to Stopdown home page, click here

 Caboose.....media articles from recent months and yea

Retarded Murderer to be put to death, believes in Santa Claus. NY Times, Nov. 12, 2000.

Surgeon does 30 to 40 facial repair operations a day on children in India.

	(Ex) President Toledo of Peru signed a paternity statement acknowledging 14 year old Zarai as his child.		In Malawi, Africa, rumors of vampires being recruited to obtain human blood for aid agencies  caused turmoil and reprisals.		In Punta Arenas, Chile, the. Ozone comes and goes.The people take cover.

Mexico -- illegal drugs  --- Mexican Police have arrested Avila Beltran, some of whose lovers fell to the gun as she gained power in the illegal drug trade in Sinaloa.

California parole administration -- an "insane" process.

Baboon troop in Kenya  Aggressive males died from disease contracted at trash dump where only aggressive males foraged. The troop became more peaceful and cooperative as a result, and has remained so for twenty years as young males carrying the aggressive genes fell in line with the peaceful society, rather than reassert their inherent aggressiveness.

Honeybee navigation Scientists move feed station bees have flown to, and observe that bees take a memorized path back, failing to return to the hive.

The 101st Airborne took a people-friendly approach to its role as an occupying force in Iraq.  General David Petraeus was winning the peace in the Northwest of Iraq by involving local people in shaping their new government. This article is from September 2003, and since that time Mosul turned more violent along with most Iraqi cities. But it  may be that if the U.S. military had adopted this humane approach as general policy that things would be very different in Iraq. One of the worst things the U.S. has done is imprison boys and men without telling families anything. Most of these prisoners, perhaps 90%, have had no militant background, and this is widely accepted even among army officials.

Liberia (Africa);  As peace appears possible after 20 years of mayhem, a look at the tragic history of a nation founded by freed American slaves.

Mauritania  Being fat has long been considered sexy and glamorous in much of Africa, to the extent that girls have been force fed to achieve the look.

Insurance shell companies are created to dodge tens of millions in taxes  If premiums are kept below $350,000, the company can invest any amount of assets, assets having nothing to do with company operations, and investment profits are tax exempt. The I.R.S. is approving applications for this scam at an increasing rate, and does not audit these companies. The exemption was created in the 1950's to help small insurers, not to help the rich as is happening.

Motherhood and the Law, U.S..............A first degree murder sentence reversed for a woman convicted in the death of her child because she failed to recognize her boyfriend's abuse of her children before he committed the murder. (First degree murder means the killer has a self-serving motive, which is why it is so amazing that such a verdict was reached. The defendant was not the killer, nor was she an accomplice, nor did she want her child to die.)

The state of  California spent $13 million, as of the publication of this article, defending itself in a suit seeking to improve conditions in public schools. ............. Some contend the state should spend the money on the schools instead of on lawyers.

Peru: Zarai Toledo......14 year old daughter of (then) Peruvian president prevailed after long campaign to be recognized as his child.

Argentina ....Elisa Carrio, reformer who professes clean politics and a life of simplicity, was a candidate in the April, '03 election for president of Argentina.

Malawi........Vigilantes target government officials, priests and foreign aid workers for conspiring with vampires.

India.......The Association of the Dead is a group of living individuals doing battle with fraudulent death notices, which have been arranged by others through bribery to steal the property of the person whose death is alleged.

Chile...... The ozone layer comes and goes above Punta Arenas, as the people run for cover to escape ultraviolet radiaton.