Greetings and Salutations, People:
Because the world needs some good news: I just read a story about a Brooklyn bus driver in Coney Island saving the life of a little girl who fell from a 3 story building.
Tweet of the Week:
SpencerAlthouse
Imagine how much self-control the people who make bubble wrap must have.
Imagine how much self-control the people who make bubble wrap must have.
Today on VSR – It’s a short show, but there is much to cover. Today is the 4th annual VSR “Sockie” awards, also we will touch on the tragic events at the Aurora Century 16 theater on Thursday night.
Let’s get to the news… (Play News Music – Clip 03)
Let’s get to the news… (Play News Music – Clip 03)
TEMPERANCE, Mich. (AP) -- Martin Tucker won his latest boxing match, but a bloody nose in the ring could send him to prison for bank robbery.
The FBI said it obtained a swab used to stop the bleeding and found that DNA matched Tucker's DNA on other evidence from a 2009 robbery at Monroe County Community Credit Union in Temperance, near the Michigan-Ohio border.
In a court filing, agent Robert Schmitz said he got the swab while attending Tucker's bout in April in Toledo, Ohio. He described it as "discarded" but didn't disclose any other details about how he got it.
Tucker's DNA matched DNA from a mask believed to have been used in the robbery and from the steering wheel of the getaway car, the FBI said.
Tucker, 32, of Toledo, was arrested this week and ordered held without bond Wednesday. The government alleges he wore a mask and had a handgun during the $5,400 robbery.
Defense attorney Haytham Faraj said there seems nothing illegal about the FBI acquiring the bloody swab. "We leave our fingerprints, bits of hair and skin all over the place. If you're a boxer, sometimes you leave your blood around," Faraj said in an interview Thursday.
He declined to comment on Tucker's alleged role in the robbery but doubts the blood sample really was necessary based on other DNA evidence.
"It is a dramatic twist. It makes for an interesting read," Faraj said.
NEW TRIPOLI, Pa. (AP) -- A Pennsylvania woman allegedly changed her children's grades after logging into a school computer system using passwords obtained when she worked for the district.
Investigators say Catherine Venusto used the Northwestern Lehigh School District superintendent's password to change the grades. She was arraigned Wednesday on a half-dozen felony counts and released on bail.
Officials say Venusto changed a failing grade to a medical exception for he daughter in 2010, when she was still a district secretary. The New Tripoli woman is also accused of bumping one of her son's grades from 98 to 99 percent in February.
State police say Venusto admitted changing the grades, saying she thought her actions were unethical but not illegal.
And finally…Courtesy of our friend Matt Sullivan:
WAUSAU, Wis. - A married man who planned to rendezvous with one of his handful of lovers at an eastern Wisconsin motel instead found himself bound, blindfolded and assaulted by a group of women out for revenge, according to court documents.
Four women, including his wife, eventually showed up to humiliate the man, who ended up with his penis glued to his stomach in a bizarre plot to punish him for a lover's quadrangle gone bad. Now it's the women who face punishment, perhaps as much as six years in prison.
Sewell, Therese Ziemann, 48, of Menasha, Michelle Belliveau, 43, of Neenah, and the man's wife are charged with being party to false imprisonment, a felony. Ziemann also is charged with fourth-degree sexual assault.
The women are free on $200 cash bails. Investigators say all the women but Belliveau were romantically involved with the man. Online court records didn't list defense attorneys for any of the women Monday.
The Associated Press is not naming the man's wife to protect his identity as an alleged victim of sexual assault.
The women's plot for revenge unfolded last Thursday at the Lakeview Motel about 30 miles southwest of Green Bay in the tiny village of Stockbridge near the scenic shores of Lake Winnebago.
The man agreed to be bound with "sheer sheets" and blindfolded with a pillowcase for a "rub down" by Ziemann. She instead cut off his underwear with a scissors and summoned the others to the room with a text message.
Ziemann struck the man in the face, and used Krazy Glue to attach his penis to his stomach as the other women arrived.
He started screaming and the women rushed off fearful that he could get loose and hurt them but allegedly took his wallet, vehicle and cell phone.
Ziemann told investigators she met the man online through Craigslist, fell in love and paid for his use of a room at the motel for the past two months. She said she gave him about $3,000. Then last Wednesday, she learned from the man's wife that he was married, had other girlfriends and was "using them for money." She had expected the money she had given him to be repaid.
During Thursday's confrontation with the man, Sewell asked him, "Which one do you love more?" and the man's wife made a derisive remark about him being scared.
The man got free from the bed by chewing through one of his bindings, went outside and borrowed a telephone from the motel owner to call police.
I’m Craig, and that is the news… (Play News Music – Clip 03)
Bring in the Whale:
The 4th Annual Sockie Awards:
History:
2009 - 1st Annual – July 11th
The Sockies:
1. Best Holiday –Thanksgiving
2. Best Color –Brown
3. Sports Team of the Year – Pittsburgh Penguins
4. Best Picture…that Craig has actually seen this year –Up
5. Website of the Year – LCSHockey.com
6. Sports Idiot of the Year – Plaxico Burress
7. The People’s Choice Sockie - Best Dameshek Amalgamated Messageboard Network Radio Show - The Ed Show
2010 - 2nd Annual – July 3rd
1. Best Color: Orange
2. Sports Team of the Year: Chicago Blackhawks
3. Best Message Board Kid not named Ed: Face Ventura
4. Best Ed Storyline of the Year: Ed plans to go to the Swap Meet for Male Enhancement Surgery.
5. Sports Idiot of the Year: Ben Roethlisberger
6. The People's Choice Sockie - Best Dameshek Amalgamated Messageboard Network Show: (Voting taking place on Dameshek.com through July 2nd)
The Ed Show – 11 Votes
The LCS Hockey Show – 11 Votes
2011 - 3rd Annual – July 16th
1. Color of the Year: Black
2. Sports Team of the Year: Green Bay Packers
3. Vertically Striped Radio Totally Random Thing of the Year: Admiral Ackbar
4. Message Board Kid of the Year that is not named Ed: Adam Miezin (Amiezin)
5. Sports Idiot of the Year: Lebron James
6. (Non-Dave related) Dameshek.com Podcast of the Year: (People’s Choice)
(Must have done a show since the last Sockie awards to be eligible)
LCS Hockey Show
2012 – 4th Annual – July 21st
Late Addition to the Awards: VSR Song of the Year:
- Gogol Bordello - Start Wearing Purple
-Ben Folds Five – Army
- Florence + The Machine - Shake it Out
- Tim Berry - Avoiding Catatonic Surrender
-Blind Pilot – One Red Thread
1. Color of the Year:
-Green
-Orange
-Purple
-Red
-White
2. Sports Team of the Year:
-Denver Broncos
-Florida Panthers
-Nashville Predators
-Baltimore Ravens
-Oklahoma City Thunder
3. Vertically Striped Radio Moment of the Year:
-Craig picks all 3 Triple Crown races correctly
-Celebrating Cinco De Mayo by honoring Barney Fife
-Craig and Face declare their love for Mike Tyson’s Punchout
-Calling a White Sox perfect game live on air
-Holly Marie Combs Holy War
-Craig’s Peyton Manning Rant
-Hiding a Flash Drive in a Vagina
-Craig hates Santa
-Zombie License Plated woman goes on a rampage
-Capitalist.fox calls in and plays a vulgar song
4. Sports Idiot of the Year:
-Metta World Peace,
-Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather,
-Roger Goodell,
-Kyle Williams (49ers Punt Returner)
-Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky
5. Message Board Kid of the Year NOT named Ed:
-StreetDreamer83
-porkcarrot
-pinedagger
-cjmack
-18nalax
6. Word of the Year:
-Awkward
-Putrescence
-Eviscerated
-Fortuitous
-The
Thoughts from Andrew Arndt- Pastor of Bloom Church in Denver
On Responding to Tragedy:
Last night’s shooting in Aurora leaves us vacillating in our souls between numbness and horror, and grasping for meaning; for we are “meaning makers”, we human beings, and so it is that “senseless tragedy” is particularly hard for us to swallow. We feel that something must be done or said to put it all in perspective.
And it is just there that we are likely to go wrong, for the wise writer of Ecclesiastes says:
What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. (Eccl 1:15)
Not everything that happens “under the sun” simply “fits” the way we’d like it to. With that in mind, let me make five suggestions for responding to this (and any) tragedy:
1) Resist the temptation to spout theological platitudes. This is all part of God’s perfect plan… God has a purpose in this… Everything works together for good for those who love God… Everything happens for a reason… Fools blather on in the face of tragedy; wise people watch their mouths, and few things in life are more harmful or insensitive than the bloviating of foolish armchair theologians when life hits the fan. Enough. Be silent.
2) Resist the temptation (for now) to engage in social analysis. People with particular social and political agendas will be out in full force shortly, using tragedy as a platform to push their agenda. Gun control, the presence of violence in entertainment, the moral erosion of America… And on and on it will go. I said a moment ago that few things are more harmful or insensitive in such times as theological bloviating. One thing that comes pretty close is political or social opportunism. Stop it. There will be a time and place for such conversations; now is not the time. And in any event, we should remember the Teacher’s words quoted above: “What is twisted cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted.” These things tend to defy our comprehension, so when the analysis begins, let it be chastened with humility.
3) Resist the temptation to demonize the perpetrator. #1 and #2 usually collide with a collective demonization of the perpetrator in society’s eyes. Christians should be smarter than to do that, for we know that the stain of sin touches all of us and therefore all of us are equally objects of Christ’s redeeming work – the very same Christ of whom St. Matthew says, “A bruised reed he will not break; and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out” (Matt 12:20). Our prayer should be that whatever good is left in the perpetrator would somehow be blown into flame not in spite of but THROUGH the punishment he is likely to receive. A chastisement that brings about “shalom” in him.
And then of course…
4) We pray. We stand with everyone affected by this horrible tragedy as though we ourselves were directly affected by it. We pray comfort for the newly bereaved and health and healing for those injured. We pray that evil would be turned to good, and that Aurora and the greater Denver area would become stronger through what has transpired. We pray that evil in every way would be defused, and that peace would reign. We pray.
5) We determine to enter the story with those affected, however we can. One thing that stands out about the life of Jesus is his categorical determination not to analyze pain but to enter it with those who suffer, bringing his light, life, and redemption. We are his Body. Let us also do the same.
Praying grace and peace to the citizens of Aurora and all whose lives have been touched by this tragedy. Lord, have mercy; Christ, have mercy… even as we put our hope in you.
Amen.
Vertically Striped Music Recommendation:
Jars of Clay – Oh My God
Shalom and Good Evening to you all!
