Murders In The Kandahar province of Afghanistan

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/09/27/afghanistan.coverup.case/index.html?section=cnn_latest

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/06/07/soldier-charged-murder-deaths-afghan-civilians/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39380805

I decided to use the news story about Jeremy Morlock’s hearing for killing Afghan citizens (and other charged) to compare the news sources: CNN FOX & MSNBC.

CNN- This news source stated that Jeremy Morlock was the first of five soldiers to be charged with premeditated murder of three Afghan civilians. He was from the 2^nd infantry of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington. His hearing will be held there for the murders of Mullah Adahdad, Marach Agha, and Gul Mudin. The news story then states that 12 other soldiers are charged with conspiracy to murder Afghan civilians and cover it up.  Five of them face murder charges, while the other seven just face charges with participating in covering up the murders.  The article also mentioned a man named Gibbs who kept body parts of the murder victims and kept photographs.

FOX- This news source stated that Jeremy Morlock, 22 years old, was charged with premeditated murder in the deaths of three Afghan civilians and could face the death penalty.  The murders took place in Kandahar province. This article also stated that he is also charged with assaulting a soldier in his unit. FOX then goes into his criminal history. It was stated that his wife sought a domestic violence protective order against him two years ago, and that he was also charged with assault and disorderly conduct where he was found guilty. The article then mentioned that even when he was 15 years old, he committed criminal acts. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving an injury or death.

MSNBC- This news source stated that twelve soldiers have been charged with crimes. Jeremy Morlock has been charged with premeditated murdered of three Afghan civilians and the assault of a fellow soldier. Jeremy was also said to have a history of charges including domestic violence against his wife and leaving an accident scene involving a death or injury.  The article stated that this investigation is the grimmest of alleged atrocities by US military personnel during almost nine years of war in Afghanistan.  The news story then went into the information on the photos that were taken and how a soldier named Gibbs collected fingers and other body parts. Then article goes on to conclude with the thoughts of one of the murder’s families, the Winfield’s.

After reading the news stories from CNN, FOX, and MSNBC, I saw all the news stories were trying to inform the viewers that twelve of our U.S. soldiers are being charged for the murders of Afghan civilians. Even though they had the same story line with Jeremy Morlock as the highlight, they all included varying details. CNN went into detail with the names of the people that Jeremy murdered, whereas the other news sources didn’t give that information. FOX and MSNBC stated that Jeremy Morlock had a criminal history, whereas CNN didn’t inform about that. I also realized that FOX said Jeremy Morlock could be given the death penalty if found guilty. None of the other news sources brought up any information on possible convictions. There also another name mentioned in CNN and MSNBC that was not mentioned by FOX. CNN and MSNBC mentioned that a man named Gibbs is alleged to keeping body parts of the murder victims. The last different I came across after reading the story from all three new sources was that MSNBC was the only one to include a families thought about the issue. The Winfield Family was only mentioned in MSNBC, which have this news source more “juice”. I felt very informed by the MSNBC source story even though I can’t flat out tell which source is most factual.

Overall, I believe this story is one that we should know or be concerned about because it’s our nation’s soldiers that have committed these devastating acts. We should know about the people who took part in the murders and also about their criminal histories. We should be concerned about this because we see out nation as peaceful, trying to help other countries when he have our own soldiers killing innocent people in other countries. This leaves a bad image on the United States. As citizens, we have the right to be informed about these events. Also, we people are noisy, so we want to know about all that’s going on around us.

Marijuana Seizure In My Hometown

http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-richmond-county-marijuana-seizure20100816,0,6419306.story

http://www.wtvr.com/news/wtvr-northern-neck-pot-bust,0,5610992.story

I decided to do my free blog on a marijuana seizure in my home town. The other reason I choose this issue was because the marijuana seizure was the largest in the entire state of Virginia for 2010. On August 11^th, Richmond County Sheriff’s Office received a tip of a marijuana grow operation in the Newland area of Richmond County, VA.  On August 12^th, investigators conducted surveillance around the subject area and claimed to have seen two men tending the plants. The suspects tried to flee when we law enforcement tried to confront, but only one got away. Jamie Ramirez-Duarte was captured and taken into custody.  The offender claimed t that he was being forced to take care of the plants by a Mexican drug cartel. He claimed that if he didn’t so as they wanted, the drug cartel would kill his family. The article stated that the police are investigation whether the operation is connected to gangs, but until then, Jamie Ramirez-Duarte is being held in jail without bond. They also believe he may be an immigrant that entered the US illegally. Police are still looking for the other suspect that got away.  DEA officials also showed up in Richmond County and found that the area looked like operations that have been done in California. The marijuana plots had lots of work done to them, including an irrigation system.

The investigators say that a total of 14,000 marijuana plants were seized. They claimed that the street value of the marijuana to be worth $45 million dollars. Before this event, the largest seizure of marijuana in Virginia was about 1,000 plants.

As bad as it sounds, at least my hometown has gotten noticed once again since the outcome of Chris Brown.

Lonnie Franklin : The Grim Sleeper (Finally Found?)

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/10/grim-sleeper-suspect-had-4-decade-arrest-record/print/

In searching the web for articles relating to recent serial murders, I came across a man named Lonnie Franklin Jr. Franklin is a 57-year old man charged with 10 murders in the “Grime Sleeper” case and also a more current murder that took place in July of 2003. He is considered to be the Grime Sleeper who murdered several young women in South Los Angeles in the mid-1980s. The article states that the killings stopped for a while (due to Frankilin being spooked by the police in 1988), but resumed 14 years later.  Frankin is perceived to be the murderer of a victim in July 2003. At this time, he was suppose to be in county jail for stealing property, but was released from jail early because the jail was overcrowded.

 Before being arrested on Wednesday, July 7^th, he had already been arrested at least 15 times over four decades. The article stated he had been charged previously with crimes such as burglary, car theft, and assault, but were never considered serious enough to send him to state prison or to warrant his entry in the state’s DNA database.

In the article, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck states that investigators are also trying to tie Franklin to 30 other murders that have went unsolved dating to 1984.  He also mentions that since they know who he is, where he lives, the cars he drove, and have people to interview, they’ll be going over all the old cases and look for connections.

The article also made a big point out DNA profiling. The law enforcement said despite more than two decades of old-fashioned police work, they were finally able to crack the case using a new and disputed technique of “familial DNA.” In June of 2010, Franklin’s DNA was sent through a database of 1.5 million samples. In doing so, they found no identical matches, but found a familial match to Franklin that had to be his brother or son. It was a coincidence that his son was added to the database in recent months due to a felony weapons conviction.  The investigators then alerted the LAPD of Franklin’s identity on June 30, which led to Lonnie Franklin being arrested. All they needed was a sample of Frankiln’s DNA to match those on the victims, so they got an undercover officer to pretend to be a waiter. The officer collected things like tableware, glasses and leftover pizza crust to obtain the need DNA from. With a match of DNA to that of the victims, they were able to arrest Franklin on several murder counts.

The article then goes on to say that he had his first court appearance on several crime that could lead to the death penalty or life in prison with possibility of parole.

In observing the article, I saw that it focused more on the serial killer. It gave background information about his past criminal history and also how he was sent to county jail but was then released because of overcrowding. I can’t say that the article focused a lot on the serial killer, but it definitely didn’t focus at all on the cases. The article reported that he is the perceived “Grim Sleeper” of whom they have been looking for since the 1980’s. The key thing of this article was “familial DNA” testing. One investigator made it clear to me that forensics in being more advanced than two decades ago. Now that that they had familial DNA testing, they were able to connect Franklin to victims, which led to his arrest. There were no nationwide statistics mentioned in the article. The article did mention that the LAPD was involved. The investigators alerted the LAPD of Franklin’s identity, in which they verifying it with birth certificated and other documentation. Unforunately, this article doesn’t state it the FBI was involved or not (even though I suppose the investigators mentioned in this article were from the FBI). There were no information given about the victims if Franklin. The article also didn’t mention much about the community besides given a description of Lonnie Franklin’s house and how he was three doors down from a house that had been searched extensively by police 22 years ago.

The most interesting thing about this article is that I learned about a serial killer that is also known as “Grim Sleeper” and that this person has killed 10 people and has been on the loose since the 1980’s. Being that I was very interested in the case, I decided to do more research and found other sites that give more information on the “Grime Sleeper” cases and more details about the people he victimized (of which the first victim was a female named Deborah Jackson that was murdered in August 10, 1985 and police say she was killed by a small caliber pistol).The sites are as follow:

 http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2009/news/grim.sleeper/index.html

http://thegrimsleeper.com/                 

Comparing 'SpringFest' In The Media

http://breezejmu.org/2010/04/12/police-use-tear-gas-and-rubber-bullets-to-disperse-more-than-8000/

http://www.cavalierdaily.com/2010/04/13/police-react-to-jmu-springfest-violence/

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/jmu-riot-video-dozens-arrested-jmu-springfest-2010-riot-2603890.html?comment_sort=recommended

I decided to go back to the stories that were going around during this past spring. As you all know, our university featured a Springfest that ended up in a riot. I chose two university articles (JMU & UVA) and one random media article from NowPublic.com.

In the article by JMU’s The Breeze, it stated more than 30 arrests, a stabbing, extensive property damage, and injured police & partygoers were due to the riot. More than 8,000 people appeared at the event, compared the approximate 2,000 people that normally attend. The Breeze stated as officers approached the riot, they threw grenades of tear gas at the crowd of more than 1,000, focusing on those people who were still loitering at 6:45 p.m. It also stated that some partygoers were sprayed with pepper spray or hit with rubber bullets and beanbags. The article then goes on to express Lt. Boshart’s one sided opinion about the riot. Towards the end of the article, it includes a mixed responses section where people stated their experiences during the riot. One of the student’s named Laura claimed that the police presence is what stopped the bottle throwing, whereas others believed that the police presence worsened the situation.

In the article by NowPublic, it stated that a large crowd of approximately 8,000 people near JMU turned into a full-scale riot when normally the party draws about 4,000 party-goers. Local police reported rioters throwing bottles and rocks at police, so they were forced to use pepper spray and tear gas in attempt to bring the riot to a halt. The NowPublic articles brought up at 30 people were arrested and several were injured by broken glass. This article stated that the riot was most likely started by people from out of town and that Facebook may have led to the large crowd that attended.

In the article by UVA’s The Cavalier Daily, it states first off that 20 to 30 people were arrested. They mention that the party normally sees in-between 1,000 to 2,000 attendants. The article then goes on to say that people were throwing and and bottles at each other and then throwing bottles at houses. Due to the riot, dumpsters were set on fire, and car windows were shattered. The Cavalier Daily then went on to say that it was possible that the presence of the police officers who were fully dressed in riot gear could have provoked more violence. A couple people were mentioned in the article that mentioned their views of the riot and one person stated, “It’s sad that the actions of a few people can affect the image of the university.”

From reading all of these articles, they seemed to all have the same story line about the riot outbreak here at JMU and how people were throwing bottles, and damaging property. All three articles seemed to show no bias from the author, although some of the people interviewed did express their viewpoints.

Even though they all had the same story line, they all included different details and facts, which may have been due to the authors excluding or exaggerating the truth. One thing I noticed that was different about the articles was that they all didn’t have exact numbers for those people who got arrested. In the Cavalier Daily article, it stated that 20 to 30 people were arrested. This clearly shows to me that they probably heard a lot of their information by word of mouth that traveled to the University of Virginia.  The two other articles stated that up to 30+ people were arrested.  Also, they all stated that approximately 8,000 people attended Springfest, but the NowPublic mentioned that the normal attendance was about 4,000 while the other articles stated the approximate normal attendance was about 2,000 or lower.  Some else different was that the NowPublic article said the rioters threw rocks at the police officers. None of the other stories mentioned students throwing rocks, so it may be that the NowPublic article made up some of its information to make their story stick out. The two other articles only mentioned rioters throwing things like beer bottles.

I can conclude that the Breeze article is the most factual article because its news is from within the radius of JMU. None of the information had to travel far to be reported. Also, the Breeze included a lot of details and facts that I am familiar with because I myself was an attendant of the Springfest(but didn’t take part in the riot). If someone wanted a good factual story about the riot, they should read the Breeze.  The last articles I would turn to for information about Springfest would be NowPublic and the Cavalier Daily because their information seems to be thrown together. Information had to travel to these places, and when you think about it, the truth normally doesn’t get too far before it’s flip-flopped around. 

From doing 3 story comparison, I saw that even though the storylines are the same, but the details and facts within them tend to always be different.

Deviant Behavior All Up in 'Limewire'

LimeWire!!! (http://www.limewire.com/)


Limewire includes lame, lame, and lame in shining green and yellow colors. :)
Ok, in all realness, it includes links including How it works, Product Features, and Customer Support. You can choice from a select variety of languages, such as english, french, and spanish, in which you can browse the site with (The customer support page should include information advice about getting caught in the deviant-ness of the product). The site has random tabs saying "Download Now" or "Download Pro For Free."
So...............some may think this site is all fine and dandy, but in all reality IT’S DEVIANT! Limewire is a site where you can download torrent software that’s connected to a Gnutella network. Yes, Limewire created this software (which is legal), but that doesn’t mean it’s legal to share/download documents where copyrights are attached. Limewire is a tool, but once it gets into the hands of the consumers is when it goes to work and becomes illegal. Lots of people use this software, but they are unaware of the consequences that come with it. What’s also weird about the website is that you can download the basic free version, or you can pay for the PRO version for 34.95, which has LAME additional features. That’s a scam because you are paying for something that is legal at the time, but in all reality you are still getting involved in illegal activity still (so you might as well get the free version).


Back to what I said above about Limewire being a tool, why would people think of such software where it could get people involved troublesome activity? Yes, I would love to get free music from somewhere, but I really do believe that Limewire gobbles you in a world of illegal sharing. It’s better to pay for something now than to possibly get caught breaking copyright laws later.

……..(and I add)…The creators of Limewire should be the one getting the blame for people getting caught by the law and not the people in all reality. What’s sad is that they are creating more deviant behavior than our society needs. Same goes to all other torrents or file sharing networks, correct?

 HOW DO YOU GUYS FEEL ABOUT THIS? COMMENT. COMMENT…..COMMENT NOW!!!! :)

Fake Reality TV?!?

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C1154194%2C00.html


Article Summary/ Criticism


In the article “How Reality TV Fakes It” by James Poniewozik, it criticizes how reality shows are manipulated. The articles gives several cases where the producers play around with the film to make things more entertaining to viewers, but not actually all truthful. The author brings up the idea of Frankenbiting in which producers use under pressure to deliver a tidy story that’s not exactly reality. The staff members who create story lines and cobble video together argue constantly that they deserve to be covered by the Writers Guild of America. They run films out of order, cherry-pick facts and quotes, and even withhold information to downplay a romance in order to create fake suspense. The author then states that the problem with reality tv is that they have gained the power to imply or outright fabricate things about real people who have to carry their fake reputation into their normal everyday lives.


The article hit on the fact that some viewers may know that their favorite reality television shows are cast, but may not know all the fudging that’s going on behind scenes. More than half said accuracy is not a factor in the enjoyment of reality tv. Even so, there are some 30% of people who believe reality tv is factual and another 25% know it’s fabricated. As for the people in reality shows, they have both negative and positive effects from fabricated storylines. In one case, a star feels like she gained tremendous power from being shown as a vilified person across the country.



My Thoughts


From reading this article about how fake reality tv is, it makes me think that most media is untruthful, being that most forms of media want to entertain in order to gain viewings and good ratings. In order to entertain, many forms of media feel like they have to fabricate things in order to make their material seem more presentable.


The critique was good because the author brought up the point that even though reality tv is fake, many people like it. The critique also legit because it covered several reality tv shows that fabricated their films. So, if I were to turn on the tv and get caught up into a good show, it’s probably all fake because what reality is there when there is always some kind of drama going on?


The author doesn’t really suggest improvements, but if I could speak for him, he would want reality tv to be more real and truthful. Even though the author would want reality tv to be more REAL, he sees that people like the fake stories, so there’s not much he can do to change that. Most people like reality entertainment and if they want lies, they will most likely get a whole thirty to sixty minutes worth.

…..So I must say I’m opposed to fabricated shows, but they are still entertaining and it’s a good way to waste down time. This article was about reality tv, but if it were any other source of media such as the news, would people be okay if the stories were fabricated? .....Probably not, but that’s for you to decide. :P

Media Fast: Day of Misery

On Thursday, September 2nd, I started my media fast because I had classes that could take up my time and it made sense to be to do the fast before I went home for the weekend. I woke up at 6:35am to my alarm clock. I took a shower, brushed my teeth, and got dressed for my 8 am class at Memorial. I wanted to check my Facebook and do my morning texting, but I told myself I could go a day without them. Soon after, I headed to class and as I was driving to school, I decided to sing to myself rather than listen to the radio. I did myself a favor by leaving my cell phone and ipod at my apartment. After I got out of my 8 am class, I rushed to get to my 930am class at Miller. As I was on my way to Miller, I talked to one of my new friends that I had just met a couple days before. After I got out of class once again, I drove to my apartment, once again singing aloud to myself (but really wanting to listen to the radio). When I got back to my apartment, I was immediately bored because I couldn’t watch tv, text, or get on the internet like normal. Instead, I decided to go to the pool and I was there for about an hour. At about 1230pm, I came back to my apartment and decided to occupy myself by eating. After eating (munch’n down), I decided to take a nap since my 2pm class was cancelled. When I woke up at 2pm, I was really bored, so I decided to do some of my readings for various classes, and also get things packed for the weekend trip home. At 5pm, I took another nap because I didn’t know what to do with myself or the time I had. I woke up an hour later to my roommates watching tv in the living room. I wanted to glance at what they were watching but I headed straight for the kitchen to get myself a bottle of water. I then went back to my room where I started to read this novel sized book for my Abnormal Psychology class. After reading the first 15 pages, I got bored with it and decided to turn my cell on. At first, I didn’t turn my phone on to text or call anyone. I meant to check and make sure I had no job calls or important/urgent messages, but my hands took over and I started texting tons of people. After about texting for about 5 minutes, I turned my cell back off because I was breaking my fast. At 7pm, drove to the Walmart to get some lead pencils and notebooks. Both ways (from the store/back to my apartment), I drove in silence. When I returned back to the apartment, I decided to read more of that long book. At 817pm, I turned my cell back on again, this time because I had to let my mom know that I was coming home. Soon after that, I turned my phone back off and started reading more of the book. At 9pm, I started getting ready for bed. Soon after I took my shower, I got into bed and fell asleep anytime better 11pm. Slept in silence except for the noises coming from outside.


The media fast OVERALL made me feel miserable because my life is more influenced by the media then I expected. I was good with giving up all other media, but my cell phone was calling my name all day. All I wanted was the day to end. Even though I broke my fast, I still wanted to do more texting/talking on my cell than I did. Overall I think I did a good job (others may not think the same). Who can do without their cell phone for a day? Uh…..it’s 2010!

Media Log

On Tuesday, August 31st, I woke up at 7am. I checked my text messages, email, and then called my father. I headed to school listening to music on the radio which helps me wake up in the morning. Had class from 8am until 915am and then I listened to my Ipod as I rushed from Memorial to Miller Hall for my 930 class. After getting out of this class at 1045, I drove back to my apartment listening to music and talking to a friend on the cell phone. Got home and went directly to Facebook (which is one of my addictions). I stayed on Facebook for a while and then decided to take a nap before my 2pm class. Woke up at 125pm and headed to class again listening to the radio. After I got out of class, I went back to my apartment and watched some MTV. About 4pm I went on Blackboard to read a reading for my JUST 210 class. After I finished the reading, I went to check my email/blog just to catch myself back on Facebook for a good hour. At 530 pm, my roommates and I did an exercise program called “Insanity” which took us a total of close to 40 minutes to do. After working out, I called my mom as I went on a small walk around my apartment. After that, I watched MTV for a while as I was munching down on some food. At 8pm, I caught myself on Facebook and Youtube. Stayed on the computer until it was time for me to take a shower and get ready for bed. At 10pm, I checked my email and blog one final time for anything new. By 1030, I was in bed and I watched Family Guy on Hulu until I fell asleep (when I fell asleep is still unknown….I just dozed off with the zZzZ’s). ***



***Text messaged at several random times throughout the day to count on my fingers and toes.