Cambria firing leaves three dead

LONDON: Three people were killed and five others were wounded in two unrelated shootings in the Bronx and in Queens early Sunday morning, the police said.

About 2:15 a.m. on 145th Drive near 182nd Street in Queens, one person was killed and five others wounded during a party, the police said.

When officers arrived, they found a man sprawled on the ground with a gunshot wound to the head. The man, Dane Freeman, 20, of Cambria Heights, Queens, was pronounced dead at the scene.

State Senator Malcolm A. Smith visited the neighborhood on Sunday, while the area of the shooting was still cordoned off by yellow police tape. He said he did not know much about the circumstances of the shooting, only that it happened after some disagreement during the party.

“Some friends had an argument,” said Mr. Smith, who represents the district. “We’ve got to get the guns off the street. There are too many shootings, and Memorial Day hasn’t even come yet.”

Among the five others wounded, a 23-year-old man was the most critically injured, suffering a chest wound. He was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in critical condition.

Two women and two other men suffered injuries that the authorities said were not considered life threatening.

One of the women, 21, was shot in both hands, while the other, 22, was struck in the left shoulder. Both were taken to Jamaica Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition.

The injured men, 25 and 21, suffered gunshot wounds to the leg. The older man was taken to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, on Long Island, and the other was taken to Jamaica Hospital. Both men were listed in stable condition, the police said.

About an hour later in the Bronx, the police said two men were shot and killed near East Burnside and Walton Avenues.

One of the men suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the body, the police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. A second man, 19, was shot in the neck. He was taken to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, where he was pronounced dead, the police said. Neither man’s identity was immediately available.

By late Sunday morning, the police had made no arrests in either case.

25 Die in Baghdad as Iraqis Defy Violence to Vote

BAGHDAD: Iraqis voted Sunday in an election testing the mettle of the country’s still-fragile democracy as insurgents killed 25 people in the capital and sending down a barrage of mortars intent on disrupting the day.

About 19 million Iraqis are eligible to vote in the election for who will lead the country as U.S. forces pull out and determine whether Iraq can overcome the jagged sectarian divisions that have defined it since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Insurgents who vowed to disrupt the elections launched a volley of mortar attacks just as polls opened across the city and country.

At least 12 people died in northeastern Baghdad after an explosion leveled a building, and mortar attacks in western Baghdad killed seven people in two different neighborhoods, police and hospital officials said.

In Baghdad’s northeast Hurriyah neighborhood, where mosque loudspeakers exhorted people to vote three people were killed when someone threw a hand grenade at a crowd heading to the polls, said police and hospital officials.

In the city of Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Baghdad, a bomb inside a polling center killed a policeman, said Iraqi Army Col. Abdul Hussein. There were also explosions elsewhere in the country, but no further reports of fatalities.

Insurgents also launched mortars toward the Green Zone — home to the U.S. Embassy and the prime minister’s office — and in the Sunni stronghold of Azamiyah police reported at least 20 mortar attacks in the neighborhood since day break.

About 6,200 candidates are competing for 325 seats in the new parliament, Iraq’s second for a full term of parliament since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion seven years ago this month.

Jack Ketchum s The Girl Next Door

Jack Ketchum s The Girl Next Door, Based on the Jack Ketchum book of the same name, The Girl Next Door tells of the horrors hidden behind white picket fence suburbia in the 1950’s. It is an unflinchingly brutal and heartbreaking film that stays true to the book’s narrative and manages to bring the book’s disturbing scenes to shocking life.

The film begins with every kid’s favorite time of year…summertime! A time of freedom, hanging out with friends and long summer days to do whatever you want. On a dead end street in suburbia, though, the summer of ‘58 will forever change the life of a young boy. David (Daniel Manche) lives next door to the Chandlers. The Chandlers consist of single mom Ruth (Blanche Baker), whose husband ran off with another woman years ago, and her three sons, Woofer (Austin Williams), Donny (Benjamin Ross Kaplan) and Willy Jr (Graham Patrick Martin). They have just adopted their two cousins, Meg (Blythe Auffarth) and Susan (Madeline Taylor), whose parents died in a car accident. Both girls were involved in the crash, and while Meg escaped with only a few scars, younger Susan has to now walk with leg braces and crutches. David and the other boys spend their days lounging around the Chandler house (Ruth has always been a cool mom and lets them drink and smoke). David gets a crush on Meg, but begins to notice how poorly Ruth treats the girls. She verbally abuses them, and things quickly escalate to physical abuse. Woofer, Donny and Willy Jr. quickly join in, and soon even other neighborhood kids are joining in to torment the girls. David seems powerless to do anything, even when things get so bad that Ruth has Meg strung up in the basement, blindfolded and just hanging by her arms. Meg’s torture only gets more and more sadistic and brutal at the hands of Ruth, her sons and the neighborhood kids. Can David do something to help or will he too fall victim to Ruth’s insanity and cruelty?

Book adaptations are tricky to pull off, but The Girl Next Door manages to recreate the intensity and horror of Jack Ketchum’s book. The horrifying events that take place in the Chandler household feel very real and watching the film you are very aware that this could possibly be happening right next door to you. It is, in fact, based on the shocking true story of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens, who was beaten, raped and tortured until her death by an adoptive family and the neighborhood kids in Indiana in 1965.

The real crime that was committed, along with the book that was inspired by it and this film are all examples of how vile, cruel and evil some people can be. The depravity in the film is shocking, and not just because it graphically shows the torture (it doesn’t). It’s the emotion (or lack of emotion) and mob mentality behind the actions of the Chandlers and all who joined in that will really chill your bones. I run a horror review site and I’ve seen some pretty messed up stuff in my day, but the cruelty portrayed in this movie actually brought tears to my eyes.

Director Gregory Wilson films unobtrusively and lets the film unfold before our eyes. The audience is treated as a voyeur, and like David, there is nothing we can do to stop the evil occurring right before our eyes. We are stuck just watching the shocking torture that is happening to Meg and Susan. The direction is so unobtrusive that you actually feel that you are there, a trick that Jack Ketchum also pulls off in the novel.

Speaking of the novel, screenwriters Daniel Farrands and Philip Nutman did a fine job adapting the book and showing the heartbreaking emotions that Meg, Susan and David go through, as well as the hate that Ruth feels towards the younger girls. The confusion and conflict David goes through feels very real and is portrayed quite well by Daniel Manche. Blythe Auffarth does an amazing job in her portrayal of Meg. Meg’s strong will, even through extreme pain, is shown very well by Auffarth. I expect to see great things from this young actress in the future. Blanche Baker also does a great job as Ruth, really making the audience hate her.

My only complaint with the characters is that there wasn’t enough time spent on Woofer, Donny and Willy Jr. Their characters just weren’t fleshed out enough to truly buy their horrific actions. The book paints a much clearer picture as to who each one really is and what drives them to engage in such deviant and disturbing behavior. Still, with the time constraints of a film, I understand that some things needed to be trimmed down and the overall feeling of the book remains intact.

The Girl Next Door is definitely not a film for everyone. When faced with the true horrors of this world as opposed to the cartoonish and larger-than-life slashers and serial killers, most people will wet their pants after watching this film. It is a heartbreakingly brutal look at the vile nature of some humans and is packed with sincere emotion.

Stissing Mountain High School,Pine Plains High School

Stissing Mountain High school,Pine Plains High School:Pine Plains Town Supervisor Gregg Pulver said the gunman at Stissing Mountain High School was in his 40s. No one was injured, he said. “I have no idea why this is taking place,” Pulver said just moments before the gunman surrendered.

Stissing Mountain High school,Pine Plains High School:Pine Plains Town Supervisor Gregg Pulver said the gunman at Stissing Mountain High School was in his 40s. No one was injured, he said.

“I have no idea why this is taking place,” Pulver said just moments before the gunman surrendered. Police had been in contact with the suspect throughout the standoff, he said.

The school about 90 miles north of New York City was on lockdown with the gunman and his hostage contained to one room. Students and other faculty members were locked in other rooms.

After the man surrendered, armed officers could be seen standing guard at the front door of the school. The handcuffed man was led to an ambulance, where he was checked by paramedics.

The school has about 500 students and 100 staff members.

Margaret Hart, who lives across the street from the school, said police cars were in the neighborhood and helicopters flew overhead.

Parents were told to gather in a parking lot at a restaurant a couple of blocks from school.

source:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/10/stissing-mountain-high-sc_n_352081.html

Daylight Savings Time 2009 Fall Back

Daylight Savings Time 2009 Fall Back, November 1 at 2 am marks the fall daylight saving time in 2009. At that point, you should put your watch back at 1am. For all those attending Halloween party, sorry to disappoint, but that does not mean you will be able to stay in the bar for another hour as it is about “going back in time”.

The end of daylight saving time is not something to look forward. Before we all know, that you are starting to get dark at 4:30 pm. When you have worked inside all day, it’s good to get out and enjoy at least an hour to walk around the neighborhood enjoying the sites and natural lighting. All of us New Englanders will soon be included in our sweaters and sitting in our chairs, because it is too cold and depressing to spend time outdoors after work. Am I right?

Car Bomb Attacks in Iraq 64 Die, 600 Hurt

Baghdad: Car Bomb Attacks in Iraq 64 Die, 600 Hurt, Two suicide car bombers attacked the justice ministry and government of the city on Sunday in Baghdad, killing at least 64 people and wounding 600 and causing unrest in the Iraqi capital at war.

Authorities closed roads leading to the bomb sites, which were covered with charred bodies and torn limbs, as fire trucks and ambulances fought through thick traffic to reach the burning buildings.

The attacks, which occurred within minutes of each other around 10:30 am (0730 GMT), destroyed dozens of cars and smashed water pipes, throwing dirty water into the nearby streets, a correspondent for the French agency news.

At least 64 people were killed and over 600 injured in individual attacks, according to a combined balance given by four hospitals in the capital for the dead and injured were being transported.

Several helicopters hovered overhead and dozens of Humvees filled the streets near the sites of attack.

The powerful explosions, which brought a grim reminder of the attacks of powerful trucks in the capital in August that killed nearly 100 people, also damaged several nearby buildings and knocked out power briefly.

One attack occurred at a busy intersection near the Ministries of Justice and Labor, with a reporter saying that the car that exploded was parked in the middle of the street.

The attack occurred near others in the neighborhood Salhiyeh outside the building of the Baghdad governorate.

“Why are doing this to us?” shouted a man named Mohammed, who was near the attack Salhiyeh.

“It is because of the election – who want to challenge the government!” He said, referring to general elections due in January.

The double attack came as Iraqi political leaders meet to try end an impasse over the election law stalled amid growing concerns that the country 16 January, the election will be delayed.

Thick smoke billowed over the area affected and the fire was visible from the two buildings, set in the center of town, near the state television building.

Windows of nearby buildings were destroyed and firefighters were using ladders to reach upper floors of the ministries, the fear that many deaths and injuries could be trapped.

Lt. Gen. Ali Ghaidan Majeed said in an interview with a news agency on Saturday that the coming months could see a surge in violence ahead of January elections, with the stabilization of the security only in the middle of next year after a transfer of power to a new government.

“I am worried that between now and July 2010 … basically in the elections and after the move from the old government to the new government, perhaps you will see the increasing terrorist activities,” he said.

The attacks have decreased significantly compared with a year ago – the violent deaths in September were the lowest since May – but remain high by international standards.

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