Archive for the ‘Social Problems’ Category
Celebrity Crooks: Big (Bad?) Business, Source CNN News
Barefoot Bandit: Folk hero or crook?
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// ]]>July 13, 2010 2:15 p.m. EDT
(CNN) — The Barefoot Bandit has more than 80,000 Facebook fans who see him as a folk hero, a modern-day Jesse James. But police say Colton Harris-Moore is a criminal, pure and simple. The beginning and end of 19-year-old Harris-Moore’s two-year run as a wanted fugitive is the stuff of Hollywood. Indeed, one studio has optioned his story. But police and some of his victims don’t think he should be glamorized as he makes his first court appearance Tuesday. “They can never imprison a mind like yours Colton,” wrote one admirer on Harris-Moore’s Facebook fan page Monday, a day after he was captured during a high-speed boat chase in the Bahamas. “I can understand on one level people being interested in his activities, but I think most thoughtful people, when they stop and think about it, realize he’s a common criminal,” said Bill Cummings, a sheriff who has been tracking Harris-Moore for years. “Those who see him as a folk hero aren’t looking any deeper than the surface.” The strapping 6-foot, 5-inch high school dropout was raised by a single mother in a trailer on Camano Island off the rugged coast of Washington state. Local media accounts, including a detailed profile in Monday’s edition of The Herald in Everett, Washington, cite court records that tell the story of a turbulent childhood. They can never imprison a mind like yours. –Facebook fan When Harris-Moore was a boy, his classmates called him “Klepto Colt,” wrote journalist Bob Friel, who lives on nearby Orcas Island. Friel’s lengthy profile was published in Outside magazine in January. Friel wrote that he pored through hundreds of pages of court records, learning that young Colton had been referred to Child Protective Services a dozen times. It’s not clear how Friel gained access to these juvenile court records, which are usually sealed. Friel is writing a book on Harris-Moore’s life. As a thief, Harris-Moore started out small — shoplifting and breaking into homes, police say. He earned his nickname by living in the woods and leaving bare footprints at some of his alleged crime scenes. One detective called him “a feral child.” Helen Simmons, a store owner on Camano Island, told CNN affiliate KOMO what Harris-Moore allegedly stole from her: “Beef jerky, potato chips, food,” she said. “Never beer, never wine, just food.” He might have remained an obscure juvenile criminal, but he gained national fame after he took to the skies, allegedly stealing and crash-landing airplanes despite never having any formal flight training. Video: Who is the ‘Barefoot Bandit’ suspect? Video: Mother of ‘Barefoot Bandit’ speaks Video: Caught in the Bahamas “Fly, Colt, fly!” an admirer wrote months ago on his Facebook page. The phrase has been reprinted on T-shirts and decals. Songwriters have rhapsodized about him. Time magazine published a story headlined, “America’s Most Wanted Teenage Bandit.” People magazine has profiled him, making him a bona fide celebrity. A movie about his high-flying escapades, tentatively titled “Taking Flight: The Search for a Young Outlaw,” is in the works. His mother issued a brief statement Monday saying she’s glad her son is safe and that no one was hurt during his capture. “I have not yet been able to speak to him,” Pamela Kohler added. “It has been over two-and-a-half years since I have seen him, and I miss him terribly. I hope that it will be possible for me to see him sometime soon. However, I don’t yet know when that might happen.” CNN affiliate KIRO interviews Pamela Kohler Kohler hired a Seattle attorney for her son, but since he is an adult, the final decision rests with Harris-Moore. The attorney, John Henry Browne, told CNN affiliate KOMO that he hopes all the pending charges can be consolidated into a single federal case in Seattle. Harris-Moore has dodged arrest warrants since 2008, and until early Sunday morning, eluded even the FBI, which had posted a reward for his capture. Until recently, the teenager stuck close to home, reportedly hiding out in the Northwestern wilderness, including an ancient Indian burial ground accessible only by water or air, Outside magazine reported. He is also suspected of crimes in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, South Dakota and Indiana and other states. In his Outside magazine profile, Friel tried to figure out why Harris-Moore seemed to delight in thumbing his nose at the police. “The only hint of a motive I can dig up is a note Colt wrote to his mom after the Camano Island deputies found one of his campsites, filled with stolen merchandise,” Friel wrote. “His dog, Melanie, was at the camp, and the police took her. ‘The cops wanna play, hu!?’ Colt wrote. ‘It’s war! Tell them that.’ ” Harris-Moore’s Facebook fan page includes his now-infamous self-portrait. It was found by police in a stolen camera left behind in a stolen Mercedes. He is lying on the dirt, gazing into the camera with his lips slightly upturned in a smirk. In the end, his notoriety brought about the Barefoot Bandit’s downfall. Authorities suspect he stole a plane in Indiana over the July 4 weekend, which was found in the Bahamas. A week later, a security guard at a Harbour Island resort in the islands recognized Harris-Moore as he arrived on a 15-foot skiff. Those who see him as a folk hero aren’t looking any deeper than the surface. –Sheriff Bill Cummings RELATED TOPICS Colton Harris-Moore Burglary Bahamas It was 2 a.m. Sunday, and the wanted teen was running up a dock at the resort. He carried a gun and a knapsack slung over his shoulder, said resort manager Anne Ward. The guard called Ward for help. By the time she arrived, Harris-Moore had jumped on another boat, trying to escape. But the teen misjudged the depth of the water and the boat ran aground. By this time, a crowd had gathered to watch the drama. Harris-Moore tossed his computer into the water and put a gun to his head. “He was going to kill himself,” said Ward. “Police talked him out of it.” Harris-Moore began acting out at age 10 and, according to The Everett Herald, started stealing early. By 12, he was accused of breaking into a local business, setting fire to a school and destroying property at a Thriftway grocery store, the newspaper reported. He pleaded guilty to possession of stolen property and in 2006, he was ordered to be in court at a juvenile justice center, a date he skipped. He soon started breaking into homes on Camano Island, and the Sheriff’s Department issued a warrant for him, the newspaper reported. It’s not clear how the newspaper got access to Harris-Moore’s juvenile records. Harris-Moore pleaded guilty to three counts of burglary and was sentenced to more than three years in the custody of the state juvenile detention facility. He escaped from there in 2008 and has been on the run until now. The teenager’s fans have embraced Harris-Moore’s exploits, drawing comparisons to Frank Abagnale Jr., the con artist played by Leonardo DiCaprio in “Catch Me If You Can.” “He’s become the poster child for the disaffected American who doesn’t care and is proving it by thumbing his nose,” said Dr. Casey Jordan, a noted criminologist and professor at Western Connecticut State University. “The potential was there for him to evolve into violent crimes, but it didn’t happen,” Jordan said. “I see a lot of his attention seeking behavior as a cry for help.” But Harris-Moore’s alleged victims are not so charmed. Josh Flickner, who works at a grocery store in Washington state, is outraged that some people are comparing Harris-Moore with a modern-day Robin Hood. “I know schoolteachers and other average, middle-class people that he’s stolen from,” said Flickner. He also said Harris-Moore used a stolen credit card at the store years ago. “I remember him coming in, usually with his mom,” Flickner told CNN. “And I remember him always looking really suspicious, and he would stand in front of like the candy section and just stare at me to see if I was watching him,” Flickner added. “Needless to say whenever he came in, we were always watching him.”
Article Courtesy of CNN News at http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/12/barefoot.bandit/index.html?hpt=T1
Draw Muhammad Backlash, Source: Fox News
‘Everybody Draw Muhammad Day’ Advocate Rattled by Death Threats
By Joshua Rhett Miller
Published July 12, 2010
| FoxNews.com
The creator of a now-defunct “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” page on Facebook fears she may be targeted for death now that the cartoonist who launched the online campaign has been placed on an execution list by a radical Yemeni-American cleric.
The 27-year-old Facebook page creator — a Canadian woman who asked not to be identified due to fears of reprisal — told FoxNews.com that she was visited at her home last week by Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials who advised her to remove her page and not to talk to reporters.
“I’m scared,” she said. “I’m scared that somebody might kill me.”
The woman created her version of “Everybody Draw Muhammad” in late April, days after a Seattle cartoonist launched the online campaign to protest Comedy Central’s censoring of an episode of “South Park,” in which the Prophet Muhammad was depicted wearing a bear costume. The Canadian woman said she will no longer act as the administrator of such a page.
“I just want to be quiet now,” she continued. “I wish I didn’t do this.”
As part of “Inspire,” a 67-page English-language Al Qaeda magazine, Yemeni-American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki — who has been linked to the botched Times Square bombing and cited as inspiration for the Fort Hood massacre and the plot of two New Jersey men to kill U.S. soldiers — targeted the Seattle cartoonist for “assassination,” along with others who have participated in her campaign.
“The large number of participants makes it easier for us because there are more targets to choose from in addition to the difficulty of the government offering all of them special protection,” wrote al-Awlaki, who is an American citizen. “But even then our campaign should not be limited to only those who are active participants.”
He warned that “assassinations, bombings and acts of arson” are all legitimate forms of revenge against the creators of blasphemous depictions of Muhammad.
“Now, with the defamation of Muhammad reaching the shores of America, I wonder whether the patriotic American Muslim will still have the audacity to claim that he enjoys the right to be a Muslim in America?” Al-Awlaki wrote. “Does he understand that this right includes his duty to fight against those who blaspheme his Prophet?”
Al-Awlaki invited Muslims worldwide to “stand up in defense” of Muhammad and for their efforts to “manifest in all appropriate” means.
The Canadian woman told FoxNews.com that she created her page as a way for Facebook users to discuss Islam “openly and honestly” — and that she has lost most of her anger following her initial outrage.
“I was upset at first, but I’m not too upset anymore,” she said. “I kind of got tired of it.”
She said she now realizes her online actions may have put her in jeopardy. Following the recommendation of Canadian authorities, she said she has altered her routines and will consider changing her phone number.
“I have no way of knowing what might happen to me,” she said.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Pat Flood, citing department policy, would not confirm or deny that police officials visited the woman’s home.
David Gomez, the FBI’s assistant special agent in charge of counterterrorism in Seattle, said authorities consider the threat “very seriously” and confirmed that they contacted the Seattle cartoonist two weeks ago.
“We take the written threat very seriously and we advised her to take appropriate actions,” Gomez said Monday. “We wanted her to lower her profile, basically.”
Gomez said FBI officials felt “obligated to warn” the Seattle woman based on previous attempts by Al Qaeda to target individuals for caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
“Al Qaeda is a very real organization, they have made attempts on other journalists involved in this type of activity,” Gomez said. “Based on that, we felt obligated to warn her.”
Contacted via e-mail, the Seattle woman declined com
Column vilified, insulted Indian Americans Source: CNN News
Column vilified, insulted Indian Americans
// ]]>July 13, 2010 11:09 a.m. EDT
Editor’s note: Rahul K. Parikh is a physician and writer who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Follow him on Twitter.
(CNN) — Dear Joel Stein,
Where do I begin? Normally, I write about health care, but your essay in Time, “My Own Private India,” caught my attention for reasons that have nothing to do with medicine. Before I read it, I barely had any idea who you were. Your name was vaguely familiar, probably from having seen you on VH1 while channel-surfing in the wee hours.
I’m not the only one who noticed. Last I checked, your essay was one of the most read and e-mailed articles at Time.com. Good work. You earned your paycheck. But you did it with a xenophobic, even racist, rant against Indian Americans like me and a lot of other people I care about and deeply respect.
Read Joel Stein’s essay, “My Own Private India”
Have no illusions, sir. What you wrote was not funny, insightful, smart or unique. No. Every word, phrase, sentence and paragraph you produced did nothing more than distill the ancient, proud and diverse culture of India down to nothing more than clichés and stereotypes.
Calling us dot-heads and Guindians, speaking of spicy food and multilimbed gods with elephant noses — clarification, Joel: Ganesh has the elephant nose; Siva has the multiple arms. You did it even when you were laying on the backhanded compliments. “We all assumed Indians were geniuses.” Thanks for that.
By the way, I am not some bitter old man trying to lecture you. You and I are contemporaries. I’m just a year younger than you are.
In reading a little bit about you, we have some things in common. I was “dorky enough” to have played Dungeons & Dragons growing up. Given your esteemed education at Stanford, I suspect both of us excelled academically.
–Rahul Parikh
But it’s clear that our consciences have been on divergent paths. I try to do just a little bit of good in the world by practicing medicine and writing. You took your pricey education and became … a humorist … a satirist … a pundit? A descendant of Mark Twain, H.L Mencken or P.J. O’ Rourke you are not. In the future, please leave satire and humor to trained professionals.
So … because you weren’t funny or incisive, what’s your point? Are you trying to make Indians prove our worth to the fraternity that is America? Is your essay part of some kind of hazing? Put up with your callous insults, and we’ll be able to live in the frat house?
What litmus test do we all have to pass to become bona fide? Does our God have to wear a big white beard and have only two arms? Do we have to turn in the dots on our foreheads for a baseball cap with “N.Y.” stenciled on it? Trade in our samosas and chai for potato chips and Bud Light? Should we make our parents throw their Hindi language newsmagazine in the garbage and subscribe to Time?
If it’s about fitting in with your standards of Americana, please, allow me to prove my culture’s utility to you.
Some of us have become wildly successful. We run Fortune 500 companies, have been elected to political office and have won Pulitzer prizes. Many of us work 40-plus hours a week to pay our mortgage. Some have paid their dues serving this country in war. Still others struggle to pay the bills, keep their children fed or their marriages together; and yes, there are those of us who are criminals locked up in jail. In other words, we’re just like everyone else.
It’s obvious that you were waxing nostalgic about your hometown. If I follow your logic here, should nothing ever change in America?
Should moms stay at home while we men wear our suits and ties and head off to work, cigarette in hand? Should African-Americans still drink from a different water fountain from you? Should we revoke the right of women to vote?
If that’s the case, I’ve got a Delorean with a flux capacitor I’d be happy to sell you to get “Back to the Future.”
I also read the apology you pinned to the bottom of the online version of your essay.
“I truly feel stomach-sick that I hurt so many people. I was trying to explain how, as someone who believes that immigration has enriched American life and my hometown in particular, I was shocked that I could feel a tiny bit uncomfortable with my changing town when I went to visit it. If we could understand that reaction, we’d be better equipped to debate people on the other side of the immigration issue,” you wrote.
“Tiny bit uncomfortable,” indeed. You should have stopped with “I’m sorry” or just retracted the whole article. Stop trying to save face by trying to rationalize what you wrote or pin it to the immigration issue.
Finally, I do want to thank you for harshly reminding of one thing: Because the essay was published just before the Fourth of July — and incidentally, just a few weeks before India’s own independence day — you and your publication reminded me with no uncertainty that racism, ignorance and fear of new people are as American as apple pie and Time magazine.
Like you said, the Statue of Liberty should shed a tear. And Mahatma Gandhi just did.
(Time Warner Inc. is the parent company of CNN.com and Time magazine.)
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Rahul Pari
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