Bronwen

National:
Linda Stein, formerly a real estate agent in New York and manager of the Ramones, was found beaten to death in her fifth avenue apartment. The morgue attributed her death to severe beating. The police department confirmed the death as a homicide, but a suspect list has not been released. Linda Stein had clientele including Madonna, Sting, Michael Douglas and Angelina Jolie. Stein was sixty-two at the time of her death.

Anyone remotely famous is going to have a decent amount of enemies- that's just the way life works. I would bet it's a former husband if Stein has any of those. Although, if it was a former love, I doubt the man would wait until Stein is sixty-two to kill her. It does not sound like the murderer was very well equipped to kill a person, so it doesn't quite sound premeditated. It sounds more like Stein took a drunk stranger home, but she is really to old for that. If I were to beat a person to death, I don't believe I would do it in their apartment because it would be to easy for neighbors to hear something.

International:
The father of Madeleine McCann started working again in a British hospital this week. It has been almost six months since his four year old daughter disappeared, and he and his wife spent much of their time aiding efforts to find her. The girl disappeared from the hotel room while the family was on vacation in Portugal. The case does not look promising, and enthusiasm of everyone but the family is running out. "We very much wanted to get back to a degree of normality, and me going back into my normal employment is very much part of that" Dr. McCann said. The Portuguese police are suspecting Mr. & Mrs. McCann of kidnapping their own daughter.

That's a great example of a father, not a sperm donor. But going out of the United States or Britain is just exposing yourself to entirely different lifestyles and diseases. I would never take small children on a vacation like that if I were a parent. Obviously things like that cannot be predicted, but it's wisest to play it safe until children are older. What retard police. They just sound lazy. Either that, or they are right and somehow the McCanns are pocketing the money that is donated to help find their daughter, but I doubt it. Both are doctors, they don't need to pocket money.

National:
Following up on one of my former blogs, the state of Florida has ruled that lethal injection is not unconstitutional. Now that the two year review is over, Mark Schwab is scheduled to die next on November 15th. All 37 states with capital punishment use the same type of lethal injection: an anesthetic, a muscle paralyzer and a heart-stopping substance. Although the Supreme court has yet to rule on the constitutionalism of lethal injection, the court did say that prisoners may request a different means of death if they so choose.

Good for Florida. Let's remember that lethal injection is for murderers and not just any murderers- it's for the sickest, grossest kinds. The rest get a prison sentence. So the people complaining about the cruelty and pain involved in lethal injection have already done something far worse. I believe as Christians we ought to uphold justice, and part of that justice is keeping the death penalty. Another part is avoiding universal health care.

International:
Mount Kelud in Indonesia is expected to erupt again. Since 1990 Mt. Kelud has killed at least thirty people. One of the worst explosions Indonesia has ever seen was in 1919 when an estimated 5,160 people were killed. From house to house, people run with mega phones warning others to flee to tent cites. Many people insist on remaining and sign papers saying they will not ask for compensation if their belongings are lost. Some inhabitants believe that if they stay home without turning on the lights or speaking loudly the volcano will not erupt.

I do not understand why anyone would live in a deadly place nicknamed the "Ring of Fire". I know there are those who have no other place to go, but given the chance to flee and a place to stay, they should seize it. If I had government power in Indonesia I would force people to leave. The belief in foolish practices and luck baffles me. And not to be biased, but I think it is far more evident in foreign countries as opposed to America.