The Harm

Woman beaten up for ‘witchcraft’

AJMER: Over 20 people beat a 75-year-old woman mercilessly on Wednesday in a Rajasthan village accusing her of practising witchcraft.

The incident took place at Danta village, 10 km from Ajmer. Jamuna Devi sustained multiple injuries and has been hospitalised.

Police, who registered a case against her assailants, said 10 of them have been identified. The accused have fled the village.

“I don’t want to return home until the culprits are arrested,” said Jamuna Devi. Jamuna’s son Govardhan said people armed with sticks attacked his mother in a nearby field.

According to police, the elderly woman had been blamed for the illness. “Preliminary investigations say Sita had given birth to a baby two months back and has been unwell since then.”

Sita’s husband took her to a tantrik, who said Jamuna had done black magic on Sita and only Jamuna can rescue Sita by spitting on her face. When Sita’s family asked Jamuna to do as the tantrik had suggested, she refused. This provoked the family, who beat her black and blue.” said the investigationg officer.

This world is depressing.

Church leader arrested on sex charges in N.M.

SANTA FE, N.M. - The leader of an apocalyptic sect in northeastern New Mexico was arrested Tuesday and charged with felony sex crimes against children.

State police arrested Wayne Bent, 66, on three counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, said Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson.

Bent was being held on $500,000 bond at the Union County Detention Center in Clayton and was scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.

According to the affidavit for the arrest warrant, Bent is alleged to have touched three girls in 2006 and 2007. All of them were under 18 at the time, and one of them was 12.

Bent, who goes by the name of Michael Travesser and claims to be the Messiah, is the leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church, whose members moved in 2000 to a remote, former ranch near the Colorado line.

Bent has acknowledged having sex with followers — including his daughter-in-law — and lying naked with virgins. He said the virgins asked for sex, but he refused.

A posting attributed to Bent on the church’s Web site Monday said:

“Jesus had not committed any crimes, so the authorities had to invent some crimes to crucify him over. It is the same for me also. I have committed no crimes, but many crimes are being imagined and concocted in the minds of men to try and kill me again.”

Bent had predicted the end of the world last Oct. 31.

He admits to having sex with his followers, laying necked with virgins, he compares him self to Jesus and has made failed prophecy’s yet people still fallow this jack ass.
He admitted having sex with his followers including his daughter in law and he admits to and he admits to laying necked with virgins. Now I know this doesn’t prove that hes molesting any one but when some one that does that is accused of molestation, he looks very, very guilty.

Black cats unlucky at shelters

Dozens of cats were lined up in cages at a Petco in Old Bridge, N.J., on a recent Saturday afternoon, much as they are most weekends at adoption events and shelters across the country. Percy tumbled playfully, while Parker snoozed in his litter pan, curled up with his cage mate, Alexandra. Chester gamboled about nearby.

Alexandra, a calico, and Chester, a brown tabby, received adoption applications, but Percy and Parker weren’t so lucky. They’re at a significant disadvantage in the adoption market, because they’re black.

“Black cats don’t get adopted nearly as frequently as other colors,” said Kathleen Fram, the co-chair of adoptions for the Summit Animal Rescue Association, or S.A.R.A., a nonprofit rescue group. “People just pass them by.”

A 2002 study in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science that examined adoption rates over nine months in a California pound found that black cats were about half as likely to be adopted as tabby cats and two-thirds less likely than white cats. But for cats in general, the odds are not good: of the approximately 3,000 cats of all colors offered for adoption during that time, only around 600, or 20 percent, found homes. Those remaining were euthanized.

Nationally, the Humane Society estimates that three to four million cats enter shelters each year, said Nancy Peterson, the feral cat program manager at the Humane Society headquarters in Washington, D.C. Of that number, only half are adopted. The rest, including disproportionate numbers of the less-adoptable black cats, are euthanized.

Black cats are considered bad luck in most Western cultures and have been associated with witchcraft for centuries. They’ve been portrayed in literature as everything from T.S. Elliot’s clever, phenomenal, “Magical Mr. Mistoffelees” to Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat,” vilified by his master as “the hideous beast whose craft seduced me into murder.”

So millions of black cats are killed in animal “shelters” shelters don’t kill what there sheltering) every year cause of people irrational and ridiculous belief in some invisible undetectable force that can some how alter the laws of probability and manipulate people in ways that could benefit or harm some one and this force can be influenced by the color of the fur on a cat.

Pakistan Taliban leader gives beard warning: residents

KHAR, Pakistan (AFP) — A Pakistani Taliban leader has warned local tribesmen to grow beards within the next two months in accordance with Islamic teachings or face harsh punishment, residents said Monday.

The threat came amid an apparent increase in incidents of militants trying to enforce Islamic Sharia law in Pakistan’s tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, where the new government is trying to make peace with hardliners.

“Men must grow beards and stop shaving within the next two months,” residents quoted senior Taliban commander Maulvi Faqir Mohammad as telling dozens of people at a mosque in Khar, the main town in Bajaur tribal district.

“It is un-Islamic to shave beards. Harsh punishments will be awarded to all violators,” added Mohammad, the central vice chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Pakistan Taliban Movement) and also a Muslim cleric.

Suspected Islamic militants have been meting out vigilante justice in the tribal belt and targeting “un-Islamic” hair salons, music and video shops with explosive devices for the past few years.

So cause there religious rules say shaving is wrong they plan to kill people who shave. How good and just there god must be.

Suspended lashing for Iranian feminist

tehran • Iran has handed a feminist a suspended sentence of 10 lashes and six months in prison, the Kargozaran newspaper reported yesterday, in the fourth such punishment for a women’s rights activist in Iran within weeks.

The sentence for Rezvan Moghadam imposed by Tehran’s revolutionary tribunal is suspended for three years, meaning it will be implemented if she repeats the stated offence within that time.

Moghadam was arrested along with 32 other women activists in front of Tehran’s revolutionary tribunal in March 2007, where five feminists were being tried for taking part in a demonstration in June 2006.

The exact nature of the charges against her was not made clear.

In recent weeks the court has handed three other women’s rights activists — Nahid Jafari, Nasrin Afzali and Marzieh Mortazi Langueroudi — identical suspended sentences for taking part in the same 2007 demonstration.

Iran has exerted mounting pressure on women’s rights advocates, and in recent months several have been arrested for calling for changes to Iranian laws or for taking part in public protests.

The activists have been promoting the “one million signature” campaign backed by Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi — an attempt to change Iranian laws that discriminate against women by collecting signatures online and in person.

The five feminists tried in March 2007 were accused of acting against national security for the June 2006 demonstration in Tehran’s Haft-e Tir square, where 70 people were arrested amid allegations of police brutality.

Protesters demanded equal rights for women in marriage, divorce, inheritance and child custody.

A feminist gets 10 lashes and 6 months in jail for wanting rights for woman.

If you haven’t herd there is a Measles outbreak, the largest in 7 years.
The CDC says the cause is an increased number of travelers from Europe and Israel and a decrease in vaccinations.
Okay, so the outbreak is small (64 people, so small that some (Me) would question whether this is news) but but it is a example of what could happen when many don’t get vaccinated. Yes if a few don’t get vaccinated the odds of them getting what ever they where being vaccinated against is the same as those who has been vaccinated to none (depending on variety of factors). This is called “herd immunity. The problem is when enough people don’t get vaccinated herd immunity breaks down and it no longer protects the non-vaccinated from preventable diseases.
So this “outbreak” may be small and not really news but another much larger outbreak could happen in the future cause if the anti-vaccination bullshit grows.
Get your children vaccinated! It could/would save lives and the lives of others.

Psychic Arrested for Scamming Woman Out of Inheritance

Police say Stevens, a licensed fortune teller, gave the woman an advertisement claiming she was a psychic. According to investigators, Stevens told the victim she could help her more but she needed $30 and the money would go to a church. Police say Stevens then asked for the victim’s full name, date of birth and cell phone number.

According to investigators, the following day, the victim traveled to Stevens’ home in Hebron. Police say while at the home, Stevens went on to say, someone put a curse on the victim’s family and that her sister and mother, who are both deceased, were in limbo.

Police say the victim went on to see Stevens six more times, in which the victim said that she had inherited over $100,000 from her mother. According to authorities, Stevens told the victim the bank was evil and told the victim to transfer $75,000 from her bank to a new account in a different bank.

According to the victim, Stevens claimed the name “Chase” came to her so she transferred the money to a new account at the Chevy Chase Bank in Rehoboth Beach, Del. After the transfer was complete, Stevens told the victim to withdraw $9,000, however she could only withdraw $3,000 a day because of set limits on cash withdraws.

After the first withdraw the victim went to the bank on March 28 and March 31 and withdrew $3,000 each day.

Police say Stevens then had the victim bring her the $6,000 so she could “cleanse” it of the evil. The victim gave Stevens the money and thought she was going to get it back, which she did not, police say.

According to police, Stevens then told the victim she needed to wire $59,400 from her bank account to Stevens’ bank account which she did on April 4. When she returned to Stevens’ house, Stevens told the victim her mother and sister are now free and everything was done, police say.

Investigators say normally the victim and Stevens spoke or saw each other every day but since that day the contact stopped. On April 19, the victim responded to Maryland and contacted Stevens to get the money back but was unsuccessful, police say.

Belief in psychics can get you scammed, belief in psychics and curses makes you even more vulnerable and in extreme circumstances can get you scammed out of 65 thousand dollars.

Ali seeks control of films

Gov. Mamman Ali of Yobo has called on the state’s Sharia monitoring committee to support the control of local and foreign films with negative influence on youths.

Ali made the call in Damaturu while addressing the state’s and local government Sharia monitoring committees.

He said efforts were being made to control and prevent the show of films that could change the behaviour of youths negatively.

“I will ensure the state radio and television stations broadcast films and programmes that would exhibit virtues of our culture and morality in preference to immoral foreign films,” Ali said.

He urged the committees to support efforts of the state to develop education sector, stressing that his administration would construct boarding primary schools in all the Local Government Areas.

“With your support we hope to ensure that western and religious teachings were used to improve the morality and conduct of youths,” he added.

He lauded the committees for embarking on the campaign to reduce immorality and ensure peaceful co-existence among the people.

The Chairman of the committee, Malam Adamu Mohammed, attributed the reduction in the consumption of alcohol and prostitution to the implementation of Sharia legal system.

The harm? Censorship of movies in the name of religion.

Eight Orissa villagers tortured over sorcery

Bhubaneswar, April 24 (IANS) Suspecting them to be sorcerers and responsible for sickness in the village, residents of an Orissa village beat up eight fellow villagers, used hammers to extract their teeth and made them eat human excreta. The incident occurred at Gereda village in the southern district of Ganjam, some 185 km from here, Monday but came to light after police officials visited the spot Wednesday.

Some villagers had fallen ill recently. Believing this to be due to witchcraft, people of the village asked a tantric or black magician to identify those practicing sorcery.

The tantric identified eight villagers, sub divisional police officer Jyoti Prakash Mohapatra told IANS.

A group of around 30 people took the men to a temple where they beat them, used a hammer to extract two teeth from each before subjecting them to the final ignominy of forcing them to eat human excreta, he said.

One of the victims filed a complaint with the police. On his complaint, one of the villagers involved was nabbed while the others are absconding, said Mohapatra, who went to the village.

The village has a population of about 2,000 mostly tribal people, he said.

Sorcery and witchcraft related crimes are very common in Orissa. Many people, including tribals, believe that witchcraft is the reason behind their problems.

A belief in magic and witchcraft and people suffer.

‘Penis Thefts’ Cause Panic In The Congo

Congolese police have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of stealing men’s penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by reports of the witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa.

Belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts are known to take place.

Rumours of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital of 8 million people.

They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold ring

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear.

Some residents said the so-called witch doctors would then demand money in return for a cure.

“You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you,” said Kinshasa’s police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko.

“We’ve had a number of attempted lynchings. You see (the victims accused of being penis-snatchers) covered in marks after being beaten.”

Lynchings and arrests of innocent people cause people give in to panic and a belief in magic and witchcraft.