Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Only in America could this happen: Mo. teen gets life with possible parole in killing - What the fuck was the judge thinking?



By DAVID A. LIEB | Associated Press – 26 mins ago
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A central Missouri teenager who confessed to strangling, cutting and stabbing a 9-year-old girl because she wanted to know how it felt to kill someone was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Alyssa Bustamante, 18, pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the October 2009 slaying of Elizabeth Olten in St. Martins, a small rural town west of Jefferson City.
The judge also ordered the teen to serve a consecutive 30-year term in the armed criminal action charge.
Bustamante was 15 years old when she confessed to strangling Elizabeth, repeatedly stabbing her in the chest and slicing the girl's throat. She led police to the shallow grave where she had concealed Elizabeth's body under a blanket of leaves in the woods behind their neighborhood.
With her hands shackled to her waist and her feet shackled together, Bustamante rose and faced Elizabeth's mother and siblings before she was sentenced Wednesday.
"I know words," she said, pausing to take a deep breath and struggling to compose herself, "can never be enough and they can never adequately describe how horribly I feel for all of this."
She added: "If I could give my life to get her back I would. I'm sorry."
Elizabeth's mother, Patty Preiss, who on the first day of Bustamante's sentencing hearing called her "an evil monster" and declared that she "hated her" sat silently, staring forward during Bustamante's apology.
The Olten family declined to comment to reporters, as did Bustamante's family.
Bustamante had been charged with first-degree murder and by pleading guilty to the lesser charges she avoided a trial and the possibility of spending her life in an adult prison with no chance of release.
The teenager's defense attorneys had argued for a sentence less than life in prison, saying Bustamante's use of the antidepressant Prozac had made her more prone to violence. They said she had suffered from depression for years and once attempted suicide by overdosing on painkillers.

This is an absolutely bogus defense. That being said, however, this was a FIFTEEN YEAR, child, committing an act of passion, and yes, indeed, this particular 15-year old's moral compass did not exist (look into that family history - far more likely that she was sexually abused by one (or more) very close family members ... strongly suspect the family did not want to disclose that information to the defense attorney, becuase ... it would have been embarrassing AND CRIMINAL. There are a NUMBER of crimes that have been committed here, and, in particular, her parents have a lot of indirect complicity. It is astounding that she could have gotten as far along in life as she did without getting into some VERY serious trouble before hand (it's also possible she was jacked on alcohol and PCP - this is SUCH a violent crime - hell, gang-bangers would be incapable of this level of violence on a 9-year old.
But prosecutors sought a longer sentence. They noted that Bustamante had dug two graves several days in advance, and that on the evening of the killing had sent her younger sister to lure Elizabeth outside with an invitation to play. Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Rice testified that the teenager told him "she wanted to know what it felt like" to kill someone. Prosecutors also cited journal entries in which Bustamante described the exhilaration of killing Elizabeth.
"I strangled them and slit their throat and stabbed them now they're dead," Bustamante wrote in her diary, which was read in court by a handwriting expert. "I don't know how to feel atm. It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the 'ohmygawd I can't do this' feeling, it's pretty enjoyable. I'm kinda nervous and shaky though right now. Kay, I gotta go to church now...lol (THIS is troubling beyond words - clearly, she recognizes the dichotomy between going to church after having just violently slain a pretty much defenseless human being - hell, in retrospect, I guess it's just evil incarnate!)."
Bustamante then headed off to a youth dance (I could have danced all night, I could have danced all night, and still have danced some more.  I could have spread my wings and done a thousand things, I[ve never done before.) at her church while a massive search began for the missing girl.
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Giving Zealots Everywhere a Bad Name: Norway massacre suspect says he deserves medal



February 07, 2012|By Bjoern H. Amland, Associated Press
  • A handcuffed Anders Behring Breivik arriving for the detention hearing Monday in Oslo. He demanded to be set free.
A handcuffed Anders Behring Breivik arriving for the detention hearing Monday in Oslo.… (HEIKO JUNGE / Scanpix Norway)
OSLO, Norway - The right-wing extremist who has admitted killing 77 people in Norway's worst peacetime massacre told a court Monday that he deserves a medal of honor for the bloodshed and demanded to be set free.

Anders Behring Breivik, 32, smirked as he was led in to the Oslo district court, handcuffed and dressed in a dark suit, for his last scheduled detention hearing before the trial starts in April. He stretched out his arms in what his lawyer Geir Lippestad called "some kind of right-wing extremist greeting."

Reading from prepared remarks, Breivik told the court that the July 22 massacre - carried out with a bomb, a rifle and a handgun - was a strike against "traitors" who he said are embracing immigration to promote "an Islamic colonization of Norway."
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Why Israeli radio transmits in Farsi for listeners in Iran


Iranians in Israel run Radio Radisin, a private, Farsi-language station that tries to build a bridge between Israel and Iran

By Aron Heller, Associated Press / February 7, 2012
By Aron Heller, Associated Press
posted February 7, 2012 at 11:42 am EST

Jerusalem

 While Israeli leaders are increasingly sounding belligerent warnings of a potential military strike against Iran's nuclear installations, a group of Iranian-Israelis are transmitting a different message.

Radio RADISIN, a private Farsi-language radio station based in Tel Aviv, airs Iranian music, poetry and current affairs shows aiming to spread peace between the Israeli and Iranian people — regardless of who is in power in Tehran.

"We, the people in Israel, are a peaceful nation and not an enemy, or the 'little Satan' as we are described by the Iranian regime," said Shay Amir, the station's 42-year-old CEO, who left Iran for Israel after the 1979 Islamic revolution. "For 32 years, the regime has poisoned its people against Israel. We are here to tell the truth."


Before the revolution, Israel and Iran were close allies. Some 100,000 Jews of Iranian descent live in Israel today, many with fond memories and still strong ties to friends and relatives in their homeland. An estimated 25,000 Jews still live in Iran.

But now Israel considers Iran its most dangerous foe because of the Islamic Republic's support of Palestinian militant groups, its repeated threats to destroy the Jewish state and its nuclear program.

Israel, like the West, believes Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear research program is for peaceful purposes only.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly hinted that they would consider taking military action against Iran if they conclude the international community's current approach of diplomacy and sanctions fails. For the first time in nearly two decades, world leaders are genuinely concerned that an Israeli military attack on Iran could be imminent — an action that many fear might trigger a wider war, terrorism and global economic havoc.

Despite harsh economic sanctions and international pressure, Iran is refusing to abandon its nuclear program, which it insists is for purely civilian purposes like producing electricity and medical isotopes.

RADISIN broadcasts 24 hours a day via the Internet, satellite and cable TV. It says 100,000 listeners tune in daily, including an undisclosed number from Iran, where Internet speeds are slow and many sites, including those of political opposition groups, are blocked.

It's not the only Israeli media directed toward Iran. Israel's state-run radio station has been broadcasting in Farsi for 50 years from a spartan studio off a narrow Jerusalem alleyway.

It too chats with Iranians — via a switchboard in Germany to get around a ban on calls from Iran to the Jewish state. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has even named the "Zionist broadcast" as among those behind civilian unrest in his country.

RADISIN relies mainly on anonymous sponsors and donations and it airs some commercials. It takes calls from Iranian listeners who often criticize the regime in Tehran and express affection for Israel.

For fear of exposing these callers — and having them branded as collaborators by the Iranian regime — the station asked The Associated Press not to record the conversations.

Others in Iran have been less enamored by the Israeli broadcast.

"Twice from Iran, they hacked our website and caused damage, and because of this we decided to switch and air via satellite," said Amir.


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Photo by: Rauf Mohseni/Reuters Iran: US, Israel vulnerable to counterattack


February 8, 2012 Wednesday 15 Shevat 5772 9:43 IST print gohome
jpost

 
Print Edition
By JPOST.COM STAFF08/02/2012
Senior Revolutionary Guard official vows Iran will pursue its objectives without considering US policy of "carrot and stick."
 
The United States and Israel are in no position to launch a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities because of their high susceptibility to retaliatory attacks from the Islamic Republic, a senior Iranian military commander said Tuesday.

Iranian news agency Press TV quoted senior Revolutionary Guard official Brig.-Gen. Masoud Jazayeri as saying that both the US and Israel were aware of Tehran's ability to hurt them with its counterattack and therefore their threats lack credibility.

The Tehran Times quoted Jazayeri as saying that Iran will continue to pursue its objectives without considering, what he referred to as, Washington's policy of "carrot and stick."

The senior Revolutionary Guard official made the comments in response to remarks made by US President Barack Obama on Sunday in which he stated that diplomacy and not military action was the "preferred solution" to the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

The White House announced tough new sanctions on Iran Monday, clamping down on the activity of the country’s Central Bank and those who do business with it.

Click here for full Jpost coverage of the Iranian threat

They are the latest round of sanctions imposed after President Barack Obama signed legislation at the end of the year that ramped up US options for using sanctions to pressure the Iranians to stop their nuclear program.

In an interview with NBC on Sunday Obama emphasized the goal is to resolve this issue diplomatically, while reiterating that he will not take any options off the table.

Asked whether Israel had promised to give advance warning of an attack, Obama declined to reveal the content of diplomatic conversations but said, “We are going to make sure we work in lockstep as we proceed to try to solve this, hopefully diplomatically.”

Questioned on whether he supported such a strike, Obama responded, “I don’t think that Israel has made a decision on what they need to do. I think they, like us, believe that Iran has to stand down on their nuclear weapons program.”Hilary Leila Krieger contributed to this report.
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