CNN is reporting that the plane that crashed in Queens was an American Airlines Airbus A300 that was taking off bound for the Dominican Republic. Eyewitnesses say the engine exploded in mid-air, and there are reports that several houses buildings in the area near the crash are on fire.
Month: November 2001
Plane Crash Near Queens, NY
An American Airlines 767 has crashed near Queens, New York — apparently either trying to land or take off from John F Kennedy International Airport. There are huge plumes of smoke filling the New York skyline at the moment.
FIFA Takes on Dog Meat
With the 2002 World Cup slated to take place in South Korea and Japan, Fifa — football’s governing body — is pressuring South Korea to take actions against the eating of dogs.
According to the BBC, during the 1988 Seoul Olympics South Korea outright banned restaurants that served dog meat, but a soup made from dog meat is very popular.
It is unclear from the BBC story whether Fifa objects to dog meat itself or only to the sometimes cruel methods used to prepare and kill dogs used for food. Either way, someone might want to point out to Fifa that the leather used to create the official World Cup soccer balls is also produced under conditions which many animal rights activists consider to be cruel.
Source:
S Korea dog meat row deepens. The BBC, November 12, 2001.
Good Times (Not the Virus)
The last few days have been a whirlwind of activity. On Friday I was offered a higher paying job which, unfortunately, I ultimately had to turn down for a variety of reasons. Still even though I didn’t ultimately take the job, it felt nice being wanted.
Then, today, CNSNews ran a column I had written for them refuting an earlier piece by PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk that claimed PETA didn’t condone violent acts (in fact PETA has regularly condoned and celebrated violent acts). I’ve received a lot of compliments via e-mail from people I admire and respect complimenting me on the column.
NCAA and UCLA Screw DeShaun Foster
University of California Los Angeles football coach Bob Toledo is paid almost $600,000 a year to coach his team. DeShaun Foster, UCLA’s star running back and Heisman candidate, was just suspended for at least one game because he was apparently driving around town in a Ford Expedition owned by a booster.
Meanwhile Toledo has the gall to lecture Foster about morality,
Those of you who have children, it’s like telling them what’s right and what’s wrong. You try to educate them, you tell them the fire’s hot, don’t put your hand in it. But a lot of times they want to find out themselves, and they put their hand in the fire.
Forget Microsoft, when is somebody going to do something about the illegal cartel known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association?
Canada Gives Parents a License to Kidnap
A recent decision by a jury in a Canadian child kidnapping case gave a new meaning to the word bizarre.
The case started with Carline Vandenelsen, 39, who kidnapped her three children from her husband, Craig Merkley, 45, who had custody of the children. Vandenelsen thoroughly planned the kidnapping, confided in several people that she planned to kidnap her children, then hid them in her trunk while she crossed over the border into the United States. Yet, a jury recently acquitter her of kidnapping by agreeing with her defense’s bizarre legal theory.
See if this makes sense to you. Under Canadian law, parents accused of kidnapping can be acquitted if they committed the crime to prevent the children from imminent harm. Vandenelsen argued that she believed a court was about to sever her parental rights over her children. She reasoned that if her children were deprived of her by the courts, that they would suffer harm. Therefore, she argued, she was acting lawfully to protect her children when she kidnapped them.
And a jury agreed with this idiotic theory. This is especially puzzling since Canadian law requires that there been an objective need for a protective abduction, and it is hard to see a court order regarding custody of children fulfilling that criteria (in fact, the jury implicitly undermines its own decision by agreeing with this reasoning).
The jury did not get to hear the evidence a judge used to first limit Vandenelsen’s visits with her children to alternate Saturdays. Merkley tape recorded calls between Vandenelsen and her children. A court psychiatrist who analyzed the tapes testified that Vandenelsen was so emotionally abusive to her children that her access to them should be restricted to special occasions (the tapes are sealed per a court order). The judge in the case was set to make a final decision on the matter before she fled the country.
Even though the didn’t hear the tapes, it is still difficult to understand why a jury would buy Vandenelsen’s defense. As Merkley put it, “I think that they’ve just declared open season for anyone who wants to abduct their children.
Source:
Abduction of triplets a ‘necessity,’ jury rules. Francine Dube, National Post, October 27, 2001.