exactly what the implied "or else" meant, and nobody knew what would happen next, but it was very tense, Palmer said.

Most recently, Ukraine said Russian forces are demanding that the crew of two Ukrainian warships must surrender.

Four Russian navy ships in Sevastopol harbor were blocking the Ukrainian anti-submarine warship Ternopil and the command ship Slavutych from leaving the dock, waiting for their commanders' responses, Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Maksim Prauta said.

Vladimir Anikin, a Russian defense ministry spokesman in Moscow, dismissed the report of a Russian ultimatum as nonsense but refused to elaborate.

In addition, Russia's Interfax news agency reported that Russian Black Sea fleet commanderAlexander Vitko had given Ukrainian forces until 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) Tuesday to surrender or face military assault, citing a source in the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.

"If they do not surrender before 5 a.m. tomorrow, a real assault will be started against units and divisions of the armed forces across Crimea," the agency quoted the ministry source as saying.

Later, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry denied receiving an ultimatum, saying there have only been harassment and acts of intimidation by the Russian military. There was no immediate comment by the Black Sea Fleet.

Similar ultimatums have been issued throughout the Crimean peninsula since Russian troops began moving in en masse over the weekend.

The Los Angeles Times reports the Ukrainian president said the Russian military set an ultimatum Sunday for Ukrainian army and navy units "to surrender weapons and leave their bases" in the Crimean peninsula. Like the incident at the air base, nothing happened when the deadline passed.

CBS News correspondent David Martin reports the biggest mystery to U.S. defense and intelligence officials is Russia's intentions with the estimated 15,000 troops it has already moved into Ukraine. U.S. officials haven't confirmed the latest 5 a.m. ultimatum, but they did say there have been similar ultimatums issued over the weekend, and nothing has happened when the deadlines have passed. There has so far not been any indication the Russians plan on occupying Ukrainian territory outside of Crimea, but Russian troops continue to flow in to the Black Sea peninsula.

Whether the ultimatums come to pass, Ukraine's military admitted Monday that pro-Russian troops have surrounded or taken over "practically all" its military facilities in Crimea - a move that Russia's foreign minister defended as a necessary protection for the ethnic Russians on the Black Sea peninsula.

"This is a question of defending our citizens and compatriots, ensuring human rights, especially the right to life," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Geneva, where he was attending U.N. meetings.

There have been no reports, however, of any hostilities toward Russian-speaking in Ukraine during the country's four months of political upheaval.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement saying that Moscow believes Ukraine must honor its Feb. 21 agreement to form a new national unity government.
In Kiev, Ukraine's new prime minister admitted his country had "no military options on the table" to reverse Russia's military move into its Crimea region.

While Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk appealed for outside help and insisted that Crimea still remained part of his country, European foreign ministers held an emergency meeting on a joint response to Russia's military move that could include economic sanctions.

"Any attempt of Russia to grab Crimea will have no success at all. Give us some time," Yatsenyuk said at a news conference with British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

New reports of Russian moves came in rapid succession Monday. In addition to seizing barracks and border posts, troops also controlled a ferry terminal in the Ukrainian city of Kerch, just 12 miles across the water from Russia. That intensified fears in Kiev that Moscow will send even more troops into the peninsula via that route.
The soldiers at the terminal refused to identify themselves Monday, but they spoke Russian and their vehicles had Russian license plates.

In the meantime, Russian forces were clearly cementing their control over strategic Crimea, home to 2 million mostly Russian-speaking people and landlord for Russia's critical Black Sea Fleet.

Border guards spokesman Sergei Astakhov said the Russians were demanding that Ukrainians transfer their allegiance to Crimea's new pro-Russian local government.
"The Russians are behaving very aggressively, they came in by breaking down doors, knocking out windows, cutting off every communication," he said.

He said four Russian military ships, 13 helicopters and 8 transport planes had arrived in Crimea in violation of agreements that permit Russian to keep its naval base at the Crimean port of Sevastopol.

Now, fears in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev and beyond are that Russia might seek to expand its control by targeting and seizing other parts of Ukraine, especially in its pro-Russian east.

"The world cannot just allow this to happen," Hague said, but he ruled out any military action. "The U.K is not discussing military options. Our concentration is on diplomatic and economic pressure."

Outrage over Russia's military moves has mounted in world capitals, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry calling on President Vladimir Putin to pull back from "an incredible act of aggression." Kerry is to travel to Ukraine on Tuesday.
Putin has defied calls from the West to pull back his troops, insisting that Russia has a right to protect its interests and those of Russian-speakers in Crimea and elsewhere in Ukraine. His confidence is matched by the knowledge that Ukraine's 46 million people have divided loyalties - while much of western Ukraine wants closer ties with the 28-nation European Union, its eastern and southern regions like Crimea look to Russia for support.

Faced with the Russian threat, Ukraine's new government has moved to consolidate its authority, naming new regional governors in the pro-Russia east, enlisting the support of the country's wealthy businessmen and dismissing the head of the country's navy after he declared allegiance to the pro-Russian government in Crimea.

Looming over the political crisis is Ukraine's teetering economy, with a top economic official saying that it needs at least $35 billion to get through this year and next. Putin had promised a $15 billion loan in December, but Russia has only delivered $3 billion.




“Vladimir Anikin, a Russian defense ministry spokesman in Moscow, dismissed the report of a Russian ultimatum as nonsense,” according to this news report, but the Ukrainians say differently. According to the news article, “Later, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry denied receiving an ultimatum, saying there have only been harassment and acts of intimidation by the Russian military.” There are two statements in this article saying that Russian troops made threats and gave deadlines in several cases, but then when the deadline passed nothing happened; so are they playing a softer hand than it appears or are they too disorganized to know what members of their military have threatened to do?

“Outrage over Russia's military moves has mounted in world capitals,” said this article. If that happens maybe the UN will be moved to unite against the Russian position, even sending in troops if necessary. That would be better than individual nations joining the conflict militarily on their own. I do hope the UN makes a stand soon, to make it more likely that Russia will not try to take over the Crimean Peninsula and declare a separate government there. Even if they don't attack the Western section they may go after the other Russian speaking sections as well and rob the West of valuable farm land and other resources. That would likely starve out the Ukrainian speakers attempts at a Ukrainian state. There are supposedly about twice as many Ukrainian speaking people than Russian speaking. Where are they all located? Maybe in the west.